As Mobile World Congress attendees pore over the latest and greatest coming to a smartphone in Barcelona this week, the brand hovering over every booth's shoulder is Apple.

Not to discount Google's Android and other innovators, but the house that Steve Jobs built has consistently churned out products that have proved game changers for technology, computing, mobile, design and advertising/marketing, from its initial Macintosh in 1984 to the iPhone and iPad releases of recent years.

Now the man who took over as CEO after the death of Steve Jobs in October, Tim Cook, is telling investors that the company is getting ready to rock the world once again.Continue reading...

The United States Postal Service is in the midst of massive layoffs and soul-searching about its future, as it looks to cut 35,000 jobs as a way of dealing with its $18.2 billion annual loss, but it's still trying to innovate in a digital era when hand-delivered mail seems quaint.

The U.S. Postal Service has just launched a new mobile application for iPhone users that lets the device's camera scan barcodes on shipping labels for "quick, easy and convenient tracking of their packages and other mail. The application stores the label numbers so customers can easily recheck the status of their shipments. The scanner function is available on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2."Continue reading...

Apple’s smartphones still dominate the smartphone marketplace in the United States with a 48.4 percent share, according to Kantar Worldpanel, but Google’s Android isn’t far behind with 42.6 percent, according to Apple Insider. Microsoft’s smartphone technology is way down at 2 percent with Nokia’s Lumia filling up most of that percentage.

Now, a year after they announced a mobile partnership, Nokia and Microsoft are about to make a move that they’re hoping will help improve those numbers. On Monday, the company is expected to unveil the Lumia 610 and a new version of the Lumia 900 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Reuters reports.

The word is that Nokia “will next week unveil a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software, targeting a wider market.” Analysts tell Reuters that going cheaper will be a key component to the Finland-based Nokia moving up in market share.  As a result of its partnership, Nokia scrapped its smartphone system lin favor of Windows Phone and has been positioning the Lumia Windows Phone as a competitor to Apple's iPhone.

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Coke vs. Pepsi. Ali vs. Frazier. Godzilla vs. Mothra. Add another battle of serious rivals to the list: Samsung and Nokia are going at each other like two heavyweights in the 15th round these days in India, where they top the handheld marketplace.Continue reading...

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