Week in review: Phone fray

Nokia, HTC, and Microsoft fuel the phone war fire, while new tablets debut. Also: IE9 beta arrives.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News

Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.

Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

See full bio

Steven Musil

Sept. 17, 2010 8:16 a.m. PT

3 min read

The phone wars are dialing up again with Nokia and HTC sending new handsets into the battlefield and Microsoft retreating a bit on its Windows Phone 7 strategy.

Nokia got the ball rolling by introducing three smartphones that use its new Symbian 3 operating system, though none of these new devices will be offered by a U.S. carrier. The company, which was once king of the mobile market, is now battling Apple's and Google's economic might, brand power, and sudden relevance.

To recover its position, Nokia is trying to capitalize on the large number of Nokia phones in circulation today--not just smartphones but the more modest and widespread "feature phones," which fit midway between smartphones and basic cell phones.
• Is Nokia serious about the U.S. cell phone market?
• Nokia poaches former Palm executive

HTC introduced two Android phones, the Desire HD with a large, 4.3-inch screen and the Desire Z with a flip-out hardware keyboard. Both are set to arrive in October in Europe and Asia; the Desire Z will arrive in North America later this year. The phones come with an updated version of HTC's Sense user interface and tie in with the new HTCSense.com Web site designed to augment the phones' abilities.
• Report: Apple, RIM losing market share to Android

A look at some Windows Phone 7 apps (images)

+5 More

See all photos

Windows Phone 7 will be GSM-only in 2010

CNET has confirmed that Microsoft has delayed the CDMA version of the phone operating system until next year, reducing the number of potential launch carriers, especially in the U.S.
• More apps for Windows Phone 7 detailed
• Survey: Mobile apps prevalent but often unused
• Cell phone tax 'fairness' bill moves forward

More headlines

IE9: From corporate memo to beta

Internet Explorer 9, which arrives in beta form this week, began life as a vision embodied in a memo sent to top execs from the head of Microsoft's browser team.
• Internet Explorer goes modern in new beta
• Sinofsky on IE9, Windows Live, and more (Q&A)

Intel: Leaked HDCP copy protection code is legit

Master key code could be used to create pirate devices, but Intel says they would be hard to make and would be illegal.
• HDCP antipiracy leak opens doors for black boxes

Samsung takes on iPad with Galaxy Tab

Samsung's new tablet PC and video service are the latest products the company has announced that pit it against Apple.
• Photos: Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Media Hub details come out