Phonebook? Facebook Denies Smartphone Rumor

One of the biggest stories to emerge over the weekend was the rumor of the Facebook phone. TechCrunch's Michael Arrington Sunday reported that the social networking giant had plans for a Facebook-brand smartphone utilizing third-party hardware.

But wait, why would Facebook want to build a phone? Well, Arrington's source says that around the time the first rumors about the Nexus One hit, Facebook started to think more about deeper Facebook integration in phones. When the social network heard about a supposed Google phone it became more worried about the power Apple and Google held with iOS and Android, because to do stuff like integrating with contacts lists, etc., Facebook would need full control of the operating system. 

Android Continues Creeping on BlackBerry, iPhone

The Android grows in market share at the expense of RIM and Apple.

Although Apple is still selling its new iPhone 4 by the boatload, it's actually losing out on market share as Android surges with greater strength every day.

Verizon, Sprint Not Getting Win Phone 7 Until 2011

Disappointing news for Verizon and Sprint users waiting for Windows Phone 7 to launch before they upgrade: Neither will actually have the phones when the new OS launches this fall.

Verizon yesterday confirmed to Bloomberg that it wouldn't be offering Windows Phone 7 devices until 2011, despite the fact that Microsoft is expected to launch the OS in October. In an interview with Business Week, Verizon's Brenda Raney said the carrier does plan to support the new operating system and will probably release a phone in 2011.

Adobe Launches 64-Bit Flash Player ''Preview''

Adobe launched an enhanced player for Internet Explorer 9 Beta and 64-bit platforms.

Adobe's Paul Betlem said Thursday that a special preview build of Adobe Flash Player--dubbed as "Square"--is available to download. The new preview build offers enhanced support for the just-released beta of Internet Explorer 9, and native 64-bit support for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

"Flash Player 'Square' leverages the new GPU support available with Internet Explorer 9 Beta to deliver a faster and more responsive user experience," Betlem said. "In our internal testing, we’ve seen significant improvements in Flash Player graphics performance--exceeding 35-percent in Internet Explorer 9 Beta compared to Flash Player running in previous versions of IE."
As for the 64-bit native support, Betlem said that Linux users should have a faster and even more reliable Flash experience than the previous version. Square also marks as the introduction of 64-bit Flash to Windows and Mac OS X, however users are cautioned to be on the lookout for any issues, as "not everything will be fully baked."

Nokia Slaps HTC in the Face With 'Survival Kits'

Meow!
Nokia and HTC both held press events in London this week. Nokia announced three new phones at Nokia World while HTC announced the launch of the Desire Z and the Desire HD. However, it seems Nokia was a little less than pleased with HTC for scheduling a press event during Nokia World and the Espoo company wasn't shy about broadcasting that fact.