In addition to our mobile phones, in 2009 we were addicted to:

•  Real mobile browsers – starting with iPhone but by year end available on most smartphones (though Blackberry and WinMo browsers still lag) – Editor in Chief Rich Karpinski
•  Google Goggles – Executive News Editor Ed Gubbins
•  Seafood Watch – Is the tuna that looks so good at the supermarket actually endangered? – Senior Editor Kevin Fitchard
•  Words with Friends on the iPhone 3G. It’s not groundbreaking; just free Scrabble on your phone. It has made an honest Scrabbler out of me. – Associate News Editor Sarah Reedy

More favorites from our smartphone holdouts after the break… more

Forget 4G or even 3G, ABI Research is predicting that an evolved version of 2G EDGE networks could be big if it fulfills its potential – but that is a big if. ABI said today in a research note that the “Evolved” enhancement of today’s widespread EDGE mobile networks (E-EDGE) could generate nearly $3.7 billion in capex for cellular base station upgrades in 2015, but that depends on operators and handset makers adopting the technology. more

Operation Chokehold is set to go down within the hour, but it remains to be seen what affect it will have on AT&T’s (NYSE:T) network – if any. Born from a satirical blog post by the “fake Steve Jobs” that was spurred by comments AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vegas made to analysts, the protest has taken on a life of its own. more

The mobile industry can stop worrying about slipping sales and shrinking ARPUs – the economic recession will be over for them come 2010, according to custom research company TNS. In its annual Global Telecoms and Insights survey of 24,000 consumers released today, the firm found that 53% of Americans plan to buy a mobile phone in the next six months, up from just 24% this time last year. more

Allied Wireless, a subsidiary of Massachusetts-based Atlantic Tele-Network (NASDAQ:ATNI), is building a new headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., the company announced today along with plans to hire 200 to 250 workers at the new location.

Allied was created to operate wireless assets acquired by Atlantic that had been divested as part of Verizon Wireless’s acquisition of Alltel. Atlantic had previously hinted that it might choose Little Rock to set up its new base of operations, in part because hundreds of layoffs following Verizon’s acquisition have left a ready pool of available talent there.

In September, 13-year Alltel veteran Frank O’Mara was named to lead the acquired business, which includes 800,000 subscribers in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio and Idaho.

AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) appear to have both benefitted from the recent internecine ad campaign in which the two bickered over whose 3G wireless coverage was superior — though Verizon may have gained more than its rival.

According to a survey released today by YouGov Brand Index, Verizon Wireless’ brand awareness among adults 18 to 34 shot from 37.1% in early November to 62.2% in early December. AT&T’s awareness in the same group rose from 41.2% to 54.5% in that time. Toward the end of November, as the holiday shopping season kicked into full swing, Verizon Wireless had surpassed AT&T in terms of awareness.

That mutual benefit is fortunate for the two companies, since the war brought attention to weaknesses in both of their offerings and underscored the limits of today’s 3G networks. But it also may encourage the two to try to repeat the phenomenon. We haven’t seen the last of Luke Wilson.

Just a few weeks after Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) finished its 2009 WiMax rollout, competing 4G technology long-term evolution (LTE) landed its first network – in Sweden. TeliaSonera launched in two cities – the first LTE launches ever – today, promising wireless download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. The wireless operator used equipment from Ericsson and Huawei to roll out the service in Stockholm and Olso, respectively. more

Operators are supposed to be busting up their piggy banks to upgrade their backhaul networks in anticipation of increased 3G and eventual 4G data traffic, but a new study from Infonetics shows that one of the key backhaul equipment sectors, microwave radios, was down 8% in the third quarter. The global microwave market brought in $1.4 billion, half of which went to Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and NEC, according to Infonetics. more

For those of you have been following the VoLGA issue, here’s a video that might amuse–or offend–you. The debate over how exactly to extend bread-and-butter voice and SMS services over the all-IP data network is becoming contentious. On one side are the advocates of IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)-based solutions and on the other are those that favor a more generic solution, utilizing operators existing 2G and 3G circuit-switched infrastructure. Even within those camps there are some big disagreements.

Who says engineers don’t have a sense of humor?

One thing I noticed in traveling the past couple of weeks is that you can’t necessarily judge a smartphone by its user interface. Looking over someone’s shoulder on an airplane or in a meeting, it’s not always clear exactly which smartphone they’re using, especially if they are deep in a calendar or email app, for example.

Chances are the person is swiping to a new screen or tapping on a virtual keyboard, whether it be an Apple iPhone, one of the many Droid phones or an HTC-enriched Windows mobile phone.

One wonders what will make a customer not caught in the daily sturm and drang of our industry choose one phone over another. The answer, of course, is marketing.

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