HTC acquires Dashwire for $18.5 million

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC this morning announced that it has agreed to acquire, through its HTC America Holding unit, 100% of Seattle-based mobile-web connected services company Dashwire for a maximum purchase price of $18.5 million to boost its HTCSense.com mobile cloud services offering.

Dashwire offers a range of consumer, social and device management software services for mobile operators, device makers and retailers. The company’s platform is available for Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian and BlackBerry.

On its website, Dashwire says it is backed by investors who ‘built the wireless and technology industries’ at McCaw Cellular, Western Wireless, Voicestream, Nextel, China Unicom, and Microsoft.

Another investor is Best Buy Capital, the retail giant’s investment arm.

At the end of last year, Dashwire raised $1 million in debt financing.

The company was founded by CEO Ford Davidson, a former Product Manager in the Mobile Devices group at Microsoft. Dashwire’s CTO, James Prudente, helped build critical elements of Amazon’s web operation in its early days, and also helped create the Amazon Mobile group.

Nokia's New World record

What's better than filming one of the worlds smallest stop motion animated videos on your Nokia N8 — and setting a Guinness World Record? Setting a news World Record for the BIGGEST stop animation film on your Nokia N8.

Posted yesterday, and already attracting more than 100,000 views in its first 24 hours, is the record breaking largest stop animation movie to date — all filmed with just a Nokia N8 smartphone.

The video, above, was shot on location at Pendine Beach in South Wales. Boasting a 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics, the N8 sets the record of "the largest stop-motion animation set" with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square feet. "Gulp," the film's title, was animated by Sumo Science at Aardman, the same animators who did the smaller animation, and sand artists from Sand in Your Eye.
The video features a fisherman on his journey at sea, as he catches fish, and gets eaten then spat out by a giant sea creature. Check out the "making of video" here.



Nokia isn't the only company using stop-motion animation, though the only to break a world record.  Stop-motion may be an old style of animating, but it sure isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Recent stop-motion successes? Ben and Jerry's new commercials, and KIA's first ever stop-motion animation all done on fingernails, put up in June.

Five new BlackBerry models released by RIM

 In its biggest ever global launch of smart phones, Research In Motion (RIM) on Wednesday unveiled five new BlackBerry models running on its new BlackBerry 7 Operating System (OS).

The new smart phones include two new BlackBerry Bold models and three new BlackBerry Torch models.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 will be the thinnest smart phones ever and introduce an all-new, all-touch design featuring the largest display on a BlackBerry smartphone to date.

"This is the largest global launch of BlackBerry smart phones in our history," RIM president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said at the RIM headquarters at Waterloo near Toronto.

With its aging handsets contributing to massive decline in its market share in North America, RIM said it was rolling out the new devices in conjunction with 225 wireless carriers globally.

The announcement by the top Canadian technology company comes at a time when the it faces declining market share, shrinking revenue and profit warnings.

The company has sunk from top to the third spot in the US smart phone market in a matter of months under onslaught from Apple's iPhone and Google Android devices.

Its stock has sunk more than 60 percent this year, currently trading at about $24 - the lowest in six years.

Huawei on cloud too

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No. 2 network equipment maker, launched its cloud computing smartphones on Wednesday, looking to ride a mobile industry boom that drove a 64 percent sales rise in its devices unit in the first half.

The company , known for its low-cost cellphones, is betting its new model will help it replicate its telecom gear success in the booming smartphone market and take on the likes of Nokia , Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics

. Huawei's Cloud+ platform will allow users to store music, video, pictures, email and some other applications on its remote servers and access them via the Internet through their smartphones.

"We are targeting at what we call the young social networkers for this smartphone," Victor Xu, chief strategy and marketing officer for Huawei Device, told reporters in Beijing at the launch of its "Vision" smartphones.

Huawei is targeting 2011 shipments of more than one million units of the smartphone, which comes with the blockbuster Angry Birds game pre-installed.

Company executives declined to provide any details of the pricing but said that the smartphone would not sell for less than 2,000 yuan ($305). Apple's iPhone 4 sells for 4,999 yuan or $762 in China.

Cloud computing smartphones will allow users to download applications without needing much storage space on their devices.

Huawei follows Apple in pushing ahead the fast-growing new consumer market after the U.S. company unveiled its Web-based iCloud service in June.

