Author: Tricia Duryee

The long-rumored Sony (NYSE: SNE) Playstation phone is now becoming a reality.

Sony is developing a new lineup of handheld products, including a smartphone that would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games, as well as connecting to Sony’s online media platform, reports the WSJ, which quotes people familiar with the matter.

The Japanese electronics giant is clearly feeling the heat from new consumer electronics, ranging from Apple’s iPhone to other devices like e-readers and netbooks. The project under way would create one device that would be capable of handling multiple functions, much like Apple’s upcoming iPad, according to the sources. Sony’s interest in building a smartphone doesn’t necessarily mean that its handset joint venture with Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) will be completely left out of the picture. In fact, the sources say Sony Ericsson will be working on the new handset, but that Sony will be taking a more active role, given how important smartphones are becoming to the company’s overall strategy.

The new products are expected to launch this year, although there’s still a lot of unknowns, including price or device specifications. A Sony spokeswoman declined to comment for the story.

Just recently, Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs made a point to say that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is now a larger mobile devices company than Sony, Samsung and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Indeed, Sony Ericsson has struggled recently, and has seen global shipments drop 41 percent in 2009. In addition, Sony slashed forecasts for PSP shipments last month.

Sony’s media platform, which for now is called Sony Online Service, is expected to launch in the U.S. later this month. The iTunes-like service will offer movies and TV shows and older game titles originally released for the PlayStation console.

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• Sony Ericsson Will Use A Branded Experience For The Android Platform; Will It Be PlayStation?
• Sony Rumored To Be Mulling Launch Of PlayStation Phone

With Apple’s iPad not shipping for another three weeks or so, and the 3G version more than a month out, it’s hard to know how well the tablet will sell, or how people will use it.

Despite the unknown, AT&T (NYSE: T), which is the exclusive carrier for both the iPhone and iPad in the U.S., has come out and said they don’t believe it will drive a lot of subscriptions on its network. “It will be interesting to see customer reaction to the iPad,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said at a Morgan Stanley event on Tuesday. “My expectation is that there’s not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription. We think it’s going to be a largely WiFi-driven product.”

If that’s the case, it will be of some relief to current AT&T subscribers that the iPad will likely not congest AT&T’s network further—although we all know, AT&T’s underestimated data usage once before.

So will the network be overwhelmed once again? If Stephenson is right, it’s unlikely. In fact, the price points and device’s presumed use case almost rules it out.

The most expensive model comes in at $829 for 64 gigabytes and 3G access, but the lowest-end model costs only $499 for 16 gigabytes and WiFi only. In all cases, the 3G model makes the iPad more of a commitment. Data plans start at $15 a month for 250 megabytes and unlimited access costs $30. While that’s half as much as what carriers typically charge for a laptop, Stephenson is right: how many people will be willing to pay that on top of what they already pay for the cellular data connection?

Not to mention, the use case of the device is not exactly mobile. Portable, yes, but not mobile. The 9.7 inch display does not fit into your back pocket or even very easily in a medium-sized purse. It’s doubtful people will bring it into the car to stream music through the radio, or use Google (NSDQ: GOOG) maps while on the road, or bring it to the ballpark to look up a player’s stats during the game.

However, there’s a couple of exceptions for this: A a child in the backseat of a car with two free hands could easily gobble up data by streaming TV, or surfing the internet. And, potentially some consumers will choose the iPad as a laptop substitution in the home. At the starting price of $630 with 3G and $30 a month for access, it becomes a competitive package to buying a laptop and signing up for cable or DSL. In urban areas, multiple iPad users could definitely bring the network to a crawl.

At the Morgan Stanley event yesterday, Stephenson also addressed rumors that AT&T’s exclusive hold on the iPhone was ending soon. He said that he expects the smartphone to be an important part of its line-up for “quite some time,” according to Dow Jones Newswires. Analysts most recently guessed there’s a good chance that AT&T will keep its exclusivity through 2010. Stephenson was not any more specific, but many believe that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and AT&T are content given AT&T’s new iPad exclusivity.

The International Trade Commission will have first dibs on deciding whether Nokia (NYSE: NOK) or Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) are infringing on each others’ patents, a federal judge has decided.

Yesterday, a Judge in Delaware agreed to put the patent claims between Apple and Nokia on hold, pending a resolution before the ITC, reports AP. But just because the lawsuit has been put on hold, doesn’t mean that the fight is over. Nokia has asked the ITC to consider banning imports of Apple products, including the MacBook and iPhone. The ITC hears cases involving imports that allegedly infringe on intellectual property rights, and then facilitates a resolution.

