Democratic Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts released a draft of his cell phone privacy bill on Monday. The Mobile Device Privacy Act is designed to protect consumers from tracking software such as Carrier IQ, which caused an uproar late last year when it was discovered to be secretly monitoring 150 million smartphone users. The bill would require companies to disclose the use of such tracking software and clarify exactly what information the software collects. Customers would have to consent to a...

Samsung will open its bada mobile operating system to other manufacturers and developers next year in an effort to “reduce its reliance” on Android, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The South Korea-based company also hopes it can deploy bada on other devices, such as smart TVs. Samsung unveiled bada in late 2009 and has used the operating system on its Wave family of handsets. According to Gartner, bada currently has a 1.9% share of the mobile OS market. Samsung’s latest bada-pow...

As much as smartphone, mobile hotspot and connected notebook users love the blazing fast speeds afforded by 4G LTE service, it’s tough to be an early adopter when new devices carry such a premium. Verizon Wireless’ latest 4G phone, the DROID Charge, hit the market at a jaw dropping $300 on contract, for example. According to a report from DigiTimes on Thursday, devices with embedded 4G LTE radios are about to get significantly less expensive. With various chipset vendors set to begin mass producti...

Microsoft’s final build of Windows Phone Mango has been rubber stamped and released to manufacturers and wireless carriers according to Windows Phone Dev Podcast. The move is among the final steps before Microsoft delivers the Mango release to customers. The most recent reports have suggested that Microsoft will update current Windows Phone devices in September, although winrumors says the update could be pushed out as soon as August. Microsoft’s Windows Phone partners include HTC, LG, Samsung, De...

According to Apple’s touch panel makers, the company has not yet made any information available to manufacturing partners with regard to the next-generation iPhone’s production timeline. This new report from DigiTimes contradicts several earlier reports claiming the iPhone 5 will launch in September. In addition, however, it further supports the notion that Apple may alter its current annual release schedule, which has seen the company launch a new iPhone model each summer since the first iPhone w...

Apple’s suppliers have shipped between 2.4 million and 2.6 million iPad 2 tablets to date, a new report claims. Citing sources at touch panel suppliers in Taiwan, industry watcher DigiTimes states that shipments of Apple’s iPad 2 have outpaced the original iPad. Apple is reportedly expected to take delivery of between 4 million and 4.3 million iPad 2 units each month between April and June, totaling over 12 million units for the second quarter. The iPad 2 has seen tremendous demand in the U.S. and...

ComputerWorld has published a study that sheds some light on which manufacturer and wireless carrier in the U.S. provide Android users with operating system updates in the most timely fashion. Data was collected on handsets released by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon from 2009 through 2010. The report examines how many phones were upgraded to Froyo (Android 2.2), how many days it took to receive this upgrade, and what percentage devices are still waiting. The study indicates that HTC has delivered t...

Research In Motion has just introduced a new Built For BlackBerry program that aims to make sure verified and approved third party manufacturing partners deliver specifically designed accessories and peripherals for BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM details the program as offering, “technical, strategic, and marketing support” to members of the program, in addition to a snazzy Built For BlackBerry logo that will appear on accessory packaging. We have reached out to RIM ...

Some analysts could soon find themselves in hot water as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the legality of “channel checks.” Channel checks refer to the practice whereby analysts contact inside sources at manufacturing companies in order to glean inside information. This information often has a tendency to move the market, of course, but the SEC is now trying to determine whether or not the practice should be legal. “Insider trading basically comes down to wher...

According to blog TechRadar, mobile accessory maker Powermat will be working with phone manufacturers to incorporate their wireless charging technology into mobile devices. Currently, the company makes special cases and battery doors for a handful of small electronics to provide wireless charging via its Powermat base station. “We are looking into putting the technology into phones but it is a complex process,” said a Powermat spokesperson. The same spokesperson also went on to say we should start...

Earlier today, while speaking to a group of students and journalists at the London School of Economics, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that there will indeed be iPad-competing slate products running Windows by Christmas. The catch? Steve didn’t clarify whether these products would be shipping, or just announced, nor who would manufacture them. With HP most likely changing course to offer a webOS-based tablet as opposed to a Windows 7 slate, we’ve got to wonder who will end up being first in ...

In an interview with blog Pocket-lint, senior product manager for Microsoft, Greg Sullivan, confirmed who the Windows Phone 7 OEM launch partners would be. And… well, it’s exactly who you’d think it would be. Dell, Asus, LG, HTC, and Samsung will all have WP7 hardware being release around the launch of Microsoft’s next smartphone OS. So when is Windows Phone 7 launching? All Microsoft is saying is “holidays 2010,” which by our calendar puts WP7 in the wild sometime between�...

We really love the boys and girls over at RIM, but if you haven’t already noticed, they’re pretty much stuck in 1998. Why do we say that? Well, RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis (who is absolutely brilliant) started spewing off his nonsense on data conservation at MWC and how “manufacturers had better start building more efficient applications and more efficient services. There is no real way to get around this.” Oh, but there is, Mike. It’s called actually having a wireless data...

As much as everyone’s knee jerk reaction is to discount info like this, a brief pass over recent history tells us we probably shouldn’t be too quick to discount case manufacturers when it comes to leaking products. The iPhone 3G, second generation iPod Touch and even the current iPod nano model each had its form spied ahead of schedule as a result of leaks from case manufacturers – and now it might be the iPhone nano’s turn. This time around we’re not seeing any new imagery or mo...