None of the companies involved in the bidding have publicly disclosed their participation. But those patents are likely what Apple is most interested in, since it's rumored that a "Verizon iPhone" will come with LTE support.

In the smartphone business, the conventional wisdom is that everyone is battling for third place behind Google and Apple.

The exact reasons behind the pull weren't known but could involve both legitimate security concerns and competition.

Engadget has published what it claims are photos of the unannounced, unreleased Nexus S Android handset from Samsung.

So how does 40,000 Window 7 phones measure up? Google said last month that it was selling 200,000 Android phones a day. And Apple has said that its iPhone sales rate was 270,000 a day.

Gemalto said in a statement it filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for alleged infringement of its patented technologies in the open-source Android system and Dalvik operating environment.

A new mobile device activation report from Good Technology shows that Apple's iPhone and iPad and smartphones based on Google's Android operating system are being adopted by consumers to help with their enterprise work.

LG Electronics said that it had scrapped a plan to launch a tablet computer based on Google Inc's Android 2.2 operation system known as "Froyo," a decision that may delay the rollout of its first tablet PC slated for next quarter.

Yesterday, Huawei launched its first phone in Singapore, the Ideos U8150. The smartphone packs Google's latest Android 2.2 operating system

It has only been a few months since Apple's iAds went live, but the service is taking away shares from perennial mobile-advertising leaders Google, Microsoft, and Nokia.

Research firm ComScore reported that of top 5 platforms, only Google Android grew in market share, from 12% to 17% of the US smartphone market in May to July. Microsoft, RIM, and Apple all lost shares, while Palm hovered at 4.9 percent.

Google's Android platform came on strong in August, notching a 25 percent smartphone operating system plot, said data firm Quantcast.

"Any company with a telecoms network should be accessible," an Indian Home Ministry official told the BBC. "It could be Google or Skype, but anyone operating in India will have to provide data."

This reviewer has quite a low opinion on Dell's latest Android phone. "The Aero, you see, runs on Android 1.5 -- an early version of Google's mobile operating system that's 16 months out of date and a lifetime behind in functionality and performance. For a brand new phone to be shipping with a year-old version of Android is simply embarrassing, both to Dell and to the image of the Android brand."

Xinhua News Agency announced it has signed a framework agreement with China Mobile Communications to establish an Internet search engine company. It did not reveal when the company will be founded and how much capital will be invested in it.

The Medfield platform will include a power-efficient version of the Atom processor, which will be integrated inside a chip code-named Penwell, according to a document originally posted on Intel's website, which is still available on Google cache.

Android isn't only about smartphones - not for long, anyway. Google's mobile operating system is set to make its way onto all sorts of high-tech stuff, ranging from the mundane and to the just plain strange.

The report notes that the Google Android platform continues to show rapid growth and over the past six months has edged past the Apple iPhone platform with new subscribers.

Raytheon, which makes the Patriot missile defense system, is developing software which could enable a soldier to find enemies in his or her surrounding terrain using a mobile phone running Google's Android operating system.

Google Energy has signed a deal to purchase 114 megawatts of energy from a wind farm in Iowa, marking the first deal done by Google's energy subsidiary.