Parmy Olson's Blog, page 66

Motorola CEO: Moto X Brings Us Back To Our Root In Innovation

Updated with pricing details and analysis.

Privacy App Prepares To Name And Shame Mobile Spammers

Phillip Flora liked sending texts. In fact, he liked it so much that Flora sometimes sent more than 200,000 of them in a single day, or 5.5 million in one 40-day period. The reason: each text was digital spam offering mortgage modification, debt relief and other services. When he sought clients, Flora claimed he designed, owned and operated the entire system, and could charge less than a penny per SMS. It appears that Flora was raking it in, until in early 2011 the FTC shut down his operation in Huntington Beach, Calif., and ordered him to pay a $32,000 fine.

Beware, Mobile Spammers: Privacy App Wants To Out You

Phillip Flora liked sending texts. In fact, he liked it so much that Flora sometimes sent more than 200,000 of them in a single day, or 5.5 million in one 40-day period. The reason: each text was digital spam offering mortgage modification, debt relief and other services. When he sought clients, Flora claimed he designed, owned and operated the entire system, and could charge less than a penny per SMS. It appears that Flora was raking it in, until in early 2011 the FTC shut down his operation in Huntington Beach, Calif., and ordered him to pay a $32,000 fine.

Samsung Reaches Biggest Smartphone Lead Over Apple Since First iPhone Launched In 2007

In all the talk of smartphone saturation, Samsung is gradually pulling ahead of arch rival . New industry figures from Strategy Analytics show that Samsung shipped 2.4 times more smartphones worldwide than Apple in the second quarter, up from 1.9 times in the first quarter of 2013 and the second quarter last year, and from 1.3 times in the first quarter of 2012. It also represents Samsung's biggest ever lead over Apple on smartphone shipments since the first iPhone launched in early 2007.

Samsung Earns $7.9 Billion In Q2, Cites 'Slower Pace' Of Smartphone Market

Updated with latest smartphone shipment estimates from Strategy Analytics.

Qualcomm Raises Its Outlook For 2013, Beats Estimates With $6.2B In Sales

Shares of mobile chipmaker rose 3% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company booked $6.2 billion in its third quarter, its twelfth straight quarter of double-digit gains, and raised its outlook for the full year. Qualcomm expects sales of between $5.9 billion and $6.6 billion for fiscal 2013, an increase of between 21% and 35% year-on-year.

Chip Designer ARM Echoes Strong iPhone Sales, Beating Revenue Estimates

Financial results from Apple, and now ARM Holdings, may help dispel recent concerns that the market for high-end smartphones has already reached its peak. ARM, which designs chips for a range of mobile products including the iPhone and iPad, announced that its second quarter sales had increased by more than a quarter to 171.2 million pounds ($263 million), above the 165.1 million pounds expected by analysts, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

AT&T Beats Expectations On Q2 Revenue, But Profit Slips

 unveiled its second-quarter financials on Tuesday, showing it had earned $0.67 per share for the three months ending June 30, just under the $0.68 forecast by analysts. Net profit for the quarter fell 2.1% to $3.8 billion. The $0.67-per-share figure excludes a 4 cents gain from the sale of share of America Movil, bringing the headline number up to $0.71 per share.

SIM Cards Have Finally Been Hacked, And The Flaw Could Affect Millions Of Phones

Smartphones are susceptible to malware and carriers have enabled NSA snooping, but the prevailing wisdom has it there's still one part of your mobile phone that remains safe and un-hackable: your SIM card.

Verizon Joins Race For New Upgrade Plans With 'Edge'

Verizon has echoed the new pricing models of rivals T-Mobile and AT&T with its very own, called Edge.