Related

• Nokia Sues Apple: iPhone Maker Accused Of Infringing Mobile Patents
• Apple Countersues Nokia Over Mobile Patents
• Nokia vs. Apple, Round 3: Finnish Giant Files Complaint With ITC, Covers More Than Just Phones
• Damages Could Be Worth Up To $1 Billion In Nokia’s Patent Spat With Apple
• Nokia Asks ITC To Ban Apple Imports, Including iPhone

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has unveiled a new way to search on Android-powered phones: Gestures.

According to a post on the Google Mobile Blog, the experimental application is available on Android-powered devices running Android 2.0 or higher in the U.S.

Essentially it works like this: Start a search by drawing a letter from the alphabet on the touch screen. For example, if you want to call your friend Anne, you would open Gesture Search and draw letter “A.” The application would start returning a list of items that have words starting with “A” on your phone. More letters would refine the query. A horizontal gesture from left to right erases a query and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query.

This application would work well when it’s too loud, or perhaps too quiet, to conduct a voice search Gesture Search is now available in the Android Market, and given that this is from Google Labs, you can’t expect it to be perfect. However, it’s important for new input methods to be developed given a phone’s limited screen size and keyboard capabilities.

While no one wants to wake up to the news that Apple—one of the most successful consumer brands—has filed a lawsuit against you, in this case, little-known HTC must have celebrated just a tiny bit.

In 13 years, the Taiwanese has grown to more than 9,000 employees worldwide, including 3,000 engineers and 125 employees in North America. Last year, it hit its stride by releasing some of the flashiest non-iPhone devices on the market, like the Hero, the T-Mobile myTouch and the HD 2. That’s a far cry from the first iPaq personal computer it built for Compaq 10 years ago. Now HTC is in the company of Nokia (NYSE: NOK), which has also exchanged patent disputes with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL).

While the lawsuit may represent some well-deserved recognition, it will also present significant distractions for the small company and increase legal scrutiny it potentially wasn’t prepared for. “Yes, HTC is a significant player in the industry, but it’s a contract manufacturer,” says RBC analyst Mike Abramsky. “I’m not sure it has a big enough patent base with which to defend itself. It’s more vulnerable,” reports AllThingsD.

How immediate of an impact the lawsuit could have on HTC is not clear. Since the suit was filed both with the United States District Court in Delaware and the United States International Trade Commission, Apple could ask the commission to halt shipments of infringing HTC phones that are coming into the U.S.

HTC issued a short statement yesterday saying that it did not believe the lawsuit posed a short-term material impact to its business, or would affect Q1 guidance. It said: “HTC is a mobile technology innovator and patent holder that has been very focused over the past 13 years on creating many of the most innovative smartphones. HTC Corporation values U.S. and international patent rights and will work with in the U.S. Judicial System to protect its own innovations and rights.”

For perspective, here’s how HTC is David and Apple is Goliath:

—Manpower: In this lawsuit, Apple may, in part, be targeting the technical expertise of a small design office in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, where about 25 people have cooked up their own user interface called Sense. The user interface overlays on top of both the Windows Mobile and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android handsets that it builds.

—Market share: According to IDC, HTC had a 4.6 percent global share of the smartphone market in 2009, compared with Apple’s 14.4 percent.

—Financial standing: HTC’s 2009 consolidated revenue was 144 billion Taiwan dollars, or $4.5 billion, down 5.2 percent from the previous year. Gross profit in 2009 was down 9.5 percent, according to the NYTimes. That compares to Apple’s last fiscal quarter, which led CEO Steve Jobs to brag: “If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company.”

“This is what happens in Silicon Valley,“ Gary Chia, head of Greater China research for Yuanta Securities in Taipei told the New York Times. “When you’re big enough to become a threat, I’ll slap a suit on you sometimes just to slow you down.”

But a lot of observers have pointed out that the lawsuit isn’t about HTC at all. Instead, it’s about the threat of Google and its Android operating system, which is mentioned continuously throughout the lawsuit (See Engadget’s rundown here). Those suspicions gained some momentum today when unprompted Google sent out a statement about the lawsuit to press. A spokesperson said: “We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.”

