It's been a busy two days for AOL Mail. On Wednesday, AOL launched a beefier version of the AOL Mail gadget for iGoogle. On Thursday, AOL won a few more fans with the introduction of its beta feature AOL Sync.
AOL Mail for iGoogle improves upon the previous gadget by replacing the preview-only capability with functionality that lets you compose, reply, and fully manage your in-box from the iGoogle page.
AOL Sync beta, launched today, targets mobile and desktop users with the ability to sync their AOL address book and calendar in real time to Microsoft Outlook, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung.
You'll get started on AOL's Sync site, where you'll sign in to get access to the mobile or Outlook plug-in. On that end, AOL has turned to Funambol, which brings open-source push synchronization to companies like AOL.
It's a little disappointing that AOL Sync beta won't yet sync e-mail, but we're always big fans of two-way syncing and if this beta catches on, message-syncing would be the next logical step.
When the economy takes a hit, so do cell phone sales. Last quarter, mobile phone sales in the U.S. dropped 15 percent to 32 million units, according to market research firm NPD Group. But in hard times, the strongest brands also take share. And that is exactly what Apple did.
The 6.9 million iPhones it sold last quarter catapulted the $200 device into the top spot among all cell phones, even beating out the much cheaper and still-popular Motorola Razr. (Yes, they still sell that thing. They just don't make any money off of it.)
Motorola confirmed that $800 million in cuts planned for 2009 will require laying off about 3,000 workers, with most of the job cuts coming from the handset division.
Apple's iPhone surpassed the Motorola RAZR as the leading handset purchased by U.S.-based adults in the third-quarter, according to a new study by market research firm The NPD Group.
AFP - Motorola Inc. announced on Thursday that it was cutting its global workforce by 4.5 percent, or some 3,000 employees, and delaying the spinoff of its troubled cell phone unit.
If you like what the ZN5 brings to the table but roundish sliders are more your cup of tea (and when the alternative is a drab gray candybar with purple accents, we can't say we blame you), Moto's got the solution to the pollution this morning with the official announcement of the VE66. You've got that 5-megapixel autofocus cam with LED flash (as opposed to the ZN5's xenon) and image stabilization, WiFi, FM radio, Motorola's CrystalTalk noise reduction, and a navigation wheel for flying through song tracks. Interestingly, there's no mention of Moto's partnership with Kodak anywhere on the phone or the announcement -- but something tells us that won't have an effect on picture quality. Look for it to launch some time this quarter.
VMware, which consumers know mostly for their Fusion desktop virtualization software, is moving into the mobile space, albeit surreptitiously. The company has announced VMware MVP, a thin layer of software that will interface between handsets' hardware and operating system, allowing for a standardized development platform across any handsets that include it. What does this mean for regular consumers? For now, not much. If the tech finds enough support for hardware vendors, though, the consequences could be major.
For developers, having this VMware abstraction layer is pretty attractive from the start. If the layer is installed in, say, Blackberry, HTC and Motorola smartphones, then the developer will only have to write the software to run on the virtual machine's universal simulated hardware, rather than each phone's different hardware. VMware is promoting this capability as sort of a Java VM on steroids, which — with wide enough deployment and high enough efficiency — could mean an end to platform-specific apps. But that's not the most exciting part.
VMware's European product director told ZDNet that MVP could "make it possible for various mobile operating systems, such as Symbian, varieties of Linux and Windows Mobile, to 'co-exist on the handset as well'." In other words, due to the low-level nature of the solution, a VMware MVP-equipped handset could not just run platform-agnostic programs, it could run entirely different OSes in parallel. Whether anybody will take the time to make that happen remains to be seen, but just the possibility that new hardware could support pretty much any mobile OS is pretty exciting. [ZDNet]
A mere week after its release, the T-Mobile G1 phone has been unlocked. The dutiful folks at the Android Community posted pictures and a YouTube video of a G1 phone functioning with an AT&T SIM card. The site also claims -- but does not illustrate or explain how -- that the code works with any network SIM card.
