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Amazon Appstore shatters $20 ceiling for in-app purchases
In a move that's likely to grab the attention of more than a few Android developers, Amazon has announced that its arbitrary $20 limit for in-app purchases via the Appstore is no more. The company announced this change in an email to developers, which follows a tweak to the Appstore's parental controls. In-app purchasing is rather new territory for the Amazon crew, which first unveiled the necessary APIs just last week. There's no word on what new monetary limit is now in place, but make sure to watch your spending, kids -- some of these apps are incredibly habit-forming.
Amazon adds in-app purchasing to Appstore for Android devices, Kindle Fire
Amazon's Appstore has offered a typical application acquisition experience, save for one important detail: in-app purchasing. Beginning today, devs can now take advantage of the familiar revenue booster already available in the iOS App Store and Google Play, through the use of the Amazon Appstore In-App Purchasing API. The service will enable Android device and Kindle Fire users to pick up expansion packs, virtual gaming currency or manage subscriptions from within individual applications, with the same one-click purchase experience available in Amazon's online store. A handful of top devs like Disney and Conde Nast have already hopped on board, but those of you who haven't received an early nod from AMZN can now join in on the fun as well. Click past the break for a brief video intro from the e-tailer, along with a handful of testimonials in the full press release.
Verizon's CEO has a plan for wireless pay-TV, if the government will allow it
Verizon CEO Lowell C. McAdam doesn't quite have all of those SpectrumCo AWS licenses in his pocket just yet, but if he does get them he has a decidedly old school idea of what to flood the airwaves with: TV. The Wall Street Journal quotes him saying Verizon and its new cable friends could have "the beginnings of an integrated offering" out by the holidays, so pay-TV customers could watch video on their mobile devices. Even though many of the TV services are already streaming video to tablets, PCs and phones, currently most subscription services are limited to the space of the home's WiFi network, unlike the video on-demand seen above. According to McAdam the potential to negotiate rights for outside the home streaming and even busting open the bundles for à la carte programming exist -- provided the FCC and DOJ allow Verizon to complete the proposed $3.9 billion purchase. Of course, consumption based billing would still be on the table, so don't start planning your streaming schedule just yet. For now we'll wait and see if the pros of this arrangement outweigh the cons (and how its Redbox play is mixed up in this), or if the pie-in-the-sky NowTV-style elements of the plan are merely being floated to get the deal done.
Dish buys TerreStar and DBSD, inches towards LTE future
DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks probably aren't the first two companies you think of when talking about cutting edge broadband, but they're integral to Dish Network's LTE plans. Both companies were in dire straights, with TerreStar declaring bankruptcy in 2010 and DBSD filing for Chapter 11 in 2009. But, Dish doesn't want them for their customer base or portfolio of services -- it wants their spectrum. The FCC approved the transfer of the spectrum last week, but did not grant the company a waiver to immediately start using its new radio real estate to start broadcasting LTE signals. Still, it was a good enough sign for the satellite company, which completed the purchase of the two properties. Now it just has to put those plans to expand into broadband and cellphone service into action.
Twitter snatches up Posterous, microblogging field about to get a little bit smaller
The Y Combinator-funded Posterous had its time in the sun and now it's being absorbed by the biggest player in the microblogging market. The simple sharing service struck a chord with many of Silicon Valley's elite, but it never managed to make a major dent in a field already dominated by the likes of Tumblr and its now owner, Twitter. The teams from Posterous will simply shift over to products at its new parent company and let their creation die a slow and likely unspectacular death. There are no concrete plans to retire Posterous Spaces just yet but, should that day come, we've been promised plenty of warning and instructions for backing up your content. Now we'll just have to wait and see what "key initiatives" Twitter has in store for its new employees.
Google updates Flight Search for Android, iOS
Remember when Google launched its desktop-only Flight Search service back in the fall? Well, now it's made the travel checking tool both Android and iOS friendly. All the key flight-finding features of the desktop version are present: search, discover by location, filter by price, airline and calendar view, and have been optimized for the small screen. Bear in mind that this isn't a native app, El Goog has just tweaked the web-service for the respective mobile browsers, hoping to make those spur of the moment travel plans less taxing. Hit the source link below for further info.
AT&T's hungry eyes turning toward Leap, Dish or MetroPCS?
