Michelle Maisto

Nokia continues to pursue the next billion people to access the Internet, while also working to attract exasperated BlackBerry owners, first-time smartphone users and possibly swayable Android users. On Nov. 1, it introduced the Nokia 109 for developing markets—before subsidies or taxes the 109 will cost around $42—and announced two new programs for developers designing […]

Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins has announced that 50 carriers are now conducting lab trials with BlackBerry 10 smartphones, suggesting the long-awaited devices and the equally long-awaited new BlackBerry 10 platform they run on, are on track to launch in early 2013, as promised. “This process will continue in the coming months as more […]

Hurricane Sandy’s powers have been revealed to include the ability to transform rivals into allies. Most recently this included the teaming up of AT&T and T-Mobile for the greater good of their customers. The nation’s second- and fourth-largest carriers, respectively, have signed an agreement enabling subscribers to roam across both networks in areas heavily impacted […]

Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment company that officials in the United States and other countries have deemed a national security threat, is taking steps to clean up its act. Or, rather, its coding. The company is sending a team of engineers to visit Felix Lindner, a former hacker in Germany who has publically criticized Huawei […]

MetroPCS was the first U.S. carrier to launch a Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G network, and on Oct. 31, it announced the added distinction of being the first in the world to launch Rich Communication Services (RCS) on a 4G LTE network. Deployed under the GSMA-licensed Joyn brand and the RCS 5.0 standard, the technology […]

The Apple iPad Mini goes on sale Nov. 2, and the early reviews are out. In short—which the Mini is, compared with the iPad, as well as thinner, narrower and lighter—everyone likes it. A lot. During Apple’s Oct. 23 introduction of the device, Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of marketing, called it “incredibly thin and beautiful” […]

Apple’s iPad Mini continues to receive a vote of confidence from analysts, who expect the tablet to be a holiday best seller. While the pricing of Apple’s iPads, which traditionally begins at $499, has set them apart from $199 competitors, the smaller Mini, with its $329 price tag, enables Apple to compete for more budget-conscious […]

Verizon Wireless is now exclusively offering the LG Spectrum 2, a 4G-enabled smartphone that has cherry-picked a few key features from around the industry. Priced at $99.99 after a mail-in rebate (that’s of course with a two-year contract), it may in particular pose a challenge to Nokia’s new Lumia devices, which share a key feature—wireless […]

Apple and Samsung together captured 106 percent of the handset industry’s profits during the third quarter of this year, as Nokia, Google-owned Motorola Mobility and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion all posted losses during the quarter, according to investment firm Canaccord Genuity. Still, during a quarter in which handset shipments rose to 425 million, compared […]

Apple has fired two key executives, software leader Scott Forstall and retail head John Browett, after major missteps. Most notable is the departure of Forstall, who ran software development and according to multiple reports was a protege of the late Steve Jobs and was being groomed for a larger role. Forstall led a team that […]

Verizon Wireless will soon begin selling a Nokia Lumia 822, offering the struggling Finnish phone maker, whose sales figures have fallen to new lows, access to the nation’s largest wireless subscriber base. Since Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft in February 2011 and made the switch from Symbian to the Windows Phone operating system, […]

Apple and Samsung continue to battle in court over copycat claims. Most recently, this resulted in Apple, at the insistence of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, offering Samsung the type of mea culpa favored by small children—a non-apologetic apology laced with bragging points and examples of when it was the party […]