Which smartphone people prefer depends on many things: design, user experience, applications available, enterprise support and security, camera, cloud services, voice-activated services, and performance issues such as browser speed. Openness–the ability to customize the phone without limitation—is also important to some people. In this regard, Apple and Google sit on opposite ends of the spectrum with Microsoft somewhere in between. READ MORE
Macincloud has an interesting proposition for developers: timeshare. But before you run the opposite direction, laughing hysterically. Think about it. No, really. Aimed at developers, Macincloud service lets users rent remote access to a Mac environment. Developers can access the space via their Windows PC or iOS devices and access pre-installed developer tools. While the idea might seem a little, well, odd, given the reputation of timeshares, it’s still an interesting concept. READ MORE
According to data released this week from Nielsen, more than half of the people who have bought a smart phone in the last three months chose an Android device, reports Computerworld. And Android’s share of the market appears to be growing–buyers of Android phones jumped from 49% in May to 56% in August. On the other hand, 28% of buyers said that they picked an iPhone, down from 31% three months earlier. READ MORE
From Monday to Wednesday in San Francisco, TechCrunch’s latest Disrupt Start-up Battlefield competition is showcasing entrepreneurs from 30 start-ups, all vying for a $50,000 prize by making six-minute-long pitches to a rotating panel of venture capitalists, tech influencers, angel investors and Silicon Valley players. Tuesday featured three more sessions of Start-up Battlefield, titled Customer-Friendly Enterprise, Local Networks and Increasing Understanding; here are the start-ups presented in session six: Increasing Understanding. READ MORE
From Monday to Wednesday in San Francisco, TechCrunch’s latest Disrupt Start-up Battlefield competition is showcasing entrepreneurs from 30 start-ups, all vying for a $50,000 prize by making six-minute-long pitches to a rotating panel of venture capitalists, tech influencers, angel investors and Silicon Valley players. Tuesday featured three more sessions of Start-up Battlefield, titled Customer-Friendly Enterprise, Local Networks and Increasing Understanding; here are the start-ups presented in session four: Customer-Friendly Enterprise. READ MORE
If you’ve got an Android device you are 2.5 times more likely to encounter malware on it today compared to six months ago, while mobile users have a 30 percent chance of clicking on a malicious link, writes Elinor Mills for CNET, referring to a report released this week from mobile security firm Lookout at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. READ MORE
Good news for fans of the little green robot: According to Nielsen, as of June, Android tops the U.S. smartphone OS market, grabbing a full 39 percent market share. Apple, its closest competitor, finished a distant second at 28 percent. Bringing up the rear are BlackBerry OS at 20 percent and Windows Phone 7 at 9 percent. On the hardware front, however, Apple still managed to retain the title of top manufacturer. In all fairness, Apple’s victory in this category is relatively easy since it is the only company to produce iOS devices; meanwhile, Android’s OS finds its way to devices made by Motorola, HTC, and Samsung. RIM, the makers of Blackberry, surprisingly finished a close second to Apple in the manufacturing department, commanding a 20 percent chunk of the market. Nielsen based its results on a sample of roughly 20,000 people, all of whom are postpaid customers. Read more from TechCrunch.
News network CNN has made online and mobile content delivery a priority–it offers a CNN app for the iPhone, iPad, Android and Nokia phones, separate apps for international news, and is broadcasting live online 24 hours per day via TV Everywhere. The move has paid off, too: CNN claims the number one and number three news apps for iPhone and number one news app for the iPad, and has reached 10,000,000 total mobile app downloads across platforms, according to the company. READ MORE
For businesses looking to pick up a few dozen copies of a certain iOS app for their employees, Apple has announced volume purchasing and sales support for businesses and organizations. Business owners can now select the apps they want for any number of seats and simply pay with a credit card. Apple has not yet said whether it will dole out bulk discounts, but the company will distribute licenses for each device. READ MORE
Thanks to the popularity of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4, App Store downloads are up 61 percent this year over 2010. According to Gene Munster, a tech analyst for investment firm Piper Jaffray, iOS users are downloading 32.3 million apps per day at an average of 83 apps per user, up from 51 apps last year. READ MORE
