nokia

Have you ever wanted to run a full-blown copy of Mac OS X on your mobile device? One hacker has managed to get Apple's operating system running on a smartphone, and it's not the iPhone.

The mobile version of the Firefox browser is now available to owners of the Nokia N900 smartphone, after several months of beta tests. Mozilla is also working on versions for smartphones running Windows Mobile and Android.

The first production version of Firefox for Mobile has been released, for Nokia's Maemo operating system. But Mozilla already seems to be scaling back its deployment plans, and unexpectedly the mobile browser will not support Adobe Flash.

Nokia and Apple were the big winners as the sale of mobile phones rebounded during the fourth quarter. Consumers, meanwhile, stand to get more choice and better value for money as competition heats up, especially in the smartphone segment.

Nokia reported a fourth-quarter profit of €948 million (US$1.3 billion), up 65 percent from a year earlier thanks to improved phone sales.

As Nokia takes on Google with turn-by-turn voice navigation on select smartphones, the worst nightmares of GPS device makers are coming true.

A new version of Nokia's mapping service Ovi Maps will include turn-by-turn voice guidance for walking and driving navigation for free, Nokia said on Thursday.

Android phones aren't the only handsets that have access to a free, full-featured GPS application. Nokia on Thursday announced that it will make the premium version of Ovi Maps, which includes turn-by-turn directions and traffic alerts, available on a number of its devices free of charge. But not all of Nokia's devices will benefit from the free upgrade from the start.

Nokia has turned in its proposal for the user interface in Symbian 4, with the goal of developing an interface that can compete with the iPhone and Google's Android OS.

Nokia's latest smartphone, the N900, has received a firmware update that gives access to applications and content on the company's Ovi Store.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo called on smartphone application developers to turn their attention to emerging countries, highlighting the vast business potential in these markets and the opportunity to improve the lives of the billions of people living there.

Nokia last week asked a federal court to block Apple from importing virtually any of Apple's current hardware into the U.S., including the iPhone, iPod and Mac lines.

Mobile phone maker Nokia has filed a new U.S. lawsuit accusing Apple of patent infringement, according to court documents, escalating the legal battle between the companies.

If Apple was expecting Nokia to back down and retract its patent lawsuit after Apple countersued, apparently Nokia didn't get the memo. Nokia has launched a fresh assault, filing a new complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that virtually every product Apple makes violates seven patents held by it.