Tim Conneally

Apple's aloofness is world famous. The company doesn't exactly buddy up to the media like Microsoft does, and it doesn't keep a running dialogue with the public like Google does. It communicates directly with only a handful of reputable media outlets, and uses a predictable routine of product launches where it can address the public in measured doses.

One of these doses is Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) expected to take place on June 28, 2010. In 2007, this was the event that Apple used to debut the original iPhone and its availability on AT&T. Then in 2008, Apple used WWDC to unveil the iPhone 3G. In 2009, it was used to unveil the 3G S. It is essentially Apple's annual "iPhone event."

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Even if Apple CEO Steve Jobs says nobody will be using Adobe Flash in the future, and that the world is moving to HTML5, there's still a place for Adobe's browser plug-in on Android, the fastest growing mobile platform out there.

After putting Flash 10 on the HTC Hero last year, Adobe is ready to test the next iteration of Flash on all Android devices. Over the weekend, the company began accepting beta testers for the Android versions of Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2.0.

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At the 99% Percent conference in New York City today, HTC officially took the wraps off of its latest Android handset, called the Droid Incredible on Verizon Wireless.

The device was accidentally leaked by Verizon Wireless, which posted a Web site showing the device and its availability earlier this week, so not much of today's announcement was a tremendous surprise to fans of HTC's smartphones.

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Expectations are a very dangerous thing indeed. As a user, if you expect a new device to do something -- however unrealistic that expectation may be -- you are bound to be disappointed when you find that it doesn't.

With Internet tablets, it's not really clear what users should expect when they pick one up for the first time. A couple of years ago, they were built on truncated versions of desktop operating systems, so users based their expectations on their desktop experience. Now, tablets are being built upon mobile operating systems, and expectations are shifting.

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Spring Design's Android-based, dual-screen e-reader named "Alex" made a sudden and noticeable splash when it was announced one day before book retailer Barnes & Noble debuted its Android-powered Nook e-reader, and then Spring Design sued them over it.

We had a look at a pre-production model of Alex at CES last January, and Spring Design started taking orders for the $399 e-reader in February.

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Microsoft's debut of the KIN yesterday has tech pundits talking about Microsoft's mobile strategy, about the future of Windows Phone, and about the state of the "dumbphone" in general. It's a compelling product. And because KIN comes from Sharp and Danger's parent company Microsoft, the KIN drew a lot of comparisons to the Sidekick straight away. Yesterday, I called KIN the "Sidekick of the 2010s," Ars Technica called it "Sidekick's next of KIN," and Wired said Microsoft wants to "update the Sidekick's M.O. for a new decade."

But does this mean the T-Mobile Sidekick is finished?

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Since Apple is now a self-proclaimed "mobile device company," its trusty line of notebook computers received an update today with none of the commotion that the iPad and iPhone recently earned. Still, Apple's entire 2010 line of MacBook Pro notebooks has been updated with new CPUs and graphics processors, and a longer promised battery life. It may be small, but it is by no means insignificant.

The big news about Apple's notebook refresh last year was its overall drop in price. Cupertino got rid of the MacBook Pro's ExpressCard slot and removable battery, but offered a two-hour bump in battery life for several hundred dollars less than previous models. It was advertised as Apple's "most affordable lineup ever."

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Way back in 2008, Opera Software's CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner said the company's popular Opera Mini mobile browser was ported to the iPhone, but it could not be released because it competed with the iPhone's built-in Safari browser.

Then, last February, Opera Software actually started showing off its version the popular browser for iPhone OS as a run-up to its submission to Apple for App store review in March.

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Microsoft today debuted a whole new Windows Phone experience developed in conjunction with Sharp called KIN.

Billed not as a smartphone, but as a "social phone," KIN is like the Sidekick/hiptop concept updated to fit a lifestyle based around constant social media use, which is made up of four components:

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Adobe today celebrated the global launch of Creative Suite 5 (CS5), the first new version of the company's suite of digital art, design, and development tools in nearly two years.

Creative Suite 5 includes 15 of Adobe's products: Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5, InDesign CS5, Acrobat 9 Pro, Flash Catalyst CS5, Flash Professional CS5, Flash Builder 4, Dreamweaver CS5, Fireworks CS5, Contribute CS5, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, After Effects CS5, Soundbooth CS5, Adobe OnLocation CS5, Adobe Bridge CS5, Adobe Device Central CS5, and Adobe Dynamic Link.

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On Thursday, Apple unveiled a major update to the iPhone OS which is expected to reach iPhone 3G/3G S and second- and third-generation iPod users sometime this summer, and iPad users in the fall. While the banner feature of this release is its multitasking capability, the announcement that Apple will open a Web-based gaming network akin to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network has potential to be the biggest coup.

Game Center lets users invite friends to play games, start multiplayer games through matchmaking, track achievements, and compare their high scores on a Web-based game network. This is a huge addition to the iPhone ecosystem which puts it on par with the two major home consoles, and actually catapults it past both Nintendo's Wii and its DS.

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Multitasking, the feature that has been the absolute top of every iPhone user's want list --which, by proxy became a major marketing point for both Android and webOS -- has made its way to iPhone OS 4.

"We figured out how to implement multitasking for third party apps and avoid those things [battery life and lag]. So that's what took so long," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs this morning.

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"The first day we sold 300,000 iPads, and I want to update you -- as of today we've sold about 450,000," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs at today's iPhone 4 OS presentation.

The first day sales numbers were about average for Apple when compared to all of the company's prior mobile device launches, and included all of the units pre-ordered between March 12 and April 3 (22 days). In the 4 days that have followed the device's launch, a further 150,000 iPads have sold.

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Windows Mobile was never just a consumer product; it was also a significant player in handheld terminals, in-vehicle systems, and ruggedized consoles for business and industry.

But that whole branch of business-oriented Windows Mobile devices used to be overseen by Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business group (MCB), the same group responsible for Windows Mobile-powered consumer devices, despite the fact that they were very different.

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Popular third party mobile Web browser Skyfire posted an announcement last week that it would be opening up alpha testing for its forthcoming Webkit-based Android browser. Within one hour of making the announcement, over 3,000 people contacted Skyfire to get in on the test. The alpha team, unfortunately, is only going to be 30 testers.

So today, Skyfire's Jeff Glueck addressed the undoubtedly huge interest swelling around the new Skyfire product, and talked about why Android development has superseded development on the BlackBerry platform.

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