Today’s mobile news roundup features: Sony’s plans to lay off 1000 workers; AT&T’s standing defense for FaceTime restrictions; the Android store being shut down for piracy; and Archos’ new line of Android tablets.

Sony to lay off 1000 workers

In an effort to accelerate their position in the smartphone market, Sony Corp. announced that they will cut 15 percent, or about 1,000 of their mobile workforce.  The job cut will help the company reduce costs while also propelling their efforts in creating competitive mobile products.

“[A] more focused and efficient operational structure will help to reduce Sony Mobile’s costs, enhance time to market efficiency and bring the business back to a place of strength,” Kunimasa Suzuki, president and CEO of Sony Mobile, said in a statement.

This drastic move comes from the minute share of Sony handset owners, only about four percent compared to Samsung’s 31 percent and Apple’s 24 percent.

AT&T stands by FaceTime restriction

Apple’s next iOS will allow iPhone users to use FaceTime with their cellular network but AT&T is facing much scrutiny as they’ve already stated that the said features will only be available to their subscribers of certain data plan.  AT&T stated that FaceTime for cellular would only be available to subscribers of their shared data plans, and those who have older unlimited or tiered data plans will not be able to use FaceTime on their iPhones.  Some have already accused AT&T of violating FCC’s net neutrality rule, but the network stated that FaceTime is out of the commission’s jurisdiction.

“The FCC’s net neutrality rules do not regulate the availability to customers of applications that are preloaded on phones,” AT&T Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory and Chief Privacy Officer Bob Quinn wrote. “Rather, they address whether customers are able to download apps that compete with our voice or video telephone services.”

AT&T also stated that their decision was influenced by the fact that iPhone users would still use WiFi for FaceTime so it wouldn’t really matter.

DOJ shuts down Android store for piracy

Android developers already has enough trouble making their apps compatible with the loads of available Android devices in the market but their biggest problem comes from pirates.  Android developers have to deal with pirates stealing their apps and giving them away for free.  But everything is not lost, as the Department of Justice seized three website domain names engaged in pirating copyrighted Android apps.  The seized websites are applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com.  Site visitors will be welcomed by a banner notifying them that the domain name has been “seized by federal authorities and educates them that willful copyright infringement is a federal crime.”

Archos unveils new line of Android tablet

French consumer electronics company Archos unveiled the Gen10 XS range of Android devices that will soon arrive in the UK.  The Archos tablet is quite similar to Microsoft’s Surface tablet as they feature a magnetic keyboard that doubles as a cover when closed but instead of a kickstand, it features a dock stand that’s attached to the keyboard instead of the tablet.  The tablet features a TI OMAP 4470 multicore processor clocked at 1.5GHz and 16GB of internal storage and will run the latest Android version, the Jelly Bean.