HTC gunning for top-five worldwide phone marketshare

HTC's already done a terrific job of going from anonymous Asian ODM to a major name player in the cellphone game, and it sounds like the company's aiming for the next level -- in an interview with the Commercial Times, CEO Peter Chou said the goal is to become one of the top three to five handset makers in the global market. That's a pretty aggressive target for a smartphone manufacturer -- competitors like Nokia and Samsung crank out millions of low-end dumbphones every quarter, and while there's no denying the appeal of devices like the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, it's going to be hard to match those numbers. Still, with Android and the Dream on the horizon, anything's possible -- and HTC's definitely got the chops to pull it off.

Palm's Treo Pro gets official

Well you can't say you didn't see this one coming -- between the leaked shots, more leaked shots, and those -- yes -- leaked press materials, this was only a matter of time. That's right: Palm has gone and gotten all official with its latest and greatest smartphone, the now-familiar Treo Pro. The new Windows Mobile device is being sold unlocked (!), and features an HSDPA cell radio (tri-band UMTS, quad-band GSM), GPS, 802.11b/g, a 320 x 320 touchscreen display, 256MB ROM, 128MB RAM, a 2-megapixel camera, support for microSDHC cards up to 32GB... and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack! No word on price or actual street date, but we can't imagine that's too far off. Hit the read link and take a tour of the new device, or watch the totally radical -- and long, and detailed -- video after the break.

Official Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM Update for Motorola Q9h

"Mike, who'd previously let us know about that leaked out 6.1 update has been watching Motorola's site like a ravenous hawk hovering over a field mouse. That mouse has finally popped out of its hole: head on over to Motorola's site for the official Motorola Q9h 6.1 Update. You're going to need the standard complement of update tools before you get going: Windows XP or Vista, internet connectivity (the software just might be calling home to check to see if your Q9h is legit), and a full backup before you update. Like all ROM updates, this one will wipe your device, so get prepared."

It is time to start backing up all of your data! Motorola has finally come around to giving the Q9h the old update treatment. For those that have not had a chance to use the sliding panels before, they are actually quite fun. Light years ahead of the incredibly plain coma inducing default homescreen that came equipped with Windows Mobile 6 and below.

Opticon Releases Two Ruggedized Windows Mobile Smartphones

The Opticon Mobility Group announced today that their H16 Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional smartphone was just certified by AT&T and they are currently seeking certification of their H19 Windows Mobile 5 Professional smartphone, for a September release. The smartphones are compatible with AT&T's GSM and GPRS networks. Certified AT&T and Opticon solution partners include Telenav, Corrigo, Salesforce.com, and Sybase iAnywhere. Opticon smartphones offer superior scanning abilities with a competitive price point, making them stand out over any other product. The H19 was recently recognized by AT&T as the Best New Network Compatible Device at the CTIA Wireless Tradeshow."

While I wouldn't expect to see these in the hands of your local Wal-Mart employees, businesses who need to combine a barcode scanner with a ruggedized smartphone can check out these offerings from Opticon. The Opticon H19 uses Windows Mobile 6.0, and offers communication through WiFi (802.11b/g), quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and Bluetooth. The H19 also includes integrated GPS capability (SiRF Star III) and a 512MB ROM. The Opticon H16 uses Windows Mobile 5.0 and also includes the same communications options of quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WiFi and Bluetooth and as seen above, features a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, but lacks the GPS capability. Either phone offers either a laser barcode scanner, or 2D CMOS imager.

The Android Wars: The Battle for Smartphone Users Begins!

As I am sure all of you have heard the release of Google's open source operating system is right around the corner. As Jon posted yesterday, T-Mobile is having some weird special event pre-sale to kick off the release of the first Android device, the HTC Dream, and T-Mobile subscribers can expect to pick up this new handset for a mere $150USD. This is an amazing price for a touch screen smartphone.

As some of you have probably heard me say before, as of the last Android SDK release, the operating system felt more like a collection of stuff rather than a useable mobile platform. With the recent release of the Android SDK we can see a lot of that "hobbyist" feel that usually accompanies most things open source start to peel away from the device as Google shapes Android up to a viable iPhone killer.

Now I know what you guys are thinking, "Geez, here we go again! Once more we're talking about something other than Windows Mobile!" You know what? I totally feel your pain and you're right. Unfortunately Microsoft is still being incredibly tight lipped about the successor to our current generation of mobile operating system and everyone is getting antsy; especially me. I don’t know if you guys have realized this, but I’m pretty impatient. It isn’t just me either, lately I could just feel the anxiety in the air as we all sit around hoping that someone up there in the land of Redmond is taking notes and listening. And while it is fun to sit around with a head full of wishful thinking while we keep our fingers crossed and wait for better days, there are two very important things wrong with having crossed fingers all the time.

Crossed fingers make it harder to type… a lot harder.
Crossed fingers do not make very entertaining news stories.

So since we are hearing nothing from the Microsoft camp at the moment about what to expect of the future of our favorite operating system, I decided it would be a great idea to at least take a look at where the future of mobile devices are headed. Some could argue that the future of mobile devices came around with the release of the iPhone, and you would be totally right, but the truth is Apple has always been a closed ecosystem and there is too much control wrapped up in the hardware and software that as a consumer you will never really have "choice". You either get what Apple says you want or you get nothing and lets face it, as long as Apple has a stranglehold on the iPhone, it can never go head to head with any mobile operating system. Google offers us something completely different while giving us an open source operating system that will encourage its users to tinker and innovate and this operating system can - and will - be installed on a slew of handsets similar to what we see now in the Windows Mobile world. If there was any operating system that posed a serious threat to Windows Mobile or even Symbian, it is Android.

Will Google's operating system be good enough to eat into the consumer base of Microsoft's Windows Mobile or even Apple's iPhone platform? That remains to be seen. So while we all sit around and wait for something exciting to happen, and for the love of all things mobile and good I hope that it happens soon, I threw together this little video of me dinking around with the Android emulator. As always let us know what you think about this new fandangled operating system. Enjoy!