But if you're thinking about opening up your open source G1, there are a few things you should know. One: The Android Community is charging $22.99 for the unlock code. Two: Your Google account will no longer work on the G1. Without a functioning Google account, Gmail ceases to operate and the Android App Store becomes inaccessible.
So in the long run, is it worth $22.99 to render a Google phone Google-free? Remember: After 90 days of service, T-Mobile customers can request a SIM unlock code themselves. Or you can wait for a more sophisticated unlock code that will not restrict the G1's functionality. Also, a slew of manufacturers, including Motorola, are preparing their own Google-powered phones that may be compatible with your mobile service carrier. Right now, it doesn't seem worth your money.
Adobe Systems's Flash multimedia content platform usually is associated with desktop systems accessing Web applications. But that is changing, according to an Adobe official.
The company at the Adobe Max 2008 conference in San Francisco Monday will both tout the changing landscape for Flash, which is becoming more prominent on mobile devices, and mobile alliances with Qualcomm and processor maker ARM.
"For the first time, the installed base of Flash on devices has surpassed the installed base of Flash on the desktop," said Anup Murarka, director for technical marketing at Adobe. The number of devices shipping with Flash will surpass 1 billion early next year, he said.
Flash is offered by the top five phone manufacturers: Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson, Murarka said. :These five plus the other licensees that we have globally have been shipping devices at a growth rate of over 150 percent year on year," for the last five years, he said.
Adobe at the conference will highlight integrations of Flash with the Qualcomm Brew MP mobile platform and Flash Player 10 with ARM processors.
Qualcomm is releasing its SDK featuring Flash technology. Devices supporting Brew MP are due next year. "[The SDK is] intended to get the thousands to millions of Flash developers out there as well as other technology developers creating mobile Internet content on devices," said Jason Kenagy, vice president of product management at Qualcomm.
Brew MP joins a field of mobile platforms that also includes Google's Android, Sun's JavaFX Mobile and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Bur Qualcomm believes it has found a niche in the feature phone market space. Unlike smartphones, which are larger and offer wider screens, feature phones have screens about and inch and a half and are more economical, said Steve Sprigg, senior vice president of engineering at Qualcomm. The company seeks to put Flash on these devices to deliver compelling content. "We see that as a huge opportunity," Sprigg said. Brew MP devices are expected in the middle of next year.
ARM is optimizing the Flash Player for deployment ARM 11 and ARM Cortex A8 devices, said Kerry McGuire, director of strategic software alliances at ARM. "What we're working with Adobe on is to optimize the Flash Player technology to the ARM architecture," she said. Plans also call for optimizing Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) to work on ARM processors as well.
ARM powers devices ranging from mobile phones to set-top boxes, mobile Internet devices, televisions, and personal media players.?
Optimization of Flash Player and ARM for ARM is due to be completed in the second half of next year.
Adobe also is touting support for Flash from such companies as Broadcom, Nvidia, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. But conspicuously absent from the list of phones supporting Flash is the popular Apple iPhone. Adobe is looking to remedy this.
"We are working with Apple on the development of a Flash runtime for the iPhone," Murarka said. But the runtime is not yet complete, he said. Murarka also said he could not comment on whether Apple has decided to allow Flash to run on the phone.
"I think ultimately what goes in and out of the iPhone is an Apple decision and our hope is they'll see the demand," said Murarka.
Adobe with its Flash push for mobile systems is embracing the importance of developers, said analyst Michael Gartenberg, vice president of global strategy for Jupitermedia.
"The key here is you?re getting the key infrastructure players to support the technology going forward," Gartenberg said. The mobile space is a lot like where the PC was 10 or 15 years ago, he said.
The SDK and ARM ports are going to be important in proliferating Adobe technologies onto the mobile arena, which right now is fragmented, said Gartenberg. "There is no dominant player," he said.
Both the Qualcomm and ARM efforts emerged out of the Adobe-led Open Screen Project to provide a consistent runtime environment across multiple devices, leveraging Flash Player and AIR.?
"We're working toward a consistent runtime built around Flash Player 10, AIR, and on those devices that have the capability, WebKit as well," Murarka said. WebKit is an open-source project to build an HTML and JavaScript engine for browsers.
