May 13 - 4:35pm EDT   Despite its reputation as a web-focused device, the iPhone is still clearly in the minority on the web, according to a tracking study by advertising startup AdMob. Using April ad requests as a means of gauging phone web use, the company finds that the iPhone accounted for just 1.1 percent of cellphone traffic in the US and 0.8 percent worldwide. Both results are dominated by Motorola and Research in Motion phones, with the four-year-old RAZR V3 leading the ranks at 5.3 percent worldwide and 9.1 in its home country; the BlackBerry Pearl (2.6 percent and 5.1 percent) and BlackBerry Curve (1.5 percent and 2.9 percent) were fourth and fifth, the study notes. [full story]

December 13 - 2:25pm EST   Bell Canada has charged one of its subscribers with a near-unprecedented $85,000 phone bill that underscores the high price of data in the country, according to a new report. Oil field worker Piotr Staniaszek of Calgary received the bill after tethering his Motorola KRZR cellphone to his computer, allowing him to use it as a modem for Internet access while away at his remote workplace. Although he understood the phone to include a $10 monthly unlimited data plan and used the service to download large content, Staniaszek was informed after receiving the bill that the contract included a clause exempting the unlimited plan from applying to modem use, leading to the bandwidth ... [full story]