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Walmart has made official the rumor that had been circulating since earlier on the month. Apple has struck a deal with the large retail chain to sell 8GB and 16GB iPhones at a discount on its stores. The company said they will start selling iPhones as soon as this Sunday.

Although initial rumors anticipated that Walmart would sell iPhones for $99, the discount won't be as hefty in reality. The black 8GB iPhone 3G will be selling for $197, while the 16GB model will go for $297. This still represents a ~$90 discount from devices sold on BestBuy, and around $100 in savings from iPhones sold directly from AT&T; and on Apple stores.

As usual, the phones will require a two-year service activation with AT&T; or a qualified upgrade. Apple has not commented whether these will become the new official prices for the iPhone though it wouldn't be surprising if they held in the announcement until the Macworld expo next January 5th. In the meantime, several other small retailers have been already selling for similar low prices during the holiday sales season.

For as sleek as the BlackBerry Storm looks and as potent of a smartphone as it is, apparently the device is failing to erode any of the iPhone’s market share. Despite it marking an obvious shift in strategy by RIM and trying to show that the company has what it takes to appeal to the consumer market, Apple's sales for the iPhone along with its market share have continued to increase. BlackBerry, on the other hand, has remained relatively steady, changing only a few percentage points over the past year.

What further compounds the issue is that a survey of smartphone users discovered that Storm owners are overall not as happy with their new device as new iPhone owners were. Perhaps some of the issues are related to the arguably botched launch of the phone. On top of having a rather lackluster entrance, with no real “launch party” or big promo events, the phone was criticized after launch due to various flaws. Verizon and RIM did ultimately release a firmware update that fixed many of those initial flaws.

Apple may still have cause for alarm in the near future, however. RIM holds a substantial portion of the smartphone market and unlike Apple has a plethora of different models available, ranging from low cost to high end, across multiple different service providers. They also still have Apple one-upped on business appeal. In the meantime, however, the Storm has failed to cause any dent in the iPhone's sales and probably doesn't have Apple worried.

It seems like only yesterday the T-Mobile G1 was released, but according to reports by Cell Phone Signal citing an anonymous tipster, G2 – the second HTC phone built for Google’s Android platform – is well on its way. Apparently, the new device will be 3G capable, sport a full-sized touch screen, have a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, a VGA camera for video calls and come with the usual array of features you would expect from a high-end smartphone like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Interestingly, there’s no mention of any physical slide-out keyboard, which suggests the G2 will more closely mimic the iPhone – though there would still be a trackball at the bottom. The new device is also expected to be non-exclusive to T-Mobile and sold elsewhere around the world, albeit probably with a different name on carriers other than T-Mobile for trademark reasons.

The original rumor puts January 26 as the release date for the new device, which would probably bring some early adopter wrath down upon T-Mobile considering the G1 was released in October. However, the blog Boy Genius Report has a follow-up rumor that claims the G2 will actually be released in April.

Samsung will release its first Android-based smartphone in the second quarter of 2009, according to a report by Korea’s ETNews. The company is a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, so the fact that they are preparing an Android handset is not much of a surprise. It is worth noting however that the device could be released in the U.S. via not one, but two major carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile.

While specific features aren’t mentioned, industry insiders say the touch screen device will be an adaptation of the Omnia and Instinct (pictured above), which means we can probably expect an iPhone rival with minimal hardware buttons and no hardware QWERTY keyboard. The article also quotes an unnamed spokesperson for the company saying that Samsung accelerated development for the phone to meet carrier demands.

Nearly one year since it was first announced, Sling Media has confirmed that its SlingPlayer Mobile application for BlackBerry smartphones will be available as a public beta before the end of the year, on December 30. The player will let Slingbox customers watch and control their home TV and DVR via their BlackBerry device, but at launch, only some of RIM’s smartphones will be compatible and the new flagship Storm is notably missing from the list.