Founded in 1987, Huawei has grown rapidly. The company, which employs more than 110,000 people, reported revenue of $28 billion last year and aims to boost revenue to $100 billion in the next 10 years.

It has been selling its cellphones in markets from Australia to Kenya, but China, home to more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers, is emerging as the goldmine for global companies.

Last month, Apple said the maker of the iPhone and iPad was merely "scratching the surface" in China. Apple is set to exponentially grow its China business as the country's biggest telecom telecom operators jostle to stitch up deals to sell iPhones.

China's Alibaba Group has launched its first self-developed mobile operating system and smartphone running on its cloud computing-based operating system.

Huawei's new 9.9-mm, 121-g phone runs on Google's Android 2.3 operating system and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip.

Cloud based services are gaining momentum, but many experts have warned companies against putting too much faith in these services due concerns about security and privacy of data.

This year, Sony Corp was battered by a data breach that compromised the personal data of more than 100 million customers of the Japanese electronics conglomerate.

On Wednesday, security experts discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

Huawei's U.S. expansion plans in the network equipment sector have hit roadblocks on suspicions the company maintains links with China's military.

Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's low-profile founder who started the company with just 21,000 yuan ($3,200), served in the People's Liberation Army until 1983.

The company has repeatedly denied any links with China's military or government.

S&P downgrades Nokia

Standard and Poor's on Tuesday became the latest ratings agency to downgrade mobile phone giant Nokia's rating, blaming the Finnish company's dismal sales and difficult strategic transition.

S&P cut Nokia's long-term corporate credit rating to BBB from BBB+.

"The rating actions reflect the continued erosion of Nokia's smartphone market shares," S&P credit analyst Matthias Raab said in a statement, adding that a revised assessment of the company's operating margins also pushed the rating down.

Raab said S&P might lower Nokia's rating even further this year if there is no improvement in the mobile phone unit's operating margins in the next six to nine months.

In March, S&P's rating for Nokia stood at A but like other ratings agencies, it reevaluated Nokia's fortunes following a radical strategic shift announced at the beginning of the year.

In February, chief executive Stephen Elop said the company would abandon its Symbian platform, once touted as the future of smartphones, and instead adopt the Microsoft Windows Phone platform in a risky partnership.

With the first Microsoft-Nokia phones not expected to ship until 2012, Nokia's shares have plummeted.

Raab said he expected the lower ratings to remain at least until "Nokia has completed the adoption of Microsoft's Windows Phone as its new primary software platform for smartphones."

S&P's action comes almost two weeks after Nokia reported a dismal 368-million-euro ($520.5-million) net loss for the second quarter, with sales down 7.3 percent.

Nokia refused to give any third-quarter guidance but analysts expect the slide to continue.

"We expect the revenues of Nokia's Devices and Services segment to decline by about 20 percent in 2011 but to recover by 2013 to the level reported in fiscal 2010," S&P said.

Since February's shake-up, ratings agency Fitch has downgraded Nokia's short and long-term ratings with a negative outlook and Moody's docked its rating by two notches, also with a negative outlook.

Xoom's wi-fi debacle

Since it was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show last January, the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Xoom tablet has been hailed as the strongest challenge yet to Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad.

However, it faces two possible obstacles to widespread acceptance: Its price, and its lack of a WiFi-only version.

Motorola Xoom
The Xoom has both 3G and WiFi capabilities, and it's offered at a price of US$800 without a carrier contract. It can be had for $600 if the buyer signs a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless for data services.

Apple, on the other hand, offers iPads with or without 3G capabilities. Prices for the latter range from $500 to $700, and for the former from $630 to $830.

So for buyers who want a WiFi-only model and don't want to incur the cost of 3G communications, the advantage is to Apple, at least for now. But more on that later.


 
The Unbearable Lightness of Lacking WiFi-Only Models

What about consumers who only want a tablet with WiFi and don't care to rack up charges for cellular data use? What proportion of tablet buyers want the WiFi feature only?

"About a third of iPad buyers got the 3G model, but only about one third of them turned 3G on," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "They bought the 3G capability as insurance since you can't add it later."

Only about 10 percent of iPad buyers turn on the 3G service, Enderle said, adding that purchasers of the Samsung Galaxy Tablet were in line with this trend.

