As it abandons U.S. devices, Peek raises $15M for Asian expansion (exclusive)
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 Sarva to VentureBeat, as the company expands its business aggressively in Asia.
On January 30 users who had paid $299 for “lifelong service” on the companies bare bones email and Twitter devices were surprised to … Continue Reading
Nokia’s bold new Meltemi OS will make feature phones smarter
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, which is the Greek word for winds that blow across the Aegean see from the north during summer, was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
For Nokia, Meltemi is a sign that the company … Continue Reading
American smartphone customers are consuming lots of media
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 as games on their phones, according to Magid Media Futures: Mobile 2011. Among the findings, smartphone users spend more on virtual goods in games than social networking users do.
“We are seeing a smartphone culture … Continue Reading
Nielsen: Smartphones finally overtake feature phones for new device purchases
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 have outranked feature phones (often known as “dumb phones”) in sales. And with smartphone sales speeding up, there’s little chance this trend will be reversed anytime soon. Last year, only 34 percent of U.S. consumers … Continue Reading
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 its social network across the entire globe and that most of the world accesses the internet not via smartphones or PCs but through old-fashioned feature phones. To cover the whole market, Facebook needs its app … Continue Reading
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 down to lower bandwidth usage, and which was free thanks to deals with mobile operators (as long as you didn’t view photos). Today, Facebook announced a new app that supposedly improves the experience with “an … Continue Reading
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, according to a leaked Verizon road map revealed by mobile site PPC Geeks.
As easy as it is to ridicule the Kin phones (even Microsoft employees hated them), they could actually make decent feature phones … Continue Reading
Want to make money off a mobile app? Build a free Java version
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, according to a leaked Verizon road map revealed by mobile site PPC Geeks.
As easy as it is to ridicule the Kin phones (even Microsoft employees hated them), they could actually make decent feature phones … Continue Reading