More so, there’s a reason why Apple isn’t suing Google, or for that matter other handset makers that are building Android-based phones, like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Samsung. Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, told the New York Times that Apple is simply going after a less powerful company first—a company with less resources, and a potentially smaller patent portfolio. “It clearly involves some form of litigation strategy of picking off the weaker members of the herd first. They can always add Google to the suit later on,” he said.

Related

• Apple Slaps Android-Maker HTC With Patent Infringement Suit
• Handset-Maker HTC Says ‘No One Is More Committed’ To Windows Mobile And Android
• HTC Launches Multi-Million Dollar Ad Campaign About ‘You’ To Become Household Name
• Apple Sells Record 8.74 Million iPhones During Holidays
• Apple Matches Nokia’s Latest Attack By Filing A New Patent Complaint Of Its Own
• Nokia Asks ITC To Ban Apple Imports, Including iPhone

Mitch Lazar, Yahoo’s European Mobile managing director, is stepping down from his post after working at the company for four and a half years.

Lazar marks one of many recent departures from Yahoo’s mobile group. Over the past year-or-so, departures range from all the way at the top, like Marco Boerries, Yahoo’s EVP of the Connected Life Division, to its Chief Scientist Marc Davis to Steve Boom, SVP of Connected Life. And, only ten months after being promoted to global head of Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Mobile, David Ko gained the additional responsibility for all of Yahoo’s content sites in North America.

Yahoo continues to operate its mobile search technology on its own despite the company’s search partnership with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). However, Yahoo has the ability to tap Microsoft for mobile if it decides that makes sense in the future.

In a letter sent to friends and colleagues, Lazar says he does not know what he will do next, but is taking time off and is considering moving back to the U.S. Lazar credits Yahoo for accomplishing a lot while he was there: “We didn’t have much of a business when I joined, but we now have over 100 mobile search and ad deals around the globe with the genesis of those beginning right here in the UK. Between those and the distribution deals with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and the OEMs we really created an exciting leadership position for the company.”

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• Yahoo Lands Another Mobile Search Distribution Deal—This Time In Germany
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AT&T (NYSE: T) is gearing up to launch the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Backflip, its first Android device, on Sunday, and with it comes a little surprise: The Google-powered phone has been stripped of its flagship search engine, and instead comes loaded with Yahoo.

The removal of Google’s search by AT&T raises a few questions: Will all of AT&T’s Android devices default to Yahoo’s search engine? Will T-Mobile USA have to honor a similar agreement with Yahoo? (NSDQ: YHOO) And, will Verizon Wireless be forced to remove Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search in favor of its exclusive search provider, Microsoft’s Bing?

An AT&T spokesman confirmed that the carrier removed Google search from the phone, but added that other apps, like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, Android Market and YouTube, remain. Engadget stumbled across this nugget of information when reviewing the device this week.

To be sure, the space has gotten complicated as carriers have signed contractual agreements with search providers, and then those search providers have rolled out mobile phones. One thing for certain is that if this continues to be the trend, Google’s business model may be at threat. After all, it gives the operating system for free with the hopes of making money from advertising on its various services, like search. Sprint (NYSE: S) is the only U.S. carrier that routinely integrates Google search into its devices.

AT&T did not say whether Google’s search would be stripped from upcoming Android devices, including the four additional ones planned for this year. Obviously, there’s some exceptions like the iPhone.

It’s unclear if T-Mobile will ever have to do the same. It’s been about two years since T-Mobile USA launched its first Google phone, and it has yet to replace Google’s search with Yahoo—despite having a similar exclusive partnership. A T-Mobile spokesman was noncommittal: “T-Mobile hasn’t announced any changes. Google continues to be our search partner on Android devices.” UPDATE: Yahoo issued the following statement: “We are happy that AT&T has chosen Yahoo! Search as the default mobile search service on the Motorola Backflip, AT&T’s first Android device. We have a long-standing relationship with AT&T and more than 80 carrier partnerships around the world…”

Another question is whether Verizon Wireless will also be required to replace Google? Last year, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) paid millions of dollars for the exclusive right to manage mobile search and advertising on Verizon’s handsets. While Bing has been installed on several phones, including BlackBerry devices, Verizon’s Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris, still have Google’s search bar intact. We are still waiting for a comment from Verizon to see if that will change.

