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FCC Set To Enforce Hearing Aid Mandate.....Unless You Are Apple 2008-01-21 15:02:00 February 18th is the date the FCC can begin to enforce its 50% rule when it comes to handset manufactures and hearing aide compatibility, unless of course you're Apple and we're talking about the iPhone. You can read the complete article here on RCRNEWS.com . It seems the FCC has granted Apple and the iPhone immunity under the "de minimis exemption". This exception was intended to protect "small" manufacturers that produced only a handful of handsets. Should the behemoth that is Apple fall under this category? We will let the FCC make that decision, but if you ask us the spirit of this exemption was not to protect the Apple's of the world. The FCC stated they will not actually begin to enforce this law until 2 months after February 18th. AndroidGuys | The most trusted site for Android news and opinion. ... Apple

Still No Android Code for Developers 2008-01-21 08:18:00 As developers continue to pound away at their Android based applications some have nothing but praise for the open source OS, while others decry it's short comings. In an article released on January 19, (Saturday) Elise Ackerman of the San Jose Mercury News writes "As Google seeks to position itself to be the Microsoft of mobile by offering a free must-have operating system, it is running into Microsoft-style problems that could complicate the Mountain View company's efforts to expand into the mobile advertising market, which is expected to be $11 billion in just three years." Some developers are grumpily awaiting the release of the "code" that was promised by Google. One of the more frequent criticisms Android Guys has heard from developers is the lack of a basic set of phone tools Android is lacking. To be fair to Google they have said all along that the released version was a "work in progress" and that updates would be released to address these issues. As for the source code? ...

Bug Labs Goes Live 2008-01-21 08:07:00 The Bug device we've covered here a time or two will be available starting today. More of a device rather than a phone, it's been said that it will be Android capable. The BUGBase Hiro P model goes live today with a couple of modules available as well. Get yours at BugLabs.netAndroidGuys | The most trusted site for Android news and opinion. ...

2 Million HTC Touches Sold 2008-01-21 07:48:00 Released only weeks apart from Apple's iPhone, HTC's Touch has sold 2 million devices since last June. Even though it's half of what Apple has moved, we consider this a minor victory. For starters, it's on a brand that's not known in the US like most others. If you asked a lot of average Americans to name a reputable cell phone manufacturer, odds are names like Samsung, LG, Nokia, and Motorola will be mentioned first. Second, HTC's device wasn't packaged and sold as the sexy new era of phones like AT&T and Apple did. Do you recall ever seeing a commercial for an HTC phone? Bet you can hum that iPhone song though. HTC's revenue grew almost 12% last year and the company already sees good prospects for the first quarter of '08."The first quarter looks good, it will be a lot better than our first quarter last year," said Peter Chou, president and CEO of HTC, at a year-end party Friday evening. Companies in Taiwan and throughout China typically host parties around this t ...

Google's Android & IT Users: Not So Fast! 2008-01-21 07:34:00 Everyone is assuming that Android will primarily be a consumer platform, but I don't think Google is that short sighted. I suspect they will want to compete on every level with the likes of Microsoft and RIM, 2 of the larger mobile business platforms in use today. I found a great article on Computer World written by Michael Gartenberg outlining some of the challenges Google faces in this arena. You can read the full article here. He also made an interesting point that while Google is backing Android you may not see their applications on every Android handset. "Google will offer a suite of mobile applications for Android, but it won’t require that the apps be used. In theory, you could see Android handsets with Yahoo Mail and Live Search, but no Google services at all." A risky move indeed, but in order to call Android "open" it would have been unfair to attach mandatory tools to it. Stay tuned to Android Guys for all the latest Android news.AndroidGuys | The most trusted site ... Amp  Google

AG5 - January 19th Edition 2008-01-19 12:40:00 The last seven days saw Google, Android, and members of the Open Handset grabbing some decent headlines. Even with Macworld taking up most of the tech world's attention, Google still found a way to get a little focus on them. Having Steve Jobs mention talk about your foray into the mobile world helps a little bit too. Not all the news was great, as you'll see below. So without further ado, the AG5. If this is your first time stopping by, welcome to AndroidGuys! Here's five things to bring you up to speed.#1 - A La Mobile gets Android running on an HTC device.Finally! A device that is not some prototype or reference model running our favorite new OS. Even though it's an older model from HTC, it still makes all warm and fuzzy when we think about how much more real this is all becoming.#2 - Jobs (people) cut and stores closed for a member of the OHA.Sprint Nextel announced that they will be closing 125 of their retail stores and letting go of 4,000 people. Scary stuff for tho ...