According to Sling Media the beta will be supported on the BlackBerry Bold, Curve 8320/8900, Pearl 8120, Pearl Flip 8220, and the BlackBerry 8820 – assuming they are updated to OS 4.5. You can also try the beta client on “EDGE-Berries” like the 8100, 8300, and 8810, but these models won’t be officially supported and are likely to offer a less than optimal experience.

The public BlackBerry beta is due to go live on 30 December and will join the iPhone, Palm OS, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile versions of the application which are either already available or in development. Regarding Android, the company only says it is still monitoring the platform and its adoption but apparently no client is being developed yet.

One of the biggest reasons many enterprises prefer to use Blackberrys over the competition is the robust set of applications that RIM has designed specifically for the business user. Now the company is attempting to extend their software's reach into the Windows Mobile world, providing a VM that runs the Blackberry Application Suite on a Windows Mobile phone. This virtualized environment is one step closer to completion, and you can see an actual demonstration of it running on a Windows Mobile-based HTC Touch Pro phone (video here).

Some might see this as a confusing step, giving people who want Blackberry applications a way to do it without buying a real BB device. In computer terms, however, this is similar as having Apple offering OS X licenses to all computers and not just their own branded models.

From another standpoint, it could make sense as a way to expand their reach by leaps and bounds if they convince enough mobile users to use and get accustomed to the BB environment. The next time you buy a phone you might be inclined to get a BB device or just any phone you like but paying for the software that runs your standard Blackberry features. If not entirely practical on the surface, it is still an interesting approach.

Sprint has introduced their first 4G cellular laptop modem capable of using their new high-speed WiMAX service, which currently runs only in Baltimore but is slated to reach other metropolitan markets beginning next year.With only limited coverage areas for 4G service, though, the card is capable of falling back to 3G networks as well.

It promises speeds upwards of 1.4Mbps when attached to a 3G network, and can supposedly approach 4Mbps when in range of a tower supporting 4G. The “Sprint U300” will debut before the end of the year as a Windows-only USB peripheral, tiny enough to slide comfortably into any laptop bag, and will support features aside from just Internet access, such as GPS functionality.

Cellular modems for laptops have become increasingly common, but still face two big hurdles that tend to turn people away. Cost is the first, as often even the cheapest limited data plans available from cell companies can cost twice what a standard broadband connection would. Speed is the second, with most people never actually experiencing the supposed maximum speeds available. Hopefully, the introduction of this 4G card will help change that.

Palm’s big announcement may be set for CES next month, but the handheld maker isn't waiting until then to unveil other developments it has been working on nor is willing to miss out on holiday sales. Following in the footsteps of Apple, RIM and Google, the company has launched its own application marketplace for devices running both Palm OS and Microsoft Windows Mobile.

The Palm Software Store is being run in partnership with handheld software vendor PocketGear, and is said to have 5,000 apps available right now – of which more than 2,000 are games. Applications include everything from gaming classics such as Tetris and Pac-Man to IM applications and social networking apps for Facebook and Twitter.

Revenue sharing isn’t as good as with rival stores, however, which could undoubtedly curb developer interest in the platform. According to Mobile Crunch, application developers will see only 50 percent of software sale revenues rather than the 70 percent offered by the Android Market and Apple App Store.

Once a driving force in the handheld market, Palm has found itself struggling for survival in recent years as its devices get eclipsed by smartphones from RIM, Nokia and Apple. There hasn’t been much innovation on Palm’s front for quite some time, but according to a report from BusinessWeek, the company is finally ready to unveil the long awaited and often delayed replacement for their ageing operating system at CES next month.

Details of new operating system – dubbed Nova – are still sketchy, but it is being said that Palm wants to position it between the media-rich iPhone and the work-oriented BlackBerry, where the company sees a gap. Apparently, the general idea is to create a platform that’s flexible enough to “support a wide range of customer desires.”

