Android has suffered a serious knock with news that it is more unreliable compared to the iPhone and BlackBerry.

In a study conducted by WDS, a company that provides specialist managed services for the wireless industry, it was discovered that Android phones were more likely to suffer from hardware problems compared iOS, Blackberry and Windows 7 devices.

The study was conducted over the course of a year and focused on customer service support calls. About 600,000 tech support calls were part of the study. Of that number, 14 percent were calls for Android phones that suffered a hardware failure. This is followed closely by Windows phones, which accounted for 11 percent of the calls. More →

Nokia has been taking a beating in the world market the last few years. The mobile phone manufacturer was once the top dog in the mobile phone industry. But its failure to adapt to changes in the mobile phone preferences of consumers – mainly from the typical mobile phones to smartphones – has resulted in a dwindling market share. In fact, the situation has gotten to a point where it is leaving certain markets because of poor sales. For example, Nokia has basically left Japan and it also hasn’t released any new phones in the United States for the last couple of years. More →

Microsoft is hedging its bets on the new Windows Phone mobile operating system as the one that will give Apple’s iOS a run for its money. Microsoft seems to have taken some inspiration from Apple’s very popular operating system and made its own innovations to make it more competitive and separate itself from the giant it wants to do battle with. People who have been able to play with the 7.5 Mango update have reported positively about it.  If you’re still unfamiliar about what Windows Phone 7.5 can offer you read on.

Probably one of the tent pole features of Windows Phone 7.5 that Microsoft thinks will attract consumers is its social media integration. Facebook integration was already featured in an earlier iteration of Windows Phone but with version 7.5 Twitter and LinkedIn have been added as well. The integration of these social networks is not just superficial it is integrated into the system. For example, photo sharing is a seamless affair. Sharing photos to Twitter and Facebook will only take a few clicks. More →

Samsung’s legal troubles from its competitors – most notably Apple, seems to be taking its toll on the company, and seems to be losing its spark to fight some legal battles that are in its way. Samsung just recently announced that it will begin paying royalties to Microsoft for every single Android device it sells, whether it is a phone or a tablet. The agreement was reached between the two parties so that the patent infringement lawsuit Microsoft is filing against Samsung will be withdrawn.

This is not the first royalty agreement Microsoft has entered with a company regarding the sale of Android devices. Microsoft has forged the same agreement with other Android device manufacturers, the most notable of these is with HTC, which is the other company that produces much of the Android devices on the market.

The decision to agree to a royalty payment is to keep Microsoft from suing these companies. Microsoft claims that no Android device they have seen has not infringed on any of Microsoft’s patents. The most crucial element in the suit though is not being made to the public – that is, what Microsoft patents are Android device manufacturers violating. Even though no one knows what (the exact patent infringements are not being made public) these Android manufacturers are violating, Microsoft’s previous lawsuits against Linux for precisely the same charges may shed a little light on the issue because Android is based on the Linux OS.

It’s ironic that Microsoft, which has shown how much it dislikes the Android OS entering the market, is also earning from its existence and success.

An almost universal computing environment. This is what the future will look like if reported information about Windows 8 is true.

According to Nvidia CEO Jen Hsun Huang, he thinks that Microsoft’s next generation computer and tablet operating system, Windows 8, will be able to recognize and run apps that have been developed and coded for the Windows Mobile Phone 7 operating system – which is the new mobile operating system developed by the software giant. More →

A class action suit is likely being readied against Microsoft by consumers alleging that the software giant’s Windows Phone 7 operating system tracks the locations of phone owners without asking for consent.

A woman from Michigan has filed the likely class action lawsuit in a Seattle District Court. She claims that Windows Mobile Phone 7 gathers user data from owners of the phone, and continue to do this even if the owners have already opted out of the location-reporting feature. An equally damaging allegation is that Microsoft did not tell the truth to Congress about how much data from location information the device collects.

According to the suit, the location logging feature incorporated into Windows Mobile Phone 7 gets location and network information data directly from the device in order to build a map of WiFi hotspots, cell towers and other related data that can be employed for assisted GPS. The suit further alleges that the information gathered is not just to give phone owners a thorough location-based service but also to create a targeted marketing system that can personalized the ads that are sent to a user’s particular location.

Microsoft, which is expected to fight the class action suit, has assured the public and the US Congress before that data gathering feature will only work if the user has permitted an application to get location services. The company further clarified that the application only gathers location data and nothing else.

Both Android and iOS devices were also accused of getting location data without permission from users but these were eventually fixed in subsequent updates.

Image credit: technologyrekor.eu

Microsoft is apparently taking cues from Android, as the company is attempting to micromanage manufactures in order to produce a tablet that can contend against the mighty iPad 2.

Unfortunately it seems as if one company is not too thrilled about being controlled, and is already voicing their displeasure to the press.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is putting “troublesome” restrictions on makers of processors used to run the coming Windows tablet-computer operating system, Acer Inc. (2353) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer J.T. Wang said.

“They’re really controlling the whole thing, the whole process,” Wang said at the Computex trade show in Taipei without identifying the restrictions. Chip suppliers and PC makers “all feel it’s very troublesome,” he said. (Bloomberg)

Acer (as well as other manufactures) are probably upset that Microsoft isn’t allowing them to customize the tablets in order to help differentiate them from the sea of Windows tablets that will hit stores in the not so distant future.

However the last thing Microsoft needs is to have their tablet end up being a flop (like Xoom), so it’s in Acer’s best interest to be micro managed as a successful Windows Tablet will help push the company to the forefront (or at the very least help them gain a foot hold in the US).

It’s still unclear what the price will be for Microsoft’s iPad challenger, but hopefully their Windows Tablet will not only match iPad 2′s “inexpensive price,” but battery life as well.

Apparently Google isn’t the only company benefiting from Android’s global dominance as it seems that Microsoft is also benefiting from Android’s rise (at least from one manufacture).

Microsoft (who has made it a quest to sue Android manufactures over patent claims) is ironically making more money off of Android than their own mobile OS.

A rough estimate of the number of HTC Android devices shipped is 30 million. If HTC paid $5 per unit to Microsoft, that adds up to $150 million Android revenues for Microsoft.

Microsoft has admitted selling 2 million Windows Phone licenses (though not devices.) Estimating that the license fee is $15/WP phone, that makes Windows Phone revenues to date $30 million. (Asymco)

Microsoft’s strategy of suing their competition is apparently paying off, as Windows Phone 7 sales have yet to witness blockbuster sales seen by iPhone and Android devices.

Currently other manufactures like Motorola have refused to pay Microsoft one cent and are ironically counter suing the software giant over patents they feel Windows Phone 7 (as well as a slew of other products) violate.

Google surprisingly hasn’t come to the aid of their mobile friends, despite the fact that lawsuits like these could hurt Android adoption by manufactures in the long run.

(Image via GreatEreader)

After swooping in and snapping up Skype (to the tune of $8.5 billion), Microsoft for the first time has serious leverage over Google in an arena that doesn’t involve operating systems (for computers that is).

While Steve Ballmer and friends are probably throwing a party for outbidding Google, they may want to take a look at Qik (which Skype purchased in January). More →

The software giant has snapped up one of the hottest VoIP startups from the jaws of Google by paying twice as much as the search engine giant in cold hard cash.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) and Skype Global S.à r.l today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype. (Microsoft)

Skype was on the verge of going public when Microsoft and Google entered a bidding war over the VoIP king.

Although the search engine giant has their own “VoIP” service via Google Voice, Larry Page (Google’s co-founder and new CEO) may regret the day that he did not purchase Skype. More →