Gartner on Thursday issued its global mobile phone sales data for the second quarter, which shows that the industry grew 16.5% from the same quarter last year, to 428.7 million units. Smartphone sales jumped 74% year-on-year, with 107.7 million smartphones having been sold to end users around the world. “Smartphone sales continued to rise at the expense of feature phones,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner, in a statement. “Consumers in mature markets are choosing ent...

A recent survey found that 33% of Americans would sooner give up sex for a week than go without their mobile phones for the same period of time. Navigation software leader Telenav surveyed 514 mobile phone users in the U.S. last month to find out how willing they were to give up certain things ahead of their cell phones. Respondents were most willing to part with alcohol instead of their phones, with 70% saying they would go a week without booze before going a week without a phone. At the other end of the s...

Fujitsu announced on Thursday that it is now offering a new program called “Service Built for Android”. Fujitsu is leveraging its experience in the development of embedded devices and offering to help companies deploy the Android OS on all kinds of hardware, from  mobile phones, automotive systems and consumer electronics to embedded systems. Fujitsu will provide consulting, training, engineering and embedded middleware services intended to assist companies in fast tracking their products. For co...

That dude pictured above doesn’t look too happy, and who can blame him? He’s probably a tech geek, if not a Blackberry user who is sharing the worries and woes of the mobile telecommunications industry, which is heavily affected by the current economic downturn. With several banks and financial institutions being bailed out by the U.S. government, how can it not trickle down to the phone manufacturers and carriers? RIM is going to be a huge one since a big chunk of its market are the business type...

Hear that loud ringing around the world? Can you feel the good vibrations? The Beach Boys are pleased. The Wall Street Journal’s Adam Ewing reports that there are an additional 305 million mobile phones sold in Q2, 2008, representing 12% growth from the year before. That means there are nearly a third of a trillion more phones in the world interrupting theater productions and Bar Mitzvahs everywhere.Even though the growth seems substantial, it represents a slowdown from last year’s 21% rate. Much ...