smartphone

What could be easier than paying for something with a wave of your phone? Not much. But there are prices to be paid for the frictionless ease of mobile payments, and they aren't all obvious.

If you haven't started playing mobile gaming app Draw Something yet, you've probably seen it. The Pictionary clone has gone massively viral worldwide, which made its owner, OMGPOP, a minor thorn in the side of social gaming leader Zynga.

There are mobile apps to help us with just about every chore, and investing is no exception. Whether you want to track a basic portfolio or delve into corporate reports and balance sheets, options are available.

Zynga is the undisputed king of social gaming for Facebook and smartphones, and its stock price gives it a market cap nearly as big as video game leader Activision Blizzard. But at less than 5 years old, has the bulldog already jumped the shark?

Last week, rumors began emerging of a planned wireless entertainment device from Google. That may sound cool, but before Google jumps headfirst into the brutally competitive and low-margin consumer electronics business, it should recall how similar moves nearly crushed Cisco.

You know things are going from bad to worse for BlackBerry farmer Research In Motion when some of the stodgiest companies on the planet start trading in their BlackBerry smartphones for shiny new iPhones. The most recent defector from RIM: Halliburton, the fuddy-duddy oil-field services giant that critics associate with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, Dick Cheney, and no-bid contracts in Iraq.

Active smartphone users better get used to an ugly buzzword: throttling. AT&T has begun slowing down the most voracious 5% of its data users. And while cell carriers may feel they have to push back against the bandwidth hogs, the customer response may be more than they bargained for.

Far too many customers aren't paying their phone bills on time, if you ask the phone companies. Three of the top four submitters to third-party collection agencies are major telephone carriers. And the reasons why should come as no surprise.

The latest news on the video game front isn't pretty. Media tracker NPD Group's data reveals that industry sales plunged 21% last month. It's clear that the industry is undergoing a radical shift, but for investors, the more important issue is why.

With patent infringement accusations going every which way in recent months, we're certainly familiar with Apple/Samsung banter. Now Apple has thrown yet another punch at the Korean smartphone maker, targeting its Galaxy S II, Galaxy S Plus and eight other handsets.