As news spread of the blasts at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, people in the area reported that phone lines were down and cell phone calls could not get through. However, smartphones enabled some to send text messages and update social media accounts. People took to social media sites like …

NEW YORK–Hyper-targeted advertising based on your location is coming to mobile phones and could finally bring money into the mobile advertising market, say experts at the All Things D mobile conference here Monday. In two separate interviews, the CEO of the mapping app Waze and ad executives Jason Spero from Google and Mollie Spilman of Millennial Media talked up the …

T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert boasted that the carrier had “one of its biggest weekends in the history of the company” thanks to the launch of the iPhone on Friday. T-Mobile on Friday launched the iPhone in its stores for the first time, finally catching up to its larger rivals, and even smaller regional carriers. Sievert told CNET that …

Freephone numbers could finally be free to mobile phones. Telecoms watchdog Ofcom is giving a much-needed kicking to expensive call charges for customer service, directory inquiries and Freephone numbers. Ofcom today sets out changes to rules around call charges to numbers starting 08, 09 and 118. These ‘non-geographic’ customer service numbers to shops, banks, utility companies, directory inquiries, public bodies …

Consumers may potentially get an even bigger price break if Dish is able to snap up Sprint Nextel. Dish’s $25.5 billion unsolicited bid for Sprint certainly adds a wrinkle to Sprint’s existing merger plans with Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank. But a deal with Dish may be a boon to consumers, particularly ones looking for a mix of video, mobile, and …

HTC roped in James Van Der Beek and Funny or Die for an ad campaign that parodies The Bachelorette. (Screenshot by CNET) HTC’s CEO Peter Chou has spoken at length about how he feels the company let itself down with poor marketing. So we assume that getting Funny or Die to make an ad with James Van Der Beek for …

Here’s the US launch video for HTC’s flagship handset, the HTC One. The struggling Taiwanese company has employed the people behind Funny or Die to make a parody of US dating show The Bachelorette. That’s right, it’s a corporation doing comedy. Dawson’s Creek’s James Van Der Beek is also on board to dole out some yuks. But I think it …

Microsoft had grand ambitions for its Windows RT operating system, but more signs are pointing to trouble. A Dell executive today said demand for the company’s first Windows RT device, the XPS 10, has been weaker than hoped, largely because consumers still don’t really know what the operating system is or what it can do. “Demand is not where I …

Dish Network has submitted a merger proposal for Sprint Nextel valued at $25.5 billion, putting itself into competition with Japan’s Softbank to take over the wireless carrier. Dish announced this morning that it is offering Sprint shareholders a total consideration of $25.5 billion, consisting of $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock. Sprint shareholders would receive $7 per …

Samsung seems a little jealous of the HTC One. That’s according to a source who’s told SamMobile the Korean company has seen its rival’s design and build quality, and is “worried” the Galaxy S4 doesn’t measure up. It’s the HTC One’s aluminium body that’s got Samsung green with envy, not its Sense 5 user interface. Samsung even produced an all-metal …

Calling Dish Network’s rival bid for Sprint Nextel “highly conditional,” Softbank said tonight it is going ahead with its merger proposal for the troubled carrier and expects to close the deal this summer. The satellite TV provider submitted a merger proposal this morning valued at $25.5 billion, a 13 percent premium over the Japanese wireless carrier’s merger proposal, which offered …

The Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission has reportedly launched an investigation into Samsung on allegations that the phone-maker was paying students to post negative online comments about HTC devices, according to AFP. HTC is one of Samsung’s most staunch rivals. Related stories Best Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 Cases TV in the Bathroom: Technically Doable but a Very Bad Idea Samsung …

The dedicated e-reader market, hurt by the rise of the tablet and large-screen smartphones, is widely regarded as being on the downswing. But that hasn’t stopped Kobo from announcing the limited-edition $169.99 Kobo Aura HD, a “premium” e-reader with a 6.8-inch screen that the company says is the highest-resolution display available in an e-reader today. The specs list the resolution …

NEW YORK — Firefox Mobile OS will launch this summer in five countries, Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs said at the All Things D conference here Monday. Kovacs, who announced earlier this month that he will step down from his post as CEO, said that the new operating system, which is designed for low-end devices, will launch this summer in Venezuela, …

Whitehall wonga watchdogs are to probe the 4G sell-off. The National Audit Office will investigate the £2.3bn raised in the auction of 4G spectrum to see if the government got value for money. The government has drawn stick for the amount earned from phone networks buying airwaves to use for extra-fast LTE Internet connections to mobile phones and tablets. Even …