Fixed Mobile Convergence

It was a big week in mobile news over at TMCnet this week, especially with the holiday season upon us. Here is a recap of some of the highlights TMCnet reported in the mobile industry this week.

Research in Motion (News - Alert) has filed suit against Kik interactive, an app developer whose recently released messaging service has gained incredible popularity in only a few months. The Black Berry manufacturer has stated that Kik has infringed on a number of patents and misused registered trademarks.  Kik is already being used by millions of blackberry owners and RIM is now seeking to ban its use on any of its devices.

Like BBM, Kik allows users to see in real time when messages have been read and can allow conference messaging among multiple users. This comes dangerously close to the core BBM product according to RIM and is likely what prompted the legal action.

Meanwhile in mobile, a new survey conducted by Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator suggests that although the magnitude of cost cutting might become less severe in 2011, consumers still think they will be spending less on mobile, video, broadband and voice services.

The survey found users reduced their broadband expenditure broadly consistently across the survey countries, ranging from eight percent in the United Kingdom to four percent in Italy.

In other related news, the BlackBerry (News - Alert) OS overtook Apple's (News - Alert) iOS for the first time in the U.S. market in November 2010 in terms of mobile Internet usage, according to StatCounter. StatCounter Global Stats reports that for the first time, the BlackBerry OS represented 34.3 percent of U.S. mobile Internet usage, compared to the Apple iOS share of 33 percent in November 2010. That is significant because BlackBerry users historically have been less-avid mobile Internet users than either Apple or Android users.

Last, but certainly not least, apparently, the two most popular smartphones are a tad bit sexist!  According to a Nielsen report, slightly more women than men (30.9 percent versus 28.6, respectively) expressed Apple's iPhone (News - Alert) as a first choice...not much of a difference. However, when it comes to phones running Android, a significant number of men versus women (32.6 percent versus 22.8 percent) would choose the Google (News - Alert) mobile platform.

That’s all for this week, but be sure to always check out the latest mobile news on here on TMCnet.

Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca