Skype's updated VOIP app for Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS smartphones running iOS 4 is multitasking-savvy and lets users run Skype in the background, among other features. - Skype has launched Version 2.0.1 of its voice-over-IP software for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS handsets running iOS 4. Released July 21, the newest version of the application takes advantage of the operating system's multitasking capabilities, enabling users to run Skype in the background, as well ...

Fring, which has enjoyed interconnectivity with Skype for four years, called the VOIP provider "cowards" for allegedly blocking Fring from offering video chat on smartphones. Skype said it didn't block Fring. - In a nasty war of words between VOIP providers, Fring accused Skype of blocking it from letting users make video calls on Apple's iPhone 4, Google Android and other smartphones and applied the quot;c-word quot; to the company. Fring, which has enjoyed interconnectivity with Skype for four year...

Fring, a provider of voice over IP apps, was slightly overwhelmed, following the release of a two-way calling app allowing iPhone 4 owners to chat face-to-face with friends on various mobile platforms. - Fring has introduced an already popular new app to the Apple App Store that allows iPhone 4 owners to enjoy two-way video calls over WiFi or 3G, with friends on older iPhone, Android or Symbian smartphones. The app has proven so popular, however, that the Fring Blog waved a white flag, notin...

The maker of the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac could be poised for a solid quarter and an end to its product shortages.

Amid an online uproar riddled with conspiracy theories about AT&T capping iPhone upload transmissions, the carrier says it’s all a matter of a simple software flaw that will be fixed soon.

Today: Google’s Android army has gained share in the U.S. smartphone market. Plus: Mortgage rates fall to historic lows.

Wells Fargo spent two years studying the iPhone before letting bankers use the device at work. Apple’s iPad, released in April, took just weeks to get cleared. This time around, safeguards against security breaches are stronger from the start, according to… iPhone - Well Fargo - Apple - IPad - Smartphone

Amazon.com Inc., the world's biggest Internet retailer, doesn't plan to cede ground in its growing digital books business.
To that end, it's adding features to the application that make its digital books available on competing devices -- a move designed to ensure it won't lose sales even as consumers read books on rivals' machines and Apple makes enhancements to its own digital book application.
The Seattle-based company announced that Kindle books on Apple Inc.'s iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch will be able to offer embedded video and audio clips. The move comes just days after Apple added new features to its iBook application for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices, including over-the-air syncing of bookmarks and notes, easy PDF viewing and new font choices. The online retailer quickly followed that with another announcement June 28, that it had begun offering its Kindle app in Google Inc.'s Android Market for Android-powered phones such as the Sprint EVO made by HTC and Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S line of phones, which will be carried by all four major U.S. carriers this summer.
Analysts have said dedicated eBook reader devices such as the Kindle could lose ground in coming years to devices like the iPad, which offer full color screens and are capable of doing other tasks, including viewing video.
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has said the company plans to release a new, sleeker version of the Kindle, with an upgraded screen, in August. Amazon slashed the price of the Kindle 2 to $189 from $259 on June 21 after retailer Barnes & Noble cut the price of its Nook reader to $199.
Even as Amazon attempts to maintain its hefty market share for dedicated reader devices, the Apple move makes clear that Amazon sees the real threat coming from all manner of devices that can sell books, music and other content that helped make it a household name. Its strategy to make the Kindle application not only available on rival devices such as the iPad but more sophisticated could pay off in the short term as it readies its own color-enabled device. So far, Bezos has been tentative about the color market, and most recently said an LCD-type device is a long ways off because it can't be read well in the sunlight.

Blockbuster is expanding its mobile efforts. On June 23, Verizon Wireless announced that Blockbuster on Demand, an online movie buying and rental service, will become available on the new Motorola Droid X.

Blockbuster on Demand has already been available on T-Mobile's HTC HD2 since March. In late 2009, Blockbuster launched an app allowing iPhone and iPod touch users to rent and buy movies.

Many of the company's competitors are going after mobile phones as well. Apple lets iPhone, iPod and iPad users rent movies from iTunes. Monthly rentals service Netflix has recently released its iPad application. The top-grossing app on iTunes right now comes from yet another competitor, MobiTV, which streams news and sports onto the iPhone.

