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OpenTable has unveiled version 3.0 of its iPhone app. The new version adds the ability to search for and book OpenTable reservations by name, either nearby the phone’s current location or in another city. It can also save and manage favorites right from the phone, and now supports reservations longer than 30 days in advance. In addition, users can scan recently viewed restaurants, browse restaurant profiles, view photos, parking options, and more. Finally, OpenTable 3.0 for the iPhone lets users find 1,000-point restaurants in the search results more easily, in order to rack up free meals faster. Grab the updated app in Apple’s App Store.

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• OpenTable Upgrades iPhone App (appscout.com)

Opera Software released Opera Mini 5 beta, the next version of its mobile Web browser, for Google Android on March 11. The announcement comes exactly a week after Opera announced it would release the same program for Windows Mobile 5.x and 6.x smartphones, indicating that the company is committed to maintaining its mobile-browser market share in the face of ever-increasing competition from a number of manufacturers.

Opera Mini 5 beta for Android includes features such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, compression, and boosted speed. It can be downloaded from Android Market, the mobile-applications marketplace for Google Android, or from this Opera site.

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Motorola is the leading handset manufacturer in the United States, while BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion leads the smartphone space, according to market research firm comScore.

Google also is gaining share in the smartphone space, though Microsoft is slipping a bit, comScore said March 10 in a report detailing trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during a three-month timeframe from October 2009 to January.
 
comScore found that 234 million Americans 13 years and older are mobile subscribers, and among them, Motorola was a top mobile phone choice, commanding 22.9 percent of the market share, followed by LG, with 21.7 percent, Samsung, with 21.1 percent, Nokia with 9.1 percent and RIM with 7.8 percent.
 
The ranking order was consistent with an earlier report, with a three-month time frame ending in October 2009, though between the two reports, Motorola, LG and Nokia each dropped small amounts of percentage points, while Samsung and RIM rose slightly.

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• Android, RIM Gain Market Share, Apple Stable, Motorola Drops [Mobile Market Share] (techie-buzz.com)
• Motorola, RIM leading, with Apple on the rise (news.cnet.com)

Google’s Gesture Search feature for Android smartphones reignited the complaint about fragmentation and inconsistency among Google’s mobile operating system platform because it only works on devices running Android 2.0 or greater, such as the Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One. Laptop Magazine’s Mark Spoonauer said this means Google is favoring newer versions of its OS, punishing owners of devices running older flavors of Android, as well as Google’s partners. Kevin Tofel tried to diffuse the situation by arguing that Google isn’t the only mobile platform maker that faces this quandary.

News Analysis: When Google released its Google Gesture Search feature for Android smartphones March 3, it fanned the flames of a long-standing complaint about fragmentation and inconsistency among Google’s mobile operating system platform.

Google Gesture Search, which lets users surface contacts and applications on their devices by tracing letters on the screen with their fingers, works on smartphones running versions Android 2.0 or higher.

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• Google Gesture Search (ubergizmo.com)

Verizon Wireless will begin offering Google’s Android 2.1-based Nexus One smartphone on March 23, according to an anonymous Google employee after sources found the Nexus One has passed FCC inspection for use on Verizon’s CDMA network. The Telegraph said the Nexus One is coming to Europe in April despite earlier plans to roll out there in March. Neither Google nor Verizon Wireless responded to confirm or deny the points as of this writing. Getting the Nexus One on Verizon Wireless’ leading wireless network is key for Google to gain more traction on the mobile Web, as it will enable more users to use Google applications and see more ads.

Verizon Wireless will begin offering Google’s Nexus One smartphone on March 23, with Vodafone selling the device in April according to industry news sources.

Neowin cited an anonymous Google employee for the Verizon launch of the Google Android 2.1-based Nexus One, which sources such as Unwired View said has passed FCC inspection for use on Verizon’s CDMA network.

Specifically, the FCC has just approved an HTC-built CDMA smartphone with the model name PB99300, numbers putting it in close proximity with the GSM/HSPA version of the Nexus One, which is coded PB99100.

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Apple and Google’s Android OS were best performers in 2009’s mobile phone and smartphone markets, says Gartner. While phone sales slipped slightly over the year, the fourth quarter finished strong, leading to projections of double-digit growth for 2010.

The worldwide mobile phone market finished 2009 strong, with sales to end users exceeding 340 million units in the fourth quarter, for a growth of 8.3 percent over the final quarter of 2008, Gartner said in a Feb. 23 report.
 
The research firm added that the best performers of 2009 — in which overall worldwide sales slipped 0.9 percent from 2008, totaling 1.211 billion units — were Apple and Google’s Android operating system, with each growing its market share.
 
“The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smartphones and low-end devices,” Carolina Milanesi, a research director at Gartner, said in a statement.

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Microsoft refused to confirm rumors that Windows Mobile 6.x will be re-branded as Windows Phone Classic, even as the online community raised questions over the backward compatibility of existing Windows Mobile apps with its new Windows Phone 7 Series.

On Feb. 16, Long Zheng wrote on his Istartedsomething blog that Windows Mobile 6.5, launched in October 2009 and designed to slow Microsoft’s long decline in the smartphone OS arena, “will be rebranded as Windows Phones Classic, and presumably the devices as Windows Phones Classic Series.” Zheng wrote that he learned of the rebranding during an interview with Microsoft representatives.

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VirtualLogix’s newest release, VLX MH4.0, will make it easier for vendors and OEMS to pair multiple operating systems on consumer-focused mobile phones — particularly those running Google’s Android.

Virtualization software provider VirtualLogix is rolling out VirtualLogix VLX MH4.0, the latest version of its software for mobile handsets that will enable mobile silicon vendors and OEMs to more easily design smartphone-like functionality into ARM-based feature phones.

The VLX technology, released Feb. 11, enables multiple operating systems and applications to function simultaneously in connected mobile devices.

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• VirtualLogix Releases VLX Mobile Handset (MH) 4.0 Next-Generation Mobile Virtualization Solution for Single-Core ARM-based Mobile Platforms (eon.businesswire.com)

ATandT, after some collaborating and optimizing, announced it will allow Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile app to run on its 3G network. The app enables iPhone users to enjoy their home TV programming from anywhere.

AT&T announced is now allowing Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile app to run on its 3G network.

The app enables iPhone users to watch live, streaming television, as well as DVR content and movies downloaded in their homes on their smartphone, from anywhere in the world. AT&T previously blocked the app, fearing it would clog up its already struggling network.