Windows Phone Flea Market Surpasses 9,000 apps

Immense news for all the Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft users- their app store has recently crossed the 9,000 apps accessible milestone.

Perhaps this put them a step ahead of webOS that’s been around for some time now, and brings them a step closer to overtaking the BlackBerry App World that sits at 15,000 apps right now.

At this rate, 15,000 shouldn’t be a problem to reach but then it’s going to be a long way until Microsoft reaches the coveted 300,000 apps that Apple holds in first place now. But things are looking so good so far. What apps do you feel are missing from WP7 and should be ported to the operating system?

Source: Uberphones

Verizon Close to Unveil Samsung Gem, Dummy Units Inwarding in Stores

A couple weeks ago reports stated that Samsung Gem Android handset was getting launched on Alltel, but now it seems like heading to Verizon as well.

Substantiation by some of the plastic dummy units showing up in the stores, this is typically a sign that the phone will be released within the next week or so.

Samsung Gem has a 3.2 MP camera, Wi-Fi (with hotspot capability), 800 MHz processor, GPS, Bluetooth, a MicroSD card slot, and 124 MB of internal memory. Currently, these kinds of specs lead us to believe this phone will be either free or pretty close to it; Alltel’s version is also free after mail-in rebate. We imagine we will see the official release of the Samsung Gem on Verizon sometime very soon. The race is on: who will make it first, the Gem or the HTC ThunderBolt let’s see.

Source: Unwiredview

Verizon to Move to Tiered Data Access in Summer

Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo has confirmed to investors attending the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference on Tuesday that Verizon will be eliminating its current unlimited access data plan centered on iPhone sales to an as yet undetermined tiered data access model based on either speed or usage, with the carrier still working to determine its final plans to be luanched in the middle of the summer season. This is not an unexpected move for the carrier as CEO Lowell McAdam has previously stated that the carrier would adopt tiered data plans as a response to its concerns regarding data network integrity and costs.

Survey finds a quarter of adults in the US and UK are 'avid' mobile gamers

Just how many cellphone users can be considered gamers these days? According to a new survey from PopCap Games and Information Solutions Group, about a quarter of adults in the US and UK have played a game on their phone in the past week, which makes them an "avid" gamer in their eyes, while about a third have played a game in the past month. If you dial things down to just mobile gamers with a smartphone, however, the number of avid gamers jumps to a hefty 83 percent, with 45 percent saying they play on a daily basis. What's perhaps most telling, though, is that 55 percent of smartphone users say they play games in general most often on their on their phone, compared to just 22 percent who play most often on their desktop or laptop computer, and 20 percent who opt for game console. Hit up the link below to check out the complete results in PDF form.

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Survey: One Third of U.S. and U.K. Adults Are Mobile Phone Gamers

New Survey Finds Significant Increase in Appetite for Games on Phones; Handsets Now Surpass Consoles and Computers as the Top Gaming Device for Many

SEATTLE, Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PopCap Games, the worldwide leader in casual video games, today announced the results of a new survey which found large increases in overall usage and frequency of mobile game playing among U.S. and U.K. adults. The survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group, also found that among mobile phone gamers, the mobile phone is now the primary gaming device of choice, leapfrogging video game consoles and personal computers in less than two years. Further, "smartphone" owners (the fastest-growing mobile segment) are by far the most avid consumers of mobile phone games. These and other purchase and consumption trends identified in the survey suggest significant growth in the mobile games sector will continue for the foreseeable future.

Overall, more than half (52%) of the 2,425 survey respondents said they had played a game on a mobile phone at some time in the past; 73% of U.K. respondents said they had played a mobile phone game at least once, compared to 44% of U.S. residents surveyed. A portion of those U.K. respondents appear to have been one-time users, as most other usage data found similar activity and trends across the countries. 33.6% of all adults in America and the United Kingdom have played a game on their mobile phone handset in the past month, qualifying them as "mobile phone gamers" for the purposes of the survey, and nearly a quarter (24.6%) have played in the past week, qualifying them as "avid mobile phone gamers." Fully 83% of mobile phone gamers who own a smartphone said they'd played in the past week.

