Samsung Sells 2 Million Galaxy Notes, HTC Sees Negative Smartphone Sales Trend Reversing & New Mobile Payment System Coming From Retailers

HTC Sees Negative Smartphone Sales Trend Reversing Thanks to HTC One Phones
HTC is confident the company’s new One series smartphones will rescue the company from slowing sales, propelling it to the No.5 smartphone vendor spot and beyond. “We are confident this year will be … a much better year,” HTC’s chief of European operations Florian Seiche said to Reuters. “Even with the Q1 not being the ideal fast start right out of the gate in January, which of course we would have preferred, even with that we are very confident.”
BGR

Samsung Sells 2 Million Galaxy Notes, Aiming for 10 Million This Year
According to Hankil Yoon (the same one who undermined Samsung’s performance in the tablet space), the company has sold two million Galaxy Note devices since their launch in October, and are aiming for 10 million by the end of 2012. With the launch of the Galaxy Note 10.1 and the recent expansion of the 5.3-inch handset into North America, this may not be such a difficult feat.
MobileSyrup

New Mobile Payment System Coming From Retailers
A new mobile phone payment system – to compete with Google Wallet and ISIS – is being built by a group of retailers that inclues Target and Wal-Mart. The group also includes drugstores, vending companies and fast-food restaurants. It’s not clear if the system would use NFC, and if so, whether carriers and/or Google would permit the system to run on their NFC phones.
Phone Scoop

How a Mobile Game Dominated the App Store Without Any Press
Draw Something, a Pictionary-like game for iOS and Android, had 1 million downloads before it had a single search result in Google News. “There was nothing written about us,” says Dan Porter, the CEO of a company called OMGPOP that created the app. “[Reporters] weren’t interested. I tried, but I couldn’t even get their attention.”
Mashable

Rogers Nokia Lumia 900 Launching in April, HTC Made Some Noise At MWC & Intel Announces New Processors and Partnerships

Rogers Nokia Lumia 900 Launching in April
Want even more Nokia Lumia 900 news? Checking out the Nokia Mobile World Congress 2012 press conference keynote gives a bit more insight into when the LTE Windows Phone device will launch. Rogers said sometime “this Spring”, but Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop, who’s also a Canadian, narrows down the date.
MobileSyrup

Quietly Brilliant, But HTC Sure Made Some Noise At MWC
Most notably, we have the freshly announced One series which comprises three different phones: the One X, One S, and One V. (More on those later, of course.) HTC has already stated that it would be focusing on more hero devices, rather than pushing out experimental failures like the HTC Status.
TechCrunch

Intel Announces New Processors and Partnerships
Intel on Monday detailed a number new products and partnerships during the company’s Mobile World Congress press event. “We are very pleased to add new, important customers and capabilities to our phone offerings today. We remain focused on delivering exciting new features and outstanding performance to smartphone customers around the world.” In addition to Intel’s Atom Z2460 “Medfield” processor, the company announced the Atom Z2580 CPU that will feature an advanced multi-mode LTE/3G/2G solution and will double the performance of the Z2640.
BGR

Carrier IQ to Let Consumers See Analytics Data
Carrier IQ today announced an extension of its IQ Care service that will ultimately allow consumers to gain better insight into their own usage and device habits. Technically, the revised version of IQ Care is being made so that wireless network operators can offer the analytical insight to wireless customers through their online account tools. The service will become available in the second quarter of 2012.
Phone Scoop

There Will Be More Smartphones Than Humans on the Planet, TELUS “Various locations” Have Reported Fake iPhones & Google Wallet Gets Prepaid Security Fix

There Will Be More Smartphones Than Humans on the Planet by Year’s End
A prediction for the future of smartphone growth makes some bold projections: By the end of this year, there could be more smartphones on the planet than humans, and by 2016 there could be 10 billion smartphones. That’s 1.4 mobile devices per capita.
Mashable