It won’t be easy for them to make a comeback in the smartphone market but initially Palm is aiming for a 2% share. In the end, however, it will all depend on third party developers’ support for the platform – after all, an operating system on a mobile device is only as good as the applications it can run.

More Android-based smartphones besides the T-Mobile G1 are finally starting to emerge, with the Kogan Agora set for a debut in Australia soon and new reports suggesting that Lenovo is also preparing to launch a so-called “OPhone” based on Google’s platform for China Mobile’s network.

The site ModmyGphone is showing off a leaked photo of the device, which resembles the iPhone with a large touch screen and just a few buttons calling, answering and stepping through menus. While no specific details have been made available as of yet, the device is likely to be a strictly domestic product, given that it should run on China Mobile’s own proprietary TD-SCDMA 3G network.

With Apple and China Mobile’s inability to come to terms over the iPhone, the OPhone represents a major opportunity for Lenovo and Android to seize the world’s largest cell phone market.

Right now there’s just one mobile phone based on the open source Android platform Google developed, the T-Mobile G1, but that could change in a big way next year with the recent addition of 14 new members to the Open Handset Alliance behind the platform. The new additions include heavyweights Sony Ericsson, Vodafone, ARM, Asus, and Garmin International.

These new members are planning to deploy Android-based devices and/or to contribute to the ongoing project. For instance, ARM will add its OpenMax DL libraries to Android while Asus, Sony Ericsson and other members pledged to build Android-powered handsets and MIDs in 2009 and beyond. The new OHA memberships are a clear indication that Android is here to stay for years to come. However, even with this kind of industry wide support, the year old platform still faces an uphill battle against more established players such as Microsoft, Nokia, RIM and Apple.

Several weeks after Google optimized its search results for the iPhone, the search giant has announced it has tweaked its AdWords platform to better support the newest breed of mobile phones such as the Apple iPhone and T-Mobile G1 – as well as other phone browsers that can display full HTML. Google already has a mobile-specific ad service but the key here is that customers won’t have to reformat their ads for each platform, instead running a single campaign across all Internet-enabled devices.

Clients can analyze the results on either platforms to determine where their ads are receiving the most or best response. This may not provide an immediate, huge boost to Google, especially with the looming economic slowdown. However, it could position them as one of the easy choices in a mobile advertising space that is expected to skyrocket in the coming years as more people access the web from their smartphones.

Phone companies subsidizing the cost of new handsets are extremely common. Anytime you sign a year or two year contract and walk away with a fancy new phone, they are counting on the fact that the monthly bills you pay will more than make up for the subsidized device. Are they looking to expand beyond cell phones, however, and venture into the world of laptops paired with data cards?

A recently leaked RadioShack ad is leading us to believe that, indicating that AT&T; is going to be offering the Acer Aspire One, normally a $499 machine, for a mere $99. Of course, that extremely nice price tag is dependent upon you signing a 2-year data plan, at a rate of $60 a month. On the one hand, that's actually a fairly nifty combo – you get a netbook with a data card, giving you Internet access just about anywhere, for only $100. On the other hand, that $60 a month will add up quickly.

However, if you were thinking of getting a data plan anyway, it would be a nice deal. Will other carriers begin doing the same with netbooks? It seems like a logical step, and a way for them to get people into using the cellular data plans. With most providers having fairly low bandwidth limits on data plans, it's a lucrative market for them, and the incentive for people who want extremely cheap laptops is there. It also helps push these devices truly as “Netbooks”, tiny portable laptops capable of Internet access nearly anywhere.

After new firmware for the BlackBerry Storm was made available late last week, many Storm owners were disappointed to find they could only install the update if they had the RIM Desktop Manager installed on a Windows machine. An alternative method of updating was promised, and just now Verizon has officially made an over-the-air download available.

The over-the-air update is the exact same package that was released a week ago, but this can be installed without a PC intervening. If you're an early BlackBerry Storm adopter you'll no doubt want to get the update, as it fixes numerous issues discovered after launch.

