Smartphone

LAS VEGAS — Matias Duarte is a man who loves a challenge.

It’s part of why he took his current job at Google, leading the Android operating system team as head of user experience. In a nutshell, he is the man tasked with making sure Android looks, feels, and performs as smoothly as possible. And it is not an easy job.

“Designing an open mobile operating system — and doing it really well — that’s never happened before in human history,” Duarte tells me, leaning forward in his chair and sipping from a cup of tea as we spoke in the garish hallway of a hotel on the Vegas strip earlier this week. He is visibly excited, seemingly up to the task when I note how big the challenge is. “I’ve done the closed thing before,” he says, referring to his days at Palm working on the webOS operating system. “And I’d like to think I did it well.”

Logistically speaking, his new gig is a nightmare. Not only does the Android team have to engineer adroit, adaptable code, but they must serve third-party developers who are trying to create apps for a constantly updated operating system. This second task has been especially difficult in the wake of the most recent Android code overhaul, version 4.0, also known as ‘Ice Cream Sandwich.’..

It's just a concept.. but for how long?

The Android Market and Apple App Store are locked in constant battle for the hearts and minds of mobile device users. Although Apple still holds a lead in the total number of app offerings, its dominance looks to be diminishing. But fear not, Apple fan boys: Team iOS still holds an overwhelming lead in terms of app purchase revenue.

Distimo, an app store analysis firm, compared the 200 highest-grossing apps in each market. According to a study released Tuesday, the firm found that the iOS App Store has generated six times the total revenues of the Android Market. iPhone app sales earned four times the profits of the Android Market, while iPad app sales made twice as much money as Android Market app sales.

Interesting composition called “How the millenial generation uses mobile” to add to the growing number of infographics about youth mobile usage. This data is a useful add to any presentation.

The former GM of Windows Phone wonders why the mobile OS hasn’t been a hit.

Over in China Dell has unleashed the Dell Streak Pro - an Android handset with a twist.

That twist being that it's not really an Android handset at all, not in the traditional sense at least. it comes rocking Baidu Yi, an OS from the Chinese search giant, that is modelled and built on top of on Google's mobile platform.