The Droid X. It was heralded as Motorola’s opportunity to gain market share in an ultra-competitive smartphone market where leading devices are sold out.

The only problem is, it’s plus sold out — at least in many parts of the country and online. The shortages break a Verizon promise to have plenty of Droid Xes in stock. Verizon has issued a statement about the shortage, along with an update on when consumers can get their hands on the latest Motorola device:

“This has been a very good day one for Droid X sales. Customers were in line at midnight in some markets, in other places there were lines when the stores opened, and in other stores there has been a steady stream of customers. We have been successful at keeping up with early demand, but at present stock in some parts of the country is either low or out. (It truly varies around the country.) Since we have weekly shipments planned, customers can still order phones and can expect them to be shipped on or before July 23.”

A Race for Supply

The Droid X sells for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract. Some believed the availability could be incentive sufficient for Android fans to pick up what has been hyped as a best-in-class Android device. And apparently it was, though there are no official reports on how many Droid Xes sold on the first day.

Despite the Droid X shortage, it does seem that Verizon will have the Motorola device in stock before Apple fulfills its iPhone 4 back orders, before Sprint Nextel fills its HTC EVO 4G back orders, and before Verizon gets more HTC Droid Incredibles back on store shelves. The HTC EVO 4G is sold out indefinitely.

Despite Verizon’s promises, Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current…

Original post by dhiram

Apple’s last-minute press conference drew scores of journalists Friday to compose out the iPhone maker’s fix for what could go down in company history as “Antennagate.” A rumored recall won’t happen, but the always-confident Apple CEO Steve Jobs did offer a solution to the much-hyped antenna issue: Free bumper cases for every iPhone 4 and a refund on cases already purchased. Consumers who purchase the iPhone 4 through Sept. 30 are eligible for the fix.

Apple is plus offering to give consumers a full refund for undamaged iPhone 4s returned — with no restocking fee. Finally, the company issued a software update that fixes the way the signal-meter bars seem and other bugs.

“Apple did what they needed to do. They put one of their best corporate assets on the job — Steve Jobs. He was on vacation in Hawaii earlier that week and he came back for that,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. “This was a problem that Apple had to deal with way beyond just an open letter from Steve on the web site.”

Jobs Talks Numbers

Jobs opened the press conference with a presentation that highlighted similar reception problems with competing smartphones. He denied a Bloomberg report alleging that Apple knew about the antenna issue before rolling out the iPhone 4 to market, calling the composition “a crock.” Jobs plus gave journalists an up-close look at Apple’s $100 million experiment facility complete with 17 anechoic chambers.

According to Apple’s info, humans are reporting better reception with the iPhone 4 antenna than ever before. Jobs noted that only one-half of one percent of iPhone 4 users have called AppleCare to complain about the antenna or reception. And iPhone 4 return rates are a mere 1.7 percent — less than a third of iPhone 3GS returns. Finally, the iPhone 4…

Original post by dhiram

Apple Inc. will give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone to alleviate the so-called “death grip” problem in which holding the phone with a bare hand can muffle the wireless signal.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the giveaway Friday during a news conference at the company’s headquarters, even as the company denied that the iPhone 4 has an antenna problem that needs fixing. The more than 3 million citizens who have already bought the iPhone 4 and new buyers through Sept. 30 will all be eligible.

society who already purchased the $29 “Bumper” cases will be refunded.

Jobs began the event by saying, “We’re not perfect,” but was quick to point out that no cell phone is perfect. He played a video showing competing smart phones, including a BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd., losing signal strength when held in assured ways.

Phones usually have an antenna inside the body. In designing the iPhone 4, Apple took a gamble on a new design, using parts of the phone’s outer casing as the antenna. That saved space inside the tightly packed body of the phone, but means that covering a spot on the lower left edge of the case blocks wireless signal.

Consumer Reports magazine said covering the spot with a case or even a piece of duct tape alleviates the problem. It refused to give the iPhone 4 its “recommended” stamp of approval for that reason, and it had called on Apple on Monday to compensate buyers.

On Friday, in the company’s first remarks following the magazine’s report, Jobs said Apple was “stunned and upset and embarrassed.”

Jobs said the iPhone 4’s antenna issue isn’t widespread. He said just by five out of every thousand users have complained to Apple’s warranty service, and less than 2 percent have returned the device.

“We’re not feeling right…

Original post by dhiram

Remember how Microsoft vigorously defended Windows Vista as a good product despite strong criticism and slow adoption by IT departments? Looks like even Microsoft didn’t believe its words, either.

At that week’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said Apple’s iPhone 4 problems “might be [Apple’s] Vista.” There seems to be a trend there since Turner is the same guy who said at last year’s conference that Windows 7 had real momentum — unlike Vista.

In his address to the Microsoft faithful, Turner presented to be stoking the old rivalry amidst Microsoft and Apple. He promised that users of Windows Phone 7 Series devices won’t have to anguish about how they hold their phones. Reports have Apple’s iPhone 4 suffering signal loss when the innovative antenna comes in contact with human skin.

Back in the Game?

Noting the market’s strong adoption of Windows 7, Turner said, “We’re back in the game with Windows Phone 7. Our customers are going to vote by what they buy, but clearly we’ve done it once, we’re going to do it again.”

