I’m back this week after a few days of work travel. It was a busy week, so I’m going to get right into it. The top story this week was the publically announced love fest between Verizon and Google. America’s largest wireless network and America’s favorite web company have officially teamed up to create a better mobile experience for US consumers. The two companies plan to leverage the largest and most reliable 3G network with the flexibility of the Android mobile platform to release mobile apps, services and devices. “The Android platform allows Verizon Wireless customers to experience faster and easier access to the web from any location,” said Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer for Google. “Through this partnership, we hope to deliver greater innovation in the mobile space to consumers across the U.S.” This is a big statement and might finally end the publicity-only reign of the Apple iPhone and actually deliver the technology progress we’ve all been wanting. Android has finally made its splash. In fact, Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said that Android OS might just become the number two mobile OS by 2012. I believe it with around 40 new devices coming out in the next year. All I can think is wow and yeah!
Not to be outdone by Verizon and Google, AT&T announced this week that they will allow iPhone VoIP apps to run over its network. Apps have been approved but still no Google Voice. Surprise, surprise (sarcasm). I expected this espeically with all the FCC investigation and pressure. With this week’s announcements, the mobile market now looks like a good old-fashion tag-team match… Verizon/Google (good) vs. AT&T/Apple (evil). Who’s going to win this war, good or evil? History has shown us that good will triumph!
This week I attended the CTIA conference in San Diego. As expected, the handset manufacturers and carriers announced several new handsets. Looks like everyone is gearing up for the holiday season. Here are some of the announcements I found when I got back:
- HTC launches HD2 – the first Windows Mobile phone with a capacitive touchscreen
- Microsoft Rolls Out App Store, Global Handset Launches
- GSM Palm Pixi makes an early appearance
- Sprint announces Samsung i350 Intrepid Windows Mobile 6.5-powered global smartphone
- T-Mobile announces Samsung SGH-t939 Behold II Android smartphone
- AT&T launches HTC Pure, its first Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone
- AT&T launches HTC Tilt 2 sliding smartphone featuring Windows Mobile 6.5
- HTC Imagio Review: HTC Is Microsoft’s Best Critic
- Kyocera announces intentions for new Android devices by 2010, dual-mode CDMA/LTE phones by 2011
- Sprint launches Samsung Moment Android smartphone with AMOLED touchscreen
- Exclusive: Dell’s Android phone is coming to the U.S.
- Rumor: HTC working on new flagship Android device – the Dragon
- Rumor: BlackBerry Onyx to be announced October 21?
As always, I’ll end this week’s summary with other stories I found interesting that I want to share with our readers:
- Mobile Web growing beyond the traditional boundaries: Nielsen
- UN report: Mobile broadband overtaking fixed line
- Adobe Flash 10.1 to support just about every mobile OS (except the iPhone’s)
- Adobe Develops Flash Apps for iPhone
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Review: It Still Sucks
- RIM launches SDK for BlackBerry web-based widgets
- Google syncs mobile to desktop search history
- CTIA supports Micro-USB and 3.5mm for (future) industry-wide adoption
See or hear anything else interesting in mobile? Let us know by leaving a comment below.