VCs pass $100M in iPhone funding
Among companies developing solely for the iPhone, social network startups have drawn more VC investment money than games, according to startup investment tracker Chubby Brain’s latest set of charts. Listing 22 rounds of funding for 17 companies, Chubby accounted for over $100 million in investments, with… Continue Reading
TechCrunch founder launches hardware startup
A year ago, TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington announced his plan to build a “dead-simple Web tablet for $200,” using crowdsourced designs from his readers.
Today Arrington announced the formation of Crunchpad, Inc, a startup company with 14 employees in Singapore. Crunchpad will oversee manufacture of the… Continue Reading
Leaked AT&T memo: Michael Jackson, iPhone set new traffic records
AT&T’s PR department gets the net. It knows the best way to get its press releases published verbatim is to send them around the company in an easily-leaked format. MacDailyNews received several forwarded copies of the internal memo (below) that confirms that last week was… Continue Reading
Bling Nation raises $8M for cell phone payment system
There’s something cool about buying stuff in stores with your cell phone. They do it in Europe and Asia, so why not here? Bling Nation has come up with a way to introduce pay-by-cellphone transactions in the U.S. for the purchase of physical goods at… Continue Reading
MobileBeat 2009: Come hear executives from EA Mobile, CBS, Pandora, China Mobile and more
Below is latest batch of speakers we’ve got confirmed for MobileBeat 2009, our executive conference for the mobile industry on July 16 in San Francisco.
I’m really looking forward to the debates we’ll be having about which mobile platform rules: Is the iPhone really destined… Continue Reading
CBS’ Natali Del Conte hosts MobileBeat startup competition: Deadline today!
I’m delighted to announce that Natali Del Conte, host of Loaded on CNET TV, and correspondent for the CBS Early Show, will be hosting the MobileBeat Top Startup Competition.
The competition, part of the MobileBeat conference we’re throwing July 16 in SF, will feature the… Continue Reading
Flickr adds direct-to-Twitter publishing
What took them so long? Flickr now has a built-in feature that lets members tweet their photos. “You can upload directly to Flickr and Twitter simultaneously, or tweet a photo already on Flickr, using a special short Flic.kr URL,” says the company’s FAQ. It also… Continue Reading
Touchscreen netbooks on the way
Digitimes reports a rumor that some netbook makers will produce low-cost computers with touchscreens that replace the mouse and trackpad. The move will free up space for a bigger keyboard.
At least some netbook makers, Digitimes reports, believe that a netbook with a touchscreen and… Continue Reading
Latest speakers at MobileBeat: Steve Boom and Sam Altman
I’m delighted to announce the latest speakers we’ve recruited for MobileBeat 2009, our conference on July 16 in SF:
–Steve Boom, chief executive of mobile social networking company Mig33, arguably the most downloaded mobile application of all time; and
–Sam Altman, chief executive of another… Continue Reading
Nokia, RIM, Apple to standardize European phone chargers
Ten smartphone makers who control 90 percent of the European mobile market have agreed to ship a standardized charger with their phones starting next year. Gadget makers have talked about standardizing their chargers for years. This time, they have a plan to finally do it…. Continue Reading
Apple can’t keep iPhones in stock
Apple’s iPhone availability widget, a page on Apple’s website, appears whenever there’s a shortage of iPhones at Apple’s stores. The widget shows which stores have which models in stock, on a state-by-state basis.
Over the weekend, many stores flipped from green to red on some or… Continue Reading
MobileBeat2009 Top Startup Competition: Deadline extended to July 1
We’ve extended the deadline for the MobileBeat2009 Top Startup Competition by one day, until July 1.
We’ve gotten scores of great submissions, but we’d like to make sure we shake out as many as possible because of all the exciting action going on in the… Continue Reading
Apple PR confirms: Hottest Girls app was removed
On Thursday morning, developer Allen Leung’s Hottest Girls iPhone app, a $1.99 download that showed pictures of Asian women in lingerie, began displaying topless models. I’m from California, so whatever, but the app seemed to fly in the face of Apple’s stated no-porn policy.
Within… Continue Reading
Nokia plans Android netbook for 2010
“We have confirmed that Nokia is planning to enter the netbook market,” wrote Lazard Capital Markets analyst Daniel Amir in a research note published Friday morning.
Amir says Nokia’s laptop will be “a Google Android, ARM-based notebook that would be sold at carriers.” That means… Continue Reading
Sense Networks gets $6M in hotly contested deal for “tribe” advertising
Sense Networks, a company that can track “tribes” of people — such as those who like the same bars and same movies — to better target them with instant advertising, has raised $6 million in new venture financing in a hotly contested deal.
Semiconductor giant… Continue Reading
Mig33 is most downloaded mobile app — have you heard of it?
Mig33, a company that lets millions of users communicate on mobile phones via IM, chat rooms, and photo sharing, says it’s the most popular downloaded mobile application ever.
You’d hardly know it, though. Chances are, if you live in the US, even if you’re tech-savvy,… Continue Reading
iPhone app report: A few top hits dominate the rest
AdMob, probably the largest server of ads to iPhone screens, has released its May Mobile Metrics Report, which you can download as a PDF file. The report breaks down the mobile ad market in several countries, showing which handsets are the most popular.
But the… Continue Reading
Roundup: Zune HD specs, Google mobile ads, the most obscure Apple upgrade ever
Google AdSense Mobile – Yes, Google ads on your phone is a big deal. But Greg Yardley, CEO of mobile analytics startup Pinch Media, warns against dreams of Google megabucks for iPhone apps: “The bulk of applications either have a limited shelf life (just like a console… Continue Reading
Palm Pre gets app store and 150+ apps adapted from old Palm software
Palm’s new Pre smartphone has been slammed by critics for its dearth of apps. But San Mateo, Calif.-based MobiHand and MotionApps say they have a solution: emulated versions of older Palm software.
MotionApps has built software that allows older apps based on the Palm OS… Continue Reading
How Apple can improve the iPhone as a game platform
Apple has come a long way with games on the iPhone. There are 12,403 games among the 59,073 apps, according to Mobclix. The iPhone 3.0 software and the iPhone 3G S have a lot of cool features that help games, such as notifications that tell… Continue Reading