In another blow to troubled Canadian smartphone maker Research in Motion, energy drilling giant Halliburton Co. says it will replace its company-issued BlackBerrys with competitor Apple’s iPhone.

A spokeswoman for the Houston, Texas-based firm says the plan will roll out over the next two years as it phases out 4,500 BlackBerrys from its operations.

Yesterday we told you that the Gannet newspaper company is handing out iPhones. We’ll hear more of these stories as time goes on.

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John Brownlee:

Apple’s not serious about ditching Intel for the Mac, but even so, the next few years will be very interesting as ARM and Intel trade body blows. If Intel plays its cards right, come 2015, we could all be talking very seriously indeed about whether or not Apple will be putting Intel’s new mobile chips in the iPhone 8 and iPad 6.

Interesting rundown of the chips and what we may see.

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Reuters:

Next-generation software for BlackBerry’s smartphones is “ready to compete”, Research In Motion’s new chief executive, Thorsten Heins, told more than 2,000 technical developers on Tuesday, expressing confidence in RIM’s long-term future.

I hate to tell you this, but that train left five years ago.

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Abdel Ibrahim talking about the Galaxy Note:

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind a slightly bigger display on my iPhone, but not if it means a significantly bigger footprint. The prettier visuals just wouldn’t make up for the pain-in-the-ass portability factor, and you’d better believe I’m not alone in that sentiment.

Right.

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Forty percent of Sprint’s 1.8 million iPhone sales in the fourth quarter were to new customers.

The company reported total net subscriber additions of 1.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2011 – the best quarterly result in six years – bringing total ending subscribers to the highest level in the company’s history.

It was still a tough quarter for Sprint, reporting a net loss of $1.3 billion.

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Since Samsung decided to go retro and include a stylus with its newest products, I thought I’d be nice and hunt down a few other products Galaxy Note users may be interested in. [...]

This FAQ for Gannett journalists receiving iPhones was distributed today at the chain’s papers.

Q: I like my non- iPhone device. Can I just stay with that?

A: If the company owns the device, the answer is no. iPhone is the only device that can do all the things we want you to be able to do. Also, iPhone is the only device for which we have training, support and unlimited data lined up.

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Thanks to @abdophoto for sending the photo of Leo Laporte holding the devices.

Jim Cramer talking about how all of the football players pulled out their iPhones to capture the moments at the end of the game.

But what matters to me is that when everyone else is paying $3 million per commercial, Apple paid nothing and easily had the best ad of all.

[Via DF]

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How important are apps in this new economy? According to new research from TechNet apps have created 466,000 jobs since 2008. [...]

Chris Ziegler posted a good look at Chrome for Android on The Verge.

MG Siegler brings up a good point:

Second, it’s only compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich which is currently on — wait for it — 1% of Android devices.

So congrats to those 1%, I guess.

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Phil Goldstein:

A royalty fee of 2.25 percent would have cost Apple more than $1 billion in 2011 iPhone sales alone.

If you can’t make a decent product yourself, sue someone that does.

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NPD’s smartphone report:

Apple leaped past Samsung and LG to become the best-selling U.S. handset brand in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011. In a quarter that featured the launch of the iPhone 4S and the addition of Sprint, Apple’s three available models combined to capture 43 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in Q4.

[...]

Strange Flavour are back with a new spin on their hit slot car racing game SlotZ Racer!

SlotZ Racer Caterham Special is a free special version of the game for fans of Caterham’s legendary sports cars. Compete in single races or in four Caterham championships in one of five versions of the Caterham Seven car, varying from the Caterham 7 Roadsport to the Caterham 7 R500 Superlight.

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Apple’s A5 processor includes noise-reduction circuitry licensed from a start-up called Audience, and a chip analyst believes that fact resolves an iPhone 4S mystery and explains why the iPhone 4 lacks the Siri voice-control system.

Audience revealed details of its Apple partnership in January, when it filed paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Teardown work from iFixit and Chipworks revealed a dedicated Audience chip in the iPhone 4, but the iPhone 4S integrates Audience’s “EarSmart” technology directly into the A5 processor, the company’s S-1 filing said.

The explanation make sense even as it disappoints those of us with the iPhone 4 who were hoping to get Siri retroactive on our phones.

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