Last week, we had heard rumors that
.
Google’s Chairman Eric Schmidt has confirmed it in an interview at AllThingsD’s D9 Conference yesterday. He revealed that Google has just renewed its Map and Search partnership with Apple .
“We just renewed our Map and Search agreements with Apple , and we hope those continue for a long time.”
and Poly9, there were some speculations that Apple will move away from its dependency on Google as much as possible. (more…)

Nokia and Microsoft have just announced a strategic partnership, where Nokia plans to ditch its Symbian platform and instead adopt Windows Phone as its
.
Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer revealed the news in an open letter.
• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.
• Nokia will help drive (more…)

According to anonymous sources quoted in the newspaper, one of the major point of discussion was about taking on Apple in the mobile segment where the company wielded significant control. The proposed solutions are noted to have ranged from a close partnership between the two companies to even a possible merger of the two technology giants.
in recent times after the latter's refusal to support Flash on the iOS platform. It may be worth noting (more…)

According to the article, Steve Jobs was extremely unhappy about Google’s intentions to work on an
, especially at a time when its CEO was on Apple ‘s Board advising Cupertino on its strategies for the
. The article notes from a source that the first signs of dissent was made in a phone call from Jobs to Schmidt while the latter was commuting to the Burning Man festival.
“Schmidt’s mobile phone rang on the highway between Reno and Burning Man’s (more…)

' event when store managers are briefed about new things that are in the pipeline for the next few months. This time, the kick-off event is scheduled at 1PM EST on Wednesday which
. Store managers have also been informed that the event will include a ”
” fueling further speculation on a possible Apple -Verizon partnership announcement to be made during Apple 's media event.
Speculations about a possible partnership between Apple and Verizon (more…)

Analysts have been increasingly pointing towards Verizon. Not only has the carrier
in partnering Apple , but also there have been reports about Apple building a
which is due to be launched next year. Besides, it is already known that Verizon is building a next gen
due to be deployed by late next year or 2011. Also, being the largest wireless carrier with 71 million subscribers, it makes business sense for Apple to expand their market by partnering (more…)

Late last year, we had written about the complaint filed by Bouygues Telecom, the third largest mobile operator in France that claimed that the exclusive partnership between Apple and Orange, the largest mobile operator in the country violated the freedom of competition and pricing laws.
Post its investigations, the Competition authority had ruled that the exclusive agreement ”
“. That was meant to be a temporary ruling in favor of Boyugues which (more…)

According to a note to investors from Broadpoint.Amtech's analyst Brian Marshall, this new partnership between Apple and Verizon is very likely to happen and could consequently lead to the reduction in the subsidy offered by AT&T to its customers. Currently, the subsidy stands at close to $450. However, with a non-exclusive carrier rights in place, this subsidy might come down to $300 which means that the customer must pay an additional $150 upfront (more…)

According to IDC, the partnership seems to be closed from both the ends. Although iPhone users have expressed their displeasure over
time and again, Apple does not seem to be in any hurry to open the iPhones to another carrier. A recent report by iSuppli Corp in fact predicts an
beyond 2010.
On the other hand, Verizon has a lot of reasons to sit pretty. With the partnership with Google in place, IDC claims that Verizon in the near-term future (more…)

People in the UK are suddenly spoilt for choices. A lot many of our readers had
in our previous post regarding the Orange-Apple partnership expressing happiness at the new options available. Orange has a better coverage than O2 according to some of the comments and that alone could have been the selling proposition for Orange to woo iPhone customers. However, with Vodafone's arrival, it is tight competition for Orange from the word go.
The (more…)