Smartphones

Half of iPhone users buy at least an app a month

Although iPhone and Android users download and spend time using about the same number of applications, iPhone users are more apt to buy one, according to a report released Thursday by AdMob.

Among mobile-device consumers surveyed by AdMob for its "January 2010 Metrics Report," 50 percent of all iPhone users and 35 percent of iPod Touch owners purchase at least one app a month. Those numbers compare with 24 percent of Palm's WebOS owners and 21 percent of Android users who buy at least one app each month. Results did not include Research In Motion's BlackBerry.

iPod Touch owners seem to be the heaviest downloaders in general, grabbing an average of 12 apps per month, versus iPhone and Android users who download 9 apps a month. WebOS users overall download only around 6 apps per month, which may be due in large part to the scarcity of available apps.

Touch owners are also the heaviest users, spending an average of 100 minutes each month using their apps, compared with WebOS users at 87 minutes, Android users at 80 minutes, and iPhone users at 79 minutes.… Read more

The 404 Podcast 526: Where we form a flying V

The 404 is complete once again, forming flying Vs and throwing knuckle pucks that would make Gordon Bombay proud. The first story to mention is the return of The Red Kid (not that one, Jeff), but this time to Twitter! It's about time, Conan, but you know you're a little late to the Twitter game when you get beaten by His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself. It's good to have Conan back, and he might even be coming to a city near you!

The former king of late night recently finalized plans to perform a live show in select cities that will employ ex-"Tonight Show" employees and bring back classic characters from the talk show. It's good to have you back, Mr. O'Brien--we knew you couldn't stay away for too long!

Next, Jeff tells us a truly terrifying story about things that go bump in the night....keep your mind out of the gutter while you listen, but it's about his fiancee's troubled-sleep woes. The scary part is she's not the only one in the studio with serious slumbering issues! Wrap yourself in a Snuggie, climb into a Tauntaun, and prepare yourself for a collection of night terror stories that will have you reaching for the phone, and who you gonna call? THE SLEEP DOCTOR MICHAEL BREUS! Look for another appearance from The Sultan of Sleep on a future episode of The 404, 'cause this is getting out of hand.

If you're just tuning in, we should warn you that the next story should not be heard during a meal or while in a state of anger, because you might do something crazy like send your nemesis a pile of poop. Poopsenders.com lets you send your friend/enemy/frenemy a steaming pile of cow, elephant, or gorilla dung, and you can even choose the amount! Can you hear the excitement in my written voice right now? With an ace of spades prank like this up our sleeves, we dare BOL to call us out again! Just kidding guys...;)

EPISODE 526 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Dialed In 116: MWC 2010 postmortem (podcast)

Our little Dialed In family is back together once again. After enduring some technical difficulties and travel nightmares, Kent and I are back from Barcelona, Spain, to join Nicole in the studio where we reflect on all the news from Mobile World Congress 2010. If there's one takeaway from the show, it's that software will play a primary role in this year's smartphones, while hardware will take a backseat. In other news, AT&T is finally getting its first Android phone and Sprint's WiMax devices are coming--but not as early as some say. All this … Read more

Get $100 from Bing when you buy from Wirefly

Do you need a new phone? How about a 3G-powered Netbook? This might be the perfect time to buy. Wirefly.com has hooked up with Bing Cashback to offer a $100 rebate on all phones, Netbooks, and even aircards.

A few examples of how that would translate to real-world savings:

Make $50 from buying a Motorola Droid. Current and new Verizon customers can get this popular model for $49.99 with a two-year service plan. The $100 Bing bonus means you actually pocket 50 bucks on the deal. Make $100 on an AT&T phone. Wirefly stocks a couple … Read more

Google Earth arrives for Android

Back in January when the Nexus One was unveiled, we got our first glimpse at Google Earth for Android. When the Nexus One officially shipped, I was surprised to learn that the application wasn't loaded on the phone. In fact, there wasn't even a mention of it after the unveiling. I assumed it would arrive at some point on either Android 1.6 or later.

Now it's more than a month later and Google finally snuck Google Earth into the Android Marketplace yesterday.