Can Android Save Sprint Nextel? 2008-01-18 11:54:00 Sprint Nextel announced today that they will be closing 8% of their retail stores or roughly 125 of them. On top of that, 4,000 people will be losing their jobs as they indicate that numbers for Q4 '07 will be worse than expected. This brings the total number of jobs lost to 9,000 in last 12 months. OUCH! What kind of effect Android will have on Sprint Nextel remains to be seen. We have yet to definitively hear how they and T-Mobile will come into play as members of the Open Handset Alliance. Will it take more than open source phones and services to save them? Will they even be partners come the second half of this year? Our two cents: Start by getting your customer service game back on point. Good luck to those affected by these coming changes. Both of us AndroidGuys have been affected by retail closing in our past so we can definitely sympathize.AndroidGuys | The most trusted site for Android news and opinion. ...

OHA News (January 18th Edition) 2008-01-18 10:02:00 It looks as if this was another humdrum week for members of the Open Handset Alliance. Somehow, we have the feeling that any major news regarding Android would have been overshadowed by Apple this week anyways. We're gearing up for the Mobile World Congress on February 11th, so we imagine the news might come fast and hard these next few weeks. We already started crossing our fingers for Android news and leaks at the show. After the letdown that we got from CES, it can only look up from here. Right...?Opt out of text message ads from SprintSamsung unveiling i900 at MWC in February (IntoMobile)Clearwire to offer Google Apps to WiMAX customers (IntoMobile)Motorola's Q4 '07 earnings due next week (Just Another Mobile Phone Blog)Google Eric Schmidt stays mum at Apple board meetings (TechCrunch)Qualcomm juggles some people around (Wireless Week)T-Mobile Taps RAD for HSDPA Backhaul (Wireless Week)Samsung Posts 4Q Net Profit Decline (Wireless Week)AndroidGuys | The most trusted site f ...

It's Contest Time: 1,750 EC Giveaway! 2008-01-18 07:41:00 It's no secret that a lot of our recent spiking in traffic is due to EntreCard. This new form of advertising has taken many blogs to a new level of exposure, including ours. We've met a lot of great people on the EC forums and through regular visits to new favorite blogs.As a way of thanking our loyal visitors, and as a way of roping in some new traffic, AndroidGuys is pleased to announce our inaugural contest! In what is sure to the be the first in a long line of giveaways, we are gonna throw a contest for our fans! So what exactly are the prizes? Read on!First place is 1000 EntreCard Credits!Second place wins 500 Credits!Third place wins 250 Credits!We're going to draw the winners names on February 1st at midnight so you have two weeks to get your entries in.There are plenty of ways to gain an entry into the contest.1 entry for commenting in this post.1 entry for dropping your Entrecard off3 entries for subscribing to our feed via email.10 entries for writing a blurb about our ...

AndroidGuys: Developer Spotlight Series #3 2008-01-17 22:09:00 Here we are with our third developer spotlight already! One of our loyal readers just happened to be part of a developing team and felt like sharing a little information. Okay, so it's more like a lot of information. Strap in and get ready to learn about Shook Labs and their project known as GeoSyncUp. We're very excited about this application and can't wait to see it in action. Tell us about yourself and/or your team.We are a two man team creating an Android application called GeoSyncUp. We are developing GeoSyncUp for the Android Developers Challenge.The GeoSyncUp team (a.k.a. Shook Labs)Michael Cook. He has over thirteen years of experience analyzing, designing and implementing a wide range of software applications. Currently, he holds a Software Engineering position at BAE Systems focusing on distributed systems, modeling, and planning for the Air Force, Army and DARPA.Michael Sheeley. Michael Sheeley is currently a Software Engineer at BAE Systems where he manages softw ...

