Sprint announces Q1 results, sheds 75,000 additional customers

The results for Q1 2010 are in for the #3 wireless carrier in the U.S., and the results are more of the same. Sprint shed 75,000 additional customers and posted operating revenues of $8.1 billion, a $865 million loss. The company’s churn rate was at 2.15%, an improvement from Q1 2009 (2.25%), but slightly up from Q4 2009 (2.09%). Average revenue per user, or ARPU, stayed the same at $55 but was down $1 YoY. Sprint CEO, Dan Hesse, had the following to say after the company’s earnings announcement, “…results, including increased net operating revenues and significant year-over-year net post-paid subscriber improvements show we continue to make progress in improving the business.” What’s the consensus? Anyone going to switch over to Sprint for the EVO 4G and help Sprint lower that churn rate?

T-Mobile ditches 5GB data plan cap…sort of

FierceWireless is reporting that U.S. cellular provider T-Mobile will no longer be hitting smartphone users with overage charges if they go over the 5GB monthly quota set on most data plans. However…the company did say it would, “throttle users’ speeds if they exceed that limit.” Details on the what a “throttled” user can expect to see for speeds where not divulged; although, we think wireless data at slower speeds beats the heck out of an astronomical phone bill. T-Mo also announced that those users with a 250MB monthly data plan will now be charged $0.10/MB for overages of their monthly allowance, a 50% reduction from the previous rate of $0.20/MB. Not earth shattering stuff, but definitely something that earns a little consumer karma for the #4 carrier in the States. Let us know what you think about the move in the comments.

Android 2.2 to include full support for Adobe Flash

In an interview with the New York Times, Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering at Google, put to rest all the rumors and confirmed that the upcoming Android 2.2 release known as “Froyo” will include support for Adobe Flash. Flash for Android was first demonstrated on the T-Mobile G1 back in November 2008 and the Android community has been waiting with growing impatience for this feature to launch on their open source mobile platform. Though Rubin was generous in sharing the Adobe Flash information, he failed to disclose even a tentative launch date for Android 2.2. Android fans are now left in the unenviable position of knowing that Flash support is coming in the next release but still relying on the rumor mill to predict when the release might rollout. For those who are keeping track, the latest guesstimate points to a May unveiling.

Google jumps into the casual gaming market by acquiring Labpixies

Google went shopping recently and added Labpixies to its repertoire of acquired properties. For those unfamiliar with the small start-up out of Israel, Labpixies is a development company that has produced a plethora of casual games and applications/gadgets for Facebook, Android, the iPhone OS, and more. Labpixies was also one of the first development teams to jump on board with the iGoogle platform. Acquisition details were not revealed, but Labpixies says it doesn’t expect its new-found success will change how it goes about brining additional applications and games to Google’s multiple platforms.

Nokia announces the N8, its first Symbian^3 handset

Thanks to Eldar Murtazin we had our less-than-favorable first look at the Nokia N8 earlier this week and today Nokia has made the handset official. The N8 will be Nokia’s first Symbian^3 handset and will be the flagship for its new and improved Symbian OS. The Nokia N8 has a knock-out set of specs that include:
■3.5 inch capacitive multi-touch touchscreen with gesture support
■Multiple homescreens with widget support
■12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon Flash
■HD recording and on-phone editing
■Facebook and Twitter integration via homescreen widgets
■HDMI support
■16GB on board storage
■WebTV, Ovi Store
■Ovi maps with walk and drive navigation
■Symbian S^3
■Anodized aluminum casing
Folks looking to get their hands on the new hotness from Nokia will have to exercise patience as the N8 is not slated to launch until Q3 2010. When it finally hits the retail shelves later this year, the N8 will debut in select global markets with a price tag of €370 ($494 USD).

Nokia N8 gets previewed, slammed

Russian mobile guru Eldar Murtazin has struck again, this time getting his hands on the Nokia N8, the first Symbian^3 smartphone. Although a brief preview as opposed to one of his legendary unending reviews, it does manage to give us a pretty good idea of what we’re in store for when it launches. Overall the device seems fairly well built and feels good in the hands, although dust did manage to find its way underneath the glass covered multitouch display. The camera, although 12 megapixels and capable of shooting videos at 720p, is said to produce results no better than any of Nokia’s other devices. Sadly the more content your phone has the less responsive the camera gets. The HDMI-out port, a much welcomed features, is somewhat kneecaped thanks to its requiring a Mini HDMI cable. As for the Symbian^3 OS, Murtazin is not a fan saying its nothing more than a few cosmetic changes that ultimately offers little new in terms of functionality. So, what’s the final word? Apparently the device, which is going to be Nokia’s next flagship smartphone, led Murtazin to ultimately concluded that Nokia is trying very hard to sabotage itself and destroy its brand.