TELUS Doc Says That “Various locations” Have Reported Fake iPhones Are Being Returned
There seems to be some funny business happening over at TELUS. Some fishy customers have taken it upon themselves to cash in on the buyer’s remorse policy and return fake iPhones. There’s no word on how many have been returned, but the internal doc states that “various locations” have been hit.
MobileSyrup

Google Wallet Gets Prepaid Security Fix, but ‘Brute-Force’ Issue Still Hangs in the Air
Google says it’s fixed a Wallet security flaw that potentially allowed a phone thief to spend a user’s prepaid balance. The ability to provision new prepaid cards had been suspended pending the update, but has now been restored. Things aren’t quite back to normal in the Big G’s world of mobile money, however. Users still find themselves caught between two competing arguments over an entirely different vulnerability, which involves a ‘brute-force’ attack on rooted devices.
Engadget

Cisco: Mobile Connections to Hit 10 Billion by 2016
Global mobile data traffic is expected to increase 18-fold over the next five years to 10.8 exabytes per month according to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Forecast (VNI). Cloud traffic is expected to account for 71%, or 7.6 exabytes per month, of total mobile data traffic by 2016. In 2011, cloud traffic accounted for only 45% of mobile data traffic, or 269 petabytes per month.
BGR

Samsung Canada Giving Away 5 Galaxy Notes, iPhone 4S Launch Sent Apple Store Sales Skyrocketing & Nokia Accidentally Reveals White Lumia 900

Samsung Canada Giving Away 5 Galaxy Notes
Samsung is gearing up for the big Canadian Galaxy Note launch on February 14th – the beast of a phone/tablet will be available from TELUS, Bell and Rogers. To celebrate this momentous occasion Samsung has decided to throw a contest together and giveaway 5 Notes.
MobileSyrup

Nokia Accidentally Reveals White Lumia 900
Nokia accidentally revealed a white Lumia 900. The picture was soon lifted from Nokia’s Conversations blog, but it remains on its Facebook page, flashing an exposed micro-USB port and front-facing camera that identifies this snow-white slab as the Lumia 900 kind.
Engadget

iPhone 4S Launch Sent Apple Store Sales Skyrocketing
Apple Stores are often busy and with the release of new iPhones and iPads, Apple’s retail locations become bombarded with waves of excited customers. According to Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf, the launch of the iPhone 4S sent Apple Store sales to record heights during the holiday quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2011, revenue per store reached $17.08 million, a 42.6% increase over the same quarter in 2010.
BGR

Halliburton Dumps RIM, Chooses iPhones For 4,500 Employees
To say that RIM has had a tough time these past few months is an understatement, and today’s news probably won’t help raise the morale around Waterloo. According to AppleInsider, oilfield services giant Halliburton will soon be migrating their BlackBerry-toting workforce to run exclusively on a new fleet of iPhones.
TechCrunch

TELUS Launching New SIM Cards February 1st, Motorola Announces Q4 2011 Earnings & Size Matters: Clever Website Compares Smartphone Proportions

iPad Owns 96% of Enterprise Market and iPhone Share Climbs to 53%, Study Finds
Enterprise mobile vendor Good Technology published a new study on Thursday revealing iOS’s massive market share in the corporate world. The iPad accounted for 96% of all tablets in the fourth quarter according to the firm, while the iPhone accounted for 53% of all smartphones activated by more than 2,000 companies using Good’s services in the fourth quarter.
BGR

Size Matters: Clever Website Compares Smartphone Proportions
If you’re smartphone fanatic like I am, you want to know the precise size of each one of these phones. Sure, that latest model may be super slim, but will it be too large for your pocket?
Mashable

Motorola Announces Q4 2011 Earnings: $3.4 Billion Revenue, $80 Million Net Loss
Motorola offered a estimate that lowered expectations for its Q4 2011 earnings earlier this month, and it’s now out with the final numbers, reporting net revenues of $3.4 billion and a GAAP net loss of $80 million.
Engadget

TELUS Launching New SIM Cards February 1st, Compatible “With All upcoming LTE Devices”
TELUS announced in a recent press release that they’ll be officially turning on their LTE network “later this quarter”. However, an internal doc that we received might reveal the launch date is actually much closer. New SIM cards (version 3) will be rolled out on February 1st.
MobileSyrup

‘Disappointing’ iPhone 4S Leads Apple to Most Profitable Quarter, Bell and Virgin Mobile Rollout HD Voice & Do We Really Need LTE Right Now?

