Huawei prepares to switch from Android to Harmony
Ahead of Huawei Consumer’s developer conference the company is doubling down on its in-house smartphone operating system. Huawei formally unveiled Harmony OS at its developer conference last year, and...
View ArticleAustralia is giving the Google/Apple smartphone duopoly a closer look
The Aussie competition authority thinks the ecosystem around mobile app stores, which is controlled entirely by just two companies, merits closer inspection. This forms part of a general deep dive into...
View ArticleAndroid 11 released with new messaging, control and privacy features
The latest version of the operating system that runs most of the world’s smartphones has been unveiled. Android stopped using deserts and sweets to identify major new versions when it apparently hit a...
View ArticleGoogle releases latest version of diet Android
Hot on the heels of Android 11 comes Android 11 (Go edition), which is designed to work on lower-specced smartphones. Google describes Go edition as being designed for ‘entry level’ smartphones, which...
View ArticleGoogle completes global rollout of RCS for Android
After a decade of false starts Rich Communications Service has hit the mainstream with Google making it available to all Android users. RCS is effectively SMS on steroids, which brings it closer to the...
View ArticleZoom tops the 2020 mobile app charts
In a year that saw leaving the house become criminalised in much of the world, it comes as little surprise to see video conferencing service Zoom become top of the mobile pops. Both Apple and Google...
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Global app spend increased by 25% in 2020
Mobile app tacker App Annie has released its numbers for the year and the headline stat was that total global spend hit $112 Billion, a 25% increase on 2019. Apple’s iOS still dominates revenues, but...
View ArticleFord goes all-in on Google
US automotive giant Ford is not only making all its cars Android-native, it’s also betting its corporate future on Google Cloud. “We are obsessed with creating must-have, distinctively Ford products...
View ArticleHuawei’s Harmony OS revealed to be an Android fork – what a surprise
An investigation has found little difference between Huawei’s in-house smartphone OS and Android, which it’s supposed to be replacing. The work was done by Ars Technica, which went through the arduous...
View ArticleT-Mobile US sells its soul to Google
TMUS is expanding its reliance on Google to deliver digital products, including a premium TV service, to its customers. This represents a move away from third party digital product providers towards a...
View ArticleGoogle wins legal duel with Oracle over Android’s use of Java code
The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of Google in decade-long litigation brought by Oracle, granting the Android owner “fair use” of Java API code it copied in developing the mobile operating system....
View ArticleAndroid 12 focuses on personalisation and privacy, again
Google has previewed the next version of Android which, once more, claims to empower the user to adapt and secure their device experience. Just as smartphones haven’t significantly evolved in a decade,...
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Google and Samsung hope two wrongs make a wearable right
Last week Google almost apologetically slipped out the news that it’s merging its wearable device OS with Samsung’s one. Wear is the stripped-down version of Android designed for smart watches and that...
View ArticleAT&T is the latest US operator to hand over its messaging to Google
Messages by Google will soon be the default messaging app for all AT&T Android customers in the US, effectively killing attempts by operators to establish their own RCS platform. US operators...
View ArticleHuawei revenues dip 29% in third straight quarter of decline
Huawei has had its biggest-ever dip in revenue, from two years into Washington’s sanctions which battered both its network infrastructure and smartphone sales and the company’s crucial access to...
View ArticleUS Senators out to tear down the app store walls
A bipartisan Senate bill is introduced to boost competition in the mobile apps market with rules to restrict what Apple and Google can impose on developers and users. Senators Marsha Blackburn...
View ArticleNetflix enters the mobile gaming arena with a whisper
Video streaming giant Netflix is now bundling mobile games in its offer, starting with a small number of titles and thus limited disruption to the gaming industry’s business model. The company...
View ArticleUK belatedly realises phone OS duopoly harms consumers
The UK Competition and Markets Authority has been looking into the mobile ecosystem space and has worked out that a duopoly isn’t great for competition. There’s a slightly surreal air to the CMA...
View ArticleUS internet giants tighten the screw on Russia
As the scramble to be seen to be doing the right thing over the Ukraine conflict continues, Amazon and Google have made significant announcements. ‘We’ve suspended shipment of retail products to...
View ArticleTinder operator Match sues Google over Play Store billing
Match Group runs a bunch of dating apps and it reckons Google is abusing its power by making its own billing system mandatory on the Play Store. This new legal action, which even has its very own...
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