RIM announces the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G

So check it out… RIM’s huge BlackBerry hullabaloo, Wireless Enterprise Symposium, or “WES”, officially kicks off tomorrow in sunny Orlando, but that didn’t stop the Waterloo folks from busting out two — count ‘em, two — hot new smartphones prior to all of the festivities.

Automatic app updates coming in Android 2.2

Updating Android applications has always been a pain in the butt thanks to Google’s insistance that each app be updated by itself. But according to a 4chan poster who apparently has a reputation for being in the know, Android 2.2 will make it possible to have apps automatically update themselves. His proof? The image you see before you.

Bluetooth 4.0 to be finalized by June 2010, devices to launch late 2010

Bluetooth SIG announced on Tuesday that the much anticipated v4.0 update to the Bluetooth protocol will be finalized and sent to manufacturers by the end of June 2010. The next iteration of the mobile connectivity protocol will feature ultra-low power consumption that could theoretically be powered for years by a coin-celled battery, faster transfer rates, and an increased range that can extend up to 200 feet and beyond. These features could expand the practical usage of this technology to a new range of devices including sports and fitness products, personal health products, security products, and home entertainment systems. Look for Bluetooth v4.0-enabled devices to hit the retail market in late 2010 or early 2011.

Android Market surpasses 50,000 applications

AndroLib, the definitive tracker of Android applications, claims the Android Market has surpassed the 50,000 application milestone. This figure is unofficial as Google has been reticent to disclose actual numbers. During its recent earnings call, Google said it was aware of 38,000 applications, although the accuracy of the figures came into question as they were calculated at an undisclosed time. Last month alone, the Android Market was said to have grown by 9,330 apps. True, the Android Market still has a ways to go before it can rival Apple’s App Store in terms of the sheer number of applications offered, but this is some mighty impressive growth nonetheless. Love it or hate it, there is no denying that the little green robot is currently hotter than Hansel.

Facebook announces new Internet-wide social features

Facebook kicked off the f8 conference with a keynote that laid out its plans to integrate the web into Facebook and Facebook into the web. The social networking powerhouse began by re-affirming its commitment to the unified login provided by Facebook Connect, and revoked the previous limitation that required Facebook Connect-enabled websites to delete cached user data within 24 hours. From today forward, Facebook Connect websites can store user data to create a seamless browsing experience that is enhanced by a single, persistent login. Facebook then presented its expanded Open Graph concept, introduced a series of new social plugins for websites, and unveiled the new Graph API, an improved and expanded core framework for developers. Read about Facebook’s plan to literally own the web after the jump.

Android-powered Garminfone headed to T-Mobile this Spring

T-Mobile announced its latest Android offering, the GPS-centric Garminphone earlier today. The Garminfone picks up where the Nuvifone left off and offers T-Mobile 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, a 3 megapixel camera with autfocus and digital zoom, and Bluetooth 2.1. Leveraging Garmin’s success in the GPS market, the Garminfone utilizes a Garmin-specific interface that is dominated by the handset’s GPS-centric focus. The Nuvifone features turn by turn directions, text-to-speech, automatic switching between day and night view modes, and a suite of location-based applications that include local real-time traffic, local weather, local movie listings, local gas prices, and Voice Studio, an Android application that allows you to record custom voice directions. Garmin’s navigation services are also integrated through the OS and can be found in text messages, emails, contact information, calendar entries, and web pages. The device will launch with Android 1.6 on board and will include the full suite of Google apps Android owners know and love. Though updates to the aged 1.6 OS have not been promised, T-Mobile does point out that the handset permits OTA updates. Expect the handset to debut exclusively on T-Mobile at an undisclosed price later this Spring. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Google’s universal sign-on service “Gaia” compromised in Chinese hacks?