Publicly, at least, AT&T is bursting at the seams as it runs out of space to put all of its customers. The failed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile was all about trying to match (or better) Verizon's reserves of wireless spectrum. Given the FCC's blocking of LightSquared and stymieing of future spectrum auctions for the time being, AT&T needs to make some more acquisitions -- the $1.9 billion purchase of Qualcomm's small slice of the airwaves isn't enough. If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, there's a whiteboard in Whitacre Tower with Dish, Leap and MetroPCS written all over it. Reportedly, a purchase of Leap is the nearest to fruition, with "under the table" talks already underway. However, the Cricket Wireless operator would only provide a short-term solution to Ma Bell's very long-term woes. The other big target is Dish Network's reserved spectrum, kept back for its own planned broadband network, but if it fails to get Government approval, it might look to offload it. Third on the roster and marked as "highly unlikely" is a purchase of MetroPCS. The carrier was bitterly opposed to the T-Mo merger and pouted at the idea of purchasing some of Big Blue's divested assets, so if those two met around a table, they'd have a lot of awkward apologizing to do. Image courtesy of Fierce Mobile Content
US gives its blessing to Google's Moto purchase
When it rains, it pours. Just hours after European regulators gave the green light to Google to snatch up Motorola Mobility, the US Justice Department gave the couple its own blessing. The $12.5 billion purchase has drawn serious scrutiny from both regulators and Big G's own partners, though, consensus seems to be that Mountain View is more interested in Moto's patents than in entering the hardware business. Though the Justice Department doesn't see the merger as an immediate threat to competition, it did issue a stern warning that it "will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to stop any anticompetitive use of SEP (standard essential patent) rights." The concern is an understandable one since all the major players in the mobile space, Motorola included, have been at each other's legal throats for some time now. There are still a few more interested parties who will have to give their own consent to the combination including China, Israel and Taiwan. But, with two of the biggest potential blockades giving Google the thumbs up, it's looking more and more likely that the purchase will go through.
Redbox snatches up NCR's entertainment division, swallows Blockbuster Express business
If you thought Coinstar was through making industry rattling announcements today, you were wrong. After taking the wraps off its joint venture with Verizon, now the company has announced it'll be taking over NCR's entertainment division for $100 million. That includes DVD kiosks, retailer contracts and an inventory of discs for stocking the machines. That's big news not only because it expands Redbox's already sizable self-serve rental empire, but because it's doing so at the expense of the floundering Blockbuster, since NCR owns the blue and yellow rental kiosks. Presumably existing Blockbuster Express installations will become Redboxes, though, how quickly that might happen is unclear. For a few more details about the deal check out the PR after the break.Update: We've attached a letter from Blockbuster explaining the switchover after the break.
Intel bolsters video patent portfolio with purchase from RealNetworks
Silicon juggernaut Intel has inked a multi-million dollar deal with RealNetworks, agreeing to purchase scores of video-related patents and annex an entire software team. Specifics of the accord have Intel shelling out $120 million in exchange for 190 patents, 170 patent applications and a video codec development squad. In addition, the two companies have signed a "memorandum of understanding," agreeing to collaborate on future development of the licensed software. RealNetworks states that the sale "will [not] have any material impact on its businesses" and it will retain "certain rights" to the sold technologies. Intel says the sale will improve its ability to "offer richer experiences and innovative solutions [...] across a wide spectrum of devices." The full PR is queued up for you after the break.
Qualcomm buys Pixtronix to make for better Mirasol displays?
Qualcomm's whipped out some flipping great wadges of cash in order to snap up Pixtronix for its PerfectLight MEMS-based display tech. It reportedly cost between $175 - $200 million and is expected to be merged into the company's super-low power Mirasol-based displays. Compared to the Kyobo eReader we played with at CES, PerfectLight has a wider viewing angle (170 degree), supports full speed video playback and much better RGB modulation. Depending on how successful the marriage is, it could spell the end of the final hurdles that have hampered the widespread adoption of the technology.
