How simple mobile tech can put America back to work
Guest Post Hourly workers represent more than 59 percent of the U.S. workforce, but they're often left behind by recruiting solutions aimed at workers who have smartphones or laptops.
Nearly 200M people use Facebook without ever touching a computer
May 1, 2013 1:53 PM
Jolie O'Dell
“We’ve sent a team of people around the world to see what they use, and we care about everybody, not just you guys,” Facebooker Peter Deng said to a room full of tech elites.
Why is this startup obsessed with bringing Snapchat & Dropbox to feature phones?
February 20, 2013 9:00 AM
Jolie O'Dell
While Silicon Valley impressarios focus on iOS to the exclusion of everything else, biNu has found 5 million users and plenty of work to do in feature phone-heavy markets around the world.
![Samsung targets smaller budgets with Rex, a smart-feature phone hybrid [pics]](http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/samsung-rex.jpg?w=160&h=140&crop=1)
Samsung targets smaller budgets with Rex, a smart-feature phone hybrid [pics]
February 15, 2013 9:57 AM
Jolie O'Dell
These models will be affordable and useful for consumers outside the smartphone meccas of the developed world.
Wikipedia’s focus on mobile spikes growth in Kenya, Malaysia, Niger
October 30, 2012 9:28 AM
Jolie O'Dell
While we in Silicon Valley twiddle our thumbs over a panoply of smart devices, much of the rest of the world still uses feature phones, and the smartest, fastest-growing websites are those that still focus on feature phone users.
Smart-apps-on-dumb-phones platform gets money from Google’s Eric Schmidt
August 15, 2012 9:00 AM
Jolie O'Dell
BiNu is a platform that brings smartphone app services to feature phones, a.k.a. "dumb" phones, reviled by the technorati but still widely used around the globe, and it has just taken $2 million from TomorrowVentures, the funding vehicle of Google's Eric Schmidt.
Twitter goes after feature phone market with native Nokia app
July 12, 2012 11:33 AM
Jennifer Van Grove
Not dumbing down the information network experience for the hundreds of millions of people still carrying around feature phones, Twitter has today released a native mobile app, consistent with its iPhone and Android offerings, for all Nokia Series 40 devices.…
Nokia to dump world’s most ridiculous luxury-phone brand, Vertu, for $265M
April 29, 2012 6:50 PM
Heather Kelly
Troubled phone-maker Nokia is attempting to unload its luxury mobile-phone brand, Vertu, for a reported $265 million (€200 million), the Financial Times is reporting. Nokia is being advised by Goldman Sachs on the deal and is currently in talks to …
How RIM could save itself: With a “super feature phone”
Guest Post
Research In Motion is reportedly attempting to sell itself after rejecting the former co-CEO’s plan to open up its network to carriers. But for some reason it is not pursuing the creation of a lucrative category between smart phones and …
The magic moment: Smartphones now half of all U.S. mobiles
March 29, 2012 7:00 AM
Devindra Hardawar
We’ve finally reached the point where half of U.S. mobile consumers own smartphones — a significant moment that proves the smartphone revolution is more than just hype.
As of February, 49.7 percent of U.S. mobile owners have smartphones, according to …
Smartphone ownership linked to age and wealth
February 20, 2012 4:49 PM
Jennifer Van Grove
Young or old, if you’re loaded, you’re far more likely to own a smartphone.
The finding comes from analytics firm Nielsen. The company surveyed more than 20,000 mobile consumers in the U.S. and found a strong correlation between age, income, …
As it abandons U.S. devices, Peek raises $15M for Asian expansion (exclusive)
February 3, 2012 5:19 AM
Ben Popper
Gadget blogs pounced on mobile-internet device maker Peek yesterday when the company announced it was killing off service for its devices running on T-Mobile. What they missed was a $15 million fund raise from Peek, confirmed by chief executive Amol …
Nokia’s bold new Meltemi OS will make feature phones smarter
September 29, 2011 2:15 PM
Devindra Hardawar
Not content to let its feature phone software stagnate, Nokia is apparently working on a new low-end mobile operating system called “Meltemi,” which will allow the company to sell more capable phones in emerging markets.
News of the Linux-based Meltemi, …
American smartphone customers are consuming lots of media
July 18, 2011 2:00 AM
Dean Takahashi
The smartphone has finally gone mainstream in the U.S., and cell phones aren’t just for calling and texting anymore.
A new study indicates there’s a dramatic shift to “smartphone culture,” where people are using social networks and downloading media such …
Nielsen: Smartphones finally overtake feature phones for new device purchases
June 30, 2011 7:17 AM
Devindra Hardawar
55 percent of U.S. consumers who purchased a new phone in the last three months bought a smartphone, according to data from Nielsen’s May mobile consumer survey.
This marks the first time, at least according to Nielsen’s data, that smartphones …
Facebook acquires Israeli mobile app startup Snaptu
Snaptu confirmed this morning that it has been acquired by Facebook. The social network reportedly paid as much as $70 million for the Israeli startup, which makes apps for feature phones.
The deal shows that Facebook is serious about extending …
Facebook’s mobile dominance grows with new feature phone app
Facebook has already established itself as the most popular application ever on the iPhone, but now it wants to expand mobile usage to people who don’t own fancy smartphones.
Last year, Facebook launched Zero, a mobile website that was stripped …
Verizon brings back Microsoft Kins as feature phones — tech world says "I told you so"
If you thought you were safe from hearing more about Microsoft’s ill-fated Kin phones, think again. Verizon is apparently gearing up to offer the phones a second chance on its network, except this time in a stripped-down feature phone capacity, …
Want to make money off a mobile app? Build a free Java version
Smartphones get all the buzz, but mobile app warehouse GetJar claims that 90 percent of phones in use worldwide, and 72 percent of American phones, are still the non-smartphones that the mobile industry confusingly calls “feature phones.”
To make money …
