A handful of popular chat applications have already found a way to outpace SMS, according to new data. Research firm Informa announced today that six of the most popular mobile chat applications, including WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger, Viber, Nimbuzz, Apple’s iMessage, and KakaoTalk, averaged nearly 19 billion messages sent and received worldwide each day in 2012. …

Chat apps such as WhatsApp and Viber are more popular than texting for the first time ever, according to stats from research firm Informa. Almost 19 billion messages were sent per day using chat apps in 2012, compared to only 17.6 billion SMS messages, the BBC reports. Users of chat apps were found to be about six times more sociable …

Telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies won’t be a family-run business for long. In a letter sent to employees on Sunday and obtained by Reuters, Huawei CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei said that no one in his family will succeed him because he doesn’t believe any relatives have all of the personal qualities necessary to effectively lead the company. “Huawei’s successor …

O2 has signed a deal with BT to help provide the nuts and bolts for its upcoming 4G network. The oxygenated operator has inked a 10-year deal with BT, which will see the monolithic phone company providing O2 with extra behind-the-scenes hardware to keep its network up to speed. BT says it will “build a high-capacity transmission network” for O2. …

Sprint Nextel has received approval from SoftBank to continue talking to Dish Network about its rival takeover offer, the carrier said Monday. Sprint has already agreed upon a deal in which it would merge with SoftBank, a wireless carrier based in Japan. But Dish last week launched a sweetened $25.5 billion bid for Sprint. Related stories T-Mobile Laying Off More …

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 stock woes continue, as UK networks are failing to find enough stock to meet pre-order demand. Supplies of the 5-inch super-phone are so low that British operators have been unable to send everyone who ordered the S4 a phone, even if they threw down their cash weeks ago. “We have dispatched phones to customers who pre-ordered, although …

With only a few weeks to go until Google I/O kicks off, Android followers expect to see the debut of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, the platform’s next-generation build. Well, you know what they say about assuming, right? Related stories: Google dishing up Key Lime Pie for Android? Leak points to Android Key Lime Pie debut this spring Android 5.0 …

If Apple and Samsung want to see their stock prices rise higher, their smartphone prices will have to fall lower. Both companies have established a dominant position in the wireless industry thanks to their buzzworthy, feature-packed, and polished flagship smartphones. The iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3 (soon to be displaced by the Galaxy S4) reign atop the sales charts, …

Today, Samsung revealed the Galaxy Tab 3, a 7-inch tablet, a slim mobile device that may be able to directly compete with the smaller tablet ranges offered by rivals Apple, Amazon, and Google. The South Korean electronics maker’s latest tablet offering sports a 1024×600 pixel screen — although perhaps underwhelming at today’s standards — but is able to support full …

Now playing: Watch this: The Sony Xperia Tablet Z gets dunked in water 2:48 Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z is now available for preorder through Sony’s Web site. The tablet is expected to ship on May 24 and prices for the 16GB and 32GB models are $499 and $599, respectively. The 10.1-inch Xperia Tablet Z’s physical dimensions make it one of …