Interesting chart: The rise and fall of Windows Mobile
Silicon Alley Insider has posted their “Chart of the Day,” and it is very interesting how such a simple chart can show how so much has changed, in not a very long period of time.
For the three year period ended December 2009, Windows Mobile fell from over 35 percent smartphone market share to about 17 percent, losing incredible amounts of share to Apple, RIM, and although not pictured, Android.
Making the chart even more notable is the fact that Apple only has one device, the iPhone, whereas Windows Mobile can be the operating system for any number of mobile devices.
The figures are via ComScore, which is known for its accuracy.
Latest redsn0w beta brings back iPhone data tethering
IntoMobile is reporting that the latest beta of the redsn0w jailbreaking utility, version 0.9.3 has brought back iPhone 3G data tethering to jailbroken devices, even for those with OS 3.1.2.
The new redsn0w uses an IPCC tethering hack, one that was overridden by Apple recently, but it appears the cat-and-mouse game is back on.
The site posts a little how-to as well:
Okay, maybe a little guidance is in order here. For clarification, you’ll need the redsn0w 0.9.3 beta to get the IPCC tethering hack working again – find at the bottom of the page via the link above (or here). Once you’ve run redsn0w, you’ll have to download a custom IPCC file (carrier bundle), which tells your iPhone that you are allowed to tether on a given carrier.
1. Point your iPhone Safari browser here, and download an IPCC file that corresponds to your region and carrier.
2. Once downloaded, install the IPCC file and replace your existing carrier bundle.
3. Navigate to Settings > General > Network on your iPhone to enable tethering.
4. You now have tethering enabled on your iPhone 3G/3GS running iPhone OS 3.1.2!
Video Daily: HTC Sense with Flash 10.1 running on Nexus One
AndroidCentral has posted a video of the Google Nexus One running a new custom ROM that was ported from the HTC Desire. The new ROM has HTC Sense, and has Flash 10.1 support.
Future iPhone, iPads to include video chat support?
9-to-5Mac has reported an interesting finding today, showing off what seems to be pretty concrete proof that future iPhone OS products such as later model iPads or iPhones will include video chatting support.
Found tucked away in the 3.2 SDK, are a few icons relating to video calling, such as “decline or end video” and “accept video.”
There are also some video chat related strings, as pictured.
Of course it makes more sense that this may only be available for the iPad (which is expected to have a front facing camera) but future iPhones may get a second camera, it wouldn’t be that far out of the realm of possibility.
Vevo creating Boxee app, says CEO
Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff has stated that the company is currently developing an app that will bring music videos to your HDTV via the upcoming Boxee Box set-top box.
The company has distribution partners in YouTube and AOL, and is looking to continually expand.
Boxee, which is currently in beta, has said they have almost 1 million users that have downloaded the software, and that number is expected to continue growing.
Vevo is a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, using YouTube as a backend, and with financial support from AT&T and Abu Dhabi Media Co..
ITC agrees to investigate Apple’s patent complaint against Nokia
The United States International Trade Commission has agreed to investigate into the patent complaints filed by Apple against rival Nokia, in their ongoing litigation battle.
Starting last October, Nokia sued Apple over patents relating to technologies used in the iPhone. Apple then countersued, and eventually asked the ITC to step in. Apple is seeking an injunction on some Nokia products, and Nokia is looking for royalty payments, payments that will likely be in the hundreds of millions per year.
The ITC is already looking into Nokia’s claims.
Video Daily: Photoshop 1.0 running on iPhone
Attendees of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) have received a limited-edition Adobe Photoshop 1.0 app for their iPhones, a nostalgic throwback to the original program, which was released in 1990.
“I really wanted to do something special to commemorate 20 years of Photoshop, and the best thing I thought of was a nostalgic iPhone app,” says Russell Brown, Adobe’s Senior Creative Director, who was around for the original release of 1.0. “Since I had less than two weeks to make it happen, I came to the best iPhone team I knew, who were able to use their Corona SDK to pull it off with utmost speed and faithfulness to the original product.”
Sony Ericsson rejected opportunity to build Nexus One
According to Sony Ericsson president Bert Nordberg, the company rejected the opportunity to build the Google Nexus One, saying that it did not want to gain a reputation as a subcontractor. After SE turned down the offer, HTC gladly took the chance to manufacture the smartphone.
Although sales of the Nexus One have been rather small by most standards, HTC gained tons of publicity from the partnership, with their CEO given a few minutes to talk at the much-hyped Nexus One launch last month about his company and the brand itself.
Sony Ericsson has seen over $1 billion in losses over the past year, and continues to lose market share to rivals, leading to over 2000 layoffs.
Redbox to add Blu-ray releases in Q2
Redbox will begin adding Blu-ray titles to its 22,000 kiosks starting in the Q2 2010, says parent company Coinstar CEO Paul Davis.
So far, the company has been only testing Blu-ray releases in its kiosks.
“[Blu-ray] strengthens our position to meet consumer demand,” adds Davis, although he concedes that they will not cost $1.00 like DVD releases do. When asked about the price, he said they have not determined a price, but they will “for sure be higher than our standard DVDs.”
James Cameron announces DVD/Blu-ray date for ‘Avatar’
Director James Cameron has announced that his epic blockbuster hit Avatar will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in April, although the first version released will not be in 3D.
The original Cameron quote is as follows: “It’s all right on schedule. We’ll do the Blu-ray and the standard def DVD April 22nd, that’s our plan as of right now, and that’ll be pretty much bare bones. And then we’ll do a value-added DVD and a 3-D Blu-ray in I think November sometime.”
Fox however, has stated that the 3D version is not coming out in November. Says the spokesperson: “3-D is in the conceptual stage and ‘Avatar’ will not be out on 3-D Blu-ray in November.”
‘Avatar,’ released in December, has quickly become the highest-grossing film of all-time (not adjusted for ticket inflation), and is the highest-grossing film in U.S., Chinese, Russian, Spanish, U.K history.
