Electronics, Mobile | featured news

Blackberry is still a very respected brand across the developing world - but it is undeniable that it has lost its cachet in the US and Europe. Turning that around and pulling the company out of its death spiral all depends on a new operating system, Blackberry 10.

Google has just set an Oct. 29 event in New York centered on its Android mobile software. "The playground is open" is all it says, so we are left to figure out what might land on that playground.

The phone once coveted by the elite and the powerful is becoming an object of ridicule as Androids and iPhones corner the smartphone market.

Google wants smartphones and wearable computers to be integrated instead of intrusive, allowing us to ask them to do things without ever lifting a finger... If people are discussing the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies over dinner, for instance, phones will be able to hear that and present a map, she said. Or when you meet someone, your glasses could show you the person’s LinkedIn profile and your last e-mail exchange. “It’s the integration of the digital and physical worlds so no longer are they two relatively separate spheres where you have to make the connection between them,” Ms. Maes said.

Thousands of teenagers who can't take their cellphones to school have another option, courtesy of a burgeoning industry of sorts in always-enterprising New York City: paying a dollar a day to leave it in a truck that's parked nearby....

In the skies over Europe, Asia and the Middle East, airline passengers can chat and text on cellphones without getting an angry look from a flight attendant. Thai Airways, with regular flights from Los Angeles to Bangkok, recently announced plans to offer onboard cellphone service, joining about 20 other foreign-based carriers that already offer it.

Research In Motion shares rise in after-hours trading as the maker of the Blackberry posts a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.

Apple Inc. said Monday that it sold more than 5 million units of the iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, less than analysts had expected. Apple shares were down $6.60, or 0.9 percent, at $693.49 in morning trading. The shares are still close to their all-time high of $705.07, hit Friday as the phone went on sale in the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and five other countries.

Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs when it comes to leading Apple Inc. As the debut of the new iPhone 5 just proved, that may not be a bad thing. The taller, thinner and lighter phone prompted a rush on Wall Street to raise price targets for Apple stock, but the optimism was not because of a big technological advance or design breakthrough; the "wow" factor that was the trademark of the late Apple co-founder Jobs was decidedly absent.

BlackBerry is reporting an outage affecting users in Europe, Middle East and Africa - interrupting service for customers on the very day Apple Inc. unveiled its hot new iPhone 5.