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Apple has drawn some serious criticism lately for their strict policy on App Store approval which has led to a number of seemingly random rejections. Apple has not only been rejecting applications that compete with their own, they also forbid companies from using undocumented APIs to develop them – supposedly because they are often in active development and subject to change.

Google’s voice search function on the latest version of its Google Mobile search app, however, appears to break the rules. The company has admitted using the undocumented proximity sensor API in order to add a nifty feature, which allows the phone to sense that you want to conduct a verbal search when you put it up to your ear and then performs the search when you move it away.

Apparently the occasional use of undocumented methods in public iPhone frameworks is not that rare in third-party iPhone apps. Now that Google has come clean, though, Apple might choose to enforce the rules of the iPhone SDK and force the search giant to rewrite the application – or at least alter the way it utilizes the proximity sensor. Then again, if it doesn’t, it might set a precedent of favoritism.

Following a short round of beta and bug testing, Opera has announced the final release of their mobile browser, Opera Mini 4.2. There are lots of improvements in this version, such as the ability to customize the browser with skins, additional languages, improved video, up to 30 percent faster performance, and note syncing via Opera Link.

In addition, version 4.2 marks the browser’s debut on the Android platform, becoming the first alternative G1 users have to the phone’s built-in browser based on WebKit. It’ll be interesting to see if Opera’s mobile browser takes off among Android users, in what could be seen as a rebuke to Apple after it rejected the browser as a competitor to Safari on the iPhone. If you happen to be interested in this release, then you can go ahead and find your phone on the list of compatible devices, then download Opera Mini for free.

Yet another company is irate that the iPhone is doing so well, or at least believes that Apple stole the technology to make it do so well in the first place. A small company has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the tech giant has violated a patent that they were recently awarded, which details a technology to display websites on small phone screens.

The company has not decided to sue makers of other smartphones, such as RIM or HTC, despite the fact that both of them making dozens of phones capable of mobile web browsing. Targeting Apple certainly seems to directly correspond to their current popularity and even a spokesperson for the company said that they “only looked” at the iPhone. With the number of competing and overlapping technologies, it seems companies are content with suing each other into oblivion rather than accepting the fact that more than one person could come up with similar ideas.

The most obvious response to the iPhone made its presence official today, with RIM's launch of their much-hyped and much advertised Blackberry Storm. Initially only available through Verizon, RIM's new touch-screen Blackberry doesn't compromise on features, coming with an impressive array of functions from GPS functionality and a default of 9GB storage (with 1GB of internal memory plus an 8GB microSD card) to Office document editing and movie playback.

Unlike the iPhone, however, this device is not aimed at “enthusiasts” per se – it's still a device that they are pitching for business use, ideal for corporate communication. Like all other Blackberry devices it is designed to be coupled with Blackberry Enterprise Server and company email. Still, one cannot overlook the similarities the device has to the iPhone. Clearly RIM has seen the demand for a sleek, high-res touch screen device and wanted to respond.

RIM has made a lot of improvements to their Blackberry series as a whole since the launch of the iPhone. Even though their niche is primarily in business, they obviously have intentions of extending their reach to the consumer market as well and see Apple as a potential threat in both segments.

Apple has released a new software update – version 2.2 – for both generations of the iPhone and iPod touch, introducing features such as Google Street View and remote podcast downloads, along with the usual bunch of bug fixes and improvements.

Besides introducing Google Street View, Apple has added other new features to the Google Maps application so that users can look up walking and public transit directions, view addresses of dropped pins and share location via e-mail. Version 2.2 also decreases dropped calls and set-up failures, according to the company, and includes better sound quality for voicemail, improved Safari performance and enhancements to the Mail application.

Adobe has worked for years on a lightweight version of its Flash technology for mobile phones, but the company has now begun a new effort to bring the full-fledged player to smartphones. Earlier this week at the Adobe MAX 2008 developer conference, the company demonstrated Flash Player 10 on devices running Nokia’s Symbian operating system, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Google’s Android. Flash on Blackberries is likely coming as well, but Apple on the other hand seems to have a vested interest in blocking the technology from making its way into the iPhone.

According to Wired, Flash for iPhone will be a victim of Apple’s stringent terms of service, which specifically prohibits the downloading and use of interpreted code in apps unless the APIs and interpreters are already preloaded. But why would the company risk driving away customers by offering an arguably less capable product than their competitors?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stated before that Flash “performs too slow to be useful” on the iPhone, but that shouldn’t be a problem with the new version, which is said to run on any smartphone with a 200MHz or better processor and 16MB of RAM. So the real reason may have more to do with losing control and not really with performance, as while existing web applications are fairly limited, Flash is powerful enough to draw business away from both the App Store and iTunes’ music and video sections.

The dilution of control is just a part of the problem, though. Running Flash on the device could also lead to reduced battery life and periodic security holes. All said, Flash's inclusion in iPhones looks uncertain for now but Apple may have to allow it eventually – perhaps with some heavy restrictions.

