mobile devices

Microsoft isn't going to let Apple have all the app-store fun. On Monday, the software giant announced more details about Windows Phone 7 Series applications in its online store as it moves to get third-party developers excited about the new platform.

Apple is showing its true mobile colors. The company is on the lookout for an engineer who can help get its mobile-phone software onto additional devices.

On Feb. 15, Apple posted an ad on its Web site for an engineering manager "to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS [operating system] on new platforms." Days later, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook called the company "a mobile device company," echoing remarks by Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who in January said "Apple is the largest mobile device company in the world."

Apple's new iPad is pretty cool. After all, what's not to love about a giant iPod touch that will make watching movies, reading books and newspapers, and browsing the web a much more compelling experience?

But considering that the iPad must be considered first and foremost an entertainment device, there are a few holes. Like the iPhone, the iPad will not have support for Adobe Flash, the technology that drives YouTube and most other web videos. On top of that, Netflix has announced that its streaming video service, Watch Instantly, will not support the iPad in the foreseeable future.

 ‘Don’t text and drive, it is equal to having four drinks and driving,’ - Oprah Winfrey.

It's surely no coincidence that on the same day Google launched its much-anticipated Android-powered Nexus One phone, Apple had its own announcement: iPhone and iPod users have downloaded three billion applications from its App Store in 18 months. About half those downloads occurred in the last six months, since Apple reported 1.5 billion downloads in July.

U.S. antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.'s proposed $750 million purchase of mobile phone marketer AdMob, the latest sign of greater government vigilance as Google tries to expand its advertising empire.

The Federal Trade Commission sought more information about the deal this week, according to a Wednesday post on Google's blog.

This so-called "second request" doesn't mean regulators intend to block Google's AdMob deal. Most other acquisitions that go through this stage end up getting approved.

Intel couldn't afford to let it drag on. The world's largest chipmaker announced on Nov. 12 that it would pay $1.25 billion to resolve allegations by Advanced Micro Devices that its larger rival competes unfairly in the market for computer chips.

PayPal everywhere. That could be the slogan of the online payment company's expanded Global Payments Platform, following an announcement Tuesday of new application programming interfaces (APIs) that make it easier to integrate PayPal into third-party applications. The announcement at the PayPal X Innovate 2009 conference in San Francisco also included a new portal and introductory pricing for developers.

The updated Adaptive Payment APIs expand payment capabilities for multiple recipients and multiple platforms, including mobile devices.

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Twitter Inc. is turning Japanese. Or at least trying to.

The popular microblogging service on Thursday launched a Japan-based mobile version, hoping to penetrate a country where other U.S. social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace have failed to capture much ground.

Japanese is Twitter's sole foreign language platform so far, and the company's efforts here indicate it's serious about making it in Japan.

In a move to compete for business from wireless carriers, Cisco Systems has reached an agreement to acquire Starent Networks for $2.9 billion. Starent supplies IP-based mobile infrastructure solutions.