Microsoft believes its Windows Phone operating system will help the software giant push past Apple in China’s smartphone market, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Passing Apple is an “interim goal” for the company, as the longer-term objective is to surpass Google’s Android platform and become the local market leader, Microsoft’s chairman and chief executive officer for the Greater China region Simon Leung said. Read on for more. (more…)

Appcelerator, in conjunction with market research firm IDC, on Tuesday announced the results of a recent joint survey of 2,173 app developers from around the world. The report found that developers are more interested in Apple’s iOS platform than any other mobile operating system. 89% of respondents said that they were very interested in developing for the iPhone, and 88% were interested in the iPad. Google’s Android operating system, which was once neck-and-neck with iOS in terms of developer int...

Images of Microsoft’s next mobile operating system, Windows Phone “Tango,” were published on Wednesday, showing off a number of new features. Tango will reportedly feature the ability to export contacts to a SIM card, handle multiple attachments in a single MMS message and manage roaming both domestically and internationally, according to WP7forum. It is also rumored that Microsoft is building a native voice recording application for MMS messaging. The images suggest that the company will ...

Verizon Wireless covers 190 markets and 200 million people with the its 4G LTE network. It is the largest and most advanced 4G network in the United States, and possibly the world, no matter what other companies may claim. The carrier plans on going all in on LTE, having it become a “hard requirement” for future devices. Whether it is smartphones, tablet, or mobile hotspots, all future devices will feature 4G LTE connectivity. Read on for more. (more…)

Nokia took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show and announced the company’s first 4G LTE smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 900. The device features a 4.3-inch Clearblack AMOLED display and will launch exclusively on AT&T in black and cyan color options. Similar to the Lumia 800, 710, and Nokia N9, the Lumia 900 features a polycarbonate shell that Nokia calls both bold and beautiful. The device sports a 1.4GHz processor, 4G LTE connectivity, a 1830 mAh battery, 16GB of internal storage, 512MB of ...

With the Consumer Electronics Show just around the corner, savvy consumers are likely waiting before they commit to a new smartphone. The wait just became slightly more difficult, however, as T-Mobile on Tuesday announced a new sale that brings a number of solid deals to new and existing subscribers. The “New Year, New Phone” promotion will slash the price of all smartphones and offer them for $49.99 or less from Friday, January 6th through Sunday, January 8th. Each deal requires a mail-in reba...

Microsoft is reportedly testing a fix to a Windows Phone SMS security hole that was first discovered by Khaled Salameh earlier this month. “[Microsoft's] Security Team contacted me today, they’ve confirmed the WP7 SMS Bug and found the root cause, a fix is currently under testing,” Salameh tweeted on Wednesday. Here’s how the bug worked: one user could send a text message with a specific string of characters to a Windows Phone device that would automatically reboot the phone and then ...

Nokia plans to exit its low-end feature phone and Symbian smartphone businesses in North America following the launch of its first round of Windows Phones, Journal blog AllThingsD reports. Nokia has historically had a great deal of trouble placing smartphones with carriers here in the U.S., and the Finnish phone maker has subsequently not had much success penetrating the market. Moving forward, however, Nokia is betting the bank on smartphones in North America. ”When we launch Windows Phones we will e...

As a result of the newly inked deal between Microsoft and Nokia, the Redmond-based software giant hopes to eventually sell 100 million Windows Phone devices annually. “We have dreams and aspirations that we can get to 100 million units per year with that single deal,” Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner said during his presentation at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference on Wednesday. Following Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer’s earlier admission that Windows Phone sales ...

Microsoft showed off a number of new Windows Phone “Mango” devices during a Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference presentation on Tuesday. The unnamed devices were on stage during a Microsoft presentation, and were handled very briefly so the audience could get a quick look at them. Acer’s first Windows Phone was the first device to be displayed, followed by a pink waterproof offering from Fujitsu. ZTE also had a device on stage, but all eyes were locked on a Galaxy S II-like device from Sa...

ComScore issued its May report on mobile subscriber market share in the U.S. last week, and BGR noted that Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS grew more popular in the month, mostly at RIM’s expense. Perhaps equally as troubling as RIM’s continued slide, however, is Microsoft’s position with Windows Phone. As noted by winrumors, Microsoft’s share of the U.S. smartphone market has dropped a whopping 35% since it released its next-generation smartphone platform in November o...

Microsoft originally said that Rovio’s hit game Angry Birds would make its debut in May, but that date was later pushed until June 29th. That day is finally here and, as promised, the game is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Oddly enough, the title will cost gamers $2.99 — quite a price hike over the free ad-supported version available on Android, and even the $0.99 price tag for iOS devices. Worse yet, it doesn’t appear that Angry Birds Seasons — which is being updated every mo...

What a long, strange trip it’s been, and now it’s almost over. Nokia may not be done building and selling Symbian smartphones, but at least now it can wipe its hands of Symbian development as of October 2011. Nokia and Accenture on Wednesday announced that their deal to outsource Symbian software development and support is now finalized. About 2,800 Nokia employees will move to Accenture in October when the new arrangement takes effect. “Our collaboration with Accenture allows us to meet our ong...

Microsoft is currently offering Windows Phone handsets from three major U.S. carriers for just a penny each. Through the company’s online Microsoft Store, users can now purchase either Verizon Wireless’ HTC Trophy, Sprint’s HTC Arrive or T-Mobile’s HTC HD7 for just $0.01 alongside a 2-year contract with a smartphone data plan. While the HD7 is the oldest of the bunch, it’s still a wonderfully capable supersized smartphone that we enjoyed very much when we reviewed it last Novembe...