SMARTPHONE

The number of smart phone subscribers in South Korea, one of the world's most wired countries, hit 20 million last week, as some 40 percent of the country's citizens signed up to use the mobile device, the state telecoms regulator said on Sunday.

Japan's Sony Corp., struggling with a loss-making television business, is considering dissolving its liquid-crystal-display joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in a bid to cut costs, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.

Sony Corp, struggling with a loss-making television business, is in negotiations to pull out of its LCD joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in a bid to cut costs.

Samsung Electronics' president expected Thailand floods to further hit the computer memory chip market by hurting PC production until the first quarter of next year.

In Technology Group Ltd. announced a 4.3-inch xpPhone 2 smartphone should be launched early next year. ITG, claiming to be known as China Apple, announced in its press release that the xpPhone 2 will be a Post-Smartphone.

The iPhone 4S has reported problems of faster than usual battery drainage. Apple engineers are currently looking into solving the problem that has affected its latest smartphone.

Google Inc.'s newest version of its open-source Android mobile operating system is set to launch next month, but it's only going to be available on the Galaxy Nexus device, possibly until the end of the year.

Samsung shipped more smartphones than Apple did in the third quarter of 2011, but Samsung may not have sold them all yet.

Windows Phone has the most to prove, but can Android 4.0 take on Windows Phone and defeat iOS 5?

Samsung Electronics Co. has surpassed Apple Inc. as the world's top smartphone manufacturer during the July-September period, with an increase of 44 percent in shipments. The South Korean technology giant has also forecasted strong sales in the current quarter.

After having been halted by the iPhone 4S reality for some time, the rumor mills have back to the imaginary iPhone 5. Many people believe Apple will launch iPhone 5 in 2012.

Apple sales in China and Japan reached $14.3 billion in 2011, an increase of 174 percent from a year ago. The region accounts for nearly a quarter of revenue.

Samsung has taken a bite out of Apple. The Korean technology giant has replaced Apple as the world's number one smartphone vendor in Q3 2011.

A team of computer security researchers recently developed a proof-of-concept 'spy' app for the iPhone 4 capable of tracking typing on a nearby keyboard using the device's native accelerometer and gyroscope. Even a basic, widely available mobile device such as the iPhone is sensitive enough to enable the app to pick up data such as whether the keystrokes come from the left or right side of the keyboard and the relative distance between punched keys.

Dropbox Launches Dropbox for Teams With Administrative Controls and Plenty of Space

A side-by-side look at two high-end smartphones.

Mobile phone firm Nokia has launched Lumia 800 smartphone in a move to regain its lost smartphone market, which is currently dominated by Apple's iPhone and other Android smartphones.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple the popular slide-to-unlock feature, boasted by many smartphones nowadays, on a touchscreen device. Apple had already been granted a similar patent before. Another major patent win would obviously strengthen Apple's position. The patent (U.S. Patent No. 8,406,721) is entitled Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image, and has an open language as follows:

In October, three musketeers in the smartphone market rushed before the eyes of smartphone watchers - Motorola Droid Razr, Samsung Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S. Apple's iPhone 4S, unveiled on Oct. 4, just a day before the company's co-founder Steve Jobs died, smashed its previous sales records by selling 400 million devices over the launch weekend. Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the latest Samsung and Google flagship smartphone, which was unveiled in Hong Kong on Oct. 19, is likely to be launched in...

On Friday, we have come across a post by MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team on his Twitter page, in which the jailbreaker revealed a preliminary iPhone 4S jailbreak with screenshots. The first picture shows a terminal window with root access to the device, while the second screenshot shows Cydia on the iPhone 4S.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Friday after strong gains in the previous session, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.4 to 0.5 percent.