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Google’s Chief Business Officer Omid Kordenstani gave several updates on the status of the company’s $35 Chromecast streaming device during the this evening’s Q4 2014 earnings call. Kordenstani first stated that users have “casted” content to their television more than one billion times. The company says that this is a huge milestone for the streaming stick and the implementation of the Cast functionality in a variety of different apps.

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A new report from The Information claims that Google is preparing to sell cellular plans directly to customers. The report, citing “three people with knowledge of the plans,” says that Google will sell customers the service and manage their calls and data, much like other U.S. carriers:
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Google released the latest version of its Transparency Report today, revealing data about government requests the company received between June and December of 2013. According to the report, Google received 3,105 requests to remove 14,637 pieces of content within that time period, which brings the total number of requests received by the Mountain View corporation up to 6,591 for the entirety of 2013, a figure that’s about 60% higher than the previous calendar year.

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Gartner today published its third quarter numbers, showing overall growth in the smartphone market and a strong quarter for Apple. Mobile devices overall saw as many as 456 million sold with smartphones taking a 301 million slice of that pie, which comes out to a solid 66% (up 20% from last year). This shift in the market seems to be hurting Samsung and Nokia the most, because while the Korean giant is still leading the pack, this year smaller companies with slimmer margins seem to be taking some of its foothold.

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There’s always been much debate over whether or not the intense fragmentation of the Android ecosystem is a good thing, but I think the latest Android fragmentation report from OpenSignal puts it best: “Fragmentation is both a strength and weakness of the Android ecosystem, a headache for developers that also provides the basis for Android’s global reach.” This report gives us a great look at where Android stands as a platform, does a bit of comparing it to iOS, and visualizes (not so?) neatly how fragmented Google’s mobile operating system truly is.

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According to a new Google+ post from Taylor Wimberly, who was spot on with his Moto X Phone leaks, Motorola and Google are planning to team up on the next Nexus device. Wimberly says the device will be released in Q4 of this year and will not be a Google-ified version of the Moto X, but rather a new device altogether. No other details are offered, unfortunately.

With the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7, Google started a trend of Nexus devices being affordable and sold unlocked via the Play Store. Many people expected this to be the case with the X Phone, but that turned out to be false. Is it possible that the more affordable X Phone model rumored for so long was actually a Motorola Nexus device?

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It’s no secret that HTC does not have the marketing budget of a company like Apple or Samsung, but according to a report, it has inked a deal that will greatly increase its commercial marketing presence. HTC is prepping a substantial two-year marketing campaign with Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr, according to two sources speaking with Bloomberg.  The deal is reportedly worth $12 million and will include television spots, as well as print and billboard advertisements. Downey will have a say in all decisions and maintain a level of creative control.

The campaign will feature Downey as himself, not any of the characters he has portrayed in films.

Downey will feature in the campaign as himself, not the characters he plays in movies including Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, and will have final say over creative elements, the people said, declining to be named because the talks aren’t public. The maker of the slim, metal HTC One handset will likely feature Downey in television, print and billboard ads, they said.

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Earlier this month, we told you about government officials calling on major tech companies to improve anti-theft features of their devices. At WWDC this year, Apple did just that and announced its new Activation Lock feature. Now, all eyes have shifted to the other large smartphone manufacturer, Samsung. According to a report out of Korean site MK, Samsung is set to launch its anti-theft features for smartphones as early as July.

The feature will essentially be a kill switch that will allow carriers, manufacturers, and even the government to remotely wipe, lock, and disable any smartphone that has been stolen. Once this is done, the device would be rendered useless, even when a new SIM card is installed.

A kill switch is exactly what government officials called for earlier this month, and what it and manufacturers likely discussed when they met last week at a “smartphone summit” to talk about mobile security. 
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Yesterday we told you that Samsung had scheduled an event for June 20th next month in London to unveil new Galaxy and Windows ATIV products. While we speculated that we could very well see the launch of the Galaxy S4 Mini (as well as possibly a few other rumored devices), The Wall Street Journal reports today that the S4 Mini will indeed likely make an appearance:

A person with knowledge of the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the S4 Mini is likely to be one of the several new products the company plans to launch at the event next month at London’s Earl’s Court exhibition center. At the event, Samsung is expected to unveil new devices that run on Google Inc.’s Android and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating systems.

We’ll have to wait until next month to find out for sure, but we’ll be in London on the 20th to bring you the play by play live from the ‘Premiere 2013’ event. 
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PhanDroid wrote an interesting report this evening, claiming the roll out of the Sprint Galaxy Nexus might be a reality and that it could be coming soon. The information comes from several Sprint customer representatives (seen after the break) who confirm that the Galaxy Nexus can be activated on the Sprint network and that it was given the green light.

When it comes to the radio bands that the Galaxy Nexus supports (CDMA 800/1900, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO), PhanDroid pointed out how both Verizon and Sprint are supported under the current hardware. Sadly, Sprint would not be able to use the 4G side of things with its WiMAX network, but things could always change for the company. (See: Samsung’s Epic line.)

We gave the Galaxy Nexus a good score during our testing, and reviewed it as the best Android phone on the market. Let us hope the phone will see a few other United States carriers in its day. Current rumors point to a 60-day exclusivity for Verizon, though, if today’s news is true, you can theoretically buy a Verizon GN and take it over to Sprint to be Flashed. Moreover, you can buy an international GSM version that works on both T-Mobile and AT&T’s network.

Today comScore posted their latest smartphone market share report showing Google’s Android as the top smartphone platform for the three-month reporting period ending in June 2011, up 5.4 percent from the previous March 2011 report.

78.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in June 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform…

A close second to Android is, of course, Apple with 26.5 percent market share, up 1.1 percent, followed by RIM at 23.4% down 3.7 percentage points since March. ComSCore also posted the top mobile OEMs based on the same reporting period with Android manufacturers Samsung, LG, and Motorola topping the list, which also shows Android’s dominance in the current smartphone market.

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