iPhone the top smartphone at both AT&T and Verizon

An informal survey of 250 Verizon and AT&T retail stores by BTIG suggests the iPhone is the top-selling handset at both wireless carriers, reports All Things D. The Verizon iPhone has been available for five months and 51% of stores surveyed ranked the Apple smartphone as its #1 seller. Another 38% of Verizon stores say the iPhone is tied with an Android handset, usually the 4G Samsung Droid Charge or the HTC Thunderbolt.
Over at AT&T, the iPhone is by far the dominant handset. In 65% of AT&T stores queried, the iPhone is the best selling handset; only 38% claimed an Android was outselling the iOS device. When you combine the statistics from the two wireless carriers, the iPhone 4 is the #1 handset in 58% of the stores surveyed and another 20% ranked the iPhone on par with a competing device. Notably missing from this survey are BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices, which barely make a dent in the sales of the iPhone and Android models.
Beyond the iPhone, Apple is making it a clean sweep with the iPad topping the charts as the dominant tablet and the iPod claiming top honors in the portable media player category.

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Egypt puts a presidential poll on Facebook

Egypt’s military rulers have posted a Facebook poll to gauge the popularity of nearly 20 presidential hopefuls, an attempt to show their commitment to a democratic transition in the face of rising criticism of their management of the country.

The governing council’s outreach to the public on the political process was a novelty after three decades of authoritarian rule by the ousted president Hosni Mubarak, who is accused of overseeing a corrupt system.

Skeptics, who say the military is just perpetuating the Mubarak regime’s tight controls on politics, suspect the poll is a way for the generals to promote their favorite candidate.

Political analyst Emad Gad also suggested the military may be shopping for candidates. “Maybe the military is thinking about backing one candidate and wants to get an indication about the relative weight of the candidates,’’ he said.

Elections under Mubarak were consistently marred by fraud and rigging. The first parliamentary elections since Mubarak was ousted on Feb. 11 in a popular uprising are expected in September. The date for the presidential elections is not yet clear. According to the initial timetable set in the military-sponsored plan, the vote should be by year’s end.

The online survey, which had garnered more than 100,000 responses by yesterday, listed 18 possible candidates, including Mohamed ElBaradei, who helped lead the push for reforms; the first female hopeful, Bothaina Kamel; and former regime officials. Most prominent among the group of 18 is the country’s former intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, whom Mubarak appointed as his first vice president in one of his final attempts to cling to power.

As of yesterday, ElBaradei was in the lead with 35 percent of the votes, followed by prominent Islamic scholar Mohammed Selim al-Awa.

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Greek PM survives confidence vote

Papandreou has somehow managed to make it through but there is still the question of what happens next? Amazingly enough, the euro has held up the last few days and even gained despite the increasing talk of a Greek default and a Greek exit from the euro. A bailout can still happen but that is only going to push the problem out for a while. If Greece goes, what happens next in Portugal and Ireland? The Guardian:

The vote kicked off a crucial three weeks that could make or break the euro. Leaders in Brussels spoke of the worst crisis in Europe since the second world war, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) set ultimatums before the 17 countries of the single currency, and international ratings agencies classified the bailout terms for Greece as a likely default.

In order to secure an immediate €12bn lifeline and then EU agreement on a second bailout running to more than €100bn over three years, Papandreou now has to persuade parliament to back a radical programme of spending cuts, tax increases, and a mass assets sell-off by the end of next week.

The roll-call ballot took place in an electric atmosphere with Greeks from all walks of life converging on Syntagma Square. Angrily punching the air as politicians debated the country's parlous economic plight, protesters shouted: "We give a vote of no confidence." Riot police looked on and, as tensions rose, many protesters lobbed bottles of water at the parliament.

Meanwhile in Germany, the press is continuing to work the country into a lather over the Greek crisis. Between the Greek bashing (which was in fashion last year as well) and the more recent Spanish-bashing from the food crisis, maybe Germany needs to look in a mirror and ask some questions about it's borderline racist attacks on neighbors. 

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