Murtazin: 'Nokia Lumia 910 will arrive in May, pack 12MP camera'
Ah, Eldar Murtazin. Sometimes he's (sort of) right, sometimes he's wrong. But he managed to predict the Nokia-WinPho love-in ahead of any official announcement and that still counts for something, right? His latest missive concerns the news of the Lumia 900's likely summer-time flight across the Atlantic. While it's not going to tout the LTE radios of the American edition, Eldar's more concerned about a phone that no-one's yet heard of. Yes, the Lumia 910, which according to the thorn in Nokia's side, will land in the old country sometime in May -- ahead of the posited June launch for the Lumia 900 in the UK. Murtazin is keeping any other details close to his chest for now, aside from the tantalizing mention of a whopping 12 megapixel camera. We know that Nokia knows exactly how to craft a good cameraphone, but we're keeping this rumor firmly in the maybe-could-be-possibly camp, right next to the salt mines.
Rakuten completes purchase of Kobo
It's been just over two months since Rakuten announced its intention to snatch up all of Kobo's shares for $315 million, following the collapse of the eReading company's primary retail partner -- Borders. Even though its new parent company is based out of Japan Kobo's headquarters will remain in Toronto. The two were also quick to tout the potential expanded marketplace that will be available to Kobo thanks to the popularity of Rakuten's various properties, including Buy.com. If you're particularly curious about the deal you can check out the PR after the break.
Eldar Murtazin gives RIM six months to win back customers, says Nokia is selling its soul to Microsoft
Murtazin is a guy well known for scoring handsets way ahead of even their debut showing. He also has an uncanny knack of knowing exactly what mobile companies are plotting -- sometimes. He's a guy worth listening to, especially for his often outspoken views on company failings. In his latest (lengthy) editorial, Eldar Murtazin takes umbrage with two companies that have weathered a tricky 2011; RIM and Nokia. He reckons that the BlackBerry makers have around six to eight months to convince people and the markets that there's still a future -- a worrying deadline given that we're not expecting to see its OS successor until the second half of 2012. Regardless of when these long-awaited QNX handsets do appear, Murtazin maintains that even if they arrived with the kind of OS that dreams are made of, they are unlikely to recover the ground lost in recent years -- especially on corporate handsets. However, he saves most of his ire for the Nokia-Microsoft partnership, claiming that Nokia executives have lost their ability to sensibly judge the state of the mobile world. With apparently the "most valued" engineers and developers leaving the good ship Nokia, the shuttering of Nokia's own Ovi sync services are apparently talismanic of a shift closer to Microsoft. Murtazin thinks that Nokia CEO Elop has only two aims while at the helm; to ruin the company's chances of recovering in the mobile market and increasing Microsoft's own share and influence in the same sphere. He also reckons a Microsoft buyout of Nokia is still plausible, and while we're sure you've been reading Eldar's missives with a hefty side of salt, it would make for an even more interesting 2012.
FCC approves AT&T's $1.9b purchase of Qualcomm's 700MHz spectrum (update)
Christmas has come early to the execs at AT&T, who are likely celebrating the FCC's 3-1 approval to purchase Qualcomm's block of the 700MHz spectrum for $1.9 billion. The news comes as a bittersweet victory for Ma Bell, whose efforts to acquire T-Mobile turned sour earlier this year. Qualcomm's block of the airwaves, once used to facilitate FLO TV, now sits unused. Once the acquisition is complete, AT&T will use the new share of spectrum to increase download capacity for its burgeoning LTE network. For the FCC's part, it has approved the deal with only a few stipulations: AT&T will be required to satisfy interference requirements and must offer data roaming to its competitors on the spectrum. That's not to suggest everyone's pleased, however. Rural cellular providers asked that, as part of the deal, AT&T must ensure that its LTE network is interoperable with the bands used by smaller networks. Sadly, the FCC has denied this request, ostensibly limiting the little guy from receiving Ma Bell's hand-me-downs. Update: AT&T has gone ahead and released a wee bit of celebratory PR, which we're including after the break. Most importantly, it expects to wrap up the finer details in the next few days.
Nuance to acquire rival Vlingo
Nuance, the company behind the Dragon apps and a whole slew of other popular software suites, has decided to acquire its rival Vlingo, another voice-to-text software developer. VentureBeat says it's for an undisclosed sum, but even though the two companies have sued and counter-sued over a series of patent applications, they're apparently putting those quibbles to rest, and instead will combine forces to beef up their voice-to-text solutions. Siri has apparently lit a fire under the voice control market lately, and of course voice recognition is a big part of that. Siri was very impressive as just an iPhone app, but with the full weight of Apple's hardware support (not to mention marketing budget) behind it, voice control is inspiring a lot of R&D and funding, both in Cupertino and elsewhere in the tech industry. Nuance has fought to be the de facto standard for a lot of voice recognition software in the past with its Dragon Naturally Speaking apps, and that kind of thing is likely to become even more popular going forward. Or as Nuance's own senior VP Mike Thompson puts it in a press release, "Inspired by the introduction of services such as Apple's Siri and our own Dragon Go!, virtually every mobile and consumer electronics company on the planet is looking for ways to integrate natural, conversational voice interactions into their mobile products, applications and services. By acquiring Vlingo, we are able to accelerate the pace of innovation to meet this demand."
