IT'S TUESDAY, AUGUST 3RD, 2010. I'M JEFF BAKALAR, AND IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED.
RESEARCH IN MOTION IS SET TO LAUNCH A NEW BLACKBERRY TODAY IN A PRESS EVENT IN NEW YORK CITY. ACCORDING TO EARLY FCC LEAKS, WE BELIEVE IT WILL BE THE BLACKBERRY 9800 SLIDER PHONE. NO DETAILS YET ON THE SPECS, BUT WE ANTICIPATE A MULTITOUCH CAPACITIVE SCREEN, SLIDE OUT KEYBOARD, AND WE THINK IT WILL BE RUNNING BLACKBERRY OS 6.0. CHECK BACK WITCH CNET.COM FOR THE ABSOLUTE LATEST.
SALES OF ANDROID SMARTPHONES HAVE FINALLY OVERTAKEN IPHONE SALES IN THE U.S... BLACKBERRY REMAINS AT THE VERY TOP WITH 33% OF ALL SMARTPHONE SALES, FOLLOWED BY 27% OF ANDROID, 23% OF IPHONE. PALM AND OTHER LINUX MOBILE PLATFORMS HOLD ONTO TO SINGLE DIGITS, AND SURPRISINGLY WINDOWS MOBILE PHONES MAKE UP 11% OF SMARTPHONE SALES. EVEN MORE REMARKABLE IS THAT APPLE ONLY SELLS TWO MODELS OF IPHONES AT ANY GIVEN TIME. THE PREVIOUS GENERATIONS ARE USUALLY DEEPLY DISCOUNTED.
AFTER SHYING AWAY FROM HULU, CBS (CNET's PARENT COMPANY) IS IN TALKS WITH COMPANY NOW TO BRING SOME OF ITS SHOWS OVER TO HULU PLUS. IN AN INTERVIEW ON MONDAY, CEO LES MOONVES--MY BOSS--SAID THAT WITH PAID SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS THE COMPANY IS NOW MORE OPEN TO CBS SHOWS LIKE "TWO AND HALF MEN" AN "THE BIG BANG THEORY" COMING TO HULU PLUS. NO WORD YET ON WHEN LOADED OR THE 404 WILL BE MAKING IT OVER TO THE PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE, BUT WE'LL BE SURE TO LET YOU KNOW
CONNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARD BLUMENTHAL SENT A LETTER TO AMAZON.COM AND APPLE OVER POSSIBLE ANTI-COMPETITIVE PRACTICES IN THE E-READER MARKET. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE RELATIVELY SIMILAR PRICING FOR E-BOOKS ON THE TWO PLATFORMS THAT ARE DOMINATING E-BOOK SALES.
MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED THAT MAC OFFICE 2011 WILL SHIP IN LATE OCTOBER. THE SOFTWARE WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 32-BIT FORM AND COME IN TWO EDITIONS: MAC HOME AND STUDENT FOR $119 AND MAC HOME AND OFFICE FOR $199. ALL EDITIONS COME WITH WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT AND MESSENGER, BUT THE BUSINESS EDITION WILL ALSO HAVE OUTLOOK, SAY GOOD-BYE TO ENTOURAGE.
THOSE ARE YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY. I'M JEFF BAKALAR FOR CNET.COM, AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.
