Consumer Confidential: Temp workers, Zuney phones, apps for all

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Here’s your presidential Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Used to be that when the economy would recover from a prolonged hissy fit, companies would first bring on a wave of temp workers before making permanent hires. Not any longer. These days, experts say, employers are happy to make do with their existing workforce, add some temps here and there for good measure, but not commit to any serious expansion of the payroll. One reason for that is because productivity levels have remained strong -- meaning that businesses have learned to do more with less. Another is that the jury’s still out on when the endless recession will be properly over.

--Never say die: Microsoft has unveiled new software for cellphones that works a lot like the company’s Zune media player (you know -- the one that nobody you know uses). Clearly, Gates & Co. want some iPhone-like lovin’. But it’s hard to see how a Zuney cellphone will prove itself a strong competitor to offerings from Apple and Google. That said, Microsoft does make a pretty darn good video game console, so who knows.

--Along these same lines, wireless companies want to remedy users’ app envy. The big boys, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, say they want to create a ‘wholesale applications community’ that would set uniform standards so that apps run on as many cellphones as possible. The thinking here is that if the market is more stable and lots bigger, more developers will write phone apps, which will create more demand for phones, which will benefit the wireless companies. In this case, though, it looks like consumers would benefit as well. It has to happen occasionally.

-- David Lazarus