Huawei on Wednesday announced global availability of its flagship Ascend P1 smartphone. The Android 4.0-powered handset will be available in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia by May, in Latin America by June and in Europe for the summer, with availability in other markets to follow. “The global availability of the Ascend P1, which combines smart features and a sexy design, represents a significant milestone for Huawei Device,” said Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei. “We are sending strong signa...

Nokia’s attempt to regain the traction in the mobile market is turning out to be more difficult than the company once thought. Four major wireless carriers in Europe have said that Nokia’s Lumia smartphones are “not good enough” to compete with Apple’s iPhone or Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Nokia bet big on Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform last year, however the gamble has yet to pay off according to the report. “No one comes into...

Google on Monday announced that its proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility has been approved by regulators in Europe. ”We’re happy that today the European Commission approved our proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which we announced in August,” Google Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Don Harrison wrote in a post on a company blog. ”This is an important milestone in the approval process and it moves us closer to closing the deal. We are now just waiting for decisions...

The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has opened a formal investigation into Samsung’s competitive practices. The Commission will assess whether the Korean manufacturer “used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules.” Samsung has used a collection of its patents to launch a series of lawsuits against rival companies, such as Apple. The technology giant maintains, however, that thes...

Motorola promised that a bootloader unlocking solution would be made available for its recent phones in late 2011 but as the year came to a close, the company’s self-imposed deadline came and went with no release. To make matters worse, the manufacturer launched the RAZR with an unlocked bootloader overseas while the American version was locked and encrypted. Motorola blamed Verizon, claiming the carrier requested the device be locked even though other companies were offering unlocking solutions. On Mon...

Although Apple outsold all Android vendors in the fourth quarter, the Cupertino-based company’s share of mobile internet usage is reportedly beginning to slide. An analysis of last year’s Internet usage shows that in the United States, the proportion of Android mobile web visitors overtook Apple users by the end of the year, according to 51Degrees.mobi. The share of Apple’s iOS web traffic in December fell to 34.1%, while Android increased to 36.6%. In Europe, Apple remained ahead with 42....

Panasonic announced Friday that it intends to expand its smartphone business into Europe in March 2012, and it hopes the move will be a stepping stone into the global smartphone market. Panasonic didn’t name its first smartphone, but did say that it features an ultra-slim form factor with a 4.3-inch qHD OLED screen. The phone is also waterproof and dust-proof, and will be manufactured in one of Panasonic’s Malaysian factories. Panasonic hopes to sell 1.5 million smartphones in Europe next year...

A ruling handed down on Friday by the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany could see sales of Apple’s iOS devices banned across Europe. The judgement relates to a patent infringement complaint filed by Motorola last April, when the company accused Apple of infringing a Motorola-owned patent covering ”a method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system.” Friday’s ruling is preliminary, however, and according to Florian Mueller of FOS...

FOSS Patents is reporting that Motorola has won an injunction related to a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany, Europe’s largest market. According to the ruling by a Mannheim Regional Court, Apple is barred from selling any mobile device that infringe on two Motorola Mobility patents filed in April of 2003. Motorola is also reportedly owed for past damages. One of the patents in question relates to GSM, UMTS and 3G, and it is unclear what the second patent covers. If Motorola Mobility actually has wo...

After having initially said the issues were resolved following one day of service interruptions, millions of BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and even some areas in South America still find themselves without access to the Wen or messaging services for the third consecutive day. Research In Motion confirmed earlier that a bug on a Blackberry server was responsible for knocking millions offline on Monday, and the Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker elaborated on Tuesday that the c...

BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa again find themselves without service on Tuesday as a bug that knocked millions of users offline on Monday has seemingly resurfaced. Research In Motion announced early Tuesday morning that BlackBerry service across the EMEA region had been restored, but the Associated Press later reported that Internet and messaging services for users across the region are again offline. The report was later confirmed by several carriers including T-Mobile UK, Vodafo...

BlackBerry users in Africa, the Middle East and Europe have been without service since 11:00 a.m. Monday, The Telegraph reports. A bug on Research In Motion’s server in Slough, England is to blame and it appears to have impaired all users, independent of carrier or device. RIM has not issued a statement on the matter. “There is an issue with BlackBerry services at present,” a T-Mobile UK representative said on Twitter. “RIM [is] investigating this at present.” Additionally, Bate...

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Motorola Solutions on suspicion of bribery, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Motorola Solutions, not to be confused with Motorola Mobility, reportedly paid bribes to foreign officials, including Austrian count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, in an attempt to increase business in Europe. If the allegations are true, Motorola Solutions will have been in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and will li...

Just one day after ordering a preliminary injunction blocking the sale of multiple Samsung smartphones, a Dutch judge has said that at least one patent Apple is suing the South Korean company over is probably invalid. The judge ruled on Wednesday that Samsung’s GALAXY S II, GALAXY S and GALAXY Ace smartphones infringe on Apple patents. Regarding one of the patents Apple claims Samsung is infringing, however, FOSS Patents reveals that the judge is not sold on its validity, calling the patent — which co...