"The Open Screen Project has been geared toward making it easier for developers, especially those used to Web tools, to build for all these different screens," Murarka said.
Samsung is now the leading cellphone vendor in the US, according to research by Strategy Analytics, and it's assumption of the top slot has pushed Motorola into second place. In the last quarter, Samsung pushed its sales up 6.2 percent over the previous year's results to 47.4 million handsets. Meanwhile Motorola's market share slid from 32.7 percent last year to 21.1 percent. Is that huge drop representative of Moto's woes? Probably, and with oddball cellphones like the Aura and no Android until late next year, the company's going to have to squeeze out a number of winning handsets if it wants to steal first place back from Samsung. http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-36374720081107
While he didn't go into details, he hinted at an improved UI (one can only hope) and software flow. Neowin mentions that it's also believed that 6.5 will be the first Windows Mobile release to have Zune software integration, since WM7 is taking so damn long. We could see 6.5 released in the first couple months of 2009, so maybe we'll get our first peek at CES? [Neowin]
We've all been waiting patiently for Windows Mobile 7 to drop since the crust of the Earth was still cooling, and it this point, Windows 7 proper could theoretically beat it out of the gate. What's a perpetually delayed platform to do, then? Come up with another stop-gap measure, of course. Windows Mobile 6.1 was designed to plug some short-term holes in 6, and it's looking now like there could be a 6.5 waiting in the wings to plug a few more. Nothing has really been revealed about the mysterious, heretofore-unknown version, but Motorola CEO mentioned it in passing during the company's earnings call today while discussing the fact that 6.1 really hasn't been able to keep pace with Apple in the "user experience" department. Would it be totally naive of us to hope for a little Xbox Live Anywhere in there?[Via CoolSmartPhone]
In today's earnings call, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha made multiple references to Windows Mobile 6.5, explaining that a Moto handset running the software would be released in the second half of 2009. Jha was vague on specifics about WinMo 6.5, but according to PC Mag, he did go on record as saying "I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform." What does this mean for Windows Mobile 7? Last we heard, the mobile OS was also scheduled for a second half 2009 release. Will the multitouch-friendly successor be further delayed? [PC Mag]
No matter how dire Motorola's situation may be, it's still been able to cling to one last title keeping it firmly entrenched in the ranks of the world's mobile manufacturing elite: US phone sales. For years, Motorola has ridden the RAZR gravy train to success on its home turf more than any other, keeping more globally relevant rivals like Nokia and LG at bay. No longer, though -- Samsung has finally dethroned Moto, upping its share of the US market to 22.4 percent from 16.2 percent a year ago. That leaves Motorola in number two with 21.1 percent, a shocking fall from 32.7 percent in 2007. LG's knocking on the door at 20.5 percent, so unless the boys and girls in Chicago can get their Android-supportin' butts in gear on the double, we could see a drop to number three within a quarter or two.
Motorola having trouble restructuring and splitting. Sun under the gun and it appears that the company is up for sale. Intel pushing WiMax in Taiwan. Mark Cuban blasts Jerry Yang for being too nice. Nintendo doing well, but hard to figure that out from the news stories. Windows 7 being compared to Snow Leopard [...]
The UIQ operating system, a variant of Symbian that has been used on Motorola and Sony Ericsson handsets is now officially dead. The demise of UIQ was a given once Nokia spun off the Symbian Foundation to promote the S60 version of Symbian that all but knocked UIQ out of...
(Credit: AOL)
When the economy takes a hit, so do cell phone sales. Last quarter, mobile phone sales in the U.S. dropped 15 percent to 32 million units, according to market research firm 
VMware, which consumers know mostly for their 
Samsung is now the leading cellphone vendor in the US, according to research by Strategy Analytics, and it's assumption of the top slot has pushed Motorola into second place. In the last quarter, 
Sure, Windows Mobile 7 
In today's earnings call, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha made multiple references to Windows Mobile 6.5, explaining that a Moto handset running the software would be released in the second half of 2009. Jha was vague on specifics about WinMo 6.5, but according to PC Mag, he did go on record as saying "I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform." What does this mean for 
