Google adds button to back search results, ads

April 3, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO

Google Inc. likes how Facebook gets people to share their recommendations so much that it’s adding its own option for endorsing search results and online ads.

The “+1” button announced last week represents the Internet search leader’s latest attempt to make it easier for its users to share their insights with their online contacts.

Someone who wants to endorse a particular search term or an ad simply hits the +1 button. When people in that person’s Internet circle uses the same search term or sees the same ad, they’ll see the person’s endorsement next to it.

The +1 button initially will begin appearing next to search results and ads for a relatively small number of Google users. Anyone who wants the +1 feature sooner can sign up at www.google.com/experimental.

IDC sees smartphone market growing

SAN FRANCISCO

With more and more consumers and business users clamoring for smartphones, the global market for these handsets is slated to grow nearly 50 percent this year, research firm IDC said.

IDC expects the market to grow 49.2 percent in 2011, with smartphone makers shipping more than 450 million smartphones, up from 303.4 million shipped in 2010.

Growth last year was “exceptional,” helped by many people buying smart phones that they’d held off on buying in 2009 due to the shaky economy, IDC senior research analyst Kevin Restivo said in a statement. This year, growth will still be notable, but will taper off somewhat from last year, he said.

As for which smartphone operating system will reign, Framingham, Mass.-based IDC thinks Google Inc.’s Android software will wrestle the lead from Nokia Corp.’s Symbian software.

For 2011, IDC expects Android smartphones to make up 39.5 percent of the market, while smartphones running Symbian will account for 20.9 percent. Apple Inc.’s iPhone is expected to make up 15.7 percent of the market and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry software are expected to make up 14.9 percent.

Officials target apps for checkpoints

DOVER, Del.

The attorneys general for Delaware and Maryland have joined the call for companies to stop providing smartphone applications that let users know where drunken-driving checkpoints are.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden and Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler said Monday they have sent letters to Google Inc. and Apple Inc., asking them to ban applications that can be downloaded onto the iPhone and Android phones.

The request is similar to one made by four U.S. senators in March. That letter prompted Research In Motion, maker of Blackberry phones, to pull a similar application from its online store.

Associated Press