BlackBerry Leads, iPhone Follows U.S. Smartphone Sales

Research in Motion sold the most smartphones in the United States for the first quarter of 2008, more than doubling the nearest competitor’s market share, an IDC report found.

The report found RIM grabbed 44.5% of the market for the first three months of 2008, up from 35.1% in the previous quarter.

RIM has successfully been able to broaden the appeal of the BlackBerry to more than just professionals, said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas. With new consumer-friendly devices like the BlackBerry Thunder and the BlackBerry Bold, RIM is well-positioned to be a strong presence in the “prosumer” segment.

The wannabe road warrior

Let me tell you a story about this retired guy who thinks he is a road warrior. This guys extent of travel is driving back and forth to a vacation home, wearing his tech vest, and the once a a year free trips to Redmond and CES.

The dictionary defines a road warrior as a frequent business traveler which this guy certainly is not. However if you read his stories you would think that he is in the million mile a year club. I do more miles traveling on business in a month than this buffoon does in a year.

I find it quite amusing that someone will go to such extremes to dupe his audience. Unfortunately it does not surprise me. This is the same guy who will kiss anyone’s ass to get free products and services. You see for him it is not about the community or helping his fellow man. His only ambition is filling his closet with gadgets and whatever else he can get for free.

He truly is a sellout and people are really starting to see his true colors.

Opera extends Gears support

Opera Software announced today it will support Gears in its desktop and mobile browsers. The inclusion of Gears in Opera’s main browsing products supports Opera’s vision of transforming the browser into a full platform for applications, regardless of device.

“Opera will have full support for Gears on mobile when they launch this year,” said Charles Wiles, Product Manager for mobile web apps at Google. “Opera Mobile 9.5 will be a great example of a high-quality browser on a mobile platform that supports Gears. This marks the coming of age of the browser as the platform for application development on mobile devices.”

“The forthcoming Opera Mobile 9.5 with Gears will usher in a new era for the Web on mobile devices,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera. “Together, these products will create new ways to bring applications to life on mobile devices. Developers will be able to use this along with Opera Dragonfly to develop and debug compelling applications for any connected environment.”

 

Via Opera

Asus to Launch Laptops With Linux Net Software

Asustek (Asus) is trying out its Express Gate Linux software in laptop PCs, a bid to make multimedia files and Internet access a snap for users

Express Gate allows users to bypass Windows at start-up and go directly to the Express Gate screen in just five seconds. From there, users can go directly to the Internet, play games or access music and other multimedia files. The company has equiped its motherboards with the software in the past and plans to put it in all future laptop PCs, including a few to be launched at Computex next week.

Next week, the company will show off the F8V, the first laptop PC with a hot key to access Express Gate directly instead of waiting for Windows to boot up.

From the end of June, all new Asustek laptop PCs will come with Express Gate on board, and all motherboards will come with Express Gate software on CDs so users can load it on their PCs if so desired, an Asustek representative said.

 

Via Yahoo

iTrip AutoPilot Charge/control/play your iPod or iPhone on your car stereo

Griffin Technology has introduced the iTrip AutoPilot. iTrip broadcasts the music from your iPod to an open FM frequency on your car’s FM stereo so you can play your tunes through your car stereo’s speakers. RDS technology shows song information on your RDS-enabled car radio display. Built-in SmartScan technology finds the perfect frequency setting for you. And our new AutoPilot playback control puts a set of iPod play controls in easy reach — you can stash your iPod out of sight in a glove-box or under the seat and still control playback.

10 Things the new iPhone must have for it to be a worthwhile upgrade

Chris has a great post over at his site Mobile Tech Addicts regarding the new iPhone. It is well worth the read. If you have some time check out Chris’s site.

 

So while waiting for the release of the new 3G iPhone I thought of ten things that are a must in the new version of the iPhone and here they are:-

1) Obviously 3G but for me it has to be at least 3.6mb/s HSDPA.

2) Improved camera, lets be honest the current one is awful.

3) Copy and paste, this is a huge miss by Apple.

4) MMS messaging, its been around for a while and is handy sometimes and should be on the iPhone.

5) Forwarding of SMS, again a big miss for me.

6) More Bluetooth functionality, like A2DP and ability to connect with a GPS receiver.

7) Third party apps, again this is a given.

Good battery life, if again its a non removable battery we need good long life from it.

9) Over the air itunes and apps downloads or what’s the point of 3G.

10) and finally…..a reasonable price and data tariff

Via Mobile Tech Addicts

Refurbished AT&T Tilt for $149.99

That’s right you can get the Tilt for $149.99 when you sign up for a 2 year contract. But there is a a catch. The AT&T website shows that they are currently out of stock.

I guess we will just have to wait for more people to break their Tilts.

However there are quite a few other nice refurbs available. They have the BlackJack II for $49.99 and the Blackberry Pearl for $79.99.

You can check it out here