Google’s high profile war of words with China has garnered much public attention but the underlying cause of the dispute — the alleged hacking of Google by Chinese individuals, possibly with government sanction, has stayed quietly under the radar. A source with knowledge of Google’s internal investigation revealed to the NY Times that one of the targets of the attack was Google’s universal login system known as “Gaia”. Though you may not be familiar with the name, every Android-toting, Gmail-checking Google user is familiar with the system. Gaia, now known as “Single Sign-On”, is the password and login system that powers Google’s universal login and lets you read your feeds in Reader, analyze your website traffic, and check your Gmail using a single, simultaneous login. No passwords or accounts were compromised but the hackers allegedly obtained some, if not all, of the source code for this password/login system. Google declined to comment on this latest leaked information and towed the company line by re-affirming that it has dealt with all the security issues associated with this attack. We don’t need to elaborate on the potential ramifications this revelation has on the perceived security of Google’s cloud system;

BlackBerry 9670 unveiled, CDMA clamshell device!

With rumors and rumors of a clamshell BlackBerry device going back ages, we finally have some confirmation on the phone, and in a big way, too. Not only do we have the first photos ever of this BlackBerry 9670, and not only is it the first BlackBerry clamshell ever seen (we don’t really count the Pearl Flip), but it’s also running the first ever photos of OS 6.0 (on a device). We’d love to tell you all about this brand new BlackBerry device

Industry exec: Next iPhone to feature A4-based chipsets

Samsung is reported to be singing the blues as it scrambles to recover from the partial loss of one of its largest customers. According to the Korea Times, which cites an anonymous industry executive, Apple will indeed discontinue its tradition of using Samsung-designed processors with its next iPhone. In its place, the phone will run a modified version of Apple’s A4 processor which just so happens to be proficient in handling 720p playback. It’s not a complete loss for Samsung considering it’s expected the electronics giant will be entrusted with manufacturing the chip, but no doubt Apple’s decision to keep mobile processor design in-house will effect Samsung’s bottom line. At this point it’s hard to say how much the iPad and iPhone chips will will differ from one another — size and battery life being the two key obstacles — but it seems safe to say Apple won’t sit idly by while everyone else brags about their smartphones having processors that clock in around the 1GHz mark.

iPhone OS looks to be getting social media integration

Even with thousands of curious people picking away at the file system, it’s always amazing how some things slip through the cracks for a relatively long period of time. Gunning For Safety was snooping around in iPhone OS 4.0’s file system and found multiple references to social media integration for the Contacts app. More specifically what as found was a .plist file for Facebook contacts. It would allow users to add their friends Facebook profile to their contact card just as they would their email address or AIM handle. What’s particularly special about the way Facebook integration is that they’re a “separate type of contact” meaning it’s entirely possible OS 4.0 will offer much more than a simple method for keeping details about one’s friends neatly organized. The Calendar app is also said to be able to interact with Facebook much in the same way. It’s too early to tell if these features will survive — for all we know all of these references could be dropped come the next beta and not resurface for a long time — but we’re really hoping their expanded upon and support is broadened out to things like Twitter and LinkedIn.

iPhone 4 gets reviewed

So maybe it was the next iPhone. Gizmodo somehow managed to get their paws on a prototype of what’s probably sure to be the next iPhone. Not only that, but they’ve snapped a bunch of pics, shot a few videos and even tore that sucker apart. Sadly the thing won’t boot up so there is a lot of info that will remain a secret until Stevesy hits the stage at WWDC this June, but for now we know the following:
■It measures in at a petite 4.5″ x 2.31″ x 0.37″ and weighs 140g
■It feels more sturdy and luxurious than the 3GS, yet feels good in the hand and in pockets despite its heft
■The back is made of either glass or a “shiny plastic” (remember that ceramic material patent Apple holds? Could this be it?)
■The chasis is milled aluminum
■No way of verifying the displays resolution since it’s not possible to get past “Connect to iTunes”, but it’s definitely at a much higher resolution than previous devices
■The camera has been improved and has a flash
■There is indeed front-facing camera
■Uses a micro-SIM just like the iPad
■The 5.25 WHr at 3.7V battery has a larger capacity than does the one found in the 3GS
Okay, we’ve done our bit. Now hit up the jump for a side-by-side shot with the iPhone 3GS then head on over to Giz.

This morning Apple quietly updated its website to reflect a change in the ship date for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G. Previously listed as shipping in late Apr

This morning Apple quietly updated its website to reflect a change in the ship date for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G. Previously listed as shipping in late April, the Apple is now saying the tablet will ship by May 7th. With thoughts of the international iPad delay in the back of our minds, we were really hoping that the new date applies only to orders placed today onwards, and thankfully it does. Apple sent out emails to customers who preordered an iPad 3G and stated that those units would still be delivered in late April.

Is this the next iPhone?