What’s more is this subject is likely to raise its ugly head again when Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7 later this year. The new OS could potentially create a conflict for AT&T and T-Mobile—but not Verizon. Of course, this pattern is also replicated worldwide with Yahoo, in particular, having dozens of agreements with carriers on a global basis. However, these headaches may only be short-term: The contracts will eventually expire, and may never be renewed. And, the most obvious option is for consumers to side-step all of the fuss by going to the browser directly and typing in the search engine of their choice.

Related

• If Microsoft Wants Yahoo’s Mobile Search, They’ll Have To Earn It

THQ (NSDQ: THQI) has confirmed that its mobile game studio in Finland has entered into liquidation, putting an end to a decision made a year ago to make the Universomo office the hub of its smartphone game development.

In January 2009, THQ conducted a significant restructuring that included focusing on building games for smartphone platforms, closing its San Diego, UK and Germany offices, and designating Universomo as the center of its wireless business. However, today, a THQ spokesperson confirmed to ME that the Finland office is in liquidation, and that going forward, it will tap into a global network of external developers to make mobile-game titles.

The news was first reported by Pelaaja, a Finnish games magazine. The spokesperson said they still plan to release 15 mobile games this year despite the closure. “We are very excited about digital gaming and have increased our investment in this area.”

Last month, when THQ released its fourth-quarter earnings, it said it was realigning several of its studios to emphasize its digital operations. It said two of its eight studios will now focus on developing digital titles based on “THQ’s core game brands and new original intellectual properties,” as well as “the implementation of a portfolio-wide community platform to connect consumers to all of THQ’s core games.”

Related

• THQ Restructures Wireless Division; Will Focus On Smartphones And Layoff 100 Employees

One of the more obvious opportunities in mobile is getting the smartphone past the affluent, early-adopters—and Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the largest handset maker in the world, has a plan for how to do just that.

Today, it unveiled the C-series smartphone product line, which Nokia describes in a blog post as a smartphone packed into a low-cost feature phone body. The first device, called the C5, comes loaded with Facebook built in, and has a somewhat small 2.2-inch display with a 3.2-megapixel camera. Nokia’s Ovi Maps with free navigation also comes pre-loaded. The C5 is expected to be available in the second quarter in Europe, Southeast Asia, China and the Middle east. The anticipated price, before taxes and subsidies, is $183 (€135).

The low-end smartphone market is considered a large opportunity because a mobile phone will like be the first way people, who don’t have access to computers, will first interact with the internet. Nokia has already had seen some success in the developing world, where users are quickly adopting its Ovi Mail service. Within a six month period, it said more than one million accounts had been activated.

As part of the C series announcement, Nokia explained its new naming conventions for its four smartphone product families. The C series are low-end smartphones, the E series phones are for business users, the X series is for youth and music, and N series represents the most advanced models.

While the E and N series have been around for awhile, the X series was introduced last year. Each handset will also be paired with a number, like the “C5.” The number signifies the range of functionality the phone offers from 1 to 9 (1 being the lowest and 9 being the highest). In a blog post, Nokia explained: “This new naming convention is designed to make things easier for users, so they can quickly and easily work out where a device sits within the series and beyond that have a clearer idea of what each series does. Nseries remains the flagship and most advanced range of products. Xseries comes next and focuses on social entertainment. Eseries remains focused on productivity and business whilst Cseries represents the core range of products.”

Mobclix, a mobile ad network aggregator, has acquired Heartbeat from New York-based Enormego for its ability to analyze the performance of iPhone applications, including sales reporting, statistics and crash reports. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Not only has the mobile ad network acquisitions been heating up, but so has the analytics space as developers and brands demand to know how their mobile applications are performing. In December, Flurry merged with Pinch Media to combine the two mobile analytics companies.

The Heartbeat analytics service was launched by its parent company, Enormego, in January last year. Since then, it claims to have 35,000 applications using the platform, including Pocket God, iShoot and RJDJ, and that it has tracked $25 million worth of paid downloads.

Mobclix plans to integrate Heartbeat’s analytics information with its data so that a developer can see all revenue-generating aspects, including ad monetization, in-app purchase and paid models. In February, Mobclix partnered with Nielsen to beef up its targeting abilities by using the research firm’s demographic data.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) unveiled a completely new smartphone operating system last month that in no way resembles its past corporate image. The new Windows Phone 7 fits somewhere between Bing’s visually appealing user interface and the consumer friendliness of a Zune music player.