‘Disappointing’ iPhone 4S Leads Apple to Most Profitable Quarter in Tech History
Apple on Wednesday reported record earnings for the December quarter, revealing a profit of $13.06 billion on revenue that surpassed $46 billion. Among technology companies, Apple’s fiscal first quarter represents the most profitable quarter ever recorded.
BGR

Droid RAZR MAXX Streets January 26 for $299
Verizon Wireless today announced that the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX will be available starting January 26. It will cost $299.99 with a new two-year contract. The RAZR MAXX is nearly identical to the RAZR, but packs a 3300mAh battery and boasts 21 hours of talk time. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor.
PhoneScoop

Bell and Virgin Mobile Rollout HD Voice
Today, both Bell and Virgin have rolled out HD Voice to their HSPA+ customers – this is available for free on select handsets. For Bell, currently the HD Voice compatible phones are the Nokia C6, Nokia C6-01, HTC Sensation and the HTC Incredible S.
MobileSyrup

Do We Really Need LTE Right Now? Aren’t 3G Speeds Enough?
The fact that 50% of the 7.7 million smartphones that Verizon sold in the 4th quarter of 2011 were 3G iPhones should indicate that consumers are willing to accept 3G for a couple of years instead of waiting for LTE speeds. Of course, the majority of those 7.7 million users were probably not in an LTE market at this time. Even if they were, do they need LTE?
GottaBeMobile

Steve Wozniak: Android Is Better Than the iPhone in Some Ways, Nearly 5% of Smartphone Shipments This Year with LTE & When You Can Get That New Device from CES?

Some Addicted Smartphone Users Hear “Phantom” Vibrations
A new research report from the University of Worcester states that those who use a smartphone are more stressed than those who don’t. 100 volunteers participated in the survey who first received a smartphone for solely work purposes, gradually found themselves checking/rechecking for new notifications after work hours. Sometimes these users even heard “phantom” vibrations which they thought were new messages, but actually weren’t.
MobileSyrup

Steve Wozniak: Android Is Better Than the iPhone in Some Ways
One of the co-founders of Apple has some love for Android, it turns out. “My primary phone is the iPhone,” Steve Wozniak says. “I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do.”
Mashable

2012 Gadget Calendar: When You Can Get That New Device from CES?
With so much announced at CES 2012, making sense of exactly when all of that gadgetry will arrive for the good people of the world to enjoy is a bit of a mess. So, want to know what’s coming and when? Just scan this article to find out.
Pocket-lint

LTE Smartphones to Account for Nearly 5% of Smartphone Shipments This Year
Smartphones capable of running on 4G LTE networks will account for between 4% and 5% of all smartphones that ship this year, according to one report. The estimates were published by DigiTimes on Monday, which cited sources at U.S., Korean and Japanese phone manufacturers including Samsung, LG, Pantech, Motorola Mobility and HTC.
BGR

OpenMedia Launches “Stop the Cell Phone Squeeze” Campaign, Skype Confirmed for Windows Phone & Droid RAZR MAXX To Launch On January 26th?

