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Here's a smattering of Verizon Wireless stories that turned up Friday. Chief among them is the possibility that Verizon Wireless plans to offer the iPhone...at least in theory. Other Verizon stories include an intriguing Google goosing, and an official Verizon response to the FCC.

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Based on Palm's recent quarterly earnings, it's safe to say the company hasn't fully turned itself around yet. The Pre and Pixi are selling below expectations from Palm's single carrier partner Sprint. Will a new version of webOS spice up sales?

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Gartner is expecting mobile device sales to pick up in 2010 after remaining virtually flat in 2009. I guess with many predicting the recession is over, even though it will be a jobless recovery, people will start replacing phones they've held onto, either out of necessity or to get the latest gadget they've had their eye on.

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AT&T recently indicated that it does not plan to introduce tiered or usage-based smartphone plans, but it knows it needs to do something to relieve the pressure on its network. It's tossing around a few ideas, none of which sound all that great.

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Palm has started sending out invitations to the media for an event they are hosing at the 2010 CES show in Las Vegas. In 2009 they launched WebOS to much fanfare and launched the Pre nearly six months later. What could they be announcing at the 2010 show?

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According to new numbers from comScore, the actual number of iPhone users has surpassed the number of all Windows Mobile users in the U.S. by a wide margin. RIM, however, still outnumbers both by a factor of two.

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According to a sneaky Verizon Wireless employee, the company is preparing to train its staff on Palm and webOS. Why is this significant? It means that Verizon Wireless will likely be offering a webOS-based Palm device in the very near future.

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Yesterday, AndroLib noted that the Android Market had recently surpassed 20,000 applications. Not so, says Google. What's behind the 4,000 missing Android apps?

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Microsoft is pushing its Bing search engine pretty hard into the mobile space. It already has distribution deals with the likes of Verizon Wireless, but now it is stepping into an interesting new realm. Microsoft has made a free Bing application for the iPhone.

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Verizon has a new WiFi hotspot program where any of its "Mobile Broadband" customers get free access to hotspots across the country. The advantage is for the same price you were paying yesterday, you can now transfer more data without worrying about the typical 5GB per month limit since none of the hotspot transfers count against your monthly limit. The bad news is, being a Verizon smartphone owner doesn't get you any of these benefits.

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The Android space continues to heat up. Today, we learned that the Android Market has reached the 20,000 apps milestone, the Android Facebook application has been updated, and Android OS 2.1. has been ported to the Droid.

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Hmm, this is interesting. In order to "send a message to AT&T," Fake Steve Jobs is suggesting all iPhone customers hop on their phones Friday afternoon and run a data-intensive application in an attempt to crash AT&T's wireless network. I have a few thoughts about this.

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Sprint has presented its users with an opportunity to get out of their contract without incurring any early termination fees. They are increasing the Regulatory Charge to $.40 per line. This is enough of a change in terms apparently that if you disagree with the new charge, you can simply reject the fee increase, and your service.

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Believe it or not, there's actually a few interesting tidbits of iPhone-related news floating around out there today. Some are blaming Apple for the iPhone's connectivity woes, others predict that Apple will sell 10 million iPhones this quarter, and yet others say evidence of the next iPhone has been spotted.

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The amount of information that has hit the Internet about the Nexus One Google Phone is bordering on the ridiculous. Not all of it is accurate. Here's a quick look at what's real and what's not.

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It looks like Windows Mobile 7 has been pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2010. Actually, Microsoft has not published any release date for the mobile platform so what is really being pushed back are the expectations that the previous round of rumors had. This pushes the release closer to the holiday season though. Any release after that wouldn't bode well at all.

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Mere hours after Google posted a blog about an unnamed Android device that it gave its employees, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that the device will in fact be sold to consumers as the Nexus One. This is the real, actual, Google Phone, and it will be available in early 2010.

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In a cryptic post on The Official Google Mobile Blog today, Google admitted that a Google phone does indeed exist. But it's for employees only, and only for "dogfooding" activities. Oh, and Google doesn't call it the "Google Phone."

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Time Magazine has named its top ten gadgets of the year. To what I am sure is the bitter disappointment of Apple, Motorola's Droid took the top spot. Does the Droid deserve such honors? Who was left out?

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In response to the lawsuit that Nokia filed against Apple in October, Apple has responded with one of its own. It goes so far as to say that Nokia "stole" from Apple. This could get ugly.

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The Motorola Droid review unit I have recently updated itself to system 2.0.1. The changes are subtle, but executed perfectly. Not that the Droid was a dog before, but it now operates much better.

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Some Palm Pre owners are less than pleased with the backup system that Palm and Sprint use to ensure that user's data is retained. One customer has sued Palm and Sprint in Federal court and is seeking class action status.

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T-Mobile is rolling out an update to its Android customers that enables one important new feature: carrier billing. With this feature now working, customers will be able to have Android Market purchases added to their monthly bill rather than their credit card.

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For the first time, Skype is offering a version of its software to Symbian S60 3rd Edition devices. It covers the basics, such as Skype-to-Skype calling and instant messaging. The initial set of devices it works with is limited, but Skype promises that will grow quickly.

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Google has taken the opportunity to offer a new version of its mobile search application for the iPhone. The new software makes several improvements to the usability of the application, including the ability to recognize Australian accents.

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Verizon Wireless has announced a software update for the HTC Droid Eris. This is not the promised update to either Android 2.0 or 2.1. Instead, this new boot ROM and radio software fixes some minor performance issues on the device.

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Skyfire has just taken their browser and upgraded it for Windows Mobile phones. The browser now supports Flash and Silverlight right in the browser just like your desktop. It also supports Ajax, which is what Gmail and other sites use to easily change what is on the screen without forcing a refresh.