According to Engadget, the site that scooped the pics, this prototype was “found on the floor of a San Jose bar inside of an iPhone 3G case” and supposedly features a front-facing camera and 80GB of internal memory. Here’s what we’re betting on… we do think this unit is actually real and not a fake, clone or anything else. But, we’re guessing it’s very — and we mean very — early along in the prototype phase. Not to say the final design isn’t all ready to go, but we’re guessing this isn’t it. For starters, look at the seems in the aluminum casing. You think Apple, of unibody fame, would not have a single piece of machined aluminum for the bezel? Also, the phone appears to be flat, like, completely flat on both sides. That basically goes against almost all of Apple’s principles. Additionally, look at the back of the phone. It actually looks it’s supposed to be the front of the device. You can clearly see either a piece of glass or plastic that’s fitted into the case much like how the display is on an iPhone 3GS, or the display on the iPad. Look at the material around the sides of the back of the phone, you’ll see what we mean. So, we do think this is Apple-manufactured, we just don’t think this is anything close to what we’ll see announced in June. What do you guys think?

Sprint’s 4G Case for iPad: the ultimate accessory

How can you not love Sprint when it pulls stunts like this? Following up on its 4G iPhone commercial, the Now Network has absolutely outdone itself with the introduction of the Sprint 4G Case for iPad. That’s right… the Sprint 4G Case for the freakin’ iPad. Available for free at Best Buy with the purchase of a Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, the case — which technically is a folio plus removable zip-up sleeve — will not only afford your iPad a lot more protection than Apple’s craptastic iPad case, but also give you significant amounts of geek cred. And life’s all about the geek cred, right? Respects.

Future Apple hardware to be powered by AMD?

Those sleuthing Apple informants seem to have struck gold once again. After noticing a continuous stream of AMD bosses and representatives travelling to and from Apple’s Cupertino campus, they’re now reporting that Apple is seriously considering the #2 chipmaker as a replacement for its current Intel offerings. Apple is thought to be unhappy with Intel, whose prolonged chip development cycle has slowed the pace of Apple’s hardware refresh and whose incompatibility with Nvidia has forced Apple to use the less than optimal integrated Intel graphics chipset. In fact, Apple’s dissatisfaction with Intel’s GPU performance is what prompted the company to develop the novel automatic graphics switching utilized by its recently refreshed MacBook Pro line-up. The hardware work-around allows the notebook to switch from the integrated Intel chipset to the more powerful NVIDIA GT 320M and GT 330M cards when needed. AMD, with its strong ties to ATI, could seemingly offer Apple greater flexibility over its future products which might one day include a powerful graphics subsytem worthy of the Apple name. Before you get too excited and sell your new Core i5 and Core i7 MBPs on eBay, keep in mind that all of this is speculation based upon the rather ambiguous, yet highly referenced “people familiar with the matter”. Respond appropriately.

Apple patent details a new e-ticketing system for iTunes

In recent years Apple has helped to transform the world of mobile communications, and now, according to a patent recently awarded to the Cupertino company, it is looking to shake up the entertainment ticket industry. By tapping into the burgeoning e-ticket market with a system called Concert Ticket +, Apple’s patent filing details how the complex ticketing system could be used for concerts, movies, amusement parks, weddings, sporting events, and more. Coupon codes and other freebies may also be piggy-backed on top of the tickets. The system includes an electronic device (represented in the filing by none other than the iPhone) that can obtain and display e-tickets. These e-tickets can be purchased directly on the device or purchased and transferred via iTunes. If you already purchased a paper ticket, it can be converted into an e-ticket simply by scanning the ticket with the iPhone’s camera. The electronic device can also use near field communications such as RFID to interact with a free-standing kiosk, which can be used to not only purchase and verify e-tickets, and with the assistance of a turnstile, operate as an un-manned event entry system. Elegant and efficient. Exactly what one expects from Apple.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 in white landing on T-Mobile May 5th

Looks like the Europeans and Southeast Asians won’t be the only ones getting in on the white BlackBerry Bold 9700 action, as the device has popped up in T-Mobile’s internal systems. Available from May 5th onwards, official pricing has not yet been disseminated down the chain of command, although we can’t imagine it will be priced any differently than its black counterpart’s $129.99. So far we’ve not heard anything about this device heading to AT&T, but we’re willing to wager it won’t want to miss out on the Second Coming of the Diddy White Bold.

