With apps all the rage, small businesses want to get in on the action too. But it’s anything but easy. Relatively few small companies have the resources to build and market their own apps. I’ve written about services that offer the ability to quickly and easily put together a smartphone app. Now one of those …

Google could receive approval on its acquisition of Motorola Mobility from the U.S. Justice Department as early as next week, according to the Wall Street Journal. The approval would speed the way for Google to take advantage of Motorola’s stash of valuable technology patents, allowing it to better defend its partners against the legal onslaught of Apple. The European Union’s …

The wireless carriers may not agree on much, but enough of them rallied to support the Federal Communications Commission’s power to hold spectrum auctions the way it sees fit. Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, C-Spire Wireless, Leap Wireless, NorthwestCell, Bluegrass Cellular, Atlantic Tele-Network, and the competitive carrier trade group RCA sent a joint letter to 20 senators and representatives calling for the …

Pretty soon, the Nextel in Sprint Nextel isn’t going to make much sense anymore. Dan Hesse, pictured at the company’s headquarters in July, has gently steered the Nextel network to its eventual end. Kent German/CNET Sprint’s Nextel network won’t completely shut down until next year, but the company is already working to turn off the iDEN network. During the company’s …

Sprint Nextel saw its biggest surge in new customers in six years thanks to the iPhone, but that growth came at a hefty price. Still, Sprint reported a loss of $1.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, on revenue of $8.72 billion in the fourth quarter. That compares with a loss of $929 million, or 31 cents a share, on …

Contrary to popular opinion, BlackBerry users have actually avidly embraced smartphone apps. RIM’s head of developer relations, Alec Saunders Research In Motion That was the key message during today’s DevCon Europe event hosted by Research In Motion. Alec Saunders, head of RIM’s developer relations, has been the key evangelist in the cause of drumming up interest in BlackBerry’s platform at …

After such a thrilling end to the Super Bowl, it’s no surprise that a record number of sports fans e-mailed, text messaged, and called each other during the big game. And the carriers weathered the surge in traffic despite a jump in usage. The wireless carriers may not always have the best record at big confabs–many fared poorly at the …

Verizon Wireless is bringing back its double-data promotion, offering heavy bandwidth users a potential new home. Starting Friday, new customers or existing ones signing a new contract can get double the amount of capacity–4 gigabytes–when they purchase a 4G LTE smartphones and sign up for a $30 data plan and accompanying voice and text message plans. Related stories When Does …

commentary This may sound like sacrilege to the throngs of faithful HTC fans out there, but it’s time for a massive overhaul of the company’s iconic Sense user interface. Sense, instantly recognizable by its retro flip-clock widget, is starting to feel a little long in the tooth. If HTC is really going to shake things up with its planned “product …

Have you heard of NQ Mobile? Neither have I. Founded in 2005, the Beijing-based company is actually an established provider of mobile security, but has nearly zero visibility in the U.S. Earlier this month, it tapped former Samsung Electronics executive Omar Khan as its new co-CEO, as part of a broader attempt to make a splash and remake the company’s …