The influx of rivals ranging from Redbox to Netflix has been one reason behind Blockbuster's recent struggles with its rental stores business. In the first quarter, Blockbuster's revenues slid 15.6% year over year, to $939 million. The company will hold its annual shareholders' meeting on June 24. And the competition is quickly moving from the rental stores, TVs and PCs onto mobile devices.

Though AT&T made headlines when a glitch in its Web site accidentally exposed e-mail addresses of 114,000 iPad owners, such Web-site issues are "common," says McAfee CEO George Kurtz [http://siblog.mcafee.com/cto/i-have-an-ipad%e2%80%a6i-admit-it/].

In fact, the glitch is one of the easier security flaws to fix, Kurtz, who is also an iPad user, wrote in today's blog. "I would guess that this application vulnerability gained so much attention because, after all, it is Apple we are talking about," he wrote. "The hype around Apple products - like the new iPhone and iPad - is amazing. However, the reality is this type of vulnerability isn't really news and happens all day long."

The FBI has started an investigation into the situation, according to Bloomberg[http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aZQAK9nEfKB4]. Still, "... this is less about vulnerability with the iPad and more about common problems that we routinely see when performing application security assessments," Kurtz wrote.
-Olga Kharif

Nearly 5 million consumers have downloaded a Skype Web application that launched in May, the company reports, allowing users of Apple's iPhone to use Skype's VOIP service over the cellular network for the first time. - NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) Nearly 5 million consumers have downloaded a Skype Web telephony application that launched Sunday, allowing users of Apple Inc's iPhone to use privately held Skype's service over the cellular network for the first time, Skype said on Wednesday. Before the launch of...

Augmented reality (AR) has a long way to go before it achieves widespread acceptance and exposure to the public, but thankfully, many of the leading companies are continuing to make large strides towards this goal with commercialization of applications and the growing popularity of AR advertising. Earlier this month, metaio , one of leading vendors of AR software and services, updated its iPhone ...

Developers’ interest in Microsoft’s Windows Phone software for smartphone has risen sharply, since the Redmond giant introduced a new version of the mobile operating system on Feb. 15, according to new survey data from Appcelerator, which offers tools that help programmers create apps.

Between January and March, developers' interest in creating games, calendars and other applications for Windows Phone has nearly tripled from 13% to 34%, according to Appcelerator’s survey of more than 1,000 developers that was released on March 31. Another major gainer: the BlackBerry, which has seen a doubling of developer interest in the same period, to 43%.

Google’s Android was another big gainer. In March, 81% of developers were interested in developing apps for Android-based phones such as Motorola Droid, up from 68% in January. That means that there’s nearly as much interest in creating apps for Android now as for the iPhone: Some 87% of developers say they are very interested in creating apps for the Apple device, according to Appcelerator.

Who is losing developers' interest? Palm and current smartphone operating system market leader, Symbian. Only 16% of developers are interested in creating apps for the Symbian software. Developers' interest in the iPad also dropped from 90% in January to 80% in March.

Developers’ interest in Microsoft’s Windows Phone software for smartphone has risen sharply, since the Redmond giant introduced a new version of the mobile operating system on Feb. 15, according to new survey data from Appcelerator, which offers tools that help programmers create apps.

Between January and March, developers' interest in creating games, calendars and other applications for Windows Phone has nearly tripled from 13% to 34%, according to Appcelerator’s survey of more than 1,000 developers that was released on March 31. Another major gainer: the BlackBerry, which has seen a doubling of developer interest in the same period, to 43%.

Google’s Android was another big gainer. In March, 81% of developers were interested in developing apps for Android-based phones such as Motorola Droid, up from 68% in January. That means that there’s nearly as much interest in creating apps for Android now as for the iPhone: Some 87% of developers say they are very interested in creating apps for the Apple device, according to Appcelerator.

Who is losing developers' interest? Palm and current smartphone operating system market leader, Symbian. Only 16% of developers are interested in creating apps for the Symbian software. Developers' interest in the iPad also dropped from 90% in January to 80% in March.