Short Sellers Betting Big on Palm's Failure

The Bold 9900: 'Does Anybody Care'?

(NEWSER) - There’s a new BlackBerry on the market, but the “the question is: Does anybody care?” Apple and Google dominate the market, and things are “not looking good” for Research in Motion, which just laid off 2,000 people, writes David Pogue in the New York Times . That aside, how’s the new Bold 9900? “Gorgeous,” and the thinnest BlackBerry yet, with a “comfortable” keyboard and a “beautiful, responsive touch screen.” It’s a great phone—yet it’s not enough to compete with iPhone or Android. More»

Google's operating system barely edges out Apple's

(NEWSER) - Is Apple losing its grip on smartphone buyers? Google's Android is already the most widely-used operating system , and a new survey shows it may also be the most wanted. In a poll of US cell phone consumers this year, Nielsen found that 31% planned to buy a new smartphone and wanted an Android phone. The iPhone was a close second at 30%, the Los Angeles Times reports, followed by the BlackBerry at 11%. More»

Passes Symbian; iPhone at No. 3

(NEWSER) - Google’s Android is now the world’s most popular smartphone platform, having edged past Nokia’s Symbian in the fourth quarter of 2010. Vendors shipped 33.3 million Android-based phones that quarter, beating Symbian’s 31 million, a report out today finds. That’s good news for Android phone vendors LG and Acer, who saw sales volume boosts of 4,127% and 709% from Q4 of 2009—and for Samsung and HTC, who together shipped nearly 45% of all Android phones in the period, reports CNET . More»

Malware sneaks in to smartphone software stores

(NEWSER) - The millions of apps available online have greatly expanded smartphones' capabilities—but at the price of security, cybercrime experts say. Google, Research in Motion, and Apple have all had to pull malicious or deceptive applications from their stores, but not before some had already been downloaded by scores of users, the Wall Street Journal reports. "It is becoming easier for the bad guys to use the app stores," says the CEO of a mobile phone security firm. More»

(NEWSER) - Palm unveiled a new smartphone today, the Pre, which it hopes will compete with the iPhone and restore the company’s place in the market, the New York Times reports. Industry experts say it won't be easy. The Pre has a touchscreen, 8 gigs of storage, and a new operating system designed for fast websurfing. Palm says it will “redefine the center of your access point to the Internet.” More»