iPhone Hacker Gets Job Writing Apps

Move to Android seen as real challenge to iPhone, BlackBerry

(NEWSER) - Google and Verizon will partner on a line of smartphones and software running the search giant’s Android OS and served by the carrier. Verizon is the largest-yet wireless network to back Google, and the announcement could complicate what was once a simple smartphone rivalry between Apple and BlackBerry, BusinessWeek reports. Analysts expect a handful of Android phones by the likes of Motorola and Samsung by month’s end. More»

(NEWSER) - For all the iPhone’s bells and whistles, it doesn’t mesh well with Gmail. While users of Palm Pre and Android smartphones get instant “push” notification of new email, iPhone users have to manually “pull” messages off Google’s server. A simple new app may finally bring push Gmail to the iPhone, TechCrunch reports—if Apple approves it for sale. More»

4s to be launched in China, 21 other countries

(NEWSER) - Apple is about to get more than a billion new potential customers for the iPhone 4s—but many of them may find it tricky communicating with Siri just yet. The smartphone will be launched in China and 21 other countries next week, and while its voice-activated virtual assistant currently only speaks English, French, and German, Apple says it plans to add Mandarin later this year, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

Europe's economic mess, cheaper competitors a problem for Apple

(NEWSER) - There's actually a pocket of the world that's beginning to be less iPhone obsessed—and it's a big pocket. While Americans and Brits are still snapping up the latest Apple phones, the company's share of the continental European market is slipping, thanks to a weakened economy and competitors' price drops, Reuters reports. Between September and November, Apple's French market share dropped 9 percentage points, to 20%, compared to the year before; in Germany, it fell 5 points to 22%; and its market share also shrunk in Spain and Italy. In the US, however, the figure rose from 25% to 36%, while it jumped from 21% to 31% in Britain. More»

And it's got room to grow

(NEWSER) - Apple is officially making ridiculous money on the iPhone. How ridiculous? Well, the phone now generated a whopping 52% of all mobile phone profits worldwide last quarter—despite controlling just 4.2% of that market, according to a new report from the Canaccord Genuity research firm. And amazingly, the analyst behind the report expects Apple's numbers to improve. Given issues at competitors like Nokia and RIM and the competition between Android phones, he expects Apple to capture 60% of industry profits in the coming quarter, the Daily Mail reports. More»