Zaps Technology Mobile

Swype recently began offering a beta version of its QWERTY keyboard input software. Users can download the beta version of the software for free, though the number of users Swype will allow is going to be limited at first. The software will work in English and Spanish, Swype said more languages are to come. The software will have limited features, as some of the functionality of the software requires integration from phone makers. It will support devices with HVGA and WVGA resolutions, and will only have limited end-user support (via Swype's forums). Previously, Swype was only available to handset makers, as the full version needs tweaks to be made during the manufacturing/development process. Swype allows users of touch phones to swipe their fingers across the screen to type words rather than peck at the screen with their fingertip.

T-Mobile USA has called off its year-long exclusive search deal with Yahoo and has replaced it with Google. The deal was completed recently and Google replaced Yahoo as the default search engine on T-Mobile handsets approximately March 3. Phone Scoop was able to verify on a T-Mobile phone that Google Search is now active in T-Mobile's Web2Go platform and home page. Earlier this week, AT&T disclosed that it has replaced Google on its Motorola Backflip Android phone with Yahoo's search, instead.

Verizon Wireless has eliminated the mail-in rebate previously necessary for customers to get the lowest price for the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. Customers will now only pay $149 out of pocket for the Pre Plus and $79 for the Pixi Plus.

Microsoft today announced that its new Windows Phone 7 platform will include the company's Silverlight and XNA technologies for developers. Silverlight is a runtime designed to make it easier for developers to create rich, attractive interfaces that are intelligently separated from lower-level logic code. On the desktop, Silverlight competes with Adobe Flash. XNA provides an alternative to Silverlight that is more tailored for creating 3D and 2D games. Developers will use Microsoft's C# programming language to write apps for Windows Phone 7. The new platform is not backward-compatible with Windows Mobile 6.x apps; developers will need to re-write their apps, although they may be able to re-use some behind-the-scenes (non-interface) C# code written using .NET CF for Windows Mobile 6.x.