PALM

CNET News — At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Palm surprises everyone (including Epic Games) by having a working demo of the Unreal Engine running on the company's Web OS.Originally posted at Web Crawler

CNET News — At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Palm surprises everyone (including Epic Games) by having a working demo of the Unreal Engine running on the company's Web OS.

— This is a guest post from Gregor Schauer, who has worked in tech in Silicon Valley since 2000. Gregor has also recently spent 2 years in equity research at JMP Securities and Jefferies, covering the Internet sector and enterprise software. You can follow him on Twitter here . Disclosure: Gregor owns Apple and ...More Google shares. ~ One of the more curious things about the patent infringement lawsuit that Apple filed against HTC is why it didn't file one against Palm first. There had already been a lot of speculation about Apple suing Palm , but virtually no one saw them taking on HTC first. Interestingly, an unintended consequence of this lawsuit is that it potentially increases the value of Palm's patent portfolio, and strengthens the case for them to be acquired. ~ So what is the market valuing Palm at?  After the huge smack on the head that the stock got after the company's recent miserable revenue guidance , it's $759 million for WebOS + all of Palm's patents + their existing business. This is the enterprise value of the company, or what the company would cost to an acquirer if it was purchased for its current market value. (Though, a buyer will likely have to pay a premium.) ~ The issue is how to make sense of that valuation. Here are some mobile heavyweight market caps for context: Apple $205 billion, HTC $8 billion, Research In Motion $11 billion, Nokia $54 billion and Motorola about $16 billion. So roughly chump change in this neighborhood.  ~ Obviously there is a lot of doubt whether Palm can even survive, but that is exactly why the question should now shift to what WebOS and what the patents are worth, especially if the patents could buy some bad Apple immunity (pun intended).  But let’s backup first to see why Palm's patent portfolio is the likely reason Apple did not go after them first (and why it might then be quite valuable). ~ Why Palm Was the Obvious First Choice for a LawsuitJust a month ago there was an obsession with the reasons why Android devices in the U... ...Less

— CNET editors have their favorite smartphones, but it's our readers who use these devices day in and day out. See which smartphones rank high on our readers' list.Originally posted at Dialed In

— Even as Android continues to gather steam, Apple's device still can hold its own in a number of areas.Originally posted at Dialed In

— When Apple's iPhone hit the market, it looked like it was only a matter of time before Apple ate BlackBerry maker RIM's lunch . While that could still be case, RIM has done a great job defending its turf to this point. ~ The newest data from comScore's mobile subscriber report shows RIM's slow but steady ascent over the ...More past two years as the U.S. smartphone leader. Note that comScore data is based on user surveys, and reflects subscriber base -- not simply market share of a specific quarter's sales. ~ How is RIM doing it? It started by being very popular with businesses, and it gradually shifted its focus to consumers. Verizon, the top U.S. carrier, has been promoting the heck out of it, including several buy-one, get-one promotions. And generally lower prices have made the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl very popular phones among mobile Web users and also people who just want a phone that's good for text messaging. ~ While RIM has performed admirably to date, there are challenges ahead. For instance, it's hard to see BlackBerry hanging on to such a strong lead for the next five years, unless it can improve its mobile software -- especially the Web browser -- and start competing better with Apple and Google in the mobile apps arena. (Yes, RIM has an app store, but it's pretty lousy.) And if Apple starts selling the iPhone at more carriers, that could be more trouble for RIM. ~ ~ Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chartoftheday ~ Get This Delivered To Your InboxYou can get this dropped in your inbox every afternoon as The Chart Of The Day . It's a simple. It's convenient. It's free. All we need is your email address, country and postal code.  Sign up below! ~ Email   Country United States Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua And Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia, Plurinational State O... ...Less

— Verizon announces the immediate availability of its latest rugged cell phone, the Casio G'zOne Brigade.Originally posted at Dialed In

