ANDROID

CHICAGO - Phillip Leslie needed software coders to develop mobile applications for his fledgling startup, ProOnGo LLC, which offers a solution to keep track of business receipts on a smartphone, using the device's built-in camera.

Motorola Inc reported a surprising quarterly profit on better-than-expected demand for its higher-margin smartphones, so far vindicating its strategy of relying on Google Inc's Android software system.

(Corrects paragraph 14 to say Motorola was expected to rank seventh in the global mobile phone market, not fourth)

Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it struck a licensing deal with phone handset maker HTC Corp, under which it will get royalty payments on HTC phones running Google Inc's Android operating system.

Google Inc said it no longer plans to offer a version of its Nexus One smartphone for the Verizon Wireless network and will change its distribution plans in Britain, underscoring the challenges facing the Internet search company as it expands into the mobile phone market.

Google Inc posted a 23 percent jump in quarterly revenue on a rebound in Web advertising, but its stock fell 5 percent as the company disappointed some investors accustomed to blowout results.

With speculation swirling that Google Inc will soon announce the closure of its China-based Internet portal, the reaction from some Chinese has been hurry up and leave, or simply: so what?

Google has teamed up with up Intel and Sony to develop an Android-powered internet platform for televisions and set-top boxes.

Google Inc's Nexus One smartphone will soon be available to subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp, the second U.S. wireless service provider to announce an agreement to support the touchscreen phone.

Google Inc's initial sales of its Nexus One smartphone have significantly lagged the pace of Apple Inc's iPhone and Motorola Inc's Droid sales coming out of the starting gate, an analytics firm said on Tuesday.

LG Electronics Inc, the world's No. 3 mobile phone maker, on Wednesday launched a smartphone based on Google's Android operating system in South Korea, as it seeks to boost its relatively weak smartphone line-ups.

Apple Inc sued Taiwan's HTC Corp, which makes touchscreen smartphones using Google software, accusing it of infringing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC defended itself against a brought on by Apple yesterday, saying it doesn't infringe, but develops its own technologies.

Apple filed a lawsuit against rival handset maker HTC on Tuesday, over the alleged infringement of 20 patents related to the iPhone's user interface, according to reports.

Microsoft launched a long-awaited revamp of its mobile phone software on Monday, aimed at reviving the flagging fortunes of the world's biggest software maker in the mobile world.

At next week's mobile trade show in Barcelona you can find a program that measures how high you can throw a Nokia smartphone, an apt metaphor for Nokia's efforts to raise its game.

Verizon Wireless said on Wednesday that in March it would start selling its second Motorola Inc phone based on Google Inc's Android software.

Motorola and Verizon Wireless announced on Wednesday the availability of a new Android-based phone, the Motorola Devour which will be made available in March.

Motorola Inc forecast a loss for the current quarter due to heavy spending to bring more smartphones to the market, disappointing investors who had expected the cellphone maker to post a profit.

Motorola Inc's quarterly profit was slightly ahead of expectations and its smartphones sold better than expected in its first quarter selling phones running Google Inc's Android software.

Motorola Inc posted a small quarterly profit versus a year-earlier loss but revenue missed Wall Street estimates for its first quarter selling phones based on Google Inc's Android software.