"Mobile games are, along with social games, the hottest sector of the video game industry by far," stated Dennis Ryan, EVP of Worldwide Publishing at PopCap, which derives nearly a third of its overall revenues from sales of mobile mega-hits like Bejeweled® and Plants vs. Zombies™. "As more people purchase smartphones and the entire process of finding, purchasing and playing mobile games becomes as simple as browsing the internet, the mobile games market is going to accelerate even more."

In May 2009, ISG conducted a similar study of mobile gamers on behalf of PopCap, specifically targeting AT&T mobile customers; where applicable, historical data from that earlier survey is presented below along with data from the newly completed survey. Complete results of the new survey can be found at: www.infosolutionsgroup.com/popcapmobile2011

Among the other survey findings,

* 84% of all mobile phone gamers, and 97% of avid mobile phone gamers say they play games on their phone at least once a week; 92% of smartphone owners who play mobile games say they play at least once a week, and 45% say they play daily (compared to 35% of all mobile phone gamers). In the 2009 survey, only 13% of mobile phone gamers said they played daily, and 40% said they played weekly or more often.
* Among all mobile phone gamers, 50% said that the amount of time they spend playing games on their handset has increased over the past year, and among smartphone owners the figure climbs to 63%; in the 2009 survey, only 20% of mobile gamers indicated their consumption of mobile games had increased.
* Among all mobile phone gamers, 78% indicated that playing mobile phone games had become a regular part of their weekly activities, and more than half (59%) indicated that they saw such games as a regular part of their daily activities; for smartphone owners the figures were 84% and 68%, respectively.
* When asked which gaming-capable device they play games on most often, 44% of mobile phone gamers chose their phones, catapulting handsets past video game consoles (21%) and computers (30%) to the top of the list. 51% of avid mobile gamers and 55% of those mobile gamers who own smartphones indicated they played games most often on their phones. This compares to just 17% of mobile gamers who chose their handset as their most frequently used gaming device in the 2009 survey.
* 43% of all mobile gamers, and 49% of smartphone gamers, said they had upgraded a free trial game to the full (paid) version in the past year; more than a quarter (27%) of all mobile gamers, and a third (34%) of smartphone gamers, said they had paid for additional content for an originally free game in the past year.
* Among mobile phone gamers, the average smartphone owner purchased nearly twice as many games as those with other types of phones (5.4 games vs. 2.9 games) in 2010, and spent almost $10 more ($25.57 vs. $15.70) on phone games.
* 19% of all mobile phone gamers said they played one or more social networking games via their phone daily, and more than a third (37%) said they play a social networking game via their phone at least once a week.
* Among all mobile phone gamers, 23% of all mobile phone device usage time (excluding phone calls) is spent playing games.

Survey Methodology

This international research was conducted by Information Solutions Group (ISG; www.infosolutionsgroup.com) exclusively for PopCap Games. The results are based on 2,425 online surveys completed by members of the world's largest online ePanel (Toluna) in the United States and United Kingdom between January 25 and January 31, 2011.

To qualify for participation in the survey, individuals had to own and use a mobile phone. Among these mobile phone owners, 814 were identified as mobile gamers (those who played a game on their mobile phone in the past month). In addition 597 of the mobile gamers were identified as avid mobile gamers (those who played a game on their mobile phone within the past week). Finally, 495 of the mobile phone owners were also identified as smartphone owners. In theory, in 19 cases out of 20, the results will differ by no more than 2.4 percentage points from what would have been obtained by seeking out and polling all US and UK mobile phone owners age 18 and over. Smaller subgroups reflect larger margins of sampling error. Other sources of error, such as variations in the order of questions or the wording within the questionnaire, may also contribute to different results.

About PopCap

PopCap Games is the leading global developer, publisher and operator of casual video games: fun, easy-to-learn, captivating games that appeal to all ages across PC, mobile, social and other platforms. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a worldwide staff of more than 400 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, B.C., Dublin, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. PopCap's games have been downloaded over 1.5 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship franchise, Bejeweled®, has sold more than 50 million units.

The PopCap logo and all other trademarks used herein that are listed at www.popcap.com/trademarks are owned by PopCap Games, Inc. or its licensors and may be registered in some countries. Other company and product names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners and are used for the benefit of those owners.