OpenMedia Launches “Stop the Cell Phone Squeeze” Campaign
Earlier this week activist group OpenMedia started an online petition called “Stop the Cell Phone Squeeze”. This takes direct aim at the Big 3 and their attempt to “trick the government into shutting independent competitors out of the market. They’re trying to block competitors from being able to use essential wireless spectrum”.
MobileSyrup

Droid RAZR MAXX To Launch On January 26th?
While there wasn’t much to say about the recently announced Droid RAZR MAXX to begin with (it’s essentially the Droid RAZR with a bigger battery and more storage), Motorola and Verizon decided to leave out one key bit of detail: the launch date. While it’s still not 100% confirmed, Motorola’s own RAZR MAXX product page now pinpoints the big day as January 26th.
TechCrunch

Skype Confirmed for Windows Phone
Microsoft’s Windows Phone Skype app appears to be nearing release. Skype’s VP of products, Rick Osterloh, revealed that Microsoft’s Skype division is “working on a Windows Phone product that will be coming out soon,” during an interview at CES 2012. Microsoft has typically refused to comment in detail on its Skype plans, after the company acquired the voice and video calling service in October.
GottaBeMobile

CES 2012: Smartphones Round-up
The Superbowl of smartphones? Why, that would be Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. But that didn’t stop the mobile industry’s heavy hitters from giving us a taste of the year in wireless to come at CES. With Windows Phones finally getting LTE, Intel’s Medfield CPU making its handset debut, Sony synergizing under its mega brand umbrella and fringe manufacturers wowing attendees with stock Ice Cream Sandwich and super-thin profiles, it appears phone aficionados have plenty to anticipate.
Engadget

5 Smartphones to Look Out for in 2012, LG Android OS 4.0 Upgrades Will Begin Q2 2012 & Apple Kicks Off 12 Days of iTunes

5 Smartphones to Look Out for in 2012
While 2011 brought some truly amazing innovations to the mobile industry from 4G LTE, to dual-core processors to phones that measure in the millimeters in terms of width, 2012 is poised to trump it. Needless to say, these are exciting times. But what’s on that horizon? What phones should you already be thinking about?
Gotta Be Mobile

LG Android OS 4.0 Upgrades Will Begin Q2 2012 With LG Optimus LTE and Others
LG has announced the first set of smartphones that will be graced with some Android OS 4.0 love. On Facebook the company noted that starting in Q2 2012 the LG Optimus LTE, LG Optimus 2X, Prada phone by LG 3.0, the LG Optimus Sol, the LG my Touch Q and the LG Eclipse will be getting upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich.
MobileSyrup

Apple Kicks Off 12 Days of iTunes, Offers a Dozen Freebies to Last into 2012
Cupertino’s annual download giveaway starts today and runs through January 6th. The free gifts kick off with some Coldplay tracks and videos from the band’s latest Apple-sponsored festival appearance.
Engadget

iPhone and iPad users account for 92% of mobile purchases, study finds
Users of Apple’s iPhone smartphones and its iPad line of tablets accounted for 92% of all mobile purchases made thus far in December, a recent study by eCommerce company RichRelevance found. That figure is up from April 2011 when a similar study conducted by the firm found that Apple’s iOS devices accounted for 88% of non-desktop online shopping.
BGR

Rogers Opens up Online Reservations for the Galaxy Nexus, Google Wallet Leaves Sensitive Data Unencrypted and Accessible & Apple and Google Dominate Smartphone Space

Rogers Opens up Online Reservations (again) for the Galaxy Nexus
Now that Bell and Virgin have launched the Nexus, Rogers has once again gone live with the online reservation system and those interested can drop down $40 to secure the OS 4.0 device.
MobileSyrup

Google Wallet Leaves Sensitive Data Unencrypted and Accessible, Says Security Firm
ViaForensics conducted a recent study on Google Wallet, discovering that while the electronic payment system does store credit card numbers securely, it can also leave personal information easily accessible.
The Verge

Apple and Google Dominate Smartphone Space While Others Scramble
Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS dominated the U.S. smartphone space in 2011 while a number of companies that helped shape the market as we know it were forced to reboot. Google’s Android platform represented 53% of the U.S. smartphone market through October in 2011 and Apple’s share grew to 29%.
BGR

Five Predictions for the Communications World in 2012
In the coming year, mobile internet devices and in particular smartphones will continue to bring the biggest changes to the way we communicate. For the first time, they will also change the way we do business.
Guardian