SMARTPHONE

2012 promises to be another year of promising, if not exciting developments for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and CEO Tim Cook, the man who replaced Jobs. Apple has the world's bestselling tablet, the iPad, and the bestselling smartphone, the iPhone, and the company wants to keep it that way.

Siri, the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant, is the most striking feature of the iPhone 4S. However, it might meet its nemesis soon as Internet search engine giant Google will reportedly launch Android version of Siri.

Cox Communications announced Friday it has entered into an agreement to sell its Advanced Wireless Service spectrum licenses to Verizon Wireless for $315 million. In addition, the two companies will also have the opportunity to sell each other's products and services through respective company sales channels.

A reports said that Apple will release the anticipated iPad 3 at the end of the first quarter of 2012 and follow that up a new mini iPad before the fourth quarter of 2012. The news site reports the mini iPad will have a 7.85-inch touchscreen, according to sources in the supply chain.

Apple has reportedly been receiving its A5 chips from a Samsung factory based in Texas. If the relationship holds, there's a great chance Apple's future chips will also be Texas-made.

Several brokerage firms trimmed their price targets on Research in Motion shares and questioned the BlackBerry maker's ability to recover, after the company delayed the launch of its new line of smartphones.

Several brokerage firms trimmed their price targets on Research in Motion shares and questioned the BlackBerry maker's ability to recover, after the company delayed the launch of its new line of smartphones.

Apple's long-awaited iPhone 4S and Samsung Electronics' fresh, broad offering are likely to stand out in this holiday season's smartphone sales which will otherwise be clouded by global economic uncertainty.

Several brokerage firms trimmed their price targets on Research in Motion shares and questioned the BlackBerry maker's ability to recover, after the company further delayed the release of its new line of smartphones.

Sony is launching Vita in Japan on Saturday, hoping the company's first new handheld video game system in seven years will get the company's game business going again now that many consumers have turned to Apple's iPhone, the world's bestselling smartphone, for entertainment.

European consumers show little interest in Nokia's first smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software, a survey by Exane BNP Paribas showed on Friday.

Already, several firms have downgraded RIM on the news. BMO Capital downgraded the company Friday morning to Market Perform from Outperform over concerns related to BlackBerry 7.0 sales and the delay for BlackBerry 10.0 devices. The price target was lowered to $15 from $26. And Citigroup lowered its price target to $12 from $15 Friday morning.

Research In Motion posted a sharp drop in profit on Thursday, offered a dismal outlook for BlackBerry shipments around Christmas and delayed the likely arrival of a make-or-break overhaul of its smartphones, sending its shares tumbling.

Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy are likely to stand out in this holiday season's smartphone sales which will otherwise be clouded by global economic uncertainty.

Apple Inc's share of China's booming smartphone market has risen sharply in the past two years, but for now the company that sells the iconic iPhone is being outpaced by nimble rivals.

Buying a smartphone for somebody else is no different than buying any other gift, except for the pesky carrier data plans and limited availability of many devices. Luckily, both the Samsung Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S are available on multiple carriers, and that makes comparing them much easier. You aren't forced to go to only one carrier, although that wasn't the case with previous iPhone versions.

Research In Motion posted a 27 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday and said it would likely ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerry smartphones in the weeks around Christmas, the first decline in years for that historically strong period.

RIM showed a profit in the quarter, ending November 26. RIM earned an adjusted profit of $667 million, or $1.27 a share. But that figure does not include, according to Reuters, a large write down on unsold PlayBook tablets or charges associated with the company's global services outage.

Galaxy Nexus finally went on sale Dec. 15 at Verizon, and it's $300 on contract with a bonus data deal available for a limited time from Verizon's Web site. That $300 is the highest price you can expect to pay for a subsidized smartphone in the U.S. right now (only exception is the 64GB version of iPhone 4S). It's also on par with Verizon's other flagship phones. Droid Razr, HTC Rezound and the 32 gigabyte version of iPhone 4S.

Verizon Wireless began selling the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy Nexus for $299.99 on its network from Thursday, triggering an interesting competition within the Samsung devices.

An investor at Research In Motion has asked two directors at the struggling Canadian smartphone maker to push for a change in the company's governance.