Android

According to the stats from the research firm Social Nuggets people use their computer tablets mostly for business purposes. Thus, business activity on Apple iPads and BlackBerry PlayBooks accounts for over 25%.

Meantime, owners of Android based tablets use them for business only at 20% rate. Shopping accounted for 23% of the activity on Android tablets while games accounted for 17.5% on iPads.

Social Nuggets gets the information from scanning both official reviews and comments in forums to see what people think of different tablets and what they use them for.

American Express has entered into a partnership with Sprint to offer mobile customers an access to ServeSM, a recently launched digital payment platform from American Express. It is the first relationship with a mobile carrier since the service launch in March.

Now Sprint customers will be able to use Serve mobile wallet application on their select Android-based smartphones. Sprint customers with these devices can find Sprint Zone, which also provides Sprint account information, recommends apps and more, as an icon on their Sprint mobile device.

China Unicom to launch its own smartphone line later this month. The new line of mobile devices are meant to rival Apple’s iPhone as well as Android handsets, as reported by the company spokeswoman.

A new smartphone called Wophone runs a proprietary operating system, announced by the company in March. Being the second largest mobile carrier in China, China Unicom has 180 million users. It faces strict competition in an app store business from Apple and Android vendors.

Cyber security experts found a new version of ZeuS Trojan that targets Android users to steal their money from their banking accounts, reports ThreatPost. The malware intercepts SMS messages which are sent to log into online banking cabinets.

The number of Android malware increased 10 times since the beginning of the year, shows recent stats.

Meantime, the number of criminal schemes using ZeuS has also increased since March when the initial code appeared online.
 

According to a survey conducted by Retrevo 34% of iPhone owners believe they have a 4G enabled smartphone because of “4” in the iPhone 4 name. Supposedly they are get deceived by the previous models 3G and 3GS.

Meantime, 42% of Blackberry users also believe their phones are 4G, but that is impossible. On the other hand, 61% of iPhone owners disregard if their phones are 4G enabled and they will buy the following iPhone model irrespective of the feature. Blackberry and Android users are also interested in the new iPhone, regardless of 4G speeds.

A US judge prompted this week that Apple Inc would face some hardships in its move to prevent Amazon.com from using Apple's App Store trademark.

The Cupertino giant launched a lawsuit against Amazon on allegations it has improperly used Apple's App Store name to solicit software developers throughout the United States.

However, at a hearing in an Oakland federal court on Wednesday, District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said she would reread some of the supporting papers in the case, according to an individual who was at the hearing.

A provider of Internet and mobile payment solutions Adyen announced the launch of a single-click mobile payment solution for iPhone and Android. Using the new platform app developers at the iTunes have an alternative payment gateway that accepts credit cards, PayPal and a range of other payment methods within mobile applications and mobile websites.

Tailored for mobile environment Adyen payment platform eliminates the need for merchants and developers to care for security and PCI compliance.

Starbucks announced the addition of more payment options for its customers. The company is launching Starbucks for Android™ app providing more consumers access to the fastest way to pay and other features to manage their Starbucks Card on-the-go.

Besides, Safeway, Inc., one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains, plans to rollout mobile payment in July at nearly 1,000 Starbucks in Safeway supermarkets across the United States, including the company’s Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s, Randalls, Tom Thumb and Genuardi’s stores.

MoreMagic Solutions, a provider of mobile commerce and financial services, launched a new application for smartphones eTopUpOnline. The software is available for all mobile platforms including Blackberry, Android, iPhone and Symbian.

eTopUpOnline service allows customers to load money to their mobile phones or those of their relatives or friends. Apart from the website the top-up service is also available from over 150,000 retail stores around the world.

Enthusiasts using HTC phone decided to “modify” their Android device to make it run Ubuntu operating system. People at the XDA Developers forum have worked on HTC Desire to boot Ubuntu natively.

The new firmware was developed by "Bergfex" and was originally based off a Ubuntu developer thread for the Desire HD from late last year. The procedure of hacking involved putting zip files in particular places like SD card and PC and then switching the phone to the bootloader mode. After that the phone is connected to the computer and restarted to get the old ROM loading.

The mobile payment processor Square has announced launch of new apps that enables the owners of iPads iPhones and Android devices to use them instead of a cash register or credit card terminals. 

Latest rumors in the media sources say that instead of one tablet Amazon is planning to launch an “entire family” of Android devices for the upcoming holiday season in America.

Android and Me blog speculate that the online retailer will introduce devices in several form factors, including smartphones and possibly a Google TV set-top-box.

Digitimes also reports that Quanta and Samsung will be the company’s hardware partners.

DrWeb anti-virus software provider compiled a report of the most interesting malware for April. Android OS related viruses turned to be the most popular platform for malicious applications among hackers.

Motorola launches a netbook-powering Android smartphone, the Atrix which will run exclusively on Orange network.

A 1GHz dual-core handset the Atrix comes with 1GB of Ram and 16GB of on-board Flash storage.
The smartphone can power a netbook-like shell, available separately. The netbook, called Lapdock, 11.6in screen, keyboard and battery. The Atrix connects through a built-in dock, providing the unit's memory, storage and processing power. This offers access to a dedicated desktop-style UI, Firefox browser and QuickOffice suite.

Another report from Nielsen revealed that Android has surpassed Apple iOS in terms of desirability. It means that now more smartphone users are seeking to have Android than iPhone.

Thus, the report shows that 31% of mobile users polled within the period from January to March 2011 wanted Android device which is 26% up from the same period a year ago. On the other hand, 30% of respondents said they wanted Apple, which is 33% down from the previous year.