Mobile Insiders

While everyone's been blogging about the iPad and its impact on the e-reader/tablet industries, Apple has quietly lifted the VoIP restriction on its 3G network, an anticipated change for quite some time now before it was buried under other news. The first application to come out on the app store?

Yesterday's iPad announcement seemed to be the only thing I read, but for good reason - its a pretty sleek device. Although I have my own issues with what the device offers, I'm sure it will sell. One of the major announcements is the availability of 3G supported by AT&T at $14.99 for 250 MB per month or $29.99 for unlimited usage. The announcement has many scratching their heads, because like others, I thought that was the biggest complaint by consumers with their iPhones. Just when Apple is getting off their exclusive contract with AT&T, they go and do something like this.

The Mobile World Congress is coming around the corner and this year, the rumors aren't following the usual suspects - Apple, Google, Palm. Rather, this MWC seems to be centered around Microsoft and something called "Project Pink." Surprised? Same here. Yes, it has been that long since Microsoft has come out with anything newsworthy as time and time again have I noticed, or not, anything coming out from the MSFT camp.

Have you recently gotten a text message from your carrier asking you to donate to the Haiti relief fund? The news coming from the Haiti earthquake is tragic, and while most people are looking for ways to contribute, sometimes the best thing to do is to donate money and leave it to the professionals to stretch that dollar out. Since the devastation in Haiti, there has been an outpouring of contributions, and you can thank your carriers for a large part of that effort.

In 2009, it was the Apple iPhone and KT Corp. But in 2010, it's going to be the Android and SK Telekom. With less than two months unanswered since the second largest carrier, KT Corp, had begun offering the Apple iPhone, SK Telekom, South Korea's largest carrier, has fought back, announcing that it will be offering Motoroi, South Korea's very first Android-powered device.

After the CES dust has settled, one prevailing theme seems to be making some serious moves as of late. What I'm talking about, of course, is in the title - WiMAX. WiMAX proponents are making a serious push, and is giving LTE a run for its money before it even becomes offered to the market. Here are some recent news items that give you an idea of what's to come:

Mobile Banking may have taken a few steps back today as this morning, as a phishing app was discovered on the Android Marketplace. Made by developer "Droid09," the application aims to collect banking information specifically from First Tech Credit Union customers. In the release, it said:

I have been following news coming out of CES closely, and this year is proving no less exciting than the previous years. Among the announcements, here are a few that I handpicked as newsworthy: