For Apple, a smaller, cheaper iPhone may be more than a means of entering the market for lower-end phones currently dominated by Android and Symbian–it could be the final step in the company’s global smartphone dominance. That’s the theory put forth today by Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who sees an iPhone Nano or Mini as an inevitability, one that would dramatically expand Apple’s addressable market. Read More »

Eben Moglen, a professor at Columbia Law School, is working to propagate a matchbox-sized device in homes around the world that will serve as a private and independent route to the Internet, free from prying eyes, Internet kill switches, and the whims of private conglomerates like Facebook. Read More »

For the first time, eBay is letting consumers dictate the contents of the next designer fashion collection that it will sell exclusively online. Read More »

Add two more names to the growing list of lawmakers crying foul over the Google WiSpy debacle. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) urge the agency to conduct a full investigation into the inadvertent collection of user data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks by Google’s Street View cars. Read More »

Aiming to capture the flavor of Barcelona, Mobilized’s Ina Fried reports back on some of the more massive booths at Mobile World Congress, including a two-story booth devoted to Android and an entire hall of wares from Sweden’s Ericsson. Read More »

If there is one topic trending higher in the press than the latest celebrity breakup, it’s the issue of online privacy. The government is now exploring tighter regulation of the online advertising industry. The FTC recently called for a do-not-track system that would allow consumers to opt out of being monitored online. And now the Department of Commerce has taken up the cause with recommendations for a Privacy Bill of Rights. Read More »

If the iPad truly is a PC and not the “media tablet” that some claim, then Apple is the largest mobile PC vendor in the world. According to DisplaySearch, Apple shipped 10.2 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2010–iPads, MacBooks and MacBook Pros–to claim a 17.2 percent share of the mobile PC market. That makes it the new global leader. Read More »

Assistly helps small businesses provide Web-based customer service and support with a platform that combines more traditional methods like email, chat and phone with Twitter and, as of today, Facebook. Read More »

In an interview, Sony Ericsson’s chief technology officer tells Mobilized how the company aims to capture the lead in the Android market through quick adoption of new versions and by tapping the technology strengths of its parent companies. Read More »

Google Inc. announced a new payment system for online paid content that will give newspaper and magazine publishers a significantly larger share of revenues than a rival service offered by Apple Inc. Under the new service, called Google One Pass, Google will keep 10 percent of revenues, compared to the 30 percent cut demanded by Apple for subscriptions sold through its online store. Read More »

Twitter’s how-to guide tells buyers how to use its new ad platform. And it tells the rest of us how Twitter’s first real effort to make money is working. (Hint: It’s early days….) Read More »

The antitrust investigation Google is facing in Texas is quite a bit broader than originally thought. A civil investigative demand sent last July by the office of Attorney General Greg Abbott, and first reported by Bloomberg, reveals an inquiry not just into ad pricing, but site ranking and “the manual overriding or altering of” search results as well. Read More »

Web conferencing is just the worst, but thankfully the tools for giving live remote demos are getting simpler and snappier all the time. Today SlideShare, the presentation-sharing site with 45 million monthly uniques, is launching its take. Read More »

Rumors are rumors, but the ones that emerged yesterday that chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is ripe for a buyout don’t take into consideration the numerous complications that stand in the way of such a deal getting done. AMD’s relationship with Intel is a big one. Read More »

Yesterday, in a major policy speech in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jumped on the Internet bandwagon again, unveiling a $25 million government investment for entrepreneurs to allow dissidents to thwart “thugs, hackers and censors.” Since that’s about the amount a third-string social photo-sharing site gets while walking down University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., from venture capitalists with bags of money to spend, let me just say the money is, well, underwhelming. Clinton’s speech, thankfully, was much better. Read More »

The biggest cable company in the country lost more subscribers last quarter. But if you think that’s a problem for Comcast, you’re wrong. (For now.) Read More »

For acquisitions of private companies backed by venture capital, it’s becoming increasingly complicated to collect cash after the deal has been signed. In contrast to a decade ago, when many such deals went through with little trouble, today’s venture-backed acquisitions are fraught with landmines that can result in delayed payments and reduced purchase prices long after the deal has been struck, say venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and deal attorneys. Read More »

Less than two days after calling on investors to mount a revolt against Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and a planned move to Windows Phone, those behind the Web posting said they were giving up the effort, and later posted on Twitter that the whole thing was, in fact, a hoax. Read More »