Although Motorola’s market share has been steadily sliding to the delight of Nokia and Samsung, DigiTimes would have you believe that Moto reigns supreme in the global Windows Mobile Smartphone segment. Citing “internal data from Microsoft,” the oft-wrong, occasionally correct tattle-rag claims that HTC’s share of the WinMo Standard space has declined leaving Moto with the largest market share — beating Samsung by, “a small margin.” This after HTC saw a 50% Smartphone domination during Microsoft’s Jul 2006 - Jul 2007 fiscal year. HTC still maintains a 50% market share for WinMo Professional touch-screen devices. Of course, this could be true. After all, Moto has refocused their attention to high-margin, full-featured handsets at the expense of emerging markets and entry level yawners. And you can’t swing an HTC Vox without knocking over a dozen Qs. Still, until we hear otherwise, take this rumor with a quarry-sized load of rock salt.

engadget.com

I like having WiFi on my smartphone, because it allows me to check my email and surf the web without having to worry about data charges. The problem is that the connection process can sometimes be quite cumbersome. Nokia has teamed up with Devicescape to address this issue, integrating software in their E and N series phones that will “log in automatically to Wi-Fi hotspots.”

Up until now, the connection to a hotspot has been somewhat of a manual process. You’d have to go into the wireless manager, get it to seek out a connection and then wait for the pairing to complete. With this new software, the entire process is automated, requiring little to no input on your part. This is because your username and password has already been stored on Devicescape’s site.

In the future, Devicescape hopes to include this software in other devices — like WiFi MP3 players — that may lack a keyboard altogether, making it impossible to enter said passwords.

mobilemag.com

We thought it would never happen. After missing rumored launch dates left and right, AT&T has finally set a launch date for their AT&T Tilt. It looks like AT&T is going to be offering up the US-spec HTC Kaiser TyTn II as the AT&T Tilt (without the front-facing camera) on October 5.

The No. 1 wireless carrier will be asking AT&T Tilt hopefuls for $299.99 (and a 2-year contract) in return for all that 3 megapixel camera, 3G HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, stereo Bluetooth, microSDHC (compatible with microSD cards up to 32GB), QWERTY-keyboard (with the cool tilting screen), and Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional goodness. It should be pretty obvious why we call this thing the “holy grail” of smartphones - a “superphone” if you will.

If you still aren’t convinced that the AT&T Tilt is all that and a bag of chips, check out the video demo that Dusan posted. We can’t wait for Big Blue to drop the “holy grail” hotness on us tomorrow! We can almost taste it.

intomobile.com

Overview

Delivering a revolutionary touch experience that will change the way you use your phone, forever. The HTC TouchTM Dual effortlessly combines an intuitive touch screen and keypad within a stunning design.

Everything you need is at your fingertips. With the flick of your thumb, the touch screen slides to reveal a handy smart-sized keyboard. If you prefer to touch, then the revolutionary TouchFLO™ interface allows you to quickly guide through emails, messages, music and images at the touch of a finger, making navigation a breeze.

A single touch of the screen activates the HTC Home™ screen, providing an instant view of email, calendar, messages, missed calls, dynamic weather updates and more.

High speed, always on connectivity provides you with the ultimate internet experience - wherever you are.

Experience a whole new sensation. The HTC TouchTM Dual.

Highlights

• Discover TouchFLO™, a revolutionary touch screen experience
• High speed, always on connectivity provides you with the ultimate internet experience
• Make the most of your free time – surf the Web, enjoy music and video clips, or chat to your friends on MSN
• See key information at a glance with Live HTC Home™ and use the innovative 3-D interface for quick and easy navigation
• Take photos with the inbuilt camera, zoom in, edit, create slideshows and pan through your favourites at the touch of your finger

htc.com

Well, it looks like Asus has finally come though with a follow up to its P526 cellphone / PDA / GPS combo device, although anyone (like us) hoping that it’d make the jump to 3G will likely be sorely disappointed. As before, the new P527 model tops out with quad-band EDGE connectivity, a shortcoming Asus seems to be trying to make up for with added shininess. Otherwise, you can expect the same SiRFStar III GPS chipset that got all the attention last time around, along with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, an intergrated 2 megapixel camera, an FM radio, and a microSD card slot, with Windows Mobile 6 again running the show. No official word on pricing or availability just yet, but GPSAndCo speculates that it could possibly hit France by the end of the year for about €500 (or just over $700).

engadget.com

 Taiwan-based Commercial Times reported that HTC has received ODM orders to make Windows Mobile smartphones for Sony Ericsson. The news goes on, suggesting that the first such devices will hit the market in the second half of 2008… Let’s see what we can pull out from this, shall we.

First, you should know Sony Ericsson now owns UIQ Technology, the developer of the UIQ software platform that works on top of Symbian OS and which is used in the smartphones manufactured by the Swedish-Japanese company. Why would they want to go against their relatively recent acquisition? To mimic Motorola and make phones for virtually all platforms? Nah…

On the other hand, with this kind of move Sony Ericsson could pretty quickly release a number of enterprise friendly devices and get that piece of the market. At the moment, Sony Ericsson has a single business-centric smartphone, P1i, and “now so last year” P990i and M600i. Apparently, the M600i’s successor is coming, but that’s still just two devices. By partnering with HTC, Sony Ericsson could easily release 3-5 new business-centric devices with new form factors HTC is using (i.e. slide-out keyboard). Yeah, they will run the Windows Mobile, but I guess enterprises love that.

The conclusion - while I do see a reason for Sony Ericsson to go this route, I highly doubt they’ll do it. Or that’s just me wishing they’ll release more Symbian smartphones soon enough. What do you think?

intomobile.com