According to a post published by the New York Times, a source revealed that before Instagram was recently bought by Facebook for $1 billion, Twitter was also interested in acquiring the photo sharing service.

According to sources familiar with the deal, in the months before the Facebook deal was secured, Twitter co-founder and Instagram investor Jack Dorsey had plans to buy the company. However, Dorsey clearly failed.

The New York Times writes that “Mr. Systrom may have lost one connection in the deal: Mr. Dorsey of Twitter. His company, according to several people briefed on the matter, had expressed interest in buying Instagram in recent months. Mr. Dorsey once used Instagram daily to send photos to Twitter, but he has not been back since the deal was announced, perhaps a sign that he is not happy to see it in the hands of a competitor. A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment.”

This discovery could also shed some light on some of the reasons why the social network bought the service that suggest that if it had not done so, it could empower other networks like Twitter and threaten the strength and growth of Facebook. In addition, this information may also provide some insight into the question of why Facebook paid such a massive amount for Instagram as interest shown by Twitter could have pushed the purchase price up.

(more…)

Ahead of its official and much anticipated launch at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, details of Samsung’s Galaxy S3 – the successor to the Galaxy S2 and the biggest selling Android phone – have been leaked by a source of BGR.

Among the unveiling of a number of quad-core handsets and Samsung’s offering of the Galaxy Beam projector phone and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been a noticeable omission from the Mobile World Congress line-up.

With no confirmation on the predicted sleek 7mm body that is 1.5 mm thinner than its predecessor, it looks as if the Galaxy S3 will in fact become Samsung’s first quad-core smartphone. Features include, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front facing camera , a 4.8-inch full HD screen, with 1080p resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio display – making it ideal for movie viewing. The phone is also said to feature a ceramic case.

(more…)

According to My Broadband, industry speculation suggests that MTN is getting ready to launch a cheaper internet service for BlackBerry customers with a fair use policy similar to its recently launched smartphone data packages.

The more affordable BIS service will be launched in partnership with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM).

MTN SA CEO Karel Pienaar previously told the site that MTN are closely following usage trends on their network and that with this information they were developing products to offer to specific segments of the market, the aim of which is to bring smartphones to more South Africans. A more affordable BlackBerry data option is one way in which this can be achieved and making mobile Internet access available to a larger portion of the population.

While the details of the cheaper BlackBerry service remain unclear at this point, it is understood that it may carry a fair use limit similar to MTN’s newly launched smartphone packages.

A cheaper BlackBerry service may also have more limited access to certain services to cut input costs. For prepaid, MTN may follow Virgin Mobile’s model of cheaper packages for limited time periods.

When asked for a comment on the speculation, Ryan Gould, general manager for brand and communications said that “MTN will not comment on speculation. If any developments around BIS occur, MTN will issue an official notification to the media.”

An image has surfaced that seems to be a design of the rumoured upcoming BlackBerry London prototype, a new class of device which RIM is calling a ‘Superphone’. From the image below, the new device appears very similar to the disappointing and poorly reviewed BlackBerry PlayBook, only a scaled down version, and is reportedly run on the new BlackBerry 10OS.

The device would be the first to run BlackBerry’s new OS, based on QNX, which RIM is hoping will revive the weakening BlackBerry line with a device that is ‘Hardware and platform, fused into one polished exerience.’ As for the hardware, while everything is purely speculation at this point, Texas Instruments’ OMAP5 and Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual-core chips are said to be being tested in the new Superphone.

This device is likely to launch only after two other models code named Laguna and Lisbon, which would arrive in the US, while the London would naturally head to the UK.

Read BandwidthBlog’s review of the BlackBerry Curve 9360. 

Source: The Next Web

Recent rumours have begun to circulate that Research In Motion (RIM) was interested in selling off to Samsung after a supposed rough year. Now, Samsung spokesperson, James Chung has clarified rumours by saying that not only is it not interested in buying the firm but that it hasn’t even been approached with an offer. Chung told Reuters that “We haven’t considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM).”

The rumours began when Boy Genius Report quoted a source from RIM revealing that it was looking for a buyer in Samsung. The report said that, We have heard that Jim Balsillie is actively meeting with almost every company that might be interested in either a part or all of RIM, in addition to having talks about licensing. “Jim is going hard after Samsung,” said a source with knowledge of the negotiations.

The reason given for the deal having not been struck was due to the asking price by RIM’s CEO.

While this does not completely eliminate any rumours that RIM may be looking to sell, it does take Samsung out of the picture as a potential buyer.

Source: The Next Web