The Verge - Mobile Posts

HTC Asia CEO Lennard Hoornik joins executive exodus

2013-05-22T14:15:17Z

Another high-level HTC executive has left the company. CNET reports that HTC Asia's CEO Lennard Hoornik has now parted ways with the company after being on leave for two months. Hoornik was in charge of HTC's Asian operations for just two years. It's not clear why he was on leave, nor is it known whose decision the exit was.

Today's news comes after we revealed that HTC Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera — who was in charge of the company's entire product line — left the Taiwanese manufacturer last week. We also reported on the growing disarray at HTC's North American headquarters, and those problems aren't restricted to the US. One source described HTC as a company in "utter freefall."

Qualcomm resurrects Mirasol reflective displays with new 576 ppi smartphone panel

2013-05-22T07:33:22Z

Qualcomm has demonstrated a new prototype Mirasol display for use in smartphones, marking a return to the reflective technology designed to allow for comfortable outdoor reading on color e-readers and other devices. The new prototype is 5.1 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 2560 x 1440; at 576 pixels per inch, the display is sharper than the 443 ppi 5-inch 1080p panels that have found their way into multiple smartphones over the past six months.

Engadget saw the prototype at SID Display Week in Vancouver, Canada, and reported that while the colors are somewhat less vibrant than those exhibited on other screen technologies, Qualcomm claims the display is six times more power efficient than LCD and OLED screens.

The new...

HTC in disarray: staff departures, 'disastrous' First, and production problems cloud company's future

2013-05-22T02:44:07Z

HTC CEO Peter Chou

The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One.

It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession — most recently Jason Gordon, the company's vice president of global communications. Other fresh departures include global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland, director of digital marketing John Starkweather, and product strategy manager Eric Lin.

It's not a coordinated poaching effort that's draining HTC's Seattle-based North American operations....

Flickr, Vimeo could see deep integration with iOS 7, claims report

2013-05-21T19:17:46Z

Apple's iOS mobile operating system gained integration with Twitter and Facebook in recent years, and a new report from 9to5Mac claims that the next version of the platform will likely add similar integration with Flickr and Vimeo. Citing unnamed sources familiar with Apple's plans, 9to5Mac claims that users will be able to sign into their Flickr and Vimeo accounts through iOS 7's settings menus — much in the way you can integrate Facebook and Twitter accounts right now. Additionally, it is likely that third-party apps will be able to access Flickr and Vimeo services using the native integration with iOS. Earlier reports have claimed that Apple and Yahoo (owner of Flickr) have been in talks to develop a deeper partnership for iOS 7.

U...

New FCC chair Mignon Clyburn steps out: how turbulent will her short tenure be?

2013-05-21T16:45:38Z

At a keynote speech at CTIA in Las Vegas today — her first since becoming interim chairwoman of the FCC just yesterday — Mignon Clyburn joked that fill-in chairpeople aren't supposed to take risks. "So what do I do? I board a plane for Las Vegas," she joked.

Sprint's latest modems support more LTE coverage, including Clearwire

2013-05-21T15:48:02Z

Sprint has just announced two mobile hotspots and a USB modem from Novatel and Netgear that are the company's first devices with tri-band LTE, meaning they're able top operate on the 800, 1900, and 2500MHz bands. Most of its existing devices support 1900MHz alone, which is the only band of LTE that Sprint has currently deployed.

Boost Mobile launches mobile wallet app, offers prepaid Visa card for in-store purchases

2013-05-21T14:49:57Z

In yet another sign of just how crowded the mobile payments market is becoming, Boost Mobile today launched its own mobile wallet app. Dubbed (predictably) Mobile Wallet, the new service allows customers of the Sprint-owned MVNO to make payments in over 135 countries and set up bill payments with more than 3,500 companies across the US. Of course, it also lets you re-up any of your Boost cellular accounts.

Sprint ups bid for Clearwire in continued effort to bolster its LTE spectrum

2013-05-21T14:38:03Z

It's an understatement to say that Sprint is in a period of transition — both Softbank and Dish are trying to buy the nation's third-largest wireless carrier. At the same time, Sprint and Dish are both trying to purchase Clearwire, and Sprint has just made a strong play for that spectrum. The carrier has just submitted a new, increased offer for Clearwire — the carrier is now offering $3.40 per share of the company that Sprint doesn't already own. That's up from the $2.97 Sprint initially offered and would value Clearwire as a whole at $10.7 billion — and it's a bit better than the $3.30 per share that Dish offered in its acquisition bid.

Sprint says that this is its "best and final offer," so there's not much to do but wait for...

A month after launch, have we forgotten about Twitter #Music?

2013-05-21T14:30:04Z

A little over a month ago, Twitter launched #Music, its take on what a truly social music discovery service might look like. It was strategic, leveraging Twitter's enormous user base and vast amount of data, and thanks to a well-timed acquisition, saw some of the best product design the company has ever produced. When it launched, the press flocked to it as the second coming of Vine, a polished way for Twitter to shake up a new space and create an extra source for ad revenue in the bargain. If nothing else, this was bound to shake up the world of mobile music-streaming.

PowerMat to acquire PowerKiss in wireless charging landgrab

2013-05-21T13:05:04Z

Duracell-backed Powermat announced today that it plans to acquire Finnish wireless charging rival PowerKiss. The deal sees both companies combine under the Powermat brand, bringing together more than 2,500 wireless charging spots in airports, coffee shops, and retail stores across the US and Europe. The two companies previously allied under the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), attempting to prevail against the competing Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) — which supports the Qi standard used in Nokia, Samsung, and LG products.