Another patent expert weighed in on Google’s proposed $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility acquisition on Friday, and once again the deal is not seen as having the potential to stave off the flood of lawsuits targeting Android partners. In an interview with Finnish-language business magazine Talouselama published on Friday, Nokia’s chief of patent licensing Paul Melin went on record in stating that the potential deal will do precious little to help Google defend its mobile operating system against the likes of Apple and Microsoft. ”There are tens of patent lawsuits ongoing against Android. As we have understood, acquiring Motorola won’t solve one of them,” Melin told the magazine. Earlier this week, patent expert David Martin of patent consulting firm M-Cam called the deal an immense mistake. “What they bought is crap, because at the end of the day Motorola sold off its good assets,” Martin said in an interview.
Samsung is set to make a big splash with new products during the IFA trade show in Berlin, which kicks off later this week, and the phone maker recently announced a new group text application called ChatOn. The application allows Android, iOS, BlackBerry and bada users to create groups to quickly send and receive group text messages. The service will no doubt compete with BBM, Apple’s iMessage, Google’s Huddle, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and GroupMe, but Samsung is trying to distinguish itself from those other services by offering a more robust feature set. ChatOn lets users to see their most messaged friends, complete with “interaction ranks,” send animated text messages and share photos and videos in a shared group “trunk.”
With the success of RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger service, the competition are starting to feel the heat. We announced a few months ago that Facebook released a stand alone app designed to enhance the users’ chat experience. Apple also announced some tweaking of their own chat product. These and other companies are realizing that the social experience is not complete without a solid messaging application. This is one area in which BlackBerry has been ahead of the pack for quite some time now. Continue reading More Competition For BBM→
This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 15, 2011:
Phone Releases
Fido launched the Samsung Galaxy Q, also known as the Gravity Smart in the US, on Thursday. [via MobileSyrup]
The BlackBerry Curve 9360 can already be purchased on Telus for $50 with a three-year contract, and the Torch 9860 will be available on August 30th.
SouthernLINC Wireless announced the immediate availability of the Motorola Titanium, offered for $150 with a two-year commitment.
T-Mobile released the Samsung Gravity TXT, a basic messaging phone that’s on sale for $10. [via UnwiredView]
Cricket has begun offering a new messaging phone called the Samsung Comment, which offers a full QWERTY keyboard, stereo bluetooth, a microSD slot and 1.3MP camera. It can be had for $90 with no commitment required. [via PhoneScoop]
Other news
The government of South Korea, in reaction to Google’s planned acquisition of Motorola, now intends to form a consortium of local companies that will work together in building a brand new mobile operating system. [via IntoMobile]
Randall Milch, Chief Counsel for Verizon, is so frustrated with the patent wars going on that this week he filed an appeal to President Obama, asking for him to provide assistance in the matter. [via PhoneScoop]
The Motorola PRO is expected to debut in the UK in mid-September, though pre-orders are already taking place at select authorized resellers. [via UnwiredView]
Leaked posters indicate the BlackBerry Torch 9850 will be offered by Verizon and screenshots show the same phone going to US Cellular, though we’re still unsure of the release date or pricing. [via CrackBerry(1) and (2)]
Last week we reported on the rumored Sony Ericsson Nozumi, a smartphone that will likely feature a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm S2 CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, and 4.3-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution. At the time, it was assumed to be only selling in Japan; however, there’s a good possibility the Nozumi will end up available globally instead. [via XperiaBlog]
Pantech’s LTE phone on Verizon may actually end up being called the Breakout (rather than the “Apache”), according to a leaked screenshot. When released, it’ll feature a 1GHz CPU with 512MB of RAM, dual cameras, and will be preloaded with Gingerbread. Not much to write home about at this stage in the game, considering these are incredibly similar to the specs of the LG Revolution. However, it would be the first 4G phone on Big Red that has a 4-inch display. [via AndroidCentral]
T-Mobile may be planning to throw a data pay-per-use feature onto any smartphone that currently has its internet access blocked. If this happens, it will affect current customers as well as new ones. [via TmoNews]
Dish has petitioned the FCC for permission to use 40MHz of allocated spectrum to begin building out an LTE-Advanced network. [via PhoneScoop]
A new report recently issued by the security firm McAfee suggests that the number of malware applications targeting Android devices jumped 76% during the second quarter of this year, making Android the “most attacked” mobile operating system. “This year we’ve seen record-breaking numbers of malware, especially on mobile devices, where the uptick is in direct correlation to popularity,” senior vice president of McAfee labs Vincent Weafer said. Android users typically install the malware accidentally and assume the app is from a safe and legitimate developer. The most prevalent malware-infected modified applications were:
Android/Jmsonez.A – a calendar app that sends SMS texts to a premium rate number.
