Microsoft reported a smaller quarterly profit than Apple for the first time in 20 years as the iPad ate into sales of laptop computers.Microsoft’s net income for the quarter was $5.2 billion compared to Apple’s $5.99 billion. According to Bloomberg, that’s the first time in 20 years that Apple’s quarterly profit eclipsed Microsoft’s. The milestone...

Google’s Android now holds more than a third of the U.S. smartphone market share, eclipsing both RIM’s BlackBerry OS and Apple’s iOS with a growing lead, comScore reports.Measuring more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers through its MobiLens service from December 2010 to March 2011, ComScore found that Android now holds 34.7% — a solid increase from...

Gartner’s mobile market report says 428 million mobile devices were sold in the first quarter of 2011, representing a 19% increase year-over-year. A lot of that growth is due to smartphone sales, which were at 100.7 million, a 85% year-over-year increase.The big winner in this quarter was Android, which soared past Symbian to capture 36% of the market....

Thrillist, a lifestyle and product-focused e-mail newsletter for men that has since expanded to the web and smartphones, has stepped further into the mobile space with the release of its first iPad app.Unlike Thrillist’s apps for iPhone [iTunes link] and Android devices, which are designed for on-the-go discovery of stores and venues, the iPad app...

Now that the PlayStation Network is back online, Sony is ready to launch the next phase of its Music Unlimited Powered by Qriocity service, an Android app.Sony introduced its Music Unlimited streaming service to parts of Europe in December 2010. In February, the company expanded its reach to the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.The service, which competes...

Smartphones, the most powerful data-collection tools ever created, don’t just tell brands what consumers want but where consumers are. Sometimes they even tell brands what consumers are doing at different times of the day.Location, activity and time are a powerful combination, however, many companies, in a rush to seize a toehold in the exploding mobile...

Now that Apple has unveiled iOS 5, the media frenzy surrounding the next version of the iPhone is back with a vengeance.We’ve written extensively about the yet-to-be-announced device already (proof here, here, here, here, here and here), but we’re not the only ones. There’s a cult-like fascination with Apple product rumors, and that fascination turns...