However, Apple’s rate of growth appears to have slowed. From October 2009 to January 2010, the iPhone’s share only increased by 0.3 percentage points; from September 2009 to December 2009, comparatively, it had increased by 1.2 points. Don’t let the slowing in growth fool you, though: Apple still holds a very healthy 25.1 percent market share behind RIM’s pack-leading 41.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Google’s Android platform is the big mover and shaker, having jumped from a 2.8 percent share in October 2009 to a 7.1 percent share in January 2010—an increase of 4.3 points. Of course, Google has introduced a number of new Android models in the last several months while the iPhone product line has remained unchanged since the introduction of the 3GS in summer 2009.

The rising smartphone tide has not, however, lifted all ships. Microsoft continues to hold third place in the market, but the company dropped 4 points since October 9, its share dwindling to 15.7 percent. And Palm has lost traction as well, dropping 2.1 percentage points to a 5.7 percent share. However, the January 2010 numbers do predate both Palm’s plan for a renewed marketing push and Microsoft’s introduction of the new Windows Phone 7 Series, so this probably isn’t the final word for either company.

Via Yahoo

The Simulcast audio feed is available via iTunes, RSS, or direct download here or you can use the player below.

Special Thanks to MXL for providing the Microphones that record the Simulcast.

The company blamed the outage, which affected some users between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. EST today, on defective software in one of its data centers.

In an e-mail, a Verizon Wireless spokesman said some users experienced outages, some were hit with service slowdowns and others were not affected at all.

You can get the complete story at Computerwold.com

Apple has yet to announce the exact dates for iPad availability, but during the iPad’s unveiling in late January, Apple said the non-3G iPad would hit store shelves in 60 days, followed by the 3G model 30 days after that.

March 26

Both the Examiner and MacRumors claim anonymous sources have told them the iPad will launch on March 26, possibly at 6 p.m. The rumored iPad launch timing would be similar to what Apple did in 2007, when it launched the original iPhone at 6 p.m. local time in the United States. The Examiner is also saying that customers who line up for the iPad on launch day will receive a “special gift.”

In preparation for the launch, Apple Store employees will reportedly get their hands on the device as early as March 10. iPad television commercials will reportedly start airing on March 15.

Delays, Delays, Delays

On Monday, Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek predicted Apple would delay the iPad launch, due to an “unspecified production problem” with Cupertino’s iPad manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision. As a result, only 300,000 iPads would be ready to ship by launch date. Although Misek’s claim about constrained iPad availability may be true, his analysis that Apple would delay the iPad launch has been called into question since Misek has no knowledge of internal Apple decisions.

A limited stock of iPads may actually play well in Apple’s favor since the company has decided to release its new tablet computer in two stages. Apple’s staggered approach–releasing the Wi-Fi version first, followed by a 3G version a month later–could result in low customer turn outs for one, or both, of the product launches. Limited availability at launch, however, could drive up public demand and enthusiasm for the device.

This is the second major iPad availability rumor. Last month, rumors were circulating that Apple would start taking pre-orders for the device as early as February 25.

Via Yahoo

The C5 handset will be one of the cheapest smartphones from Nokia, selling for 135 euros ($183), excluding taxes and subsidies, and hitting the shelves next quarter.

“It is products like this that will grow Nokia marketshare in the smartphone segment and help them to increase their average sale prices,” said John Strand, chief of telecoms consultancy Strand Consult.

Volumes on the smartphone market are seen surging in 2010, with some analysts forecasting up to 50 percent growth, as handset vendors are pushing advanced features, once exclusive to pricey top-end models, into cheaper and cheaper phones.

Nokia continues to lead the global smartphone market with an around 40 percent market share, but it has lost ground to Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry.

The Finnish firm is in the midst of a massive revamp of its smartphone offering and has said in 2010 almost all of its smartphones would have a touch screen, a full keyboard or both, compared with less than half in 2009.

NAME CONFUSION

After introducing the C series — focused on personal social networking — Nokia has four smartphone product families. The E series phones are for business users, X series for youth and music, and N series for the most advanced models.

It plans to use the new names across its smartphone offering.

Nokia has historically flooded the market with phone models little different from each other, with additional confusion arising from their four digit names, which have been hard to differentiate for consumers.

However, the new naming of X series phones may also create confusion as Sony Ericsson has used the name for few years — X1 and X2 smartphones are from Sony Ericsson, while Nokia has launched the X3 model.

Sony Ericsson’s new flagship device is the X10, while Nokia is also widely expected to launch an X10 cellphone.

Via Yahoo

The retail giant announced the deal on Monday following widespread speculation that an acquisition would be coming soon. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Vudu has developed software that is built into TVs and Blu-ray players and lets users rent or buy high-definition movies and TV programs over the Internet for instant viewing. It aims to make the process easy because users don’t have to connect their TV to a computer to browse for and buy movies.

Vudu has licensed content from most of the major studios and offers around 16,000 movies. It will become a subsidiary of Wal-Mart and continue developing streaming Internet applications and services, the retailer said.

This isn’t Wal-Mart’s first attempt at selling movies online. It sold movie downloads for about a year until it shut down the service at the end of 2007. Wal-Mart continues to sell digital music online.

The retailer expects to close the deal in the next few weeks, it said.

Vudu started out selling a box that users connect to their TV to browse for and purchase movies. But the business model for such standalone boxes has proved challenging. Vudu competitors, such as Netflix, began building their technology into devices that were already in people’s homes, such as the Xbox.

Vudu still sells the box, but its technology is now also built into TVs and Blu-ray players. Wal-Mart’s statement about the acquisition made no mention of selling the standalone box.

Via Yahoo

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Designed for Life in Motion

With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.

Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.

Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.

Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.

Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.

Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.

Availability

Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.

To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.

Via Microsoft

With bada, Korea-based Samsung is taking the TouchWiz system used on its touch-screen non-smart phones and making it the basis of a smart phone platform to take on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry. Samsung also makes phones based on other competing smart phone systems: Android, created by Google Inc., and Symbian, of which Nokia Corp. is a major backer.

J.K. Shin, the president of Samsung’s phone division, said the goal of bada was to expand the market for smart phones, making them available to people across the world who have made do with non-smart phones.

The new phone, dubbed the Wave, is a touch screen phone like the iPhone. It features a highly saturated, high-resolution screen using organic light emitting diodes, or OLEDs. Samsung said the phone will go on sale in April, but did not say if the U.S. would be one of the launch markets, nor did it say what the phone would cost.

To support the Wave and existing phones using TouchWiz, Samsung is launching online applications stores in 50 countries this year, including the U.S. Most major phone makers now operate applications stores, or make phones that use stores administered by others, like Google.

Samsung revealed the phone in Barcelona a day ahead of the start of Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest cell phone trade show.

Via Yahoo