Nicholas Kolakowski

Google may have found a way to challenge not only Facebook, but also LinkedIn: Its new Google+ social network will apparently evolve in a way that allows businesses to build profiles and interact with the public. “We have a great team of engineers actively building an amazing Google+ experience for businesses, and we will have […]

Apple’s iPad will help drive 53.5 million tablet shipments in 2011, according to a July 8 note from research firm IDC. IDC is raising its previous projection of 50.4 million units for the year, despite some first-quarter softness due to a sluggish economy and other factors. It noted that iPad shipments for the quarter were […]

Samsung’s Galaxy S II embraces a new design approach along with cutting-edge technology, according to a teardown by ABI Research. That combination could make it a viable competitor to the highest-end smartphones currently on the market. “Samsung started from scratch with this phone: almost every component is new,” James Mielke, ABI Research’s vice president of […]

Apple’s App Store has passed more than 15 billion downloads, according to the company. Currently, the online storefront holds some 425,000 applications, including 100,000 native iPad applications. Apple also claims some 200 million devices are running iOS, its mobile operating system. That represents a considerable bar for rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and Google, which also […]

Apple wanted a U.S. District judge to immediately halt Amazon.com’s use of the term “Appstore.” The judge said, “No.” That’s the latest twist in the trademark-infringement lawsuit leveled by Apple against Amazon. Both companies offer online storefronts for mobile applications. However, Apple claims that customers could confuse Amazon’s “Appstore” with its own “App Store.” But […]

Microsoft’s share of the U.S. smartphone market continued to decline through May, according to research firm comScore. For the three-month period between the end of February and the end of May, comScore estimated Microsoft’s U.S. share dipping from 7.7 percent to 5.8 percent. That comes despite the marketing push behind the Windows Phone platform. During […]

When Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in May, it kicked off a good deal of analyst chatter about how Redmond would choose to integrate the communications company’s assets into its product lineup. How exactly Skype will appear in products like Office 365 remains to be seen, but the acquisition could end up paying dividends […]

Having cornered a handful of small manufacturers into paying royalties on their Android devices, Microsoft is now setting its sights on substantially bigger game: Samsung. According to a July 6 Reuters report, Microsoft is demanding $15 for each Samsung-produced Android smartphone. That information apparently came from unnamed industry officials speaking to the Seoul-based Maeil Business […]

Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad apparently carries a bill of materials totaling $318, according to a new report from IHS iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Service. That doesn’t include a $10 manufacturing cost. “The TouchPad in some ways does closely resemble the original iPad, with its use of the same LG display Apple used in the first-generation iPad, and by […]

Microsoft has entered into yet another patent-licensing agreement with an Android device manufacturer, this time with Wistron, which crafts tablets and other devices. Under the terms of the agreement, Wistron will pay Microsoft undisclosed royalties for its patents in use. “Our Wistron deal today makes for four Android patent license agreements in nine days,” Brad […]

Apple has contracted with Pegatron Technology to build 15 million iPhone 5 smartphones, according to DigiTimes. The Taiwanese publication sourced unnamed “upstream component makers” for the information, as Pegatron itself apparently refused to comment. “The sources pointed out that as the iPhone 5, which does not seem to have any major update from iPhone 4, […]

Microsoft is pairing with China’s largest Internet search provider, Baidu, to provide users with search results for English-language queries. A spokesperson for Shanghai MSN Network Communications Technology, also known as MSN China, told the Wall Street Journal July 4 that the results would be labeled as coming from Bing. The deal holds substantial benefits for […]