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New Media News Every Morning

Android, iOS Prepaid War May Squeeze Out Rivals

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When rumors first emerged that Blackberry was embracing Android Market, many (including yours truly) were perplexed why RIM would even consider making a move that would potentially starve out their own app store.

Although RIM has yet to confirm or deny their embrace of Android (note: RIM is courting Android upon their Playbook tablet), doing so might ensure the companies survival in light of what Apple plans on doing with the iPhone in the future. [Read more…]

Originally posted on February 28, 2011 @ 4:04 pm

Bing! Steals The Silver From Yahoo!

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Truth be told Bing! already defeated Yahoo! last year as Microsoft now power’s Yahoo!’s search engine (at least in the US).

However as far as global domination goes, it looks like Bing! just stole the silver from Yahoo! (at least according to one stat company).

Its research arm StatCounter Global Stats finds that globally Bing reached 4.37% in February ahead of Yahoo! at 3.93%. Both trail far behind Google’s 89.94% of the global search engine market.

In the United States Yahoo! at 9.74% still retains its lead over Bing at 9.03%. Google’s share in the US is 79.63%. In July 2009 Microsoft announced an agreement whereby Bing would power the Yahoo! search technology. This has been implemented in the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Mexico. (StatCounter Global Stats).

Microsoft has made some impressive strides in their attempt to steal the gold from Google, including partnering with Facebook as well as launching some humorous commercials on TV to raise awareness of Microsoft’s “decision engine.”

While it’s only a matter of time before more searches in the US are done through Bing.com than Yahoo.com, Microsoft has a long ways to go before they can catch up to Google in the US (as well as globally as well).

Originally posted on March 1, 2011 @ 2:46 pm

Android: Xoom Inheriting Flash, But It’s Still Buggy?

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Android tablet lovers will be pleased to hear that Motorola’s Xoom will finally gain the ability to watch Flash videos this month, a feature that is eternally absent from their rival.

Unfortunately it seems that instead of a finished product, consumers may instead receive something that is still “slightly” buggy.

Adobe has just announced that Flash Player 10.2 will be available to download from the Android Market on Friday, March 18.

It’s actually only a beta release for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets, which will also require Google’s 3.0.1 system update. However, it’s at least a full-fledged upgrade for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) systems. (ZDnet)

Although most geeks probably do not mind a few bugs for the ability to view the entire web, consumers may not be as forgiving with semi-frequent errors while “beta testing” flash upon the Xoom.

While the Xoom is one of the few tablets available that can challenge iPad 2 (at least on paper via specs), Google along with OEM’s need to release mature products to the masses lest they create a bitter taste for new customers.

Hopefully Google, Motorola and Adobe are able to work out all of the bugs out of the beta quickly before the market becomes saturated with tablets running iOS.

Originally posted on March 11, 2011 @ 2:23 pm

Needed: Windows Phone 7, Minus The Phone

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After wooing developers and convincing Nokia to ditch MeeGo for Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has proven that the company still has relevance in the new mobile world that the masses are embracing.

While Windows Phone 7 will probably steal the bronze away from Blackberry (at least as far as apps are concerned), in order to challenge both Android and iOS, Microsoft will need to rethink its approach to mobile.

Instead of trying to challenge iPad 2 and end up fighting for second place, Microsoft should instead try to make another stab at the mp3 market by releasing a WP7 device minus the phone. [Read more…]

Originally posted on March 17, 2011 @ 4:27 pm

Verizon iPhone Not Recommended By Consumer Reports?

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Apple probably won’t be pleased that Consumer Reports is once again recommending that users avoid buying a shiny new iPhone 4, this time upon Verizon’s network.

As they explain in video below, the Verizon iPhone apparently suffers from the same death grip that AT&T’s suffered from (which isn’t surprising as the only major difference between the two is the radio chip inside). [Read more…]

Originally posted on February 25, 2011 @ 5:21 pm