Seagate shores up its hard drive business, finalizes Samsung purchase
It's taken the pair a fair few months to hammer down the details, but it's finally official: Seagate now holds the figurative keys to Samsung's hard drive business. According to the press release, Seagate will retain some Samsung employees as well as gaining access to the electronics manufacturer's solid-state storage for future products. Samsung will hold onto a 9.6 percent stake of Seagate and cash money said to total around $1.375 billion. You can still expect to see remnant Samsung hard drives floating around next year while Seagate decides how it's going to further its storage business -- hopefully involving more than just shrinking warranties.
AT&T abandons T-Mobile merger plans (updated)
AT&T has officially given up on its plans to buy out T-Mobile. In a statement, the company said it had agreed with Deutsche Telekom to cease pursuing a merger, which has come under increasing scrutiny from both the government and advocacy groups. The failed attempt to snatch up its smaller, German-owned competitor will ultimately cost Ma Bell $4 billion and it's not paying those dues without some grumbling. In the release the FCC and DOJ bear the brunt of AT&T's ire, which are accused of harming customers and exasperating the already looming spectrum shortage. Of course, this also hurts the carrier's ability to compete with Verizon which has been on a spectrum buying spree as of late. As a consolation prize Deutsche Telekom and AT&T have entered a roaming agreement, though the structure of that deal and whether it's purely international or domestic roaming remains to be seen. The complete press release from AT&T can be found after the break.
ASUS Transformer Prime pre-order shipments delayed at Best Buy, Amazon
ASUS' Eee Pad Transformer Prime has already suffered a few setbacks on its march to the US market and unfortunately, it looks as if another obstacle may be on the horizon. According to a handful of tips we've received this morning, Best Buy has been sending out emails to users who pre-ordered the new tablet for delivery this week, informing them that shipments have been "back-ordered," and delayed by one to two weeks. This means, of course, that some buyers may not receive the device until after Christmas. In its email, Best Buy gave its customers the option of canceling their orders outright, replacing it with a similar device, or searching the product at a brick and mortar location (a customer service rep told us that the Transformer Prime is not in stock). Some who ordered the slate on Amazon, meanwhile, have received emails informing them that their orders were "inadvertently canceled," and offering them the chance to pre-order it again today, along with a $10 gift card to make up for the inconvenience. We'll be following this story closely, so check this space for any further updates. Here's ASUS's official statement: "ASUS started filling the inventory pipelines this past week for our new Eee Pad Transformer Prime and will continue to do so on an expedited basis for the foreseeable future. We will reach normal inventory levels in January for the North American market based on current orders and forecasts. Based on forecasted supply schedules to our valued partners we expect pre-order allocation fulfillment to occur shortly and online or in-store availability in the very near future. We will continue to work closely with our partners to fill customer orders as quickly as possible." [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Apple to buy flash chip maker Anobit for $500 million?
Disclaimer: Delving into Apple's business requires a hefty pinch of salt, okay? Good. Is Apple about to open that $84 billion war chest to make another one of its traditional flash-memory supply-chain land-grabs? Rumors from Reuters suggest it's planning to snap up Israeli outfit Anobit for $400 or $500 million. The outfit specializes in signal processing for the memory chips, increasing volume and performance, which you'll already find bolted onto the Samsung and Hynix flash drives inside the iPhone 4S. Whilst we're having a hard time believing Cupertino would buy a hardware maker (even P.A. Semi and Intrinsity were fabless designers), it seems a logical move from a company who probably see traditional HDDs as an evil to be eradicated from its simplistic designs. We've reached out for comment from the companies and we'll let you know if we get anything more substantial than the regular "no comment." Update: The initial reports suggested that Anobit had production facilities, but it's since been clarified that the company is a fabless designer in the same vein as P.A. Semi and Intrinsity.