Jailbroken iPhone 3G shown running OS 4.0 complete with multitasking

Although Apple has made it perfectly clear it will not enable multitasking on the iPhone 3G due to “hardware limitations” (specifically its 128MB of RAM and 400MHz processor), iPhone hacker cdevwill quickly discovered that an unbelievably simple modification of the N82AP.plist will enable multitasking on the iPhone 3G. And wouldn’t you know it, today a video was posted to YouTube which shows an jailbroken iPhone 3G with the modified .plist running multitasking as if it were no big deal. While it’s tempting to say Apple is simply restricting multitasking to the iPhone 3GS and up for the sake of hardware sales, it must be remembered that the APIs which actually allow for processes to run in the background are not implemented in any of the applications running in the video. In all likelihood, simply streaming music from Pandora while switching between playing Doodle Jump and firing off some tweets would likely bring the iPhone 3G to its knees. We mean, just look how painfully long it takes to open up the Clock application. But that’s just our take. Check out the video after the jump and let us know yours.

Apple delays international iPads until the end of May

Oh, dear. Anyone outside the U.S. hoping for an iPad to call their own before the month’s end will be sorely disappointed. Apple has just announced all international sales have been delayed until the end of May due to strong demand in the US. Here’s Apple statement.
Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad™. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.
Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10. We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.

Intel brings Android to the Atom processor

Folks hoping for an Atom-powered Android smartphone have reason to rejoice, as Intel’s GM of software and services announced that not only has the chipmaking giant modified the open-source platform to play nice with its x86-based processors, but it already has customers interested in using the unique OS-chipset combination. While no further details were divulged, the same executive also mentioned the company is hard at work getting “enabling all OSes for Atom phones.” When Google first designed the Android platform it did so with ARM-based processors in mind, but now that people have a taste for high-powered processors like the 1GHz Snapdragon from Qualcomm, companies such as Intel are scrambling to get their processors compatible with a multitude of operating systems. Can you imagine a phone like the HTC EVO will full Adobe Flash compatibility running a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450? Yes, our hearts would melt, too.

Nokia lets loose the C3, C6 and E5

If you’re a fan of low-cost messaging phones with a social twist, prepare to lose your mind, for Nokia today announced three such devices in the C3, C6 and E5. The most basic of the bunch is the C3, which just so happens to be the first Symbian S40 device to ever feature a full-QWERTY keypad. It offers a 2.4″ QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Ovi Chat, Ovi Mail and support for microSD cards up to 8GB. It will be be available in golden white, slate grey and hot pink in Q2 for 90€ ($122 USD). Next up is the C6. A full touchscreen with a sliding horizontal QWERTY keypad, the C6 bring to the table a 3.2″ 360×640 display, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and Ovi Maps. Look for it next quarter for 220€ ($299 USD). Finally we have the E5. Expected to be available in Q3 for 180€ ($224 USD), it crams a 2.4″ QVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, GPS, Wi-Fi and support for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes into its tiny candybar frame. As always, we’ve got Nokia’s little promo videos queued up after the break.

Apple approves Opera Mini iPhone app, available in App Store soon

Uh, wow? Apple seems to have approved the much-hyped Opera Mini iPhone application according to, well, Opera. Apple has historically only approved web browsing applications that used the WebKit view that Apple includes as part of the iPhone OS SDK. Full press release is after the jump! What do you guys think?Opera Mini App approved for the App Store

T-Mobile myTouch Slide spotted in the wild, screams hello to 2008

As ugly today as it was the first time we saw it, the T-Mobile myTouch Slide has once again been spotted in the wild. Now sporting a blinding fascia and a curiously stylized Google search button, the myTouch Slide is the very device some of our T-Mobile connects reported will replace the ageing and increasingly unpopular Sidekick line-up as far as T-Mobile is concerned. We’ll find out if this is the case soon enough, because this device is currently on track to be released on the 19th of May. Just as a little bonus, there’s even a pic of another myTouch Slide that’s running Android 2.1. Once more, the specs:
■1300mAh battery
■MicroSD memory cardslot is accessible without battery removal. It is a push to insert and push to remove design.
■Optical trackpad.
■Camera with LED flash.
■3.5 mm Headset Jack
■Slide-out 4 row QWERTY keyboard
■320×480 screen resolution.
■ARM11 processor.
Not exactly what one tends to picture when thinking of a “new and improved” handset, but our guess is enough people will bite.

