Sprint Nextel wants to be the king of the hill when it comes to providing a cellular connection to any device, whether it is a heart monitor or a dog collar. Sprint plans to do this not just by offering a wireless connection, but also through a broad offering of advice, maintenance, and other services–supplied …

BARCELONA, Spain–Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE were hoping to make an impression at Mobile World Congress about their presence in the smartphone world. Well, mission accomplished. The two companies didn’t disappoint on the news front. Huawei kicked off the wireless conference on Sunday by introducing the world’s fastest smartphone and the first 10-inch quad-core tablet. ZTE followed on Monday with …

BARCELONA, Spain–University students reportedly protesting education spending cuts held a rally in front of Mobile World Congress today, choking traffic to and from the venue. A large row of students stood in the roundabout in front of the Fira Barcelona, the event space for Mobile World Congress. Between the protesters and the Fira was a two-deep row of policemen decked …

BARCELONA, Spain–When Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley talks about recycling data, he isn’t talking about being green. Crowley is referring to the wealth of data that comes in through its Foursquare mobile check-in app, which can be turned into a recommendation engine for consumers looking for new places to explore. “We’re enabling people to cut through the data stream …

Windows 8 in its many forms, on display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today. Aloysius Low/CNET Asia Editor’s note: We used ScribbleLive to cover Microsoft’s presentation today at Mobile World Congress. You can see highlights in the story that follows, or skip down to the embedded ScribbleLive module to replay the event along with commentary from our readers and …

BARCELONA, Spain–Nokia CEO Stephen Elop isn’t shy about who he’s going after with his Lumia Windows Phones. He has his sights set directly on Android. “Our focus is on competing with Android,” Elop said during a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress show here today. “We want to bring them to Lumia.” Elop struck a bullish tone when talking …

BARCELONA, Spain–Apple’s iPhone has been making the rounds at all the carriers. So why not Clearwire? Clearwire’s planned move to LTE means Apple wouldn’t have any difficulties in building an iPhone that is compatible with its network, according to Clearwire CEO Eric Prusch. In fact, it would benefit Apple to have an iPhone that ran on its kind of network …

BARCELONA, Spain–You would think Michael Abbott, who runs a joint venture aimed at deploying mobile-payment services across the nation, would want to take a shot at Google and the early stumbles it’s had with its rival digital wallet. You’d be wrong. “I applaud Google for addressing the problem quickly,” Abbott said in an interview with CNET today. “It’s best for …

BARCELONA, Spain–Samsung Electronics admitted that its attempt to breach the tablet market has largely been a flop, with one executive offering a sobering summary of its performance. “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market,” Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung, said today during a media roundtable here. That’s about as frank a statement as it …

BARCELONA, Spain–Microsoft wants to be known as the people’s smartphone company. The software giant said today that it had lowered the minimum requirements to build a Windows Phone, a move that allows vendors to construct less-expensive devices that can appeal to more budget-conscious customers and first-time smartphone buyers. The shift represents an attempt to expand Microsoft’s addressable market, vital to …