In other words, quite a few people buy the iPad only for its WiFi capabilities. Customers who desire the same thing from Xoom would have to choose between paying a monthly bill for something they don't really want or paying top dollar for hardware they don't need -- the embedded cellular data chip.

So what's Motorola going to do about this?

"We have not yet announced a WiFi-only Motorola Xoom for the U.S. market, but did announce that they would be coming to the Europe market in Q2," Motorola Mobility spokesperson Kira Golin told TechNewsWorld. She declined to discuss whether or not a WiFi-only version of the Xoom will be offered in the United States.

The 3G or Not to 3G?

On the other hand, perhaps a SKU with WiFi-only is overrated as a consumer draw.

"ABI Research estimates that only one in three U.S. homes have WiFi home networking," Jeff Orr, a senior practice director at ABI Research told TechNewsWorld. "This limits the opportunity for media tablets that rely upon WiFi or require a mobile broadband modem for basic connectivity to the Internet."

However, the majority of media tablets sold in 2010 only had WiFi support, although a few vendors, including Samsung, offered only models with 3G connectivity, Orr pointed out.

"Given the introduction of tens of new products in 2011, most manufacturers will differentiate by price, and value-add features that increase costs such as 3G, 4G, GPS and rugged enclosures, will be the first to go," Orr predicted. "In January, Samsung announced plans to introduce a WiFi-only version of its Galaxy Tab tablet, while even more companies are coming to market with only WiFi support."

That's the exact opposite of what Strategy Analytics Associate Director Martin Bradley sees.

"Our expectation is that the trend will be towards increasing adoption of cellular-capable devices, and consumer demand for wide-area usage will naturally increase," Bradley told TechNewsWorld. "We believe around 50 percent of users in developed markets are content with WiFi-only devices, but the trend is downwards."

MOT in the WiFi User's Eye

Perhaps Motorola's decision relates to its marketing  strategy. After all, the Xoom, as it's now designed, gives buyers the choice whether or not to use cellular data. If consumers are buying iPads with both 3G and WiFi capabilities to ensure they won't lose out on 3G, why shouldn't Motorola offer its Xoom to support both connectivity protocols?

"Motorola may be targeting an audience that expects mobility and isn't primarily using the tablet in and around the home," ABI Research's Orr speculated. "A mobile Internet tablet, designed to augment current usage habits for both laptops and smartphones, will include features and services tailored for on-the-go applications."

It's likely that Motorola is targeting mobile professionals and that a WiFi-only media tablet does not match this strategy, Orr pointed out. "The 3G-enabled Xoom is intended to address a specific market opportunity for prosumers and business professionals who want an Android-based tablet for applications that replace currently performing functions on a smartphone and/or a laptop today," he elaborated.

Money Talks -- but Listen Closely

The Xoom's price could prove to be a major issue for consumers. At $800 it's only $30 cheaper than the top-of-the-line 64GB iPad, which offers both 3G and WiFi.

"The Xoom's pricing is clearly at the high end of the range of current devices," Strategy Analytics' Bradley pointed out. "It's positioned as a market leader in the new wave of Android devices and runs the latest Android Honeycomb operating system."

"It's hard to price above Apple successfully, given folks think of them as a premium brand," Enderle said.

"Where are the $200 Android tablets everyone was talking about?" asked Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo.

However, the high cost of the Motorola Xoom may be based more on perception than on reality.

The Xoom is more capable than the current iPad, Enderle contended. "With an Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) Tegra2 dual-core processor and being upgradable to 4G LTE in a couple of months via a software patch, it has a much faster processor," he elaborated. "It's closer to what we think the iPad 2 will be."

On the other hand, the iPad 2 is expected to be announced March 2, and we'll then see whether Apple will price that device competitively with the Xoom.

Until then, it's not clear whether Motorola's holding off on offering a WiFi-only Xoom tablet in the United States is a canny marketing move -- or quite the opposite.

Samsung Ahead of Apple & Nokia in smartphones

Samsung Electronics, maker of the Galaxy mobile phone, may have surpassedNokia and Apple in smartphone sales for the first time on demand for devices that run on Android software, a research company said.

Samsung is estimated to have sold between 18 million and 21 millionsmartphones globally in the April-June quarter, compared with 16.7 million for Nokia and 20.3 million iPhones, Neil Mawston, a London-based analyst at Strategy Analytics, a research company based in Boston, said in an e-mailed response to questions on July 22. The data exclude tablet-computer sales.

