Mobile Technology News

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

While the over-the-top (OTT) streaming entertainment category has not made a big dent in the mainstream home TV viewing market yet, it’s a hot business, and service providers, software makers, and hardware manufacturers are all jockeying for the biggest piece of the pie.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Early Tuesday morning, a new version of Mac OS X-based media center software Plex was released, called Plex/Nine, and with it came a new app for iOS.

Plex is a fork of open source media center software XBMC, which has recently risen to prominence for being the software that powers Boxee and the forthcoming D-Link Boxee Box. It organizes multimedia content on a local media server, adds online content from more than 150 video and entertainment sites, and makes it available on client devices in the home network.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Apple is in ‘advanced’ talks with News Corp, parent company of the Fox broadcasting network, over letting consumers rent its TV shows for 99 cents, Bloomberg has reported. CBS, NBC Universal, and Walt Disney, which owns ABC, are also said to be participating in those talks.

While the focus is expected to be how the new shows add entertainment options to Apple’s preexisting line of products, the company is also likely to introduce the second generation of its AppleTV product. That would likely come with a smaller hard drive and a price point, sources told the news service.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

A federal grand jury has indicted an Apple supply manager and an individual involved in the company’s supply chain on 23 counts including money laundering, fraud, and kickbacks. The two individuals set up an elaborate scheme involving several of Apple’s suppliers.

Paul Shin Devine used his clearances within Apple to obtain information that was then shared with suppliers. This information was then used to negotiate contracts, and upon their awarding a kickback was paid to Devine.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

The InterWeb is buzzing about Android’s sudden second quarter smartphone OS market share surge against Apple’s iOS and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS. Windows Mobile was a goner last quarter. But behind the numbers is a bigger question: Which mobile platform will be more successful? Smartphones are but one small measure of success.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Apple confirmed over the weekend that mobile phone head Mark Papermaster has left the company, and will be replaced by computer engineering chief Bob Mansfield. The company has declined to give further details on Papermaster’s departure.

Speculation and blog reports indicate that he was likely was let go for reasons surrounding the iPhone 4′s antenna, as well as problems related with hardware on other products that he had some influence over. Others reported that Papermaster had an increasingly strained relationship with CEO Steve Jobs.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Rumors in recent months have pointed to Apple’s next big music innovation being some cloud-based service. While nothing has appeared as of yet, its move to support streaming of music stored on a customers iDisk could be the beginning.

Users of Apple’s iDisk app for iPhone can stream audio from their iDisk thanks to the latest update to the app shipped earlier last month. The functionality went all but unnoticed because Apple has done little if anything to promote its existence.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Skype, Kazaa, and Joost creators Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström launched Rdio on Tuesday, aiming to offer an inexpensive way to provide unlimited streaming music from mobile phones. In addition, the service would allow users to save music to their device for offline listening.

The service costs .95 per month for desktop-only access, and .95 monthly for both desktop and mobile use. The company has about seven million songs in its database, and unlimited streaming. Users can select songs to be synced to their devices for online listening, or download copies of the song to keep at a cost of 99 cents per track.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Aiming to bring its multi-touch technology to its desktop systems, Apple on Tuesday introduced the “Magic Trackpad,” a navigation device that looks much like the trackpads on its current MacBook Pro line of laptops.

The device, which retails for , would allow the user to employ the same gestures available to those using its laptops. The device would run on two AA batteries and connect wirelessly to the computer via Bluetooth.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Making good on a promise delivered in last week’s press conference, Apple on Friday rolled out its free case program for iPhone 4 customers. A web page detailing the program has been set up, and a special app has been created and is now available from the App Store.

Those who ordered the iPhone 4 before July 23 would need to apply for their case by August 22, while any other customer would have 30 days from the date of purchase. The entire program is set to expire on September 30 as expected.