Hasta La Gadget!

Steve Jobs hit today’s earnings call with the power of words. In a tone that could be described as “righteous anger” or perhaps just “reppin,” Steve launched into a five minute rant that hit hard against RIM’s entire business model, Android sales numbers and software fragmentation, and the impending wave of Android tablets. With the iPhone surpassing RIM, Steve says that he “[doesn’t] see them catching up in the foreseeable future.” As for Android sales, Steve takes issues with the market share figures that are currently floating around, saying that 275k iOS devices were activated on average per day last month, compared to Android’s most recent estimate of 250k per day — though he does admit that Android outshipped iPhone in the June quarter, during the “transition” to iPhone 4. That wasn’t Steve’s only problem with Android, he takes major issue with the fragmentation and the onus he believes it puts on the user: “we believe integrated will trump fragmented every time.”

Oh, and 7-inch tablets? You’re in for a bag of hurt. Steve pretty much outright killed any potential for 7-inch iPad rumors, saying that the software just isn’t right for that size (“This size is useless unless you include sandpaper so users can sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size.”), and that users have no need for a pocket sized tablet when they already have a smartphone. He called the iPad’s upcoming competition in the space “DOA.” After he calmed down a bit, the call entered a Q&A period, where Steve was happy to point out that the iPad has already surpassed Macintosh in sales, and that it’s going to affect laptop computers: “it’s not if, it’s when.” We’ll get a copy of the audio and put it up as soon as possible… like most CEO outbursts, this is not one to be missed. Hit up our liveblog of the call for a bit more context, and you can try the source link for Apple’s stream of the entire earnings shindig.

Update: We just ripped the first part of the call, which featured Steve’s prepared remarks — we’ll have an edited version of the Q&A session in just a bit.

Update 2: And here’s an edited version of the Q&A with just Jobs’s answers — hit the source link for Apple’s archive of the whole thing with Peter and Tim’s answers as well.

Update 3: And just for the completists out there, here’s an MP3 of both segments combined.

Steve Jobs drops knowledge on earnings call: calls out Google and RIM, says 7-inch tablets are ‘DOA’ (Update: complete Jobs audio!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 18:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM promises to soothe BlackBerry app developers’ woes, says ‘we’re so there’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Oct 2010 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The so-called BlackBerry Style got kind of lost in all the recent PlayBook noise, but fear not, clamshell lovers — it seems the phone is still very much on track. Some literature leaked this week by way of BGR suggests that it’ll be called “Oxford” at retail, and that a gray version will be launching at the tail end of this month — October 31, to be exact — for $99.99 on contract after rebates and discounts, while a purple version will follow on soon thereafter. For what it’s worth, we’ve been hearing from other sources recently that the name of this thing is still Style, not Oxford, but it’s more than possible that they’ve made a last-minute branding decision internally. We prefer Style, we think… but regardless of what it’s called, we’d wager the wild QWERTY clam format is going to make for some pretty polarizing water cooler chat.

[Thanks, Delon]

BlackBerry Style (or Oxford?) launching on Sprint October 31? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Late yesterday, Verizon and Motorola announced a new Android smartphone with a front-facing QWERTY keyboard, sleek black business-casual look and a 3.1″ multitouch multimedia screen. The Droid Pro is expected to attract a big chunk of Verizon’s existing Android and Blackberry high-end and business users when released in the coming weeks.

My first, beloved smartphone was a first-generation Blackberry Bold; for me, Motorola’s Droid Pro is clearly the handsomest Android phone I have ever seen. (Yes, I like it more than the R2-D2 Droid.) The major differences between the new Droid Pro and my old Blackberry Bold are Android apps and a touchscreen. As long as the Droid Pro’s keyboard is a champ like the Bold’s, the touchscreen isn’t too teeny and its yet-unannounced pricing isn’t too obscene, we can say that it’s improved in every way.

The Droid Pro’s specs are also impressive: Android 2.2., a 1GHz processor with 2GB of storage, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and support for both Exchange and Google email and calendar programs. It can act as a 3G mobile hotspot (although Verizon has disabled that functionality for current Droid users) or stream media from a server over a Wi-Fi network using the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) standard. Its 5MP camera can shoot still images and video, so you might even have something on your phone worth streaming back.

When the Droid Pro’s finally released, upgraders should make sure they don’t throw their old phones away: Verizon Wireless today announced a new trade-in/recycling program that will appraise your old phone, refurbish or recycle it and offer you a Verizon Gift Card. Even non-Verizon phones can be traded in, so network-switchers can take advantage of it too.

Price and release date for the Droid Pro have yet to be announced; when released, it will be available through Verizon Wireless’s online and retail outlets. You can fully expect that Verizon’s people will be happy to sell you one.

Image from Motorola.

See Also:

• Verizon Denies Tethering, Hot Spot Features to Droid Customers …
• Hands On With the Motorola Droid X
• Verizon Won't Offer Free Tethering, but Droid Hackers Might …
• HTC Droid Eris
• HTC 'Incredible' Android Phone Lands on Verizon
• The R2-D2 Droid Phone You're Looking For
• Reviled by Reviewers, BlackBerry's Storm Rages On
• Verizon + Skype Not Mobile VoIP Nirvana, But Closer
• Android Gains While iPhone, BlackBerry Lose Share
• Most Clicked Mobile Ads Aren't On Android or iPhone

In late August, BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion offered a deal to increase government access to its users’ handsets, in attempt to appease the government of India. The country forced a deadline on the phone maker–the latest in series of countries to issue an ultimatum to the, including Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

It seems, however, that RIM’s proposal won’t be enough to win the favor of the Indian government. According to internal memos issued late last month, the compromise issued by the company isn’t offering the government the sort of unfettered access it desires.

A senior official at the company’s Department of Technology confirmed the government’s frustration with India’s Financial Times, “RIM maintains that it does not have the keys that can be offered to security agencies for converting secure corporate e-mail into readable format.”

An October 31st deadline is in place for a solution, after which the Indian government while the company to shut off services for the more than one million users in that country.