The estimates show Google's Android is gaining ground on Apple in smartphones as Nokia, which is turning toMicrosoft for software support, struggles to keep up with the pace. Samsung, which also produces low-end phones that aren't capable of downloading applications, has said it aims to more than double sales of high-end devices this year.

"Samsung's Android portfolio is selling strongly in most regions," said Mawston. "Samsung stands a reasonable chance of capturing the top spot on a quarterly basis if it can continue expanding its Android portfolio across high-growth markets like China and Brazil.Samsung and Apple will be at similar levels in smartphones by the end of the year."

Catching Nokia 

Including basic phones, Samsung will probably have a 20% share this year, compared with Nokia's 26%, closing the gap between the world's two largest handset makers to the narrowest ever, he said. Samsung wasn't immediately able to verify the figures, said Nam Ki Yung, a Seoul-based spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea- based company. Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple, declined to comment.

Cherry Gong, a Nokia spokeswoman in China, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Samsung fell 0.4% to 847,000 won at the 3:00 p.m. close in Seoul, while South Korea's benchmark Kospi index lost 1%. The shares have declined 11% this year.

Samsung's global smartphone sales had lagged behind Nokia, Apple andResearch in Motion in the first quarter, according to researcher International Data Corp. The South Korean company's sales are accelerating after it began selling the Galaxy S II, a successor to its best-selling Android device introduced last year to counter Apple.

New Galaxy 


Samsung planned to roll out the model in 120 countries through 140 operators from May, the company said in April. The latest Galaxy handset went on sale last week in five cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai, as the company seeks to make a push into the world's largest market for mobile phones.

The latest 4.27-inch Galaxy phone, unveiled in February, helped Samsung more than double operating profit at its mobile phone business in the second quarter, say five analysts polled by Bloomberg News. Apple reported net income that beat estimates on July 19, lifted by record sales of iPhones andiPads. Nokia reported its first quarterly loss since 2009 as the Finnish company struggles to sell handsets based on its Symbian software.

Super Batteries

Imagine charging your iPhone or mobile in a few seconds. Well, your imagination may someday turn into a reality, say scientists who claim to be working on "super batteries" which not only recharge in just seconds, but also have an almost indefinite lifespan.
A team, led by Dan Li of Monash University, says that a combination of two ordinary materials -- graphite and water -- could help produce such "super batteries" which perform on par with lithium ion batteries.
The scientists are, in fact, working with a material called graphene which may form the basis of the next generation of ultrafast energy storage systems, the 'Advanced Materials' journal reported.
"Once we can properly manipulate this material, your iPhone, for example, could charge in a few seconds, or possibly faster," said Li.
Graphene is the result of breaking down graphite, a cheap, readily available material commonly used in pencils, into layers one atom thick. It is strong, chemically stable, an excellent conductor of electricity and, importantly, has an extremely high surface area.
Li said these qualities make graphene highly suitable for energy storage applications.
"The reason graphene isn't being used everywhere is that these very thin sheets, when stacked into a usable macrostructure, immediately bond together, reforming graphite.
When graphene restacks, most of surface area is lost and it doesn't behave like graphene anymore," he said.The team has discovered the key to maintaining the remarkable properties of separate graphene sheets -- water.
Keeping graphene moist -- in gel form -- provides repulsive forces between the sheets and prevents re-stacking, making it ready for real-world application, say the scientists.
"The technique is very simple and can easily be scaled up. When we discovered it, we thought it was unbelievable. We're taking two basic, inexpensive materials -- water and graphite -- and making this new nanomaterial with amazing properties," said Li.
When used in energy devices, graphene gel significantly outperforms current carbon-based technology, both in terms of the amount of charge stored and how fast the charges can be delivered.
Li said the benefits of developing this nanotechnology extended beyond consumer electronics.
"High-speed, reliable and cost-effective energy storage systems are critical for the future viability of electricity from renewable resources. These systems are also the key to largescale adoption of electrical vehicles.Graphene gel is also showing promise for use in water purification membranes, biomedical devices and sensors," he said.

