Android

5 things we want from a Microsoft smartwatch

It looks like Microsoft may jump into wearable computing. If and when its device hits retail, here's what we'd want it to have.

HTC's comeback hinges on fickle consumers

Will the One save HTC, the Android manufacturer that once seemed most likely to succeed?

by Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- This is how quickly fortunes change in the smartphone industry. In 2006, Nokia (NOK) still controlled more than half of the share of the smartphone market. The iPhone wouldn't appear until the summer of 2007. And no one was making Android phones. Android Inc., bought by Google (GOOG) in 2005, wouldn't emerge MORE

Android gets 97% of malware. Apple iOS 58% of enterprise.

Should we be worried about industries that deploy malware-friendly Android devices?

FORTUNE -- As a long-time Apple (AAPL) user who doesn't spend much time worrying about viruses, trojans and other malware, I've never had a lot of confidence in the reports issued periodically by computer security companies. They always seemed to be in the protection racket, trying to scare users into buying their anti-viral software.

But a pair of recent reports got me MORE

Apple iOS screen sizes: 4. Samsung Android sizes: 27.

With the 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega, has Samsung reached the smartphone's limit?

FORTUNE -- At 9:36 a.m. Thursday, shortly after Samsung introduced the newest entries in its Galaxy smartphone line -- the 5.8-inch Mega and the 6.3-inch Mega -- Derek Kessler posted what may be the most viral tweet that wasn't about TV, celebrity, politics, sports, dieting, mysticism or a natural disaster.

It was a simple list of Samsung's Android screen sizes.

According to MORE

Today in Tech: Your e-textbooks are watching you

Also: Pandora reports some stellar user numbers; why Marissa Mayer really paid $30 million for a startup. 

Teacher knows if you've done the e-reading [THE NEW YORK TIMES]

They know when students are skipping pages, failing to highlight significant passages, not bothering to take notes — or simply not opening the book at all.

"It's Big Brother, sort of, but with a good intent," said Tracy Hurley, the dean of the school of business.

Microsoft MORE

48% of U.S. teens own an iPhone. 62% plan to buy one.

23% are looking to buy an Android phone, up from 22% last fall.

FORTUNE -- The results of Piper Jaffray's 25th bi-annual teen survey came in Tuesday afternoon. Once again, it showed Apple (AAPL) to be the most desired brand among American teenagers who care about things like smartphones and tablets, although Google's (GOOG) Android did make some gains.

The key findings:

91% of teens say they plan to buy a smartphone for MORE

Facebook Home pre-release leaks

The web gets an early taste of Home, Facebook's next big thing.

By Matt Vella, senior editor

FORTUNE -- Facebook's much-hyped mobile phone software, Home, has slipped into the world early.

Home, which will operate exclusively on Google (GOOG) Android handsets, is set to be released to the public on April 12. Smartphone news site MoDaCo has leaked a pre-release version of the software.

Facebook's (FB) software will act as a launcher, taking MORE

Chart of the day: The rise and fall of Android in the U.S.

The arc of grey bars tells the story of Android in the second largest smartphone market

FORTUNE -- According to the chart above, drawn from comScore data and posted Friday by Asymco's Horace Dediu, sales of Google (GOOG) Android smartphones in the U.S. peaked in December 2011.

Sales of Apple (AAPL) iPhones, by contrast, continue to grow in the U.S. Dediu attributes that to broader distribution (three of the four major U.S. MORE

Facebook's Home for Android: What the analysts are saying

Great for Facebook power users. Provocative toward Google. No help for Apple.

FORTUNE -- Having watched Mark Zuckerberg introduce the new Home interface for Android phones, Wall Street analysts wresting with the implications for Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) drew on every literary, musical and film reference they could think of, including The Wizard of Oz ("There's no place like home"), ET ("Phone home"), Simon and Garfunkel ("Homeward Bound") MORE

Chart: Android continues to lose ground to Apple in U.S.

Of the 10.4 million new smartphone users between Nov. and Feb., 85% went to Apple.

FORTUNE -- One way to view the U.S. smartphone data released Thursday by comScore (spreadsheets below) is to look at the total number of new subscribers in the 3-month period covered (November 2012 to February 2013) and compare the number of users who bought Apple (AAPL) iPhones with those who chose Google (GOOG) Android phones.

Total new MORE