It’s that time of the week again, Friday, the day that keeps you motivated while you chip away at that 9 to 5 each week. To help lighten the load we’ve got plenty of breaking mobile news for you this morning so sit back relax and enjoy your Morning Mobile Minute. Back in the news this morning after reporting their Q3 2009 Financials, At&t has announced that they saw record numbers of WiFi Hotspot Connections in the third quarter. At&t customers made 25.4 million WiFi connections in the third quarter versus 20 million made in all of 2008 and 25.6 million in the first half of 2009.
Nokia and Orange France announced that Nokia Messaging, a user-friendly push email service, is coming to Orange France customers. Nokia Messaging push email service enables access to email accounts from thousands of webmail services across the world – all from the mobile phone. With Nokia Messaging, users can read, send, forward and reply to emails, as well as download, read and attach files while on the move.
Verizon Wireless is now offering two new HP Netbooks, the HP Mini 311-1037NR and the HP Mini 110-1046NR, which will be the first to support Windows 7 Home Premium. The HP Mini 311-1037NR is available for $249.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a Mobile Broadband plan. The HP Mini 110-1046NR will be available in mid-November for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a Mobile Broadband plan.
Samsung announced the Samsung Application Store Developer Challenge 2009 in which the top two winners will receive $100,000 each in prize money. Following the launch of the Samsung Application Store in selected countries in September, the contest aims to drive interest among developers and attract new applications to strengthen the content available for Samsung mobile phones.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 just passed through the FCC but unfortunately did not bring US 3G bands with it. Despite the lack of 3G the FCC documentation does include the full user manual which explains the use of panels and all the other neat features for those lucky enough to live in Europe.
Last this morning is news on the Motorola Droid. Apparently a very ambitious tipster over on PhoneArena has leaked some screenshots from the Best Buy inventory system which show the device being released through the retail network of the company on October 24 for $599.99 without contract. On October 28, Verizon will be showcasing the Droid in New York so we know Best Buy will not be able to sell these units until November, but this is a good sign we’ll see an early November release.