AT&T (NYSE: T) is gearing up to launch the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Backflip, its first Android device, on Sunday, and with it comes a little surprise: The Google-powered phone has been stripped of its flagship search engine, and instead comes loaded with Yahoo. The removal of Google’s search by AT&T…

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) has updated its mobile application for the iPhone and iPod Touch to enable customers to update their DVR settings remotely, including the ability to search and schedule new recordings, cancel recordings and sort TV listings by category. The free application, which launched last summer, extended most Comcast…

At least three reports were distributed today by companies that use internal data to make sweeping statements about the state of the industry. While the data can often be influenced by the company’s strengths, the reports can typically be useful for gleaning some relevant information on where the trends are…

The biggest news events at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona were Microsoft’s Windows 7 unveiling and Google’s massive proliferation of handsets, but there was a lot of other interesting things to explore throughout the show floor. NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) was showing off a phone made from wood…

For the first time this year at Mobile World Congress, an entire building was roped off for application developers with each day of the inaugural App Planet being hosted by another player—Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Research In Motion and Google’s Android. While the rest of…

Research In Motion is still playing catch-up when it comes to offering a good internet experience on the Blackberry, and today at Mobile World Congress RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said a revamped browser is coming this year. The new browser will be based on the open-source WebKit technology…

Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) has reached a number of milestones to get its full Flash video player up and running on smartphones, including Android and Palm (NSDQ: PALM) in the next few months. By 2012, it expects nearly 53 percent of phones to be shipping with Flash Player 10.1 and that…

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week will reveal in gory detail just how complicated the industry has become. If you don’t believe me, just consider this short list of ironies: Google’s Eric Schmidt will give one of the show’s first keynotes despite the company releasing its first phone only…

U.S. consumers are continuing to base their phone-buying decision on how well the device sends text messages, which is leading to an increase in the number of Qwerty keyboards and touchscreens sold, reports NPD Group, a market research firm. “Regardless of whether they opt for a data plan, consumers want…

After being blown away by the amount of mobile web traffic NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) received during the Beijing Olympics, it is investing even more heavily in mobile for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. In the summer of 2008, the Olympics were considered one of the largest digital events to date,…

Despite Apple’s mindshare, Research In Motion and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) continue to dominate the smartphone market on a global basis. Strategy Analytics said that global smartphone shipments increased 30 percent to a record 53 million units in the fourth quarter, compared the same period a year ago. While the appetite…

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) confirmed yesterday that it will provide an update on its mobile business at Mobile World Congress in Spain, which is now just two weeks away. In the company’s second-quarter conference call, Bill Koefoed, Microsoft’s General Manager of Investor Relations said: “We also continue to make progress in…

Worldwide shipments of smartphones will surpass 390 million units in 2013, and the mobile OS leaders will somewhat surprise you, forecasts research company IDC. Release. Rather than the space being dominated by so-called pioneers, like BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile, newcomers to the space, like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android, Apple’s…

Namco Networks may be known for big mobile hits, like Pac-Man, which has been downloaded to the iPhone 23 million times, but overall it hasn’t relied too heavily on licensing big brands for mobile. Namco said that’s changing. It has hired Chris Lucero, formerly of United Talent Agency, to head…

The International Trade Commission is a busy bunch these days. It’s not only hearing cases from both Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) about each other, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has now filed a complaint, alleging that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is infringing on five of Motorola’s patents. Motorola has…

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has made some significant headway in the smartphone market, by betting heavily on the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android platform, according to the latest report by AdMob, which analyzes the most popular types of handsets in its ad network. AdMob looks at the traffic on its ad network…

The White House has launched an iPhone application, which is consistent with President Obama’s mission to create a more open and transparent government. But if you have anything other than an iPhone, you are going to have to wait. The White House did not say any other applications for other…

Over the next couple of weeks, the financial results of handset-makers are expected to show that there’s an increasing global demand for cellphones for the first time since the recession. Based on a Reuters poll, analysts are estimating that in 2010 the cellphone market will grow by 9.3 percent: “It…

ESPN’s mobile efforts had a stand-out year in 2009. Its ESPN (NYSE: DIS) ScoreCenter was downloaded more than 4.5 million times and was ranked as the top free sports App in iTunes; ESPN was the 8th most-trafficked mobile website, according to Nielsen; and total minutes spent viewing ESPN Mobile TV…