»  Why retailers shouldn’t get caught up in the mobile barcode hype. [MediaPost]

»  In China, Motorola’s Android smartphones will be loaded with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Bing. [PCWorld]

»  The Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, which launched in January for $150, is now $30 at Walmart. [Electronista]

»  MetroPCS could be open to a deal with Leap Wireless. [WSJ]

»  Opera Mini 5 launches in beta for Android. [Opera]

If you are holding out for a 4G phone for your next purchase, don’t bother. Verizon Wireless will not have its very first 4G handset until mid-2011.

While that’s about six months earlier than the company had said before, that’s still far enough away to burn through another contract, especially since the chance of you wanting the very first 4G phone is mighty slim. The time line was confirmed by Anthony Melone, Verizon’s CTO, who told the WSJ in an interview that the carrier could have a 4G phone three to six months after it launches the service. Verizon has committed itself to an aggressive LTE roll-out, which will launch in some markets by the end of the year.

Here’s why Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is launching a “completely new smartphone OS.” The latest smartphone platform market share figures were released today by comScore and Microsoft posted the steepest drop. The new Windows Phone 7 Series—due later this year—can’t come to market soon enough.

In Rob Glaser’s first public appearance since stepping down as CEO of RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK), he implored that it is incumbent upon companies to work together in order for the wireless sector to continue its break-neck pace of innovation.

Glaser did not hint at what he might do next, but instead, he stuck to his usual routine of talking fast and making as many points as possible in his time allotted. One theme in particular was exceedingly clear: he believes closed operating systems are a threat to the mobile industry. In the words of Ben Franklin, he said: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Google’s proposed (and now delayed) acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob appears to be drawing even more regulatory scrutiny from the FTC. Bloomberg cites sources who say that regulators now want “sworn declarations” from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) competitors about the $750 million deal. The key sentence in the Bloomberg report comes from a former FTC general counsel, who says that “agency officials typically collect declarations ‘when they think there is some significant chance’ the agency will ask a court to block a merger, or seek to modify a deal.”

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) may shed the ailing Fox Mobile Group, including the Jamba and Jamster brands, to focus on digital properties, like MySpace, reports The Financial Times.

A sale would not be a big surprise. After News Corp. acquired the company in two separate chunks from VeriSign (NSDQ: VRSN) for a total price tag of $381 million, it failed to do much with the asset. Last year, it created the Fox Mobile Group to roll out a new video service for smartphones, which was rumored to be akin to Hulu, but that project has been delayed several times. In addition, the group has been decimated over the past year, by layoffs and a mass executive exodus that led to the departure of the CEO, COO and CMO.

»  MySpace (NYSE: NWS) says it’s the top social app on the Android platform and is the third most downloaded app overall on the Android Market. [socalTECH]

»  Verizon is finding a way to capitalize on the iPad. [Engadget]

»  Ten reasons why Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) should fear the HP Slate. [eWeek]

»  A spotlight on mobile apps that work better than their web counterparts. [Bits]

Two small—but noteworthy—acquisitions for Thing Labs, the company behind Facebook and Twitter web client Brizzly: Thing Labs has purchased Wikirank, a tool that let users visualize and compare the most popular topics on Wikipedia, and is also announcing the purchase of Twitter iPhone client Birdfeed.

Thing Labs has added some of its own features to Birdfeed—and is using it to launch a Brizzly app for the iPhone. Wikirank, meanwhile, will be integrated into Thing Labs’ Brizzly Guide, “a new site designed to help navigate what people are talking about on Twitter, Facebook, and other social spaces.” Hot topics—like ‘SXSW’—have their own pages, which feature an explanation of why they are popular, along with some relevant links.

In an appearance this morning at a Seattle breakfast event, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, now a partner at Patton Boggs, was careful not to offer any jabs at the current administration.

Instead, he focused on the current administration’s plans for rolling out a new national broadband plan, scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday. One subject that came up was the fight for open access to wireless networks, a key platform issue of his. In particular, he noted how the government is now more concerned about the obstructionist role that handset makers like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) or Google (NSDQ: GOOG) play, than it is about the behavior of the wireless networks. But regulators have less control over the former.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG)—which has spent much of the last year talking about how it is making more money off of YouTube—is now beginning to monetize the mobile version of the video site. In a blog post, the company says banner ads—sold on a “full-day basis”—will soon appear on the home, search and browse pages of YouTube when the site is accessed via a mobile phone.

YouTube had started testing ads on the mobile site in August 2008 and YouTube’s Taylor Cascino says those tests showed “strong results related to click-throughs, user experience and brand awareness.”

On Monday morning, I helped Beet.tv executive producer Andy Plesser host his latest roundtable discussion on the future of online video, at The Guardian’s Kings Place HQ.

The forthcoming HTML5 standard’s Google-backed video feature now poses a potential challenge to Adobe’s dominant Flash video standard, and is a key piece in Steve Jobs’ refusal to support web Flash in iPhone and iPad. So in this video, I ask Adobe’s EMEA technical advocate Steve Allison and Flash-dependent video player firm Brightcove’s SVP Jeff Whatcott what lays ahead.

Their answer: HTML5 is interesting, it’s no Flash competitor just yet, but clients want to be on iPhone so we’re gonna have to support it…