Black Friday

A couple weeks ago, we ran a story examining the controversy behind tracking people's phones. In it, we talked about Carrier IQ, a startup that was allegedly tracking (on behalf of carriers) mobile phone users' locations, what input method customers were using, AND what customers were typing into their phones.

Naturally, the allegations ended up drawing a lot of media attention, with many accusing Carrier IQ of egregious violations of privacy.

Black Friday 2011 Sales of Android Phones Rise, Match iPhone Sales

We took a look at the Black Friday numbers across the U.S. from our RQ4 Wireless Retail system -- the leading retail management software for independent wireless retailers in North America -- and saw some interesting results.

Android phones made up 40.4% of all phones sold on Black Friday this year, up from 36.7% of phones on Black Friday 2010. This year's Android phone sales matched those of iPhones, which made up 40.2% of total phones sold.

Amazon.com announced a seemingly outrageous promotion yesterday: kicking off its Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales by putting nearly 100 high-end smartphones on sale for only a penny.

That's right. A penny.