mobile applications - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Twitter reveals new design, revamped iPhone app

  Twitter, it is a-changing again. The microblogging service unveiled a new version of its online interface Thursday, with a focus on simplifying the design and making the service easier to use.

• Micro Focus hopes to help enterprises build better mobile Web apps

  Micro Focus has adapted its SilkPerformer platform for testing of mobile web applications, in a effort to help users improve performance, the company said on Thursday.

• IBM launches enterprise social collaboration apps for tablets

  Responding to increased use of tablets within workplaces, IBM will release on Wednesday several mobile applications designed to let employees use IBM enterprise social collaboration software with iPads and other mobile devices.

• Facebook hires Gowalla team, but will shut the service

  Facebook has hired the team at Gowalla, a mobile location service in Austin, Texas, but the service will be shut down by January, the companies said Monday.

• European regulators start investigating Carrier IQ

  Organizations and regulators across Europe, including Germany, have started looking into the use of Carrier IQ's tracking software, to ensure that mobile phone vendors and operators are not violating users' privacy.

• Carrier IQ's own marketing claims undercut its defense

  An increasingly <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222332/FAQ_Behind_the_Carrier_IQ_rootkit_controversy_">besieged Carrier IQ</a> (CIQ) yesterday insisted that its software is designed only to help wireless carriers diagnose operational problems on networks and mobile devices. But its own marketing material for one of the products raises doubts about that claim.

• IDC on 2012: Prepare for Cloud wars, mobile explosion, higher IT spending

  IDC researchers say some big battles will be brewing in 2012 in the cloud, mobile and Big Data arenas, so much so that "companies like Microsoft, HP, SAP, RIM, and others - including Apple- will face 'crossroads moments' in 2012. By the end of the year, we should have a good idea which vendors will - and won't - be among the industry's leaders at the end of the decade," said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC in a statement.

• MediaTek and Opera integrate Mini browser on feature phones

  Opera Software will work with MediaTek, a designer of software and chipsets for low-end phones, on integrating the Norwegian company's Mini browser on feature phones, Opera said on Friday.

• AT&T, Sprint confirm use of Carrier IQ rootkit software on handsets

  Amid what's snowballing into a major privacy controversy, AT&amp;T, Sprint, HTC and Samsung today confirmed that their mobile phones integrate a controversial piece of tracking software from a company called Carrier IQ.

• Social networking use among mobile users grows in Europe

  The number people accessing social networking sites in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. using their mobile phone has grown by 44 percent in the last year, market research company comScore said on Monday.

• Siri for Android -- sort of

  Although I'm happy with my Samsung Galaxy S II Android phone, I've also got a bad case of <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220539/With_Siri_Apple_s_iPhone_4S_gets_a_voice">Siri</a> envy. I, too, would like a "personal assistant" that responds to natural language requests such as "Move my meeting from 3 to 4." And I'm sure I'm not alone, as the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS291US304&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=Siri+for+Android">millions of Google search results</a> for "Siri for Android" attest.

• Visa introduces mobile payments for emerging markets

  Visa has introduced a payments product designed for emerging markets to serve the needs of "unbanked and under-banked consumers" who have mobile phones.

• BlackBerry shunned by app developers as Windows Phone 7 booms

  App developers are rapidly losing interest in RIM's BlackBerry platform and setting their sights on the new big three, Apple, Android and Windows 7, a survey has found.

• You've got Gmail: Google's iOS app returns

  Two weeks ago, Google released a Gmail app for iOS. Thirteen days and 20-something hours ago, Google pulled that app from the App Store, citing an embarrassing error with the app's push notification support. On Wednesday, Google re-released the app with the notification error fixed.

• Orange introduces cheap Facebook phones in Europe, Africa

  Orange launched three Alcatel One Touch phones on Wednesday with dedicated Facebook buttons priced below €100 (US$135).