Given the option, would you like to search the web using your voice? Google may be prepping just such an endeavor, with an application for the iPhone that'll let people surf, or at least search, by using voice commands. The application would put them on more equal terms with Microsoft and Yahoo who already have similar tools.

No matter when it appears, it'll probably be only a short time before it makes the migration over to Android-based phones as well. With video email chat already in the works it could be that Google has hopes to change smartphones into much different tools that what they are now in a relatively short time. Then again, there are a lot of search terms that we'd want people to just continue to type in – not all search terms are G-rated, after all.

The percentage of people with mobiles browsing the web is going up sharply, due largely to the rise of feature-rich smartphones. According to ABI Research, around 130 million people now carry phones that have what we'd call “modern” browsing, and within the next 4-5 years that's expected to quadruple.

The research primarily points to phones from the likes of Apple and RIM, along with the expansion of 3G networks that offer speeds worthy of web browsing. Many sites tailoring to mobile users have helped as well, with Google definitely leading the pack for making a vast array of services functional and even easy to use on a mobile.

There are a lot of hurdles to get over. Even the fastest of 3G networks on fast phones pale in comparison when pitted up against the speed advantages of an actual broadband Internet connection, and viewing all your content on a three inch screen can get tiresome after a while. Cellular speeds haven't improved anywhere near as fast as Internet speeds either, which compound some of the issues – but people are still open to it, and manufacturers are still trying.

From my own experience, even a single generation of smartphones can make a night-and-day difference. I wouldn't be surprised to see Netbooks all but supplanted by sufficiently powerful smartphones, with people relying on them for hosts of applications, all types of communication and of course web browsing.

Recently it was announced that the iPhone was going to close a small gap between it and many other devices such as the BlackBerry through the introduction of tethering – a useful feature for many, particularly for those who travel.

With plans for iPhone tethering in the works, AT&T apparently has already set the rates and usage limits for it. On the surface, the rates and limits seem to be in-line with what the industry likes, if not the users. By default iPhone users can expect a 5GB cap on bandwidth every month. Rather than facing overage charges, however, AT&T is apparently planning to simply cut off access once someone hits that 5GB limit – no more data.

The service will cost an additional $30/month to existing plans, which is exactly the price AT&T charges for Blackberry tethering. The biggest issue is probably going to be the bandwidth limit. If you get a standalone cell card for your computer, currently there is no bandwidth limit – why does AT&T care if you are using it through a card or using it through your phone?

Apple is now the second largest smartphone vendor globally, according to figures from research firm Canalys. Being a newcomer to the market, the company managed to ship a total of 6.9 million iPhone devices, grabbing 17.3 percent of the market while vaulting past RIM and Motorola at the same time.

Nokia is still the leading vendor by a comfortable margin, holding 38.9 percent of the market – but that margin was even more comfortable last year at over 50 percent. Despite being pushed into second place, BlackBerry shipments still grew by over 80 per cent, with RIM claiming a 15.2 percent share of the market, while Motorola ended a distant fourth at 5.8 percent.

On the software side of things, Canalys predicts that Symbian will remain the dominant platform due to its close association with Nokia. Apple and RIM obviously saw strong gains in that department as well – their OS is proprietary and tied to their hardware – whereas Microsoft increased the number of Windows Mobile handsets shipped by 42 percent.

Earlier this week a security hole was discovered in Android that allowed users to ‘jailbreak’ the G1 and gain root access to the device. This was different to the hack iPhone users are so accustomed to, which enables them to use their phones on different networks and install unofficial applications, but jailbreaking Android did provide some useful advantages, such as enabling users to bypass the G1’s internal storage and install programs on external media.

Unfortunately, this also represents a gaping vulnerability that could enable malicious applications to gain full access to the file system and sensitive user data. Google says they’re going to close the hole with an over-the-air patch in the next few days, followed by an update the open source code base to reflect the changes.

Here is a bit of good news for iPod 3G owners: an official way to use the device as a tethered 3G modem for your laptop is coming soon. There have been rumors that this was in the works for a while, but it was not until today that the head of AT&T Mobility confirmed such at the Web 2.0 internet summit.

Tethering has been a contentious issue ever since the launch of the iPhone 3G, with AT&T reluctant to provide the service perhaps due to the overwhelming influx of traffic it could generate, and Apple notoriously pulling the tethering application NetShare from its store.

It's not clear when AT&T will roll out the service nor is the pricing, though the wireless carrier traditionally charges an additional $30/month for the tethering option on other smartphones. Of course you can also jailbreak your iPhone and get any of a number of tethering applications for free.

Acer has their sights set on becoming the largest netbook manufacturer in the world as soon as next year. The current overall #3 computer manufacturer is expecting to take upwards of a 50% share in netbook shipments next year, which would put them in a prime position for making of 2009 their year in this growing market.

Acer shipped about 2.4 million units of their Aspire One netbook in the third quarter, with a total of 5-6 million Acer netbooks sold in 2008. If their forecast for next year is correct, the global market for netbooks would expand to up to 35 million units, with the Taiwanese manufacturer hoping to grab anything from 40-50% of the pie.