Android/Smsmecap.A – a fake comedy app that sends SMS texts to everyone in the user’s address book.
Android/DroidKungFu – malware that is capable of installing its own software and updates.
Android/DrdDreamLite – capable of sending data back to the attacker.
In two years, we’ll mark the thirtieth anniversary of the first commercially available cellphone — built by Motorola, incidentally. Given this week’s big news from Google, and other big events that we can only presume are yet to come, those two years may also prove to be some of the most interesting yet for the mobile industry.
One of the more telling things about Google’s acquisition announcement on Monday was the response from Motorola’s competitors (and Google’s partners). Immediately following the news, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC and LG all came out to praise Google’s commitment to “defending Android,” which presumably also means that they remain committed to using Android. What’s more, as Google itself has made explicitly clear recently, it’s not just defending Android as any company would defend its own product, but defending it against what it’s described as “hostile” and “organized” threat from Apple and Microsoft (and, to a lesser extent, Oracle). Continue reading Editorial: Google, Microsoft and the incredible shifting mobile landscape→
By now, you’ve no doubt seen the news: Google intends to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. What this will do is not only give Google access to Motorola’s vast patent library consisting of nearly 25,000 patents, but it will also give Google an end-to-end hardware and software strategy with smartphones, tablets and even with Google TV. The thing is, Google didn’t need to buy Motorola. Google could have just licensed the patents from Motorola. Google bought Motorola because it felt like control of the Android experience was slipping away. It’s apparent that one Nexus-like device from Google a year won’t be enough — MOTOBLUR has probably given Andy Rubin ulcers — and it’s apparent that a company that’s leading in many areas of the smartphone arena wants to control that entire experience. Open or not, it is Google’s, after all. Smartphones and tablets are also going to be the biggest categories in technology for the foreseeable future, and if you think Google is just going to play around with that, well, you obviously haven’t seen the company’s recent moves.
Some interesting news taking place out in the Android world today as Google announced this morning that they have acquired Motorola Mobility for 12.5 billion dollars. This move is huge on Google’s part, and they have said that they made the move to “supercharge the Android ecosystem” and believe that it is beneficial to partners, developers and consumers. While we all know the Kevin believes that Google should buy RIM, do you think that the move to buy Motorola Mobility was their first of many, or a solo deal just to get the patents that they owned, and that is it? Be sure to let us know your thoughts!
Verizon Wireless is seemingly following AT&T’s lead and taking action against subscribers who make use of unauthorized tethering apps. ReadWriteWeb reports that one of its writers was using a “jailbroken tethered Verizon Motorola X” with an unauthorized third-party app, rather than paying for Verizon Wireless’ mobile hotspot solution as its contract terms require. According to the report, the writer was blocked from accessing webpages on devices tethered to her DROID X on Friday, and was instead redirected to a Verizon Wireless page outlining rates for authorized mobile hotspot usage. Last week, AT&T confirmed to BGR that it would soon begin to revoke unlimited smartphone data plans from users who used third-party apps to share their smartphone’s data connection with other devices. Verizon seems to have taken a slightly less abrasive approach, though the outcome is the same: carriers want customers to stop abusing their congested data networks, and AT&T and Verizon are apparently done asking politely.
Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 1, 2011:
Vodafone unveiled the world’s first prepaid-only Facebook phone, dubbed the Vodafone 555 Blue. It has a portrait QWERTY, 2 MP camera, 2.4-inch display, and a few other minor features added in. No word was given on pricing or availability, only that it’ll be sold through its own shops and website. [via Pocket-Lint]
The Motorola Milestone Plus is Cellular South’s variant of the Droid Pro, a portrait QWERTY that runs Android 2.2 and has a 1GHz CPU and 3.1-inch display. It can be yours for $200 with a two-year commitment and after a $50 mail-in rebate. [via AndroidCentral]
While we’re chatting about Cell South, the regional carrier will soon release the Samsung Admire, the same entry-level Android device we’ve peeked at en route to MetroPCS. No pricing or availability have been announced. [via AndroidCentral]
A phone with the model number LG-P699 received its Bluetooth certification this week. It’s widely speculated that this phone’s the Optimus Net. [via PhoneArena and PocketNow]
Screenshots and an APK of Sony Ericsson’s latest home launcher for its Xperia series were leaked this week. Most of the changes are subtle UI differences. [via Xperiablog]
Rogers announced the upcoming availability and pricing of the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Torch 9810, and Torch 9860. All three will be added to the lineup this summer, and all will require a three-year commitment. The 9900 will be sold for $250, and both Torches will be priced at $200. [via MobileSyrup]
Night Hawk Computers Blackberry Alliance 