Nokia lost its throne to Apple

Mobile phone maker Nokia Corp on Thursday posted a loss of 368 million ($523 million) in the second quarter and for the first time was overtaken by Apple's iPhone in smartphone shipments.

Nokia, which posted a profit of 227 million in the same period in 2010, said revenue fell 7% to 9.3 billion from 10 billion last year.

It shipped 88.5 million mobile devices in April through June, down from 111 million a year ago and 108.5 million in the previous quarter.

Its smartphone volumes fell to 16.7 million units, which means Nokia is no longer No. 1 in the smartphone sector. Apple Inc sold more than 20 million iPhones in the same quarter, lifting its net income to a stronger-than-expected $7.31 billion.

"The challenges we are facing during our strategic transformation manifested in a greater than expected way" during the quarter, CEO Stephen Elop said. "However, even within the quarter, I believe our actions to mitigate the impact of these challenges have started to have a positive impact on the underlying health of our business."

Nokia's share was up 3% at 4.21 on the Helsinki Stock Exchange immediately after the report.

Nokia said it was accelerating its cost-cutting plan to exceed the previously targeted savings of 1 billion in 2013. The reductions would be achieved through cuts in staff and outsourced professionals, facility costs "and various improvements in efficiencies", the company said.

While that could improve the company's finances, Nokia needs to take quick action to develop new products or it will continue to lose ground to its rivals, said Neil Mawston of London-based Strategy Analytics . He expects Samsung to also surpass Nokia in smartphones when it releases its second-quarter earnings next week.

Nokia's global market share dropped below 30% earlier this year for the first time in over a decade.

Nokia rebrands its map service

Back in May, Nokia announced that it will start in July/August to rebrand its first Ovi services as Nokia services which basically means that each of the services under the Ovi umbrella will simply be rebranded as Nokia - with no planned disruption to the service roadmaps. Today, Nokia Germany announced that its Ovi Maps is now known as Nokia Maps. The transition from Ovi to Nokia began in July this year, with the intention of it being completed across all countries and all services by the end of 2012. It's likely that anybody buying a new Nokia smartphone or mobile phone later this year will start to see the new branding on services included within.

It's expected that Nokia made this decision after it joined Microsoft to focus on Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Ovi was very much aligned to Nokia's Symbian devices while Nokia's Windows Phone devices will use Bing services like Bing Maps. However, it's also expected that Nokia will contribute to Bing, for instance its maps coverage is far better than Bing Maps (especially here in Europe) and therefore it makes much sense to continue with a single-brand strategy under the Nokia umbrella; especially since the Nokia brand by itself is so strong and trusted while Ovi is widely unknown.

HTC status smartphone : Now in market

The HTC Status smartphone has finally arrived at the AT&T and is selling for under $400 (excluding any taxes) without a contract and for under $50 (excluding any fees) with a 2 year agreement.

But the big question is Does this phone really have any market value more-so when Facebook's market share is constantly on decline and there is a big threat from Google+. In this kind of uncertainty whether Facebook would able to survive this difficult phase or not is still a big question, this phone is certainly not the best option for the networking users.

The mobile device with the blue button for accessing Facebook has hit the shelves of select retailers.Best Buy will be offering an exclusive color for the social mobile device. With the special Facebook share button the user will have one touch access to the social site.
The Status by HTC will offer the user the convenience, ease-of-use and depth of HTC Sense user interface when using the device in addition to connectivity of Facebook. As part of an extended selection of six innovative  gadgets that were introduced at the Mobile World Congress, the HTC  Status was introduced as the HTC ChaCha. The mobile gadget features a dedicated Facebook button intended for one-touch access to the key capabilities of the Facebook service that are bundled through the HTC Sense experience.
The Facebook button on HTC Status  is context-aware, lightly pulsing with light anytime there is an opportunity to discuss subject matter or updates via Facebook. With a solitary touch of the button, you’ll be able to update your current status, upload a picture, promote a Website, post what tune you happen to be listening to, ‘check in’ to a location and much more.
The HTC Status runs on Android Gingerbread 2. 3. 3, the most recent version, and utilize the most current version of HTC Sense to combine Facebook throughout the HTC Sense encounter. While you make a phone call, the dialer display shows your friend’s most current status and pics, and also lets you know in the event his or her birthday is drawing near.