SOURCE PopCap Games

HTC Thunderbolt Release Date: Too Much Confusion

Well now, we are all aware that basically HTC and Verizon have created a right balls up of releasing the much sought after Android 2.2 Froyo HTC Thunderbolt, shifting the expected release date from one date to another, and now apparently the latest date offered is the 10th of March.

However, as I reported earlier, Verizon is claiming that the release date for the HTC Thunderbolt hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Now according to an article over on Technology Gather, they claim that based on an image of the Best Buy internal system, the release date for the HTC Thunderbolt is the 11th of March. (Care to clarify that date Technology gather?)

Now, I’m all for giving info on when a device is likely to see release, but it would appear that the guys at Technology Gather are somewhat blind, or are suffering from a typing problem, as if you check the image which originates from Android Central you will note that it states the “10th” and NOT the “11th.” We covered this Best Buy 10th of March release date for the HTC Thunderbolt previously (here)

The aforementioned images states 03/10/11 which is the 10th day of the 3rd month of 2011, and NOT the 11th day of the 3rd month of the 2010…It just goes to show how confusion sets in when people simply can’t get something right.

As for that elusive release date for the HTC Thunderbolt, it will happen eventually, although if HTC and Verizon isn’t careful it may be too late and potential customers would have moved on to another device.

Frequency lands direct Motorola distribution deal

Company to distribute manufacturer’s current and future accessories line, also gaining access to Motorola Mobility devices for resale in the B2B market

Frequency Telecom has won a deal to be appointed as a distributor of the Motorola Mobility range of mobile accessories.

Mobile News understands the Chessington-based company has gained direct access to Motorola Mobility’s complete range of current and future, traditional and new accessories to support the manufacturer’s upcoming converged computing devices, the XOOM Android tablet and Atrix handset, both due for release in the UK next quarter.

Frequency Telecom will have direct access to the XOOM and future such devices for resale in the B2B arena and joins the likes of fellow distributors 20:20 Mobile and Data Select in having direct distribution agreements with Motorola Mobility.

Both Frequency Telecom and Motorola Mobility were unavailable for comment.

The deal joins recent distribution agreements Frequency has struck. Last month, Frequency was appointed by Swedish accessories manufacturer Jays to distribute its range of earphones, tasked with developing new vertical markets for it in the UK and European territories. The company has secured supply to several retailers.

That deal followed recent signings with smartphone protective case manufacturer Case-mate and rugged mobile phone case manufacturer OtterBox. Frequency Telecom has a European exclusive on both the Case-mate and OtterBox ranges.

Meanwhile, Research in Motion (RIM) has signed up Case-mate recently to its ‘Built for BlackBerry’ partnership programme.

Case-mate cases made for BlackBerry devices under this programme will be affixed with the Built for BlackBerry logo, which guarantees customers the case was built, tested and designed specifically for BlackBerry.

Bentley Collection iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry cases are made of rich, non-Corinthian leather

If you'd like to give your iPad the same cosseting your posterior receives when you slot into the sport buckets in your Continental GT then you, good chap, are in luck. Bentley's "luxury leather partner" Ettinger, which ensures no surface of the vehicles is bereft of animal hide, is releasing a line of gadget cases to cover your iPad, iPhone, or BlackBerry -- though it's unclear exactly which model for the latter. Prices? You're looking at £45 for either of the phone holsters or £89 for the iPad-sized model. That's about $73 and $145, respectively, and a lot of cash for a little hide. If you're still not dissuaded there's another image of the tablet-sized version and a press release below. Those, at least, are free.

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GENEVA MOTOR SHOW PRESS RELEASE - THE LUXURY OF LEATHER

The Bentley Collection Spring 2011

Driven by its outstanding heritage of hand-crafted fine leather interiors, Bentley and its luxury leather partner Ettinger have devised a range of modern must-have personal accessories to be launched at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

Inspired by the Beluga and Hotspur interior trim colours of the Bentley Continental Supersports, the capsule collection of leather items in black and red leather with contrast stitching includes keyrings and iPad, iPhone and Blackberry cases.

Founded by Gerry Ettinger more than 70 years ago, the company is still family owned and run by his elder son, Robert Ettinger. It is one of the few British luxury leather goods companies still manufacturing in the UK.