If you've been dying to try out the Android-based G1 but weren't thrilled about the prospect of being locked into a T-Mobile contract, Google has the answer for you. An unlocked version of the G1 phone has gone up for sale, carrying with it a $399 price tag. That's a pretty steep price tag for a phone if you factor in the subsidies most providers offer if you sign your name on a contract, but the majority of unlocked phones come with fairly high prices anyway.

The unlocked phone, naturally, can be used with any provider. It's now the only option for potential G1 owners who don't want or can't use T-Mobile service, though that might change in the future. High pricing aside, the relative speed at which Google has brought an unlocked version of the G1 to market is encouraging. Some people don't mind paying a premium to avoid being shackled to a contract, and the Android platform itself is one many see worth paying for. At the very least it means people won't have to rely on jailbreaks to unlock the G1, which owners of many other smartphones must resort to if they want to break free from their “default” provider.

Verizon Wireless has released the first RIM BlackBerry Storm firmware update, raising the OS version to 4.7.0.75. The easiest way to get it right now is through the BlackBerry Desktop software, which will automatically check for, find and install the new version. However, those unwilling or unable to connect to their PCs can wait for an over the air update later today.

The update addresses several bugs found in the previous application version, from problems with the accelerometer lag and touch screen accuracy to the sudden changes in volume when using a wired headset and more. The device is also being updated abroad, with Bell Canada reportedly distributing OS version 4.7.0.76 and European Vodafone Storms now running 4.7.0.78.

In addition to more netbooks due next year, Acer has plans to bring even more portable computing power to the market very soon. Specifically, the company has recently confirmed that they will be launching their first smartphone sometime within Q1 2009.

Dubbed E-Ten, the Windows Mobile-powered device will be released overseas at first, supposedly making its debut in Western Europe and Russia. No actual details on the launch date, technical specifications or pricing have been confirmed yet, though we can probably expect Acer to be at least competitive with the latter two given the fierce competition in the smartphone market at all price ranges. Apple, RIM, HTC and others already have an overwhelming advantage over any newcomers.

The concept of a sub-$100 laptop has been around for a long time. Numerous companies have claimed they had such a project in the works, and several others came close but fell short at the last moment. The project that seemed to be the closest, OLPC, still ended up charging nearly twice what they originally had planned.

Now another company has come out of the woodwork to claim they will have a sub-$100 machine available for retail in the near future. Coby Electronics claims that their PoqetMate-7 and PoqetMate-9 units, due for launch in March of next year, will be right around that $100 mark, with the PoqetMate-7 actually going as low as $99.95.

Further, they claim that after the initial launch, even smaller netbooks are planned. What exactly could we expect from $100 of hardware? We're talking about a relatively unknown company with a product that has very little information available, so don't hold your breath. If any company manages to get an actual “netbook” out the door at the $100 mark, though, it could lead to other vendors following suit.

The economic downturn in the U.S. and elsewhere is taking its toll on more device makers, with smartphone maker RIM lowering their financial outlook for Q3 in the face of declining demand and increased competition. Particularly, the company says it now expects quarterly revenue to fall between $2.75 billion and $2.78 billion – down from a previous estimate of $2.77 to $3.10 billion.

The company blames the current poor economic conditions along with the delayed product launches for both the BlackBerry Bold and the long-awaited touch screen Storm – even though they claim to have “experienced particularly strong momentum in recent weeks” following the launch of the latter. Though they arguably still enjoy a comfortable lead over Apple in the business world with its traditional BlackBerry lineup, their Storm device is going to conspicuous lengths to try and appeal to the same crowd the iPhone does. This is an especially important concern to RIM, seeing as Apple has reached nearly 17% of the smartphone market.

Editor’s note: This story was partially rewritten due to some inaccuracies. Our apologies about that.

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.