The same updates can be shown when you get a call coming from a Facebook friend. You can also use your phone’s existing contacts to help you connect with them on Facebook or personalize your handset further with a number of new, Facebook-branded widgets.

Music apps for iPhone

The great thing about the iPhone is that while it is an extraordinary phone with some extraordinary features, there are also an umpteen number of super cool third party apps available which can help you do just about anything you can imagine with your iPhone.
This list discusses some of the coolest and mind-boggling music apps that can turn your iPhone into a powerhouse of music. Ranging from apps which stream radio stations to apps which can convert your iPhone into a flute or piano, we've got them all covered.

1. Last.fm

     DOWNLOAD


Last.fm, the immensely popular social music site is on the iPhone too. The Last.fm iPhone app lets you access your Last.fm account on the iPhone and listen to your favorite tracks. You can get the music recommendations according to your taste, add tracks to your playlist, purchase tracks directly from iTunes, tag the tracks, share them with the Last.fm community and much more. Certainly offers great features at a great price - $0.


2. Pandora

            DOWNLOAD


The Pandora iPhone app is the iPhone version of the free personalized radio which is completely integrated with your web based Pandora account. It is easy to use and offers all the Pandora features. You can create a station from the current song or artist, tap the album art to get more information, email the station to a friend, bookmark songs and artists, buy tracks from iTunes and get a nice view in the landscape mode by rotating your iPhone.


3. Shazam

         DOWNLOAD


Shazam is an innovative iPhone app that cures your " What was that song ? " problem. It happens to all of us, isn't it. We hear a song, love it, know we have heard it before but just can't recall it. With Shazam you don't need to. Just hold your iPhone near the speakers of the device playing that music. Through iPhone's microphone Shazam gets hold of that song and identifies the album, artist and song title for you. Cool, isn't it ? Oh, and it's free too.


4. Ocarina

        DOWNLOAD

Ocarina makes one of the most unique uses of iPhone's and iPod touch's touchscreen by turning it into a flute which you can play with your fingers. You can blow into the mic and tap the four virtual holes on the screen, all of which give a cool experience of playing a real flute ( atleast to those who have never touched a flute ). In fact users of the Ocarina community can hear what you are playing in the globe mode. The cost of the app - $0.99.


5. Slacker

        DOWNLOAD

Slacker gives you access to unlimited free music on your iPhone. It is easy to use and has an elegant user interface. It can stream music from millions of songs from a huge number of artists in its library. You could also listen to over 100 expert programmed radio stations or create your own custom station. The sound quality is great and it certainly emerges as a tough competitor for Pandora. It's free to download.

Android's milestone

Google can rejoice, as its Android mobile OS is now active on over 130 million devices with 5,50,000 devices activated every day.

Just two months ago, Google announced that it has crossed the 100 million devices activated milestone with over 4,00,000 devices activated daily. But all is not well for the little green robot as Apple still holds the numero uno position with 200 million iOS device activated as on June 2011.

Although there are other mobile operating systems in the market like HP's Web OS on the TouchPad, RIM's OS on the PlayBook and BlackBerry devices and Windows Phone 7 on Microsoft's mobile handsets,

Google's Android seems to be the only OS that can give Apple a run for its money. In the past two years, the Android OS has brought handset manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Dell and even the like of Micromax on consumers radar as these manufacturers not only deliver quality handsets at affordable rates but deliver a great Android experience as well.

As of June 2011, Apple is still the king of the apps with 4,25,000 apps available to users in the Apps store. In this respect Android isn't even close to Apple as it has 2,50,000 apps in the Marketplace available for users to download.Apple has seen over 15 billion apps downloaded from its app store were as Android lags behind with 6 billion app downloaded.

Android Business Application

Android, the mobile operating system by Google has a major dominance over the mobile OS market. Its "app store" is still in expansion mode. Here is a list of 5 basic and essential Android applications which would be great support for managing business.


CONTACT PLUS
Now manage you contacts according to you profile. Contact Plus is the app for you to create the company list and find contacts. It has useful features, Contacts list, Group list, Company list(Organization), Change font size and Change sort view. Contact Plus app support different language, English, Hangul(Korea), Czech, Swedish (just sort).