But to make the necessary leap required to compete with Apple’s iPhone, Microsoft had to start from scratch. In a New York Times story detailing Microsoft’s overhaul of its mobile division, Terry Myerson, the VP in charge of Windows Phone engineering said: “To be entirely candid, the iPhone opened our eyes as to some things that needed to be done that were not in our plan…Some execution had really gone astray.

While Microsoft still has a long way from regaining lost market share in the mobile space, it’s definitely showing a commitment to starting over with a clean slate.

Microsoft separately confirmed today that any previous phone running its older Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system will not be upgradable to Windows Phone 7. That includes the well-received HTC HD2, which has nearly all of the required specs for the new OS. However, it has five buttons—and all Windows Phone 7 devices going forward will be limited to three, reports APCmag.com. Natasha Kwan, Microsoft’s Mobile GM in the Asia-Pacific region told APC that “Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradable.”

The new Windows Phone 7 operating system will likely be more consistent because Microsoft demands it of its hardware manufacturing partners. Despite current Windows Phone owners likely being disappointed by this news, it shows just how serious Microsoft is about remaking the division. In the NYTimes story, other moves were detailed, including bringing some of Microsoft’s top talents from around the company to the mobile division. In addition to shifting internal resources, it also hired people from companies like Nike and Procter & Gamble who could bring different perspectives. One of the hires included Myerson who came from the Exchange group. Another was Joe Belfiore, who worked on projects such as Windows XP, Media Center and Zune.

The initial perception of Microsoft’s Windows 7 after Steve Ballmer announced the high-level concepts in February at Mobile World Congress was that it was going to be an immediate hit. Sites like Gizmodo and Engadget practically salivated. Engadget’s first impression consisted of this conclusion: “This really is a completely new OS—and not just Microsoft’s new OS, it’s a new smartphone OS, like webOS new, like iPhone OS new.” Now Microsoft will just have to deliver on these promises. Next up, it will detail more of its vision at Mix, a three-day developer conference in Las Vegas from March 15 to 17. Stay tuned for all the details.

Related

• Microsoft Tries Hard To Drum Up Support For Year-End Windows Mobile 7 Launch
• Windows Phone 7 Reviews Are In: ‘A Completely New Smartphone OS’

Cable operators are looking for ways to enter the wireless business as consumers disconnect their landline phones in favor of cell phones, and seek ways to connect their laptops while on the go.

Cox Communications is building its own cellular network from the ground up; and Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and Bright House have invested in Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) to gain access to the company’s high-speed broadband network. And now, Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is cooking up something entirely different: it is testing a new mobile phone that can work with Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

In the company’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, Cablevision’s COO Tom Rutledge answered questions about how it intends to roll out wireless services. He said the cable operator, which serves a small footprint in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, is trialing phones that switch between WiFi and cellular networks. “The test is so far proving to be good and consistent with our view of what is possible and gives us some hope that we will be able to launch additional products using the Wi-Fi network that will look like what some people think of as cellular telephone.”

The technology sounds an awful lot like UMA, which is used by T-Mobile USA, and allows people to roam between WiFi and the cellular network without even knowing it. UMA allows carriers to offload traffic from their more capital-intensive cellular networks to local area networks that are often paid for by the consumer in their own home.

For Cablevision, it’s a pretty good fit since it has invested heavily in building out a WiFi network for its customers in the areas it covers. To continue offering cellular coverage outside of that WiFi area, it would have to either lease capacity from a wireless operator, or build its own cellular network. According to an AP story, Rutledge said: “We haven’t made those decisions (about whether to build a cell network or lease capacity), but the latter outcome would be a less capital-intensive, higher-return business.”

Related

• Wireless Continues To Be A Question Mark For Cable
• Cablevision’s Plan To Pay $350 Million To Provide WiFi In One Market Is At Odds
• Cox Begins Testing Wireless Network In Three Markets

Thumbplay has hired an exec away from Apple’s iPhone ranks to bulk up its team as it attempts to transform the ringtone company to a full-track music download service for the phone and PC.

Pablo Calamera, who oversaw the launch of Apple’s MobileMe cloud services, will serve as the company’s CTO starting March 8. The Thumbplay subscription music service, which claims to have more than 8 million tracks licensed from the four major record labels and thousands of independents, will be generally available in beta starting Thursday. Initially, it will be available on the Blackberry, but will eventually launch on Android and iPhone. Release.