It remains to be seen how this will contribute to the bottom line and image of Acer on a global scale, but for the time being the company seems to be financially healthy with $12.8 billion in revenues so far this year which would represent a 31% increase from 2007.

It’s no secret that Microsoft is working on Windows Mobile 7, but is the company planning to release an interim version of the mobile operating system first? That appears to be the case, with Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha recently revealing plans to launch a phone based on Windows Mobile 6.5 in the second half of 2009 – and an Android-based device in the latter part of 2009.

While no other specific details were mentioned, the 6.5 version number suggests that while not a complete overhaul, this may be a more significant upgrade than what the current Windows Mobile 6.1 represented. Last we heard, though, Windows Mobile 7 was also scheduled for a second half 2009 release, so hopefully Microsoft will come forward with more information on this now that Motorola has let it slip.

Yesterday, after months of giving and taking back free Wi-Fi to iPhone users, AT&T finally made the service official. But apparently the company has deemed it would be elitist to only let iPhone users get free Wi-Fi at its hotspots, and thus today it announced that all BlackBerry users with an unlimited data plan will be privy to the “nation’s largest Wi-Fi network” as well.

The BlackBerry Bold, which is set to launch November 4, will be getting it first while users of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 and the BlackBerry 8820 will be able to take advantage of this offer later this year. What about Windows Mobile smartphones? Well, AT&T says it plans to open the offer to more mobile devices in the future, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Update: The $14.99 price on Handango was a mistake made by the publisher and has since been changed the intended $7.99.

There’s been plenty of hype around Android and the Android Market, but games haven't been quite as high-profile as they were for the iPhone when the iTunes App Store launched. This should come as no real surprise, given that no one is allowed to charge for their apps on the Android Market until sometime in Q1 2009, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be sold elsewhere – and that’s exactly what publisher EA Mobile is doing.

The company today released two of their most popular mobile games for Android, Tetris and Monopoly Here & Now, with the monster hit Bejeweled scheduled for a roll out next month. You can access eamobile.com from your G1 to grab the games for $7.99 each, or swing over to Handango if for some reason you want to pay nearly twice as much.

EA’s move to bring games to Android is sure to be a boost for the platform. Other publishers such as Glu and Namco have also announced their first Android titles, though they are offering them for free hoping to build early market share and profit from it in 2009.

Asustek will be joining T-Mobile and others who have Android handsets in the market, with a planned introduction of an Android device in the first half of 2009. The initial market for the device is likely to be Taiwan, with the company phasing out older EMP hardware in favor of hardware from Qualcomm and Marvell.

Asustek's smartphone deployments have gone relatively unnoticed so far, with only minor sales. As Android is seen as a platform intended to compete with the iPhone and Blackberry devices, getting on the wagon early could be a good move by Asustek to change those figures. With the openness of the Android platform, it's likely that many other vendors will start to adopt it over the next year as well.

Little information is revealed about the hardware for their first Android handset, other than it will be at least a 3G model.

Qik is increasingly targeting the mass market with its mobile live video streaming technology. The company has already launched clients for a range of platforms including Symbian, Windows Mobile, and some Java-enabled phones. Now, Qik is making its way onto the BlackBerry, with an alpha version of Qik available for the BlackBerry Bold, Pearl 8120 / 8130 and Curve 8320 / 8330.

For those not familiar with the free app, Qik lets mobile phone users embed live video streams on Qik.com, social networks like MySpace, Orkut, and Facebook, and to any personal blog – users need only to download the app, create an account, and they’re good to go.

The release of an alpha client for the BlackBerry is a significant move for Qik, as it enables the company to tap a much broader platform. Unfortunately there's no word on when Qik will make its way to Android devices or the iPhone – it runs well under jailbroken iPhones but Apple is yet to allow the app on its store.

The Android Market has formally launched today, coinciding with the arrival of the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. The store is currently limited to about 50 applications, but that number should go up considerably next week when Google opens the Android Market to developers… or not. For now, applications can only be offered for free, so the real wave of games and other premium-level apps will probably arrive sometime in the first quarter of 2009, when developers are allowed to charge for them.

The search giant is taking a much more hands-off approach than Apple has taken with its iTunes App Store for iPhone / iPod touch software, seeing as there will be no quality control in the Android Market other than the community, which will be able to rate and review the apps.

Terms for developers are fairly decent, too. They need only to register and pay a onetime $25 application fee, after which they will be able to sell their applications and get 70 percent of the revenue from each purchase. This is similar to Apple's revenue model, though it should be noted that it is the carriers, not Google, who will be taking the remainder.

Google's Android platform was long ago promised as an open-source one that anyone could customize, play with or just stare at if they wish. While the actual release of the code was significantly delayed, Google has finally delivered on what they claimed and made the Android source available to all.

The code is available as part of Google's new Android open source project, which not only offers the code Google has built already but encourages developers to build applications based around the platform. On top of the code, Google is providing several APIs for development. From this move we could easily see Android being pushed far beyond the handsets Google officially endorses. It'll be interesting to see how the world reacts to this code being made available.