webOS has effectively been dead since mid August, but reports of its impending death continue to swirl. Hewlett-Packard Co. made a colossal error this past summer when it abandoned its webOS device business and shunned any ongoing commitment to the webOS platform. Such a move would instantly slash the value of any business and indeed it has. The HP-Palm deal is one of most botched marriages and subsequent business decisions to hit the wireless industry in years.

HP threw in the towel on its mobile plans way too early, and just as it was getting off the ground with new webOS devices and a tablet built primarily by the Palm team it acquired 18 months ago for $1.2 billion. Leo Apotheker was forced out of the top job at the company over that decision and newly installed CEO Meg Whitman has shifted gears on the mobile front, but only slightly.

Under Whitman’s leadership HP has reversed its decision to abandon the tablet market, and the PC business for that matter — another FUBAR decision by Apotheker. But as of yet, Whitman has not committed to any life ahead for webOS. The future of the platform may have been hanging in the balance months ago, but any remaining value to outsiders has already vanished. Developers weren’t flocking to the platform before and they sure have no interest in starting now. Read more

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion biffed its response to last week’s massive outage and worse yet, is coming up short at this week’s BlackBerry DevCon Americas conference. With every month that passes, the smartphone pioneer loses more runway, and with it the ability to carry the BlackBerry brand forward.

Last week’s major outage did no favors for BlackBerry’s already tarnished image. The company needed a strong response to the snafu and should feel tremendous pressure to deliver something meaningful in a few key areas.

Calling its half-hearted apology for last week’s outage a “Thank You Gift from BlackBerry” was poor form. First and foremost, BlackBerry users want their devices to work. A dozen free apps worth $100 will do nothing to keep customers happy. Rather than rewarding its dwindling base of loyal users with something meaningful, RIM is offering its customers apps like SIMS 3, Texas Hold’em Poker 2, Shazam Encore and iSpeech Translator Pro. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

When I think of Steve Jobs, feelings of wonder and absolute awe rush over me. Jobs is without a doubt, the most iconoclastic creative mind of the modern age. If that makes me a fanboy, so be it. If liking Apple Inc. products makes me a fanboy, I’m fine with that too.

Jobs is in a league of his own. No one has done more to disrupt mobile technology, consumer electronics and entertainment in such a short span of time. His personality, brilliant mind and business acumen commands respect, fear and unbridled attention. When Jobs says something or does something, it matters. People take note and react. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Owners of the Motorola Xoom tablet on Verizon Wireless (VZ) will now have to wait until September to upgrade their devices to LTE. When or if the long-delayed upgrade comes, it will be nearly seven months after the device first launched with the carrier. And customers will still have to take the archaic step of mailing their device to Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) to receive the upgrade. Then wait around six business days to get it back. I wonder what could go wrong.

Since the Android-powered Xoom launched five months ago, it’s been hard to find any logic in Motorola’s LTE strategy for this device. Motorola originally said the upgrade would be available in the second quarter and since then CEO Sanjay Jha has blamed ongoing delays on software performance issues. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

The pain continues for Nokia Corp. (NOK). Device sales are down across the board and profits have fallen off a cliff, well into the red. Indeed, Nokia is bleeding red all over its balance sheet for the quarter.

The Finnish company shipped 88.5 million devices during the quarter, shedding 20% in volume from the year-ago period and 18% from the previous quarter. Over the past year, smartphone sales have slipped 34% to 16.7 million devices and feature phones have dropped 16% to 71.8 million units. Device volume is down to 2006 levels. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Mobile has become the absolute fabric of Apple Inc. (AAPL). The business has changed so dramatically thanks to the iPhone (and increasingly the iPad) that it barely resembles itself from even four years ago.

During the just closed quarter, Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones and 9.25 million iPads. It has sold a cumulative 222 million iOS devices to date. The company now sells twice as many iPads as Macs. It’s an astonishing shift, considering the first Mac was introduced 27 years ago and the iPad’s been out for 15 months. Even the K-12 education market is buying more iPads than Macs. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

I switch smart phones like they’re going out of style. Mostly because they are always going out of style. I’ve broken more carrier contracts and paid for more devices at full retail price than I care to admit.

Last month, it all happened again. I’m one of those defectors who ditched their iPhones with AT&T Mobility and switched to Verizon Wireless.

I’ve been an on-again, off-again iPhone customer with AT&T Mobility through every version that Apple Inc. has released since the summer of 2007. I’ve had many ups and downs with the device and the quality of service AT&T Mobility provides. As a result, I have been tempted away various times along the way to other carriers and devices. But I kept coming back for more. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LAS VEGAS — The only thing missing from the Consumer Electronics Show is connectivity. Trying to find a signal of any kind during this geek fest has become more frustrating with each passing year. Today has been no different. In fact, it seems to be even worse.

While AT&T Mobility made all kinds of noise about 4G this morning at its developer conference, my AT&T devices were barely holding on to a 2G signal. Sure, the event was deep inside the bowels of the Palms Casino Resort, but that just begs the question: If AT&T’s coverage sucks there, why did it choose to hold an event for press, analysts and developers there? Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

I hope I never find myself desperately needing wireless coverage at a football game. There’s only one thing I can count on working on my phone at National Football League stadiums: the camera.

Major venues desperately need wireless coverage. If the carriers aren’t going to provide it, venues have other options that they can seek out on their own. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Earlier this week, I took the plunge. Having grown impatient waiting for my carrier to release the official version of OS6 for my BlackBerry 9700, I decided to press my luck and install a leaked version of the new operating system.

Anyone who’s updated their OS on their BlackBerry, leaked version or not, knows that the task can be a little daunting and one that seemingly requires a background in computer science. I’ve taken this step a few times on my BlackBerry devices over the years and each time the experience is akin to reformatting a PC’s hard drive and starting completely over from scratch. Read more