The mobile and local search markets have seen immense growth at rates never seen before over the last three years. Yet still, they are on the verge of taking off to a higher level with huge growth forecasts for the mobile industry just released recently. All indications point that we are still on the early development stage of mobile development, in spite of the massive number of new mobile technologies being offered from left to right today. Industry analysts tell us to brace ourselves to the mobile boom that has begun.

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Android’s appeal, at least to me, is its integration with Google services. As I wrote on Tuesday, this includes not only synced services like Gmail and GChat, but also web-apps like Google Reader and Google Docs. They might not have their own dedicated applications, but the mobile sites are well-designed and make for easy browsing and reading. But my web habits certainly extend beyond Google. I’m sure many faithful Gmail users also use other services for webmail. Yahoo! Mail is one of the most popular email services, and since it predates Gmail I’m sure many faithful Gmail users also have Yahoo! Mail accounts. If you do, you’re in luck. Yahoo has released a Mail app for Android.

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The growing demand for mobile applications is set to challenge the apprehension that enterprise telephony buyers have towards open source telephony offerings. As IT departments strive to meet new mobile application requirements, they will play a role in driving open source and cloud telephony adoption within enterprises.

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(UPDATED) AT&T is replacing its $29.99 per moth unlimited data plan, popular with iPhone and iPad users, with $15 (200MB) and $25 (2G) plans. While a reported 95% of mobile users do not currently exceed the 2G limit, increased use of new video and music in the cloud applications could lead to additional charges.  

Unlimited mobile data has long been considered an unsustainable model by some analysts, and it is believed that other cell services will also set limits. That’s not good news for a growing list of companies delivering data heavy music services like downloads and video or music streaming to smartphones.

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Five years ago, penning a MediaPost piece that feels like it was written far more recently, I asked, “Is all mobile local?” That question would have been a more fitting title for the column rather than the wonkier one I used, “The Mobile-Local Redundancy,” which sounds like a rejected name for a Jason Bourne movie. The question and the column answering it remain relevant, making me wonder if so little has changed in sixty-one months.

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Google’s Android mobile operating system continued to shake up the U.S. mobile phone market in the first quarter of 2010, moving past Apple to take the number-two position among smartphone operating systems, according to The NPD Group. Based on sales last quarter the Android  moved into second position at 28% behind RIM Blackberry at 36% and ahead of Apple iPhone at 21%. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a bit baffled: I already paired my Apple wireless bluetooth keyboard with my new iPad 3G [ed: see pair a bluetooth keyboard with an iPad] but for some reason when I try to hook it up a second time the iPad sees the keyboard but can’t pair to it. What’s going on and how do I fix it??

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Now that the Digital Economy Bill is now the Digital Economy Act – a piece of legislation that has been bitterly opposed by many – a report in today’s Guardian says that the likelihood for innocent people to be accused of illegal file downloading has greatly increased because of this new law.

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Verizon and Apple both, made big gains on Wall Street as highly substantial rumors were being made of Verizon finally getting support for the iPhone. WSJ.com has cited unnamed sources, though they seem positive that their information is accurate. Before going further, it should be noted that neither Apple, Verizon, or the manufacturers of the supposed Verizon iPhone, Pegatron, have made official statements.
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The battle for smartphone domination is heating up, and along with fighting for consumer dollars, the battle will also take place in a courtroom. Apple brought a lawsuit against HTC for violating many of it’s patents, all of which are in regards to smartphone tech. Now, HTC has responded to the lawsuit by issuing a press release, stating they won’t back down against Apple.
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