Most recently, Calamera served as Director of Apple’s MobileMe, which enabled iPhone and Mac users to sync contacts and other data to the cloud, so that it could be accessible on the computer or phone. While MobileMe supports “millions of worldwide active users on a daily basis,” the launch was considered rushed and full of bugs. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) ultimately gave customers a 60-day extension.

Prior to Apple, Calamera was the Senior Director of Service Engineering and Support at Danger for five years, where he lead the service engineering team for the Sidekick. He also spent time at NotifyMe Networks, AT&T (NYSE: T) Labs and WebTV Networks. In a release, Calamera said: “Thumbplay has an incredible talent pool, and they have done a remarkable job in building robust, feature-rich services that deliver beautifully across multiple platforms. This is a very difficult thing to do, and I have been consistently impressed with the energy, smarts and creativity on display.”

The addition of a CTO comes as the company’s executive team has undergone a number of changes over the past year. Its Founder and CEO Are Traasdahl recently stepped down to serve as chairman, and co-founder and CMO Evan Schwartz was promoted to CEO. Thumbplay’s previous CTO left a year ago in March.

Thumbplay may need all the help it can get. While its history of marketing and selling ringtone subscriptions will likely help, consumers have yet to adopt full-track subscriptions on a large scale. In this model, consumers are allowed to download all the music they want, but as soon as they stop paying for the service, all their rights to the downloads disappear—in other words, they rent the music and don’t own it. Thumbplay charges $10 a month for access to the service, and says it charges another $0.69 to $1.29 per track if a user wants to own it.

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) has updated its mobile application for the iPhone and iPod Touch to enable customers to update their DVR settings remotely, including the ability to search and schedule new recordings, cancel recordings and sort TV listings by category.

The free application, which launched last summer, extended most Comcast services, such as access to email, voicemail, address book, TV listings, to the phone. With the addition of remote DVR functionality, the application does a good job of replicating most of Comcast’s services—that is, except for watching TV. In the coming months, Comcast says it will launch an app for Research In Motion’s Blackberry devices.

The update will be available in iTunes as of today, however, not all Comcast customers will have immediate access to the new features. Rather it will become available as Comcast rolls out its new Program Guide, which is now available to roughly 3.1 million homes.

In a blog post today, Cathy Avgiris, Comcast’s SVP and General Manager of communications and data services, said the app was downloaded more than 100,000 downloads in less than a week after launching last year, but one of the most requested features was being able to program the DVR from a phone. Avgiris wrote: “Comcast Mobile applications are part of our vision to extend the accessibility of our video, voice and data products by making them available anywhere and on any device.”

Other features include: push alerts that indicate when new Comcast emails and voicemails have arrived; the ability to forward pictures and voice mails as an attachment; mark unwanted emails as spam; and access external (POP/IMAP) email accounts.

McLean, Va-based Mobile Posse, a participant in the mobile advertising space since 2006, has raised an additional $2.5 million from existing investors. Release.

In this case, Mobile Posse serves information, like weather and local gas prices to a phone’s idle screen when consumers opt-in for the service. In addition to content, local and national ads are served, including coupons and other offers. The company said the funding will support continued growth and ongoing business operations. So far, the company has launched with Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS and Leap Wireless, and said its platform reaches two million consumers a month, representing a 20-fold increase in 14 months.

As of Dec. 2007, Mobile Posse had raised a total of $11.5 million from Softbank Capital, Court Square Ventures, Columbia Capital, and individual investors.

Here’s a refreshing take on location-based services: It’s not an app and users don’t have to manually check-in when they’ve arrived at a destination.

Today, Placecast is launching a new advertising-based service called ShopAlerts, which lets consumers sign-up for offers from some of their favorite stores or restaurants when they’re in geographic range of the location. The service goes live today starting with three retailers: SONIC, REI and American Eagle Outfitters.

In a way, this brings to life the well-fabled use-case scenario in mobile, where you are walking by a Starbucks and you receive a coupon by text message for a $1 off a latte. It’s just taken about five years to get there.

Placecast is developed and owned by 1020, an advertising firm that was founded in 2005 and is funded by Voyager Capital and Onset Ventures.

ShopAlerts works like this: Consumers can sign-up for specific brands at the store, online, via text-message, mobile website, or social networks. Once activated, consumers automatically receive alerts when they are near a location that they are interested in or when the brand is offering sales and specials. Because everything is delivered by text message, ShopAlerts works on any phone—not just smartphones.