Yahoo and T-Mobile Cozy Up 2008-01-17 09:25:00 Yahoo has worked a deal with T-Mobile to offer exclusive banner ads throughout the internet for phones on the Web'n'Walk program. This fits well in line with some of the things we've mentioned here in posts and podcasts before. According to TheInquirer.net, "Yahoo is hoping that by adding mobile ads to the mix, it will grab a larger share of the whole net based ad market". While we definitely agree with that assessment we do find a later comment to be slightly off the mark. The author of the post, Tony Dennis claims that this is a shot in the eye of Google.Web'n'Walk is a service that debuted in 2005 and is used in Germany, Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. We would anticipate Google making moves similar to Yahoo at least here in the United States as Android rolls out. T-Mobile is a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance so we're guessing that Google has already approached them about offering a service much like Yahoo's. It should also ... Yahoo

Sprint To Cut Jobs 2008-01-16 21:15:00 Right on the heels of Nokia's job cuts in Germany, the Wall Street Journal expects US based Sprint to do the same. Unlike Nokia, the news of layoffs from Sprint was almost expected considering the amount of turmoil the company has been in since the merger with Nextel. You can check out the complete article here on Informationweek.com. The WSJ also expects Sprint to move it's headquarters back to Overland Park, KS. Apparently the new CEO Dan Hesse has been living and working there since taking over. Be sure to check back here for more news on this story as it develops.AndroidGuys | The most trusted site for Android news and opinion. ...

Nokia Falling On Hard Times? 2008-01-16 19:13:00 Eventually, Nokia will launch it's new mobile web based service "Ovi" that will offer consumers music and game downloads, as well as mapping services. Yesterday however they made the news for a less positive reason. The worlds leading mobile handset manufacturer is closing its plant in Bochum, Northwest Germany, citing high labor costs as the driving factor. Executive Vice President Veli Sundbaeck, the head of the company's German operation said, "The factory closure is necessary to secure the long-term competitiveness of Nokia." The closure will affect 2,300 jobs, and the plant is expected to move its operation to Romania and perhaps even Hungary. I was surprised this story didn't get more press considering how prominent Nokia is in the world. Perhaps we've developed an immunity to the loss of jobs anymore.The Finland based company has made the news in the past for its attacks on Google's new mobile phone platform Android after not being invited to join the Open Handset Alli ... Nokia

Steve Jobs: 'Android Hurts Google More Than Helps' 2008-01-16 09:10:00 John Markoff (NY Times) was able to spend a half hour with Jobs yesterday after his keynote address where he debuted the Macbook Air. While he had the chance, Markoff asked Jobs about Amazon's Kindle device and Google's Android project. Even though it's only a couple of sentences, it is rather telling of his feelings. Having created a phone its a lot harder than it looks,” he said. “We’ll see how good their software is and we’ll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted.” In seeking not to get locked out of the mobile phone world, “I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners.It appears to us that he recognizes a legitimate threat to his closed-ended approach to mobile phones with AT&T. We're not taking anything away from Steve as we respect him greatly for the ideas and devices he's helped pionee ... Google

And Then There Were 214 2008-01-15 09:03:00 The FCC announced Monday that the final round of bidders has been trimmed to 214, leaving over 50 people/groups off the initial list. Who's gone? Well, we knew Frontline Wireless was out. So is Faithfone Wireless, the Navajo Department of Information Technology and a dude named Mitchell Hoffman. Quick primer; This auction takes place on January 24th, with a mock auction on the 22nd. The auction will be blind which means that bidders will know the amount of the highest bid, but not the identity. For more details on the auction, please check out our previous articles here and here.If the FCC doesn’t meet its reserve price for the spectrum it is auctioning off, there will be a rebidding process with loosened restrictions. In that case, Google’s “open to all devices” requirement could be the first rule out the door.CNN Money articleAndroidGuys | The most trusted site for Android news and opinion. ...