On paper, the Google Earth app sounds fantastic. Not only does it feature the … Read more

Apple, RIM spark quarterly mobile-phone sales

Global sales of mobile phones dipped slightly in 2009 overall but did stage a fourth-quarter recovery, according to new figures from Gartner.

Last year, consumers worldwide bought 1.21 billion cell phones, a 0.9 percent decline from the prior year. However, a surge in smartphones from the likes of Apple and Research In Motion and in low-end devices boosted fourth-quarter sales to 340 million units, an 8.3 percent gain over the fourth quarter of 2008, the market researcher said Tuesday.

Selling prices also took a hit last year. Intense competition forced cell phone manufacturers to keep prices low, … Read more

Mobile World Congress 2010: The year of software

Despite returning to a dreary, cold day here in New York, it's nice be back home here in the States. It's hard to believe that only a week ago Mobile World Congress 2010 was just kicking off in Barcelona, Spain--all of us eager to see what news and products would be unveiled at the world's premier cell phone show.

Despite some logistical nightmares, MWC 2010 certainly didn't disappoint. Interestingly, it wasn't so much the new handsets that made headlines this year (in fact, several cell phone manufacturers, including Nokia and LG, didn't even have booths), but rather, it was the software that stole the show.

If you think about it, this makes sense. We're getting to a point where it's getting harder for companies to differentiate themselves by hardware. Most smartphones these days all have a full range of wireless options, touch screens, 3.5mm headphone jacks, and next-generation processors. So how do you get a leg up on the competition? By offering better software and mobile content options. … Read more

Almost every iPhone app to cost a buck someday?

I find all of this talk about Apple helping publishers by charging more than Amazon for e-books amusing. Sure, the larger iPad may be more suitable for reading e-books than the iPhone or iPod Touch, but if you follow the e-book market in Apple's App Store, you know that outside a few Bible apps only a handful of the "top paid" apps in the book category cost more than a couple of bucks--and most sell for 99 cents. Moreover, if you look at the top-50 paid apps overall, I count only 16 that cost more than 99 … Read more

The 404 Podcast 523: Where Canada has enough gold medals

The U.S. men's hockey team still has a long way to go before they reach Olympic gold in Vancouver, but last night's 5-3 victory over Canada takes them a step closer to their goal. In other words, Jeff has never been more proud to be an American hockey fan, and be sure to catch today's Calls From The Public to hear me attempt to define a power play in less than 10,000 words. And in unrelated news, if you thought our studio was overrun with equipment before, wait until you see what Wilson did to it over the weekend!

Today's episode of The 404 Podcast needs a youthful street team, since they can apparently be bought with string cheese and fizzy drinks. In the United Kingdom, large corporations including the makers of Fanta and Cheesestrings are hiring "brand ambassadors" to evangelize their products on popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo. The job comes with a pretty decent wage, as well, with many pre-adolescents getting paid in money-off vouchers worth ~$40 per week in addition to free samples of said products.

Next up we've got another story about kids, this one coming from a school in Philadelphia that spied on students using their own Web cams and remote software pre-installed on loaner laptops. The students became suspicious of this breach in privacy after an administrator confronted a kid about his "improper behavior in the home," and even showed him a picture taken using his MacBook Web cam. Other students have also corroborated this story, telling reporters at Gizmodo that they would notice the camera light on their MacBooks turning on at home, which the school district claimed was "just a glitch." Tune in to hear the full story in all its shady glory.

If you've ever struggled with acne,a new iPhone app called AcneApp promises to "zap wrinkles and acne" away while you chat on your smartphone. Dr. Greg Pearson from Houston, TX claims that the app uses 420 nanometer blue light and 550 nanometer red light to kill bacteria and promote collagen growth to eliminate wrinkles and unslightly pimples on the face. Understandably, some dermatologists are skeptic about AcneApp, citing third party studies that show the red and blue lights require several dozen treatments throughout the day before seeing actual results. In other words, it'll be awhile before we start to see people other than Wilson rubbing up on their iPhones, so don't go out and waste your $1.99 on this app just yet.

EPISODE 523 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more