The company started working with Bentley more than five years ago to develop the Ettinger for Bentley collection. Robert comments: "The initial collections were made from black English waxy hide on the outside and the distinctive Ettinger colour of panel hide on the inside which has been made and used by Ettingers for over 75 years.

"The collections include everything from purses and wallets, passport cases, luggage labels and portfolios, as well as the iconic Bentley key case."

Ettinger has recently added some of the latest Bentley upholstery hides (fuchsia, yellow and blue) to its range. Everything is handmade in its factory in Birmingham, which uses the same skills that have been handed down for generations.

In 1996, in recognition of the work carried out for the Royal Household, Ettinger of London was appointed with a Royal Warrant to HRH the Prince of Wales.

Key dates:

1930s: Gerry Ettinger founded Ettinger in 1934. Having worked as a film producer in Italy and Germany (where he worked with Marlene Dietrich) he used his extensive contacts in continental Europe and England to create a range of luxury gifts

1940s: Recovery

After a pause in the 1940s during the second world war, he returned to London to reinvigorate and expand his business.

1950s-60s: Growth

In the 1950s Gerry Ettinger acquired a small leather goods manufacturing business, which had been making leather goods in London since the 19th century.

1970s-80s: Consolidation

Gerry Ettinger continued to work in the business until well into his 80s and saw the transformation of the company into one of the most respected leather goods designers and manufacturers in the UK.

1990s: Recognition

In 1990, Robert, his elder son took over and continued the tradition of craftsmanship and quality as well as bringing in some more contemporary designs. He has since further 'internationalised' and developed the business in Asia, Korea, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and the US.

1999: James Homer Ltd

In July 1999, Ettinger acquired one of Walsall's oldest leather goods manufacturing companies, James Homer Ltd (established in 1890). Homer is at the heart of Ettinger's hand-made manufacturing process and is home to some of the most skilled leather craftsmen in the UK.

2005: Bentley Collection

The collaboration with Bentley puts a whole new collection on the road.

2007: Showroom Makeover

The London showroom, in Ettinger's Putney Head Office, sets a new standard for the brand.

Pricing:
iPad case - £89.00
iPhone case - £45.00
Blackberry case - £45.00
Keyring - £22.00

HTC Thunderbolt Verizon Price Expensive & Release Pending

The HTC Thunderbolt has caused a lot of stir of late surrounding the release date, well now we can report on the price point that some may find to be a little too expensive.

The release date pending, which hopefully will be March 4th if all goes to plan has annoyed many customers seeing as dates like the 24th then the 28th of February was suggested, now we would love to know what you think of the HTC Thunderbolt Verizon price.

Now we have visited HTC website and put a few Zip codes and and no prices have shown up for us, but Phandroid has a screenshot of the price (Image shown below).

The HTC store is showing a price of $699.99, now we would love to know if this price is expensive or it is indeed a price you would pay for the HTC Thunderbolt. Please do let us know when you visit Verizon Wireless or HTC if when you enter your Zip Code if a price shows up for you.

If the HTC Thunderbolt price is $699.99 would you buy it or still steer towards the iPhone 4? All comments welcomed below, thanks. If you would like to discuss anything to do with this smartphone please visit our discussions page.

Source – UnwiredView via UberGizmo

Verizon HTC 7 Trophy Windows Phone 7 Device May Possibly Come in March

Windows Phone 7 is slowly but surely making its way onto the CDMA carriers’ networks. First announced was the HTC Arrive for Sprint, which is due out on March 20. However, up until now we haven’t heard anything conclusive about any specific Windows Phone 7 device being headed to Verizon, after all the USA’s biggest CDMA carrier.

According to WinRumors though, Verizon will launch the HTC 7 Trophy as its first Windows Phone7 device sometime in late March. That would more or less coincide with Sprint’s Arrive launch, and it makes sense.

Verizon will reportedly charge $200 for the 7 Trophy, provided you sign a new two-year contract (as is customary with smartphones in the US). Both the HTC Arrive for Sprint and HTC 7 Trophy for Verizon will have WP7s first major update, codenamed NoDo, already preinstalled when they ship.

This is the update that will, among other things, bring copy and paste functionality to Microsoft’s platform. This update will also improve application start-up and resume times.

Source: Unwiredview