Tech News Digest
New phone systems to tackle iPhone
The recent Mobile World Conference in Barcelona saw the arrival of a number of new phone operating systems which are clearly designed to compete with the much-acclaimed iPhone OS.
Microsoft got the most attention with its
unveiling of Windows Phone 7 Series, the first major overhaul of its mobile
platform in many years. The new system looks significantly different from its
predecessor and seems to be a major step forward for the company's ambitious
mobile plans.
Perhaps more surprising, however, was the merger between Intel's Moblin system and Nokia's smartphone platform Maemo - creating the new MeeGo OS. Nokia tends to use its Symbian system for most phones but is increasingly deploying Maemo in some of its high-end mobile computers, most recently the N900.
Exactly what MeeGo will do is currently unknown, as is the first phone that will deploy the system. What it does show is that Intel is becoming an increasingly important player in the mobile sphere, however, following its recent decision to start developing processors for mobile phones again.
What is clear from both releases, however, is that touchscreen phones are becoming increasingly important with most new systems developed specifically for them.
Browser wars imminent on the iPhone
In other mobile news, alternative web-browser company Opera has announced that it will submit a mobile version of its software to the iPhone app store. At present Apple's own Safari browser is default on the iPhone but there are other browsers available on the App Store.
What makes Opera different is that it runs
on a different development platform to Safari, something that is forbidden in
the App Store's terms and conditions. As a result it is unlikely to get
approved by Apple's testers but if this happens it could be a massive PR blip
by the iPod-maker and may lead to allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.
If it is approved, however, it will become the first real challenger to the Safari platform as all of the other browsers available are small-time players. Opera is already the biggest mobile browser on the market and has done well by linking up with Nokia phones - that dominance is being threatened by the success of the iPhone, however.
One of the biggest browsers currently available - Firefox - is also developing a mobile edition of its software but has explicitly said it will not try to create an iPhone version as it is a closed system.
Gamestop to take CD trade-ins
Games retailer Gamestop has announced that it will now take CDs under its trade-in scheme, along with used DVDs.
The company claims it is the first national retailer to take in used CDs from customers in return for cash or store credit and says there is a huge amount of CDs out there that people are leaving idle.
Only album CDs are accepted, however, with singles and promotional CDs not currently accepted by the company.
