Google Android isn't really that open, says Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs launched in to an astonishing five-minute critique of rival companies, operating systems and platforms during the earnings call, in which Apple announced record profits of $20 billion for the quarter.  He said that the Google Android platform was fragmented, and not as open as some people made out, while also saying that iPad-style tablet computers with smaller 7in screens would be dead on arrival.  Google loves to characterise Android as ‘open’ and iOS and the iPhone as ‘closed’, said Jobs. We find this a bit disingenuous, and clouding the real difference between our two approaches.  Android is very fragmented. HTC and Motorola install proprietary user interfaces to differentiate themselves from the commodity Android experience. The user’s left to figure it all out. Compare this with the iPhone, where every handset works the same. He said the fragmentation of the Android platform left developers facing a “daunting challenge. Many Android apps only work on selected Android handsets, running selected Android versions. Compare this with iPhone, where there are two versions of the software, the current and the most recent predecessor, to test against.
The Telegraph

Diamond-encrusted, £5m iPhone 4 is world's priciest smart phone
Behold the world's most expensive smart phone: a diamond-studded iPhone 4, priced at £5m. An Australian businessman commissioned Liverpudlian designer Stuart Hughes to slap a few precious stones on the iPhone, according to Small World News Service. Hughes has form in the field. Also available on his website are a solid-gold iPhone 4 worth £22,000, a £100,000 pink-diamond-encrusted Nokia handset, and a £110,000 solid-gold iPad. The iPhone 4 'Diamond Rose' has a bezel featuring approximately 500 individual, flawless rose diamonds. The rear is covered with rose gold, with the Apple logo comprised of 53 diamonds. The home button is made of platinum, with a whopping, 7.4-carat pink diamond stuck in the middle. If that's not good enough for you, it can be replaced with an 8-carat, single-cut, flawless diamond. The phone comes with a 7kg granite chest in which to store it. Other than that, it's just like a run-of-the-mill 32GB iPhone 4.
CNET

Ray Ozzie steps down from Microsoft
In a surprise move, Microsoft announced on Monday that chief software architect Ray Ozzie is leaving the company. The move, which raises questions about the company's future technology direction, was announced in an email to employees from chief executive Steve Ballmer. Ozzie is leaving after an unspecified transition period, expected to be several months."With our progress in services and the cloud now full speed ahead in all aspects of our business, Ray and I are announcing today Ray's intention to step down from his role as chief software architect," Ballmer said in the memo, which was posted on Microsoft's website. "He will remain with the company as he transitions the teams and ongoing strategic projects within his organisation  bringing the great innovations and great innovators he's assembled into the groups driving our business. Following the natural transition time with his teams but before he retires from Microsoft, Ray will be focusing his efforts in the broader area of entertainment, where Microsoft has many ongoing investments."
ZDNet

Britain climbs broadband league tables
Typical British web users can comfortably enjoy the latest web applications, a new survey has said. But the Broadband Quality Survey 2010 shows that British broadband services still lag some way behind the best in the world, such as those enjoyed by South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan. The survey, conducted for Cisco by the Said Business School and the University of Oviedo, found that the UK had improved 23 per cent in a single year. It added that in 2010 there was a 39 per cent improvement in download speeds from 2009 and a 17 per cent rise in upload speeds. The authors placed the UK in a category of Broadband Penetration leaders, with three-quarters of UK households already having broadband access, and claimed that, on average, the UK shows no broadband quality digital divide between the most populated cities and those outside. This was cited as a major achievement given the geography and demography of the country.
The Telegraph

