Retail

A group of former Nokia employees who quit over the Finland-based company's decision to scrap the planned MeeGo operating system in favor of teaming up with Windows has unveiled their own smartphone on Monday, and are hoping to rival the smartphone sector giants.

The smartphone, which is so far just called Jolla, is entirely intuitive and features absolutely no physical buttons. It also has a 4.5-inch touchscreen and features two different colored halves that together form the phone. It is due to go on sale to the public in the fourth quarter, and will retail for 399 euros ($513 USD).

The Jolla smartphone runs on its own operating system called Sailfish OS, which is a successor to MeeGo and is compatible with some Android applications. They are offering Sailfish products to retailer and operator partners for the medium price range.

Jolla is hoping to compete in markets in China, Europe and North Africa, but has no plans to enter the United States' market. Jolla has already signed two distribution deals, one with the largest smartphone retailer in China, D.Phone, and another with the Finnish operator DNA.

Adobe has made the decision to not offer the next version of its professional authoring applications on CD-ROMs in shrink-wrapped boxes, instead shifting focus to delivering the software as a service for its Creative Cloud customers. Adobe announced the change at its Adobe MAX conference in Los Angeles on Monday.

David Wadhwani, Adobe SVP and general manager of Digital Media, said in a statement:

"We launched Creative Cloud a year ago and it has been a runaway success. By focusing our energy -- and our talented engineers -- on Creative Cloud, we're able to put innovation in our members' hands at a much faster pace."

Adobe will continue to sell boxed versions of Creative Suite 6 and its consumer software such as Photoshop Elements and Lightroom, but will not release a Creative Suite 7. Instead, the software will be offered under the CC brand, to reflect their association with the company's Creative Cloud service.

Nokia has officially confirmed the existence of the Nokia Lumia 928, launching a teaser site for the new smartphone.

The phone is shown taking a picture of a low-light backlit setting, showing off one of the camera features of the new model. The page is on Nokia's U.S. website, which leads many to believe that the 928 is going to be a Verizon exclusive. The Nokia Catwalk and Nokia EOS will likely fill the international demand for a new Nokia handset.

The original, first generation Apple iPhone that was released in the summer of 2007 will officially be categorized as "obsolete" by the tech giant beginning on June 11.

Most consumers have likely discarded these now ancient iPhones in favor of updated versions or completely different smartphones, so the move likely affects very few people. After all, unless hardly used, most of those first gen devices likely already exhausted their batteries, which were designed only to have a lifespan of about two years.

So what does "obsolete" status actually mean? It means that once June 11th comes around, consumers with the device will not be able to have their device serviced at an Apple store. However, AppleCare and third-party authorized service centers will still help out users with the so-called vintage devices.

Microsoft is rumored to be making some announcements about its Surface tablets in June, including a new 7-inch model and tweaks to the existing models (Surface RT and Surface Pro).

Microsoft is holding its Build developer conference at the end of the month, so it would make sense for the announcements to be made then.

A report from DigiTimes also reveals that Microsoft is being a little less aggressive in terms of quantity of tablets built, because they only sold 1.5 million first generation tablets. So, Microsoft will start with that many of the second generation models to see how they sell, and then go from there. According to DigiTime's supply chain sources, Microsoft has ordered components for 1 to 1.5 million units of the new tablets.

The latest rumors suggest that the second generation Surface tablets will be available in sizes ranging from 7 to 9 inches. The first generation featured larger 10.6-inch devices.

It's safe to say that after CEO Thorsten Heins remarks this week, BlackBerry isn't likely to release a follow-up to its PlayBook tablet. Heins believes that tablets reign in the computing world will soon be coming to an end, as users shift to doing more through their smartphones.

At a Milken Institute conference on Monday, Heins forecasts that smartphones will become users' main source of computer power in the next five years. He says that people will simply plug whatever display, keyboard, or other accessory into their smartphone to do their work, and for many, a smartphone will be all they need.

He added:

“I doubt whether there’s a tablet a few years from now. You can just connect it to a big screen, and off you go.”

On Thursday, T-Mobile announced the latest Windows smartphone to be added to its line-up, the Nokia Lumia 521.

Exclusive to T-Mobile, the Nokia Lumia 521 will make its debut during HSN's bi-annual Innovation Weekend on HSN, HSN.com and HSN Mobile. For this special event, the Windows 8 powered smartphone will be bundled with a car charger and screen protector for $149.95 with free shipping and handling. A flex pay option will also be available.

After its debut on HSN, the Nokia Lumia 521 will be available for purchase at Microsoft Retail Stores and Walmart on May 11. It will be priced at $149 at Microsoft Retail Stores, and at Walmart it will be available with the retailers exclusive T-Mobile no contract $30 per month unlimited web and text plan.

The Nokia Lumia 521 will also be coming to T-Mobile stores and retail channels soon. More details on this availability will be made available soon.

The Geeksphone Firefox OS smartphones sold out on Tuesday, but the manufacturers of the phone confirm that the stock was limited to just 1,000 handsets. Nevertheless, the unexpectedly high demand for the dev-friendly hardware brought the online store to its knees as supplies of the Keon and Peak phones, which start at $119 unlocked, quickly ran out within hours.

Geeksphone actually has enough supply to meet demand, but the company, which is only 20 strong, doesn't have enough manpower to actually fulfill orders in bulk.

Geeksphone started out with 10,000 units, but "many" have been set aside for use by Mozilla employes and the maker's partners.

These are the first smartphones to hit the market that run on the new Firefox OS, a web-centric platform that relies heavily on HTML5.

Nokia announced a new QWERTY phone today that fits in nicely with the company's cheaper Asha line, rather than the Lumia line that many had been hoping for. The Asha 210 includes a full QWERTY keyboard in a candybar form factor and also includes a dedicated WhatsApp shortcut key, with free lifetime service o the cross-platform messaging app for anyone purchasing the single or dual SIM versions of the phone.

If you press the WhatsApp button you'll be taken right to your conversations. The phone also includes a YouTube app, the SLAM easy photo transfer system, and the Nokia Xpress Browser. It also includes WiFi and a 2-megapixel camera.

Nokia is claiming 46 days battery life on the single-SIM version of the phone, and up to 24 days on the dual-SIM version.

It could be this summer, it could be this fall. Either way, the iPhone 5S is coming and will be available to consumers in advance of next year's holiday shopping season. It's pretty much a given. It may be coming sooner rather than later, if the latest rumors are true. Foxconn, which makes many of the components for Apple's products, particularly the iPhone, is said to be ramping up production on the iPhone 5S and is starting to hire more workers to handle the increased production.

Specifically, the Zhengzhou factory in China saw an increase in workers, with recruiting having begun in February. This factory alone employs between 250,000 and 300,000 workers.