Vodafone India has started pre-registering customers for the iPhone 3G from Apple, promising that the device will be available soon, but the company will as yet not disclose when the device will be offered to customers. The Indian government has as yet to issue final guidelines on the auction of 3G (third generation telephony) spectrum and licenses in India. One of the issues holding up a final decision is whether foreign companies can bid for the license.
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On Tuesday, Nokia made a cash offer to acquire the 52 percent of Symbian it doesn't already own. Nokia is willing to pay $410 million for the mobile-platform software found on most cell phones today. The acquisition is a fundamental step in establishing the Symbian Foundation, which Nokia also announced Tuesday along with AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and Vodafone.
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Nokia moved to beef up its mobile navigation and social networking capabilities Monday by acquiring Plazes, which links its users with each other as they move about. "This acquisition helps Nokia to accelerate its vision of bringing people and places closer together, in line with our broader services strategy," said Niklas Savander, head of Nokia Services & Software, in a statement.
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TOKYO - Softbank Corp., the carrier that won the coveted right to sell the iPhone in Japan, said Monday that Apple Inc.'s device will sell for $215 comparable to the marked-down U.S. price for the hit gadget. The iPhone is due to debut in gadget-loving Japan on July 11, as Apple rolls out a new version and expands the availability to 20 countries.
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Are peripherals the future of mobile-phone sales? According to a study released Monday by the NPD Group, U.S. consumer purchases of mobile phone handsets dropped by 20 percent from January to April, an indication that retailers may need to turn to accessories to increase their revenues. To date, however, consumers aren't buying.
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Motorola and Kodak on Monday launched the ZN5, a new candy bar-style mobile phone with a 5.0-megapixel camera, the first device from its new Zine line. Developed in cooperation with Kodak, the ZN5 is aimed at users who don't want to carry a separate camera for photos. The handset allows users to take photos in several modes, including multi-shot and panorama.
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Mobile phones designed around Google's Android software may not be available until the fourth quarter of this year, and some companies are struggling to even meet that deadline, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing unidentified sources. When Google and 30 partners announced Android last November, the Internet search giant said new phones would be on the market by the second half of this year.
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SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - Shares of Motorola Inc. tumbled to a five-year low Thursday on the latest pessimistic outlook for the cell-phone manufacturer. The company's stock was down 51 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $8.09 Thursday after dipping to $7.61, its lowest price since May 2003. American Technology Research analyst Mark McKechnie said a report of cautious comments made by Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., which is Motorola's primary contract manufacturer, may have hit the stock along with general issues in the handset market.
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If you're planning to go to the beach, you can use your smartphone to get directions and check the weather. But if you want to know how full the parking lot is, or if the beach is full of rowdy teenagers, then you're out of luck. Duke University is looking to change that, and researchers have developed software that would let you use your mobile phone to ask people at the beach for real-time information or tell others what's happening there.
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SINGAPORE (AFP) - Television viewed on mobile phone handsets could be a huge revenue generator for the telecoms sector but significant hurdles stand in the way, industry players and analysts said Thursday. Issues such as handset costs, handset capability and delivering the content wanted by mobile users have yet to be worked out, they said. "There is potential but also a lot of questions," said Claudio Checchia, a research manager with research firm IDC. "So you will see a lot of experiments."
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