Computerworld — You floss daily, rotate your tires regularly, file your taxes on time, and exercise at least twice a week. In other words, you have lots of good habits. But when it comes to technology, well, we need to talk. You know all the icons cluttering your desktop, and the passwords you keep in Notepad, and the half-baked backup ...More you make once a month? Those are the results of bad habits--and they're not the only ones. ...Less

Network World NetFlash — You floss daily, rotate your tires regularly, file your taxes on time, and exercise at least twice a week. In other words, you have lots of good habits. But when it comes to technology, well, we need to talk. You know all the icons cluttering your desktop, and the passwords you keep in Notepad, and the half-baked backup ...More you make once a month? Those are the results of bad habits--and they're not the only ones. ...Less

Gearlog — Industry research firm comScore has unveiled the latest round of wireless industry numbers, and it's looking better and better for Google's smartphone OS.

Brainstorm Tech — Google's U.S. smartphone market share has more than doubled, while Apple's has stalled Wonder why Google's  (GOOG) Android makes Steve Jobs nervous? Check out the chart at right. It's from the comScore mobile subscriber report issued Tuesday and it shows Android registering the largest market share gains of the U.S.'s ...More five leading smartphone operating systems. Over the past [...] ...Less

— This week we are sans Nicole, but for a very good reason: She became an official U.S. citizen today! Frankly, there hasn't been a ton of cell phone news over the past few days, but we know it's just the calm before the storm. The storm being ... ~ Originally posted at Dialed In

— Cell phones and smartphones that won't be available on a U.S. carrier... yet, anyway.Originally posted at Dialed In

Softpedia News - Global — Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm, Inc. announced on Tuesday at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) the public release of a beta version of its Palm webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK). According to the company, the new software solution comes as a new component of the webOS SDK, offering developers the possibility ...More to use C and C++, as wel... ( read more ) ...Less

The Register — WebOs goes nativePalm has released its Plug-in Development Kit, enabling native development for those who find AJAX just can't cut it.… ~ What is your recession sales strategy?

— As Palm continues to try and ape Apple's iPhone success , it's pushing into mobile gaming, which has been a huge hit for Apple. This is not a stupid move on Palm's part -- at this point, anything is worth a shot . But mobile gaming alone is not going to save Palm. Today, the company announced that it has released a public ...More beta version of a new tool, the Palm WebOS Plug-In Development Kit. This is designed in large part to help game companies move their games from platforms like the iPhone over to Palm WebOS, without having to recreate them from scratch. A few big gaming companies have experimented with the product so far, including Gameloft, Electronic Arts, and Glu Mobile. While it's not surprising that these big gaming companies -- whose expectations for the iPhone have been far surpassed -- are experimenting with Palm's platform, it seems unlikely that they'll continue to pour resources into WebOS unless Palm starts selling significantly more phones. Today, even if gameplay on Palm gadgets is as good as it is on Apple devices, game publishers probably won't make enough sales to make the investment worthwhile. Why not? Three big reasons: Palm simply doesn't have enough users to generate enough game sales to offer a big return on investment, at least in comparison to the huge user base on the iPhone platform. Even if Palm decides to subsidize the companies' ports over to WebOS, the resulting sales probably won't be worth the investment. We would be surprised if game companies produced every game for WebOS that they are producing for iPhone. So Palm remains a lesser platform. Palm does not have the equivalent of an iPod touch -- an inexpensive, unsubsidized, wi-fi-only device. The iPod touch is HUGE with gaming, and many gaming companies report to us that over half its user base is on iPod touches. Palm just doesn't have anything here. While Palm is making it easy to move parts of game code to WebOS from iPhone, it is not yet supporting key parts of game commerce... ...Less

CNET News — The smartphone maker's WebOS Plug-in Development Kit enters its public beta phase, and Palm shows off some games built by PDK developers.

Bits — Palm has added new features in its Web OS 1.4 upgrade. Here's how to get it.

Bits — Major League Baseball issues a $14.95 baseball app that works on most smartphones. But to watch the live games, you'll need to pay $100 more.

— Confused about 4G technology? CNET tells you what it is and what it promises. Originally posted at Dialed In