OPEN OFFICE DOCUMENT READER
The Open Office Document Reader to view your documents created using Open Office or Libre Office on the go.Simple, fast, lightweight and well-integrated. Use almost any app to view your .odt-files and .ods-files on Android, including GMail, Box.net, Dropbox, ZumoDrive, File Expert, ODF / OpenDocument, EStrongs File Explorer and many more and provide you the features, zoom, copy text, formatting, image support, built-in file chooser, spreadsheet support.

CURRENCY  CONVERTER
Working from abroad and confused about the money earn from there n want to convert according to currency of your country here is the solution for you while using Android mobile. Currency Converter is the app, which convert and calculate the currency with Real-time update rates. It can convert USD,EUR,AUD,BGN,BRL, CAD,CHF,CNY,CZK,DKK,EEK,GBP,HKD,HRK,HUF,IDR,INR,JPY,KRW,LTL,LVL, MXN,MYR,NOK,NZD,PHP,PLN,RON,RUB,SEK,SGD,THB,TRY,ZAR.

ADAO  TASK MANAGER
Worried  about your Android phone’s battery backup and performance. Here is the app for your phone, Adao Task Manager which kills the tasks running back hand on your phone. it provide you features, Simple,quick,easy to use, Ignore list to exclude apps, Auto kill apps after screen off, one-click kill widget and even ignore alarm clock to save battery,kill task,free memory,speed up phone.

OPEN MANAGER
Open manager is the app to manage your Android phone’s files and applications. With this app you can copy/paste, cut/paste, delete/rename, multi-select, search, (un)zip files, attach files to email, install applications, backup your applications, view running processes and more.

Nokia - Microsoft collaboration

The worldwide leader in software and the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer have entered into an alliance that is set to deliver a groundbreaking, enterprise-grade solution for mobile productivity. Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Nokia’s Executive Vice President for Devices Kai Öistämö announced the agreement, outlining a shared vision for the future of mobile productivity. This is the first time that either company has embarked on an alliance of this scope and nature.


Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will begin collaborating immediately on the design, development and marketing of productivity solutions for the mobile professional, bringing Microsoft Office Mobile and Microsoft business communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokia’s Symbian devices. These solutions will be available for a broad range of Nokia smartphones starting with the company’s business-optimized range, Nokia Eseries. The two companies will also market these solutions to businesses, carriers and individuals.

Windows enabled Nokia E-series

Both Microsoft Corp. and Nokia possess a rare combination of enterprise experience and consumer understanding and, in addition to the collaboration on existing software and services, will use these assets to jointly design a range of new user experiences for future Nokia devices. These experiences will be identified together, and will be created by dedicated teams inside both companies to better meet the growing needs of the mobile professional.

“With more than 200 million smartphone customers globally, Nokia is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer and a natural partner for us,” said Elop. “Today’s announcement will enable us to expand Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia smartphone owners worldwide and allow them to collaborate on Office documents from anywhere, as part of our strategy to provide the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser.”

“If you are going to provide a seamless and integrated productivity experience on a mobile device, Microsoft is an ideal partner,” said Öistämö. “Together with Microsoft, we will develop new and innovative user experiences for employees of small and large businesses alike, ensuring Nokia’s smartphones are an integral part of the office and home-office environment, and addressing the significant opportunity in mobile enterprise productivity.”

This announcement builds on the existing work Nokia is doing by optimizing access to e-mail and other personal information with Exchange ActiveSync. Next year, Nokia intends to start shipping Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile on its smartphones, followed by other Office applications and related software and services in the future. These will include:

Microsoft Business Division President
Stephen Elop and
Nokia Executive Vice President Kai Öistämö

The ability to view, edit, create and share Office documents on more devices in more places with mobile-optimized versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft OneNote

Enterprise instant messaging and presence, and optimized conferencing and collaboration experience with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile

Mobile access to intranet and extranet portals built on Microsoft SharePoint Server

Enterprise device management with Microsoft System Center
“Having these two major players cooperating at this level will help us continue to meet our customers’ needs and reinforces our future business mobility strategy,” said Diane Sanchez, head of Telefonica USA.

“The scope of the alliance between Microsoft and Nokia, and potential value for the enterprise and individual is significant,” said Stephen Drake, VP of Mobility & Telecom at IDC. “By bringing Microsoft’s productivity solutions to Nokia’s large customer base, the two companies should be better able to serve the needs of the growing mobile worker population, which IDC estimates to reach 1 billion worldwide in 2011.”