That comment, of course, ignores the fact that Microsoft is behind in a competitive mobile market with Apple and Google’s Android operating system moving up fast. A Nielsen study of the first quarter found that Microsoft lost two percent of the mobile market while Apple and Google each gained two percent.

Microsoft has plus dropped its ill-fated Kin phones aimed at the youth market and suspended sales of the once-popular Sidekick line it inherited from subsidiary Danger.

In addition, Microsoft is scrambling to get developers interested in creating apps for Windows Phone 7. As we previously reported, Todd Brix, a senior Microsoft director, reportedly said the company is offering financial incentives, including income guarantees, and free tools and tryout phones to get developers on board.

Microsoft reportedly has just 246…

Original post by dhiram

Motorola’s Droid X flew off the shelves at Verizon Wireless stores and online on its launch day Thursday, filling a growing demand for high-speed touchscreen smartphones that has been gold for manufacturers and the nation’s top carriers. Despite assurances that the new device would be in ample supply after a predecessor, HTC’s Droid Incredible, ran short at launch in April, Verizon’s web site told shoppers Friday that July 23 is the earliest their orders will ship. Shortages were plus reported at Best Buy stores.

Anticipating Demand

Verizon spokesperson Brenda Rainey told us Friday that the shortage affected only some areas of the country and Verizon has regularly scheduled stock deliveries to ensure there will be adequate supplies.

Asked whether the company underestimated demand, Rainey said “this is a retail business, and like most retail businesses we do our best to predict and estimate demand and order appropriately. But there is always an unknown factor that equates to popularity, and in that case the [Droid X] is extremely popular.”

She declined to speculate on whether competitor Apple’s highly publicized troubles with its iPhone 4, which has signal problems tied to its strange antenna design, may have helped the Droid X, whose design and features are similar.

“People invent decisions about what phone they want for all kinds of reasons,” she said. “When folks walk in the door at Verizon, they’ve chosen a network. I can’t comment on how things like that influence their decisions. You have to ask the customers.”

The Droid X features one of the largest touchscreens available, 4.3 inches, and, unlike the iPhone, supports Adobe Flash-based graphics. While it doesn’t have a slide-out keyboard like the original Droid, it does have more physical buttons than the iPhone. It additionally has HDMI output and an eight-megapixel camera, compared to iPhone’s five.

The Droid X went…

Original post by dhiram

Market research group IDC said Wednesday that worldwide shipments of personal computers climbed 22.4 percent in the second quarter as businesses replaced aging computers and consumers continued to show interest in inexpensive laptops.

The growth was half a percentage point less than IDC predicted considering of slightly lower PC shipments in the U.S. and Asia. IDC analyst Loren Loverde said the group will likely reduce estimates for the current quarter and the rest of the year slightly, but he still calls the industry’s performance in the quarter “quite good.”

Businesses that stopped buying new technology during the worst of the recession have started replacing PCs, IDC says. That contributed to the rise in the quarter.

But Loverde said that doesn’t mean the industry should expect to see a dramatic surge in demand for PCs in the coming months. As PC processors become more energetic, it’s not as critical for many businesses to furnish employees with the most up-to-date technology. As a conclusion, more companies are hanging on to older computers longer and replacing them on an as-needed basis, the analyst said.

In all, PC makers shipped 81.5 million computers in the quarter. Hewlett-Packard Co. remained the top computer maker in the world, followed by Dell Inc. and Acer Inc. Lenovo Group Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and AsusTek Computer Inc. rounded out IDC’s top-six list.

Consumers still sought out low-end laptops and netbooks — computers that are even less expensive, but plus less forceful. However, Loverde said consumer PC buying seems to be slowing in the U.S. as big business spending picks up.

That has helped Dell overtake Acer and reclaim the No. 2 spot. Dell relies on corporations for much of its business, while Acer is more focused on consumers.

In the U.S., PC shipments rose 12.6 percent. HP, Dell and Acer were the top three. No. 4…

Original post by dhiram

Federal officials are beginning work on a comprehensive stock of the nation’s radio spectrum in hopes of finding more capacity for wireless high-speed Net connections.

Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski said his agency is working closely with the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and info Administration to catalog current spectrum usage.

The FCC oversees spectrum allocated to commercial wireless carriers, as well as state and local spectrum uses. The NTIA manages spectrum use by federal agencies such as the Defense office.

The FCC and NTIA hope to identify airwaves that could be reallocated for wireless broadband services, including the cutting-edge 4G services now being rolled out by the big mobile carriers. The agencies plus hope to promote wireless services that rely on unlicensed spectrum, such as Wi-Fi.

The spectrum stock marks the first step toward implementing one of the key recommendations in the FCC’s national broadband plan: a proposal to free up another 500 megahertz of spectrum by the next 10 years. The wireless industry currently holds roughly 500 megahertz of spectrum.

The FCC says more airwaves are needed to keep up with ever-growing demand for sophisticated mobile applications accessed through laptops and smart phones such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone. The FCC plan additionally envisions wireless as a way to bring high-speed Web access to remote corners of the country where phone and cable companies do not offer landline broadband connections.

The FCC’s spectrum proposal has the backing of the White House, which has plus called for a spectrum stock. Congress, too, is working on legislation that would mandate a spectrum stock.

Genachowski outlined the FCC’s plans in a letter Wednesday to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

Original post by dhiram