Android Software

"Gangbusters. " That's how Google's chief executive, Larry Page, summed up his company's third quarter. The nation's economy may be stalled. Concerns over a global recession may be in overdrive. But Google's digital advertising engine delivered another NASCAR-worthy performance, even with the economic head winds, sending its shares sharply higher. In after-hours trading, Google shares rose $36, to $595, up more than 6%. The company released its results after the close of regular trading.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has increased his holding in Motorola Inc. to about 10.4%, according to documents the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the filing, Icahn spent $86.2 million on 11.5 million shares of Motorola this week. Icahn had reported Aug. 3 that he had raised his stake to 9.99% since May 7, when he held 8.75% of Motorola's shares. Motorola is planning to split in two in the first quarter of next year, separating its cellphone and set-top-box business from its enterprise mobility business.

For those of you who have been anticipating the so-called Google Phone as if it were the next iPhone, the wait is almost over. T-Mobile USA said Tuesday that it would unveil the much-anticipated mobile phone loaded with Google Inc.'s Android software next Tuesday at a news conference in New York. The G1 phone, which is being manufactured by HTC, won't be for sale until October. But expect T-Mobile to finally divulge some key details such as pricing. T-Mobile is just the first carrier to market the phone.

Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. dropped 21.5% to their lowest level since 2006 on Friday after the BlackBerry smartphone maker said quarterly revenue might drop for the first time in nine years and unveiled plans to reduce jobs. Revenue will be $4.2 billion to $4.8 billion in the fiscal second quarter, RIM said Thursday. That was less than the average analyst estimate for sales of $5.47 billion, according to a Bloomberg survey. Profit this quarter will be 75 cents to $1.05 a share.

Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt testified that his company developed the Android operating system using the Java programming language after partnership talks with Sun Microsystems Inc. fell through and Sun made no demand for a license to use Java. Sun sought $30 million to $50 million and tight control over Java's use for Android, Schmidt told jurors Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco during Oracle Corp.'s trial against Google. When deal negotiations fell through in 2006, Google built the Android software for mobile devices using aspects of the Java platform without infringing on Sun's intellectual property, he said.

A district court jury in Northern California cleared Google of infringing patents held by Oracle in six claims brought by the company. But the verdict isn't the end of the case. Oracle sued Google in August 2010, alleging Google's Android phone software infringed patents and copyrights covering Java. The first part of the trial over Java copyright claims ended in a mixed verdict. Despite the result of that trial, in which Google was found to have infringed only a small segment of Java code, it appears Oracle plans to pursue significant damages.

SAN FRANCISCO — When someone buys Sebastian Holst's Mobile Yogi app in the Google Play store, Holst automatically gets something he says he didn't ask for: that person's name, location and email address. No other app store transmits users' personal information to third parties when they buy digital goods, he said. And he and other mobile app developers say many people are unaware that their personal details are being shared. "Google is not taking reasonable steps to ensure that this data is used correctly," said Holst, whose apps have 120,000 users.

Xiong Mingjian is often crushed into a corner during his tedious subway commutes, but passing the time has been easy since he bought a nifty new cellphone. The 27-year-old store clerk surfs the Internet and taps away at games on his Motorola Defy, one of an increasing number of popular high-end mobile phones that are helping China shed its label as a knockoff haven. For years, copycat cellphones have thrived in a country famed for counterfeiting many things, such as Gucci handbags, Hollywood DVDs and, most recently, Apple retail stores.

Cellphone users know that when they sign a contract with a mobile phone company, they're locked into that network for the duration of the deal. What they may not know is that their phone is digitally locked to that network forever. And as of this week, they may no longer have the legal right to unlock it, even after the contract has expired. It's just the latest example of how companies have stretched copyright law to deter competition and innovation, not protect the creators of copyrighted works.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is under fire from a coalition of companies including Microsoft Corp. which have called on European antitrust authorities to launch an investigation into the Internet giant's dominance on smartphones. The FairSearch group alleges Google is violating European antitrust laws by giving away its Android mobile operating system to device manufacturers on the condition that its applications such as Google Maps and YouTube be prominently displayed on devices. Android mobile software is installed on about 70% of new smartphones, making it the dominant mobile software platform around the world.