Sony’s mobile division is gunning for Apple and Samsung, one of its executives claims. In an interview with Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) published yesterday, Sony Mobile sales and marketing head Dennis Van Schie said his company is planning to announce a “flagship model that can [compete] with Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S3.” Van Schie …

Flipboard, the mobile app that lets users see all of their desired news in one place, now supports books. The company announced today that when iOS users download its latest update, they’ll find that they can comb through 25 book genres, including fiction, nonfiction, and cookbooks. In order to deliver that functionality, Flipboard has incorporated Apple’s iBookstore into its app …

Android’s dominance in the Chinese smartphone market only strengthened in the third quarter, according to new data. During the third quarter, Android owned 90.1 percent of China’s smartphone market, up from from 83 percent in the second quarter, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS, which owned 6 percent of the market in the second quarter, fell …

Samsung is pushing ahead with flexible mobile devices, a new report claims. Samsung is currently putting the final touches on flexible displays made of plastic rather than glass, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today, citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the company’s plans. Once Samsung’s development phase is complete, the company plans to start mass producing the displays …

BlackBerry Messenger is adding voice call support, Research In Motion announced today. Upon downloading the free BlackBerry Messenger update, customers will find that they can place voice calls to other BBM customers whenever they’re on a Wi-Fi connection. In order to connect to BlackBerry Voice, customers must already be a BlackBerry service plan customer. According to RIM, the calls can …

Now playing: Watch this: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 1:28 The Royal Collection is getting its first tablet. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 was chosen as the Royal Collection’s tablet by the Royal Commonwealth Society charity, the BBC is reporting today. The organization considered going with the iPad, but instead chose Samsung’s device. It’s not clear why the Galaxy Note 10.1 was …

Bank of America is the latest company to take on Square in the mobile-payments market. The banking giant today announced a new service for merchants, called Mobile Pay on Demand. The offering includes a card reader that attaches to a smartphone, and allows merchants to handle transactions from the device. According to Bank of America, its service works with Visa, …

Verizon Wireless is launching not one, but two Windows Phone 8-based devices next week. The company announced on its site today that the HTC Windows Phone 8X and the Nokia Lumia 822 will both ship on November 13. The HTC Windows Phone 8X comes with a 4.3-inch display and 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. The device comes in the customer’s choice of …

Sprint is starting to flex some muscle with regional carriers. The company announced today that it has inked a deal with U.S. Cellular for $480 million. The deal: Sprint will acquire 20MHz of PCS spectrum in the 1900MHz band across Chicago, South Bend, Ind., and Champaign, Ill. Sprint will also get 10Mhz of spectrum in the St. Louis market, as …

AT&T and T-Mobile, the two GSM carriers in the U.S., have turned on a database designed to cut back on smartphone theft. The database went live yesterday and allows either AT&T or T-Mobile to block a device from being used on either network. In order to do that, the companies ban a device’s IMEI number — a unique identifier that …