KPN rolls out German mobile data network
Dutch Telco to offer flat rate mobile data services from start of November. Dutch telecoms operator Royal KPN said Tuesday it has accelerated the roll-out of its high-speed mobile data network in Germany, enabling it to offer customers in the country flat rate mobile data packages from Nov. 1. The accelerated roll-out is supported by additional mobile spectrum that KPN bought in the recent German spectrum auction as well as by existing operational, technological and commercial partnerships. The new packages will be offered through KPN's German operator E-Plus' own Base brand, according to KPN's spokesman Christian Schieven. Mobile data, due to the surge in smart phones and notebooks, is a growth area for KPN, with customer demand rapidly increasing. KPN said the offers combine a range of smartphones plus a data package for a single monthly fee to which a choice of voice plans can be added. Schieven said the price range for KPN's new offerings will be between EUR11 and EUR30 a month and at this point doesn't include Research In Motion Ltd's Blackberry or Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
Total Telecom

Microsoft Warns Of 'Unprecedented Wave' Of Java Attacks
Microsoft has warned of an "unprecedented wave" of attacks on Oracle's Java platform. On a blog post on the Microsoft Malware Protection Center page, the company said that attacks exploiting vulnerabilities affecting the Java platform have significantly increased in the past nine months. The number of attacks on Java rose from half a million in the first quarter of 2010 to 6 million in the third quarter. Microsoft's Holly Stuart wrote on the blog: In fact, by the beginning of this year, the number of Java exploits (and by that I mean attacks on vulnerable Java code, not attacks using JavaScript) had well surpassed the total number of Adobe-related exploits we monitored.
IT Pro Portal

Net neutrality: BBC tells EU that ISPs must be transparent about traffic shaping
The discussion about net neutrality - which has mostly focused on the US market so far - seems simplified into two camps. On one side, large corporate media and the internet service providers. On the other, the public sector and the web purists. (If you're still in the dark about exactly what net neutrality is, it's actually very simple. Read this explainer.) Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, threw his weight behind the open web argument today, criticising ISPs who have restricted access to the iPlayer at certain times of day (even with a meaty connection, iPlayer is often glitchy at early evening peak times) and calling for more transparency about current traffic-shaping practices among ISPs. He summarises key points made by the BBC in its submission to the commission on net neutrality being conducted by Ofcom and the European Commission, a submission which tries to persuade the commission that its three goals are universal access, quality of service and the long-term support of innovative, competitive business models.
The Guardian

RIM partners with UAE to launch Dubai services
Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has announced a series of partnerships with the United Arab Emirates' telecoms regulator just weeks after the state threatened to block Blackberry services. The company has unveiled plans to launch mobile banking and online payment systems in the Middle East, along with a Blackberry application that will allow Dubai-based users to pay utility bills via smartphones, according to the Financial Times. Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of RIM, said, "The enormous popularity of Blackberry Messenger in the Middle East demonstrates the potential for new apps and services in the region."Back in August when the UAE's Telecommunication Regulatory Authority said it would suspend Blackberry's instant messenger, e-mail and Web browsing services because they could not be monitored and raised national security concerns.
Computer Weekly

Google terminates contracts in China
Google's contracts with large Chinese advertising resellers will end on 27 October, the company has announced. In September Google said it would end the contracts, but has not given a reason for the decision. It is thought the move will benefit China's leading search engine Baidu, which has more than 70% of the country's search market revenue. This follows figures from research firm Analysys which found that Google's share of China's online market fell to 24.2% in the three months to June, from 30.9% in the first quarter. China renewed Google's licence in July, after the web giant threatened to close its operations because of concerns about state censorship
Computer Weekly

Android developers can now advertise with BuzzCity
Mobile entertainment company BuzzCity has it’s fingers in a lot of pies entertainment content, games downloads, advertising networks, etc but it all boils down to the same central model. It offers free entertainment to mobile owners, and monetises their attention through advertising. And today, it has released a Software Development Kit (SDK) for Android, allowing developers to earn ad revenue from BuzzCity.The BuzzCity model revolves around being all-inclusive. You’ll find that the content it offers is targeted mostly at low-end devices; the drive towards smartphones and upper-market devices is fairly recent. It’s popular Djuzz gaming network caters mostly to feature phones, and offers a massive number of free games. These are all monetised in the same way that an Android dev will be with the new SDK:
GoMo News