On June 29, Apple will release its iPhone, perhaps one of the most hyped gadgets in history and a clear sign of where CEO Steve Jobs is placing his bets, says C/Net.

About 81.3 million smart phones shipped last year, according to iSuppli, which defines smart phones as “handsets with an open OS (like Windows CE, Symbian, Linux), which allow functional expansion of the device through sophisticated add-on applications such as personal information management.”

The iPhone runs Mac OS X and Jobs promises it will deliver the “full Internet” to a mobile phone. Competitors are likely to respond later this year.

Microsoft Wednesday inked a cross-licensing patent agreement with South Korea’s LG Electronics, covering the company’s Linux-based embedded devices.

As part of the deal, LG, one of the world’s largest electronics companies, can use undefined “patented Microsoft technology” in its products, including Linux-based devices. Microsoft did not detail just what patents LG was licensing, and LG did not say if its Linux-based devices violated any Microsoft patents.

LG is a manufacturer of CDMA, GSM and 3G handsets, IP phones, Plasma TVs, optical storage products, PDAs, notebook computers, DVD players and home theater systems, among other electronic products. LG is a member of the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum, which also includes Sony, Panasonic, Motorola and others. None of those companies have cross-licensing deals with Microsoft.

LG’s Prada phone, like the iPhone, packs a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and a capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 240×400, making it slightly larger/longer than the typical QVGA display. In spite of its appearance, it isn’t a smartphone, but more like a feature phone on steroids, says Mobile Burn.

HTC’s Touch, a Windows Mobile 6 device, is the first HTC device to make use of what the company is calling its TouchFLO technology. TouchFLO uses of a new type of touchscreen and a series of changes to WM6 itself to allow users to control a device with their fingers as well as the traditional stylus.

In other news, ShoZu announced today that it has received the Mobile Entertainment Forum’s 2007 Meffy Award for the best mobile handset application for its Mobile Media Service, enabling one-click or no-click multimedia uploads and downloads as well as ad delivery on mobile phones.

The ShoZu application was selected over four other semi-finalists, including Sprint’s NFL Mobile; Didiom’s mobile music, a sampling and downloading program; NewBay Software’s PIXOTA for mobile image uploading; and Roundbox’s TV Guide Mobilee for navigating mobile video content.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8:10 am.