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Lots of people run multiple operating systems on their PC. Some PC users have been dual or multibooting between various versions of Windows and Linux for a number of reasons. It isn't unusual for an Apple OS X user to have a copy of Windows they can boot into on their Mac. Through the use of virtual machines, you can run these operating systems simultaneously and switch just as easily as you switch apps on a single OS. Now it seems you may be able to do the same thing with Windows Mobile and Android.

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The JooJoo Web tablet has sure caused a stir with all of its issues with TechCrunch, but is the device good enough to overcome all this drama? I spent a little time talking with Fusion Garage CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan today going over the JooJoo and feel like it's an impressive product that may be hindered by its price. Hit the jump for deeper impressions and a demo video.

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Samsung herded up the tech press in London today to share more information about Bada, its new homegrown mobile operating system. Yours truly hopped the Atlantic to attend. Unfortunately, all Samsung demonstrated was its ability to fling every buzzword in the book at attendees.

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Verizon Wireless has started updating the system software of the Motorola Droid. The changelog is pretty long, and includes, among other things, better battery life, a fix for the camera, and more OS stability.

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HTC's roadmap for the first half has been leaked and there are tons of pictures and specifications. Looks like there will be plenty of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices as well as some based on Android.

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Non-profit organizations count on the giving, holiday spirit for end-of-year fundraising campaigns, but with the tight economy, generosity is being rationed by many people. Children's Hospital Boston is hoping a new text messaging campaign underway will drive smaller donations that will add up all year.

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I can't believe AT&T is taking this step. It is officially asking its customers to tell them where coverage is less than optimal with a new application for the iPhone called "Mark the Spot." As in, mark the spot where AT&T failed you.

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Apparently our friends across the pond aren't too taken with Google's Android operating system. Its presence in European markets has increased in recent months, but only slightly, and not nearly as much as in the U.S. Could it be that Europeans don't like the little green android?

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It seems to me a femtocell is a no brainer for the carriers to push. These miniature cell phone base stations go in your house and connect to your broadband internet service. This is ideal for people that have a number of dead spots in their house or no coverage at all if in a rural area. Their use, however, remains very low.

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With the court case safely behind them, Verizon Wireless continues to pull no punches in its anti-iPhone marketing campaign. The latest assault takes on the masculinity of the iPhone, and essentially says that it has none. Them's fightin' words, Verizon!

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Lots going on in the world of Research In Motion today. Some of the items you'll find in this post include a nifty sale going on at AT&T stores today as well as an upgrade to BlackBerry Apps World. More inside!

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Verizon Wireless has said that the HTC Droid Eris will receive a significant system update at some point in the fist quarter of 2010. The update will boost the Eris' version of Android to at least 2.0, and possibly even 2.1.

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Windows Mobile 6.1 had been getting a bit long in the tooth. Not much had changed from the user's view since 2005 when WinMo 5 launched. WinMo 7 is what people are waiting for, but in the mean time, Microsoft released an update to the platform that had the most radical changes since WinMo 5 was released without the desktop style menu system. Microsoft appeared to give up on 6.5 even before it launched.

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This evening I received an email from Verizon Wireless. It contained some welcome news for owners of the Motorola Droid. You see, Google has pushed out new SDKs for Android 2.0.1 and Android 1.6. This means the folks over at Motorola and Verizon can dig their hands into the code to fix the Droid's camera issue. Oh, and I have some info on the Droid BOGO event happening this weekend.

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The average selling price of smartphones may be dropping these days, but that doesn't mean that contract plan prices have dropped, too. BillShrink put together a list of devices and what their total cost of ownership is. Check it out.

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For the US, it is generally assumed that the ultimate marriage between device and carrier would be the iPhone on Verizon. The iPhone is unquestionably the most popular single phone out there for consumers and Verizon is the largest network in the US with impressive coverage and a great 3G network. The iPhone though may be headed to T-Mobile first.

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Using a Windows Mobile device? Like performing lots of searches when on the go? Need better performance all around? Get ready for a better Bing. It's free, and it's here today.

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Images have appeared of what purport to be a new Android device from Motorola. One quick glance is all it takes to discern that this device is a non-keyboard version of the Droid. Closer inspection, however, reveals a truly unique feature: an HDMI out port.

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We were in a meeting yesterday at General Motor's headquarters with Kirk Gutmann, chief technology and strategy officer, when a woman walked in and handed Gutmann a note. I could see type highlighted in bright yellow. She said, "You need to be in a 4 p.m. board meeting that just got called." I saw a flash of concern pass over Gutmann's face. We shook hands, and our meeting was quickly adjourned. Less than an hour later, I learned CEO Fritz Henderson had resigned.

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With the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention this week reporting widespread H1N1 flu outbreaks in 32 states, many companies are dealing with or anticipating the need for staff to work remotely in the months ahead. This can present a challenge for IT organizations that haven't in the past dealt with large numbers of remote workers.

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The companies you use to access the internet, both household broadband as well as wireless, have an incredible amount of information on your online habits. They know where and when you to go to sites and in the case of wireless carriers, they usually know where you are in the real world. To supplement their revenue, they are apparently selling this information to the government.

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Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of that little thing called Twitter, is showing off his latest project, and Square is trying to turn iPhones into a mobile payment hub for merchants. It's a very interesting idea, but, like Twitter, I'm wondering how it's going to make real money.

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Some good news for users of the Motorola CLIQ. Motorola is offering a system update for the device that makes some major improvements in battery life, screen accuracy and accelerometer accuracy. Too bad the CLIQ is stuck on Android 1.5, though.

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