With Google's free navigation on the Motorola Droid, available Friday, cell phones are expanding at the expense of navigation devices such as Garmin and TomTom.

By Wojtek Dabrowski

The global smart phone market set a record for shipments in the third quarter as it continues to weather the economic turmoil, research firm IDC said Thursday.

Shares of smart phone maker Palm Inc. fell Wednesday as fears of rising competition picked up.

Motorola Corp. shares gained Monday and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. declined after Citi Investments Research predicted that Motorola and others could break the BlackBerry's grip on the corporate cell phone market.

By Paul Thomasch and Sinead Carew

Motorola forecast a higher-than-expected profit for the current quarter, when it will start selling two new Google Android phones in hopes of regaining ground lost to iPhone.

Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, on Thursday reported a wider third-quarter loss and a larger exodus of customers despite an improved slate of phones and cheaper rates.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is scheduled to report third-quarter results Thursday morning. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.

Verizon Wireless will start selling its answer to the iPhone — the Droid — for $200 next week as the company taps into the growing appetite for smartphones that go far beyond making calls.

A private measure of the manufacturing sector grew for a second straight month in September, but at a slower pace than in August, another sign pointing to a bumpy recovery.

Stocks ended lower Wednesday as the rally after the Federal Reserve's statement faded and investors began to worry that the central bank is inching closer to withdrawing stimulus measures that have propped up the economy. The Dow had briefly popped above 9,900.

Stocks resumed their ascent Friday, after snapping the week's winning streak on Thursday, as investors braced for a volatile day due to quadruple witching.

Stocks resumed their ascent Friday, after snapping the week's winning streak on Thursday, as investors braced for a volatile day due to quadruple witching.

Stocks resumed their ascent Friday, after snapping the week's winning streak on Thursday, as investors braced for a volatile day due to quadruple witching.