New York - Skype, the Internet telephone service unit of eBay (NASD: EBAY), plans to launch an application that make its service available to users of Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone tomorrow at a mobile industry trade show, and another in May that will enable its service for RIM's (NASD: RIMM) BlackBerry, Reuters reported. "The No. 1 request we get from customers is to make Skype available on iPhone. There's a pent-up demand," Skype COO Scott Durchslag told Reuters.

Waterloo, Canada - BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (NASD: RIMM) announced this week that it will pay $74.5 million to settle a stock options backdating charge from the Ontario Securities Commission.

New York - EchoStar's Sling Media plans to release a public beta version of its SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry on Dec. 30. The software will allow BlackBerry owners with a Slingbox connected to their set-tops, TiVos or other similar devices to access their premium home channels via their mobile devices over a Wi-Fi or 3G connection.

Dallas - AT&T (NYSE: NWS) announced on Thursday that it is provided free Wi-Fi access to first- and second-generation iPhone (NASD: AAPL) owners and select BlackBerry (NASD: RIMM) owners at its 17,000 hotspots, which can be found in locations including Starbucks and Barnes & Noble. The company said it also plans to make the offer available to more mobile devices in the future.

The recent release of the G1 (aka Google phone) through T-Mobile and soon to be released Blackberry Bold & Storm prompted me to compare search activity among the new handheld devices. We often compare the search volume on new products to gauge the strength of consumer interest and how that may translate into sales. The Blackberry Storm was the most commonly searched product with 3.5x the volume of searches for Blackberry Bold and 3.9x the volume of the G1.

Redwood City, Calif. - Shortly after announcing the release of a live mobile streaming application for the Apple iPhone, Qik on Monday introduced live streaming video support for Research In Motion's (NASD: RIMM) BlackBerry smartphones. Qik will initially support live video streaming on the BlackBerry Pearl and Bold models.

Los Angeles - The BlackBerry Partners Fund, established with $150 million to be granted to developers working on applications for BlackBerry smartphones, has awarded $150,000 each to three companies -- two of which are developing music applications for the platform, MocoNews reported.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) is now the third-largest mobile phone company in the world, behind Nokia and Samsung, and its iPhone outsold RIM's (NASD: RIMM) BlackBerry in the recent quarter, the company revealed in its earnings statement. Apple said it sold 6.9 million of its iPhone 3G devices in the quarter ended Sept. 27, compared with 6.1 million BlackBerry units sold by RIM.

Waterloo, Ontario - BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM) (NASD: RIMM) on Thursday announced new partnerships with TiVo (NASD: TIVO), MySpace (NYSE: NWS), Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) and Ticketmaster (NASD: TKTM) that will bring new content and services to its devices. Under the deals, BlackBerry owners will soon be able to view TV listings and schedule recordings on their TiVos; access an optimized version of MySpace with integrated push-based messaging; and access Microsoft Live Search. BlackBerry was also named the official smartphone of Ticketmaster, and the companies are developing an application that will facilitate browsing and purchasing of tickets.

A lot of the iPhone launch coverage last week included references to the alternatives to Apple’s latest mobile phone. It looks like the competitor that benefited most from these comparisons in Britain was Blackberry – ironic, considering that many are touting the new 3G iPhone as a ‘blackberry-killer’. As you can see from the table chart below, UK Internet searches for ‘blackberry’ reached their highest ever level last week.

New York - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone accounted for 19.2% of U.S. smartphone sales during the first quarter of 2008, down from 26.7% in the fourth quarter of last year, while rival Research in Motion's (NASD: RIMM) BlackBerry saw market share rise from 35.1% in the fourth quarter to 44.5% in the first, the Associated Press reported, citing a vendor survey conducted by market research firm IDC.