ShopAlerts has been tested in a pilot since September 2009 with retailers including SONIC, American Eagle Outfitters and REI. In a survey, 79 percent of respondents said it increased their likelihood to visit a store; 65 percent said they made a purchase as a result of a ShopAlerts message; and 73 percent of participants would definitely or probably use the service in the future.

In a NYTimes story, Placecast detailed a trial with North Face. The outdoor retailer created 1,000 half-mile wide geo-fences in and around New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston in which messages to users would be triggered. North Face could tailor its messages based on the immediate weather outside. “We like things that people opt in to and that aren’t going to be perceived as being intrusive, where we’re bringing something to the table,” sais Aaron Carpenter, North Face’s VP of marketing.

At least three reports were distributed today by companies that use internal data to make sweeping statements about the state of the industry. While the data can often be influenced by the company’s strengths, the reports can typically be useful for gleaning some relevant information on where the trends are heading. Here are those three reports:

—Distimo: This report looks at games being sold on Windows, BlackBerry, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Android stores. It found that in January on average, the most expensive games are found on Windows and Blackberry ($4.91 and $4.60, respectively). Meanwhile, games published in the role-playing category on the iPhone are most expensive at $7.96 a game. Most other iPhone game categories averaged between $1.30 and $2.60. Full report here.

—AdMob: : Instead of analyzing its internal ad network for trends, AdMob conducted a survey in January. Of the 963 respondents, it found that Android and iPhone users downloaded a similar number of apps and spent a similar amount of time using the apps—which is a bit different than the perception that Android trails the iPhone. However, iPod touch users downloaded 37 percent more than both—an average of 12 apps a month. Full report.

—Opera: Mobile browser-maker Opera says Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has a commanding lead in mobile Web search in the U.S. Accounting for more than 9 percent of all page views on the mobile Web, Google outpaces Yahoo! (NSDQ: YHOO) with 4.3 percent. Bing hardly registers at .03 percent of all page views. Full report.

Palm’s recent launch with Verizon Wireless has failed to generate any momentum for the company, putting the company’s long-term prospects into question.

So, what can Palm (NSDQ: PALM) do? Given that its new webOS is a worthy contender and stacks up nicely against the iPhone, Android and others, it must have options. One solution could include identifying a buyer or partner for the company. Right now, it’s largely a niche player, and should be looking for a company with deep pockets, strong relationships with developers and a good distribution network.

That shouldn’t be so hard given that so many companies are looking to get a piece of the smartphone action. In fact, it’s no wonder something hasn’t happened already.

There’s three potential suitors that immediately jump to mind, and likely there’s others, too. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Dell have long been rumored to be potential buy-out candidates. Those are still attractive options. A third one could be HP, which despite its line of iPaq smartphones running the Windows Mobile, has been completely overshadowed.

In particular, Nokia remains a strong prospect for buying Palm, or licensing its software. At Mobile World Congress last week, it announced it was merging its Maemo operating system with Intel’s Moblin operating system to create MeeGo. Both operating systems are based on Linux, like Palm’s. In doing so, both Nokia and Intel (NSDQ: INTC) will just fall further behind, and confuse the market further. The first release of MeeGo is expected in the second quarter of this year with devices launching later in the year. In contrast, Palm’s webOS is already a fully baked product with a small, but growing ecosystem. And, while Palm has accumulated debt while trying to get off the ground, together Nokia and Intel should be able to cover it.

Another candidate is HP, which continues to say that it is serious about smartphones, even though handset sales have fallen about 80 percent over the last five years, reports the NYTimes. “We are committed to the phone space,” said Phil McKinney, the CTO in HP’s personal systems group.

HP has declined to discuss the company’s future smartphone products or plans, but if it doesn’t move quickly it will miss the next great phase of the computing revolution. Its competitors, including Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Asustek, all are jumping into the smartphone market and had phones on display last week, whereas HP was virtually absent.

However, it’s likely that any potential suitors are looking for just a minuscule sign that Palm’s gaining some momentum or able to achieve some level of repeatable success. Both of those seem to be just out of Palm’s grasp.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Arya recently trimmed his estimate for the third-quarter to 900,000-1.2 million phone shipments from a prior range of 1.1 million-1.5 million. “We are concerned the window of opportunity may be closing,” he told the WSJ. And, Palm’s marketshare hardly registers at .7 percent of the total market, according to Gartner. By comparison, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) had 14.4 percent, and BlackBerrys represented nearly 20 percent.