SMARTPHONE

Taiwan stocks rose 0.66 percent on Friday, with exporters like smartphone maker HTC up amid hopes the weaker Taiwan currency will bring in forex gains and help them compete better with Korean and other overseas rivals.

NTT DoCoMo has launched the world’s thinnest smartphone, the NEC Medias N-04C in Japan.

Apple's ambitions to boost its cloud-computing prowess got a significant push as its $1-billion data center in North Carolina approaches its opening this spring.

Motorola Atrix 4G and HTC Thunderbolt 4G are expected to rule the year 2011

Technology services provider Digital China Holdings Ltd is bidding for the rights to sell Apple Inc's iPad and Research in Motion Ltd's tablet PC in China, its chief executive said.

German automaker, BMW, launched a new sub brand called BMW i at the company's Welt building on Saturday.

HTC Inspire 4G, the smartphone offered by AT&T offers various features to give stiff competition to the Apple iPhone 4 and the HTC EVO Shift 4G.

Apple Inc. is expected to release a new cheaper version of the iPhone during 2011 to deal with growing smartphone competition.

General Motors Co (GM.N) will launch a new system to stream online radio from Pandora in upcoming Chevrolets starting with the Volt and Equinox. The new partnership comes as the top U.S. automaker looks to make up for lost ground against Ford Motor Co (F.N) in the increasingly competitive market for digital entertainment systems in vehicles.

Though formerly dependent on entry-level feature phones, Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei are moving towards establishing their own brands.

Twitter third party app UberMedia said they are complying with Twitter's rules and changing their name.

Motorola Atrix wowed smartphone fans with its magnanimous specifications and now the mini-beast is due to arrive a week earlier than the specified date of March 6.

The world's second-largest mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics and South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor are considering joint development of a smart car.

Dell's new tablet include Gallo, Sterling, Opus One, Silver Oak, Peju and Rosemount. Meanwhile the smartphone line up is filled with Wrigley, Hancock and Millennium.

Dell's roadmap for 2011 with details and probable launch dates of Android and WP7 devices, wound its way into Android Central and wpcentral's lap.

Citing concerns over Window Phone 7's closed nature, Motorola VP Christy Wyatt said that the company had no plans to use Windows Phone 7

Digital security company Gemalto NV has developed an application that embeds Facebook on SIM cards, letting GSM phone users stay connected on the social networking site even if without data plans.

Google tried to get Nokia to use Android, the CEO said.

Smartphone maker HTC has rolled out two new phones - HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa - with a dedicated Facebook button for one-touch access to the key functions of the social networking service.

According to a report from CNET Verizon doesn't see Nokia handsets sporting the Windows Phone OS as necessary -- which could put a dent in Nokia's plans for expansion in the U.S.

New features relying on increased user information would only come with your permission the Google CEO said.