And Microsoft looms large as well, with its software on 140 phone models available from 160 mobile-phone carriers.
The GolfLogix GPS App is compatible with over 60 smart phone models.
Developers also have to juggle the requirements of different phone models and the two very different dominant operating systems, Apple iOS and Google Android.
Best Buy Mobile stores, which specialize in cellphones and other devices that connect to wireless networks, will continue to maintain an average of 90 to 100 phone models per store, for instance.
KDDI, Okinawa Cellular since early October 2011, Smartphone au "IS series" au mobile phone models and three models of six new lineup, one tablet models, one model will launch a communications terminal sequence.
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It is therefore a good sign that while Nokia has been marketing the Lumia well in developed markets, it continues to roll out new S40 feature phone models aimed at its traditional strongholds in emerging markets.
FORBES: Nokia Takes On Android In Emerging Markets With More Asha Phones
Back then as analysts and investment bankers, we had to create enormous spreadsheets to track all the new cell phone models, what standards they worked on and what carriers offered them, in order to estimate the subtle shifts in the competitive landscape among Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola.
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Right now, when a user walks into a store, she has to choose from among a few different iPhone models, a countless array of Android devices, some Windows Phone 8 models and even the BlackBerry Z10.
On Wednesday, Nokia is holding an event with Microsoft in New York to show off their first Windows Phone 8 models.
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How on earth did they manage to miss the autumn phone season with models that basically employ 18-month old technology?
Several wireless-phone makers announced new models aimed at the younger set at this week's Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Trade Show in New Orleans.
Size will vary accordingly: the first 3G devices will be larger and heavier than most of today's models, although phone makers rule out a return to the weighty bricks of the early 1990s.
This has made it imperative that handset makers come up with different models of the same phone for different regions in order to support the multitude of LTE networks that have sprung up globally.
The company has also maintained its strong ties to Microsoft: While best known for Android phones, HTC also sells models based on Windows Phone 7 and will be among the pioneers when Phone 8 debuts next year.
Getjar, which started out as a way of distributing Java-based mobile games, has grown to include hosting, phone detection, development support for different models, serving and downloading.
The most radical design feature: an antenna that wrapped around the edge of the phone, allowing Apple to pack a bigger battery into the phone and make it thinner than previous models.
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However, companies building accessories for the new phone, such as Hard Candy, have already begun cranking out cases for the new phone based on scuttlebutt about what the new models will look like.
While there are certainly some high-end models, such as the new phone-tablet hybrid Samsung Galaxy Note, Android also runs on cheaper, less-advanced phones and on discount carriers instead of the handful of Apple-approved networks that the iPhone can access.
Once inside, he gyrates to the booming beat of the deejay's music, revels in the dotings of a gaggle of long-legged fashion models and poses obligingly for every cell phone camera that is thrust into his face.
While the Cupertino tech giant fine-tunes a single phone, Samsung floods the zone with a variety of models, ranging from low-end handsets to its more upscale Galaxy line.
As I write, the notoriously secretive company has not even confirmed that an event is taking place - but it has to put a new device out soon or sales will surely slow to a trickle because the current models will look very last year to fickle phone buyers.
At 4.28 inches long, 2.29 inches wide and .93 inches thick, the 4.5 ounce phone is a little bigger than many candy bar-shaped models.
Sprint had been installing on its floor models a software program called GadgetTrak that locates a phone or laptop using its GPS chip and Wi-Fi positioning.
Models of the so-called "Morph" phone are kept in a foam-padded case, along with a single white glove, deep in the heart of Nokia's research laboratory in Cambridge University, England.
That Chou currently favors a Windows phone over one of the dozen or so more popular HTC models that run Google's Android could signal a change in allegiance for a major smartphone player.
Audiences had already been on the bandwagon, taking phone pics from their seats and posting reviews online before the models were off the runway, but designers are figuring out how to use all the instant feedback to their advantage.
Offering a new Windows feature phone, in addition to upgraded basic options on lower-priced models, will likely help the company keep a stable bottom line.
By creating a commonly shared software platform, called "Android, " Google executives contend that the future phone should be cheaper to produce compared to other high-functioning models.
"While the ability to scroll by tilting a phone is a feature we've seen on some earlier Android models, its automated activation is new, " wrote Gikas of Consumer Reports.
While this will merely assist in stretching phone life, the company says it is working on more efficient models which could one day be fitted as standard to mobiles and perhaps virtually eliminate dependence on mains electricity.
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