Geohot makes it ra1n on the iPad

The latest blog post from iPhone firmware slayer George Hotz (geohot), dated April 9th, contains no words… but then again, words aren’t really necessary. The image shows his popular blackra1n iPhone jailbreaking software, and accompanying Cydia package manager, loaded onto an iPad. The post comes one day after Hotz posted the encryption keys for the iPad 3.2 firmware sets, and several hours after having tweeted about being able to boot the iPad into verbose mode. Hotz has yet to post an iPad compliant version of the blackra1n software on his site, but it is only a matter of time now. Any of you iPad owners out there anxiously awaiting a jailbreaking solution for your new toy?

iPhone OS 4.0 round up

Email
And just like that, iPhone OS 4.0 has brought the iPhone’s email capabilities into the bright and shiny world of 2006. No longer will users be forced to suffer the indignity of checking each of their inboxes individually, as global inboxes are now a part of Apple’s vision for the iPhone… as is thee ability to sort emails by threads and open attachments in specific apps.
Enterprise
People that use their iPhone for both work and pleasure are likely jumping for joy this afternoon as iPhone OS 4.0 supports multiple Exchange accounts. Not only that, but Apple has moved beyond the year 2007 and now supports Exchange Server 2010. Last but not least, data protection has received a much needed shot in the arm with: mobile device management, wireless ad-hoc app distribution, and SSL VPN support.
iBooks
iBooks on the iPhone work pretty much the same way as on the iPad. You buy your books through the iBookstore and can sync them across whatever portable Apple devices you own. Your bookmarks are wirelessly synchronized across your array of iThings so all of you’ll always be able to find the last page you read in The Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Oh, and you get a free copy of Winnie the Pooh. Sweetness.
Game Center
Can you believe that Apple now has its very own hodgepodge clone of Xbox Live and the Playstation Network? We bet Nintendo can, and they’re scared poopless because the Game Center offers services like: leaderboards, game achievements, and the ability to make and keep tabs on friends. And in the event you don’t have all that many friends but want to play a multiplayer game, Game Center will scan the network for people of a comparable ability and you’ll be able to do battle on a level playing field.
iAd
iPhone users rack up 1 billion impressions a day from searches alone, and Apple is hungry to make some cash off of this for itself… and for its developers as well. Basically what the new system does is analyze what you’re currently doing on your iPhone and suggests apps that will be the most appealing to you. So if you’re looking at entertainment news, you’ll see an ad for Toy Story 3. Boring, right? Wrong. Apple is desperate for you to click on these ads, so they’ve thrown in a pretty insane twist. Most of them lead to interactive games and videos and they’re all built on HTML5 (shots fired!) The ad revenue will be split, 60% to the developer, 40% to Apple.

iPhone OS 4 can multitask

Today is the day many iPhone fans have been waiting for. The announcement of iPhone OS 4.0, slated to drop this summer, has brought with it the most requested feature from iPhone users around the globe. Multitasking. How will mutltitasking be added to the iPhone? Apple’s Scott Forstall explains: “We looked at tens of thousands of apps in the app store, and we’ve distilled the services those apps need to run in the background. So we implemented those services, and we’re providing those services as APIs to developers so they can add multitasking while preserving battery life.” Apple will provide seven services that run, in the background, as application accessible APIs: background audio, Voice over IP, background location, push notifications, local notifications, task completion, and fast app switching. The folks from Pandora claim it took them one day to make Pandora fully compatible with the new APIs… lets hope it is this easy for everyone! There’s also an awesome UI for switching between applications, too.

Android Market gained over 9,300 apps in March

If the steady stream of new handsets filling up shops weren’t enough proof that Google’s Android OS is booming like never before, then the fact the Android Market underwent tremendous growth in March surely is. AndroidLib.com, which closely monitors the Android Market, noted that 9,330 free and paid applications appeared within the 31 day period. Representing a gain of 68% over February’s 5,532 new applications, March’s growth amounts to a staggering 58.5% increase in the number of available applications as a whole. If the number of applications continues at the pace it is going today, April will see the market receive just over 6,700 new applications.

Hands on with Firefox Mobile for the Nokia N900

Thanks to Mozilla we got our hands on a Nokia N900 for a few weeks and had the opportunity to give its new Firefox Mobile browser a thorough test drive. Firefox Mobile has a long development history that started in late 2008 when Mozilla announced its very early alpha browser first for the Maemo platform and then for the Windows Mobile platform. While the Windows Mobile version may have been abandoned, the Maemo version just came out of beta earlier this year and is still going strong. Despite its enthusiasm, Firefox Mobile is entering a very crowded mobile browser field that is dominated by Opera Mobile, Opera Mini and the built-in WebKit browsers found on the iPhone, Android, and WebOS handsets. With most smartphone platforms now rocking very capable browsers, how does Firefox Mobile stand up to the competition? Hit the jump to find out.