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Around SPE for 16 February, 2009
Overview
With our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn off in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the inmates site editors are left running Around SPE this week. So, while he'll be breaking news and giving us some hands-on observations on all the new software and hardware on display, we'll be keeping you covered here at home, starting with a quick recap of where we are right now:
In the world of BlackBerry, T-Mobile customers were happy to see the official roll out of the next-generation BlackBerry Curve 8900 this week. With AT&T said to be dropping support for 2G phones, there has been some worry that this new Curve wouldn't come to AT&T, but with the 8900 SKU now showing up on AT&T systems, it's likely the device will launch there in the next month.
The BIG news this week comes from the CrackBerry Podcast. Kevin was in NYC on for a RIM Business Solutions Press Preview. While there, he and Craig recorded a podcast, and for the first time had an employee from Research in Motion on the show. Joined by Mike Kirkup, Manager of Developer Relations, they tackle a bunch of topics from the upcoming App Store to OS 5.0 and whether or not Flash support will appear in a BlackBerry browser and more! Listen Here.
More after the break!
This week Android Central reported that Android Market was leaving beta and finally receiving paid applications. Hopefully we'll see even more amazing applications such as this recently announced TeleNav turn-by-turn GPS application.
We also wondered why Google would comply with Apple's request to leave multi-touch out of the G1. Hint: It has something to do with maintaining a great relationship with Apple. Read: Google still wants to play nice with Apple to get iPhone eyes on Google AdSense.
News was a bit slow this week as everyone in the mobile space waits for big announcements from Mobile World Congress next week, including some announcements about devices and services from Nokia. We are in our third week of the the launch contest so make sure to get your entry in and look for week four's entry task. Great input and information is coming in from the contest entries. Also, check out our SBSH Reminders giveaway for a chance to win a free registration code.
Some topics of interest this week on Nokia Experts includes the amazing Nokia Maps 3.0 beta update, Nokia 5800 firmware update, Nokia E63 availability in the US for just $279, and the announcement of the Nokia 5630 with 600 MHz processor.
Over at PreCentral this week, we learned that Bell Canada will be launching the Palm Pre. We heard conflicting launch dates of late Q2 or early Q3 and also the end of Q3-Q4.
We also had more Touchstone details to emerge when Adam Kaufman, a Product Manager at Palm started answering questions on Facebook. Plus, many people are wondering if the Palm Pre made an appearance on the TV show "Knight Rider".
Is this the first glimpse of the 3rd Gen iPhone? Looks pretty much the same as the iPhone 3G, but then Apple brass re-affirmed that the iPhone market is strong, and they won't be diluting it with an iPhone nano or keyboard slider any time soon. What with 20,000 Apps in the store, and the iPhone and the iPod touch now owning 51% of the mobile browser space... and growing, who can blame them?
Maybe jailbreakers, as the EFF asking the US government to grant it an exemption from the DMCA has Apple declaring jailbreaking illegal. (Oops, we just jailbroke live for xGPS on the last podcast!). Lastly, Google gave us Spreadsheet editing, but did Apple deny the Android multi-touch and... a 3.5mm headphone jack?!
This week when Ed Colligan spoke to investors at the Thomas Weisel Partners Technology, Telecom & Internet Conference, he announced that there will be no more PalmOS devices released by Palm (excepting the Centro getting released on other carriers) as they're focused on WebOS and Windows Mobile. He also said that not only will Palm have an app store when the Pre launches, but Palm isn't locking down the device so you can only install apps from their app store.
We also learned this week that the Sprint Treo Pro is now targeted for a March 15th launch, and that some Sprint stores are now getting re-stocked with new Treo Pro's with the new ROM on board. And even though the Sprint Treo Pro is delayed, it was great to hear that Palm's stock has neared double-digits.
It's been the calm before the storm over at WMExperts while we wait for Mobile World Congress to get under way, but that doesn't mean it was a quiet week. We saw more information surface on Windows Mobile 6.5 including a new video, an updated version of Skyfire Beta released while Opera Mobile plans to go turbo. Google offered up contact and calendar sync and brought public-domain books to mobile devices. Mozilla's Fennec mobile browser hit pre-alpha, and we got a sit-down with developer Brad Lassey. On the hardware side, new Windows Mobile devices were spotted from Garmin-Asus, Gigabyte, as well as the "Hummer" of Windows Mobile Devices from I-Mate.
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