Mobiles

Announced today, Blackberry Bold will be offered for australian consumers by Telstra from late September. Telstra Business Group Managing Director, Ms Deena Shiff said BlackBerry devices were an increasingly popular and important device business customers, and customers could now pre-register the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone.

“Telstra will be offering the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone for $0 upfront to business customers from late September and customers can register their interest from today via our website or by calling 1800BUSINESS.” Ms Shiff said.

Here is a list of possible availability date for some countries from blackberry news

• July 29 - Rogers business customers
• August 1 - Vodafone UK
• August 4 - T-Mobile Germany
• August 8 - Rogers for general availability
• September 1 or later - AT&T
• In September - O2 (UK)

The new ScanFast™ collection of laptop bags by Mobile Edge have created quite the buzz. Recently, John Biggs from the New York Times posted a review of the new collection in the Personal Technology Section.

Although competitors are working to release clam shell case designs, our design team actually put some time and effort into our new designs. This new ScanFast™ Collection consists of a backpack, a briefcase and a messenger bag, all designed to conveniently open for airport screeners and help speed travelers through the X-Ray screening process.

Here is a brief overview from the New York Times article:

With frustration mounting at airport security lines, something had to give.

The Transportation Security Administration has decided to give frequent travelers a break. When laptops are placed in certain cases, such as the ScanFast line from Mobile Edge, the agency does not require them to be removed for screening.

While many laptop-case manufacturers, including Targus and Skooba, are planning checkpoint-friendly cases, Mobile Edge will ship briefcases, backpacks and messenger bags next month (Sept).
The ScanFast bags separate the laptops from surrounding pockets, ensuring a clear picture in an X-ray machine.

Most bags still will have to be opened, but the Mobile Edge bags flip back to offer an unobstructed view of the laptop inside.
To read the full review, click here to visit the New York Times Business Section.

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It looks like there will be no support for the popular BlackBerry Enterprise Server email system in the new Nokia E66 and E71 smartphones, despite the fact that older Eseries handset work with the BlackBerry client.
Read the full story here.

A new report from IMS Research suggests that consumer demand for touchscreen handsets is about to explode - with roughly a 200 million increase between now and 2012.

IMS Research forecasts that, although there were fewer than 30 million touchscreen phones sold in 2007, the number is set to increase to over 230 million in the next 4 years.

According to IMS Research analyst and report author Femi Omoni, "The original iPhone was the catalyst that created this huge market interest in touchscreen phones. The fact that it was not only popular with consumers, but also helped drive data revenues proved how important touchscreen handsets can be. Now all of the network operators and handset manufacturers want a piece of the pie".

This growth will certainly be driven by Apple but other handset manufacturers are reporting good news on the touchscreen front as well.

- Earlier this month, LG announced that it had sold 7 million touchscreen handsets, just five quarters after LG launched its very first touchscreen mobile phone.

- Samsung's Instinct, a full touchscreen handset, has become Sprint's best selling EV-DO device in the carrier’s history.

- Nokia says it will be launching a series of touchscreen devices in the second half of 2008, with the first model -- likely the Tube -- aimed at the "volume market."

It's no secret that Sprint PCS (with Nextel) has been struggling for market share in the United States. In what can only be described as a surprise move to generate revenue, Sprint Nextel has announced word that it has sold nearly all its cell phone towers (some 3,300 of them) to a private-equity-backed firm called TowerCo in a deal that will generate roughly $670 million in equity.

Surprisingly enough Sprint Nextel (the third largest of the domestic wireless providers) says that it will be more economical for them to lease the towers from TowerCo for cell phone and broadband use than it was to own them.

This news coincides with the trends of recent years whereby wireless carriers have moved away from owning their towers instead choosing to lease them from private companies. Sprint Nextel is hoping the revenue earned from this transaction will give them a well-needed boost in the market. The transition should in no way affect current Sprint Nextel users. See full article.

Related Entries:

LG KS360 Hits The Streets - 18 July 2008

Sony Walkman Brand Makes A Return - 22 July 2008

Digital Television Coming to A Phone Near You - 23 July 2008

You've Heard of Smartphones- Now Meet Smart Batteries - 25 July 2008

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Casio's new G'zOne Boulder has been officially announced, sporting a 1.3 megapixel camera, EV-DO support for high-speed data, and a microSD card slot. The G'zOne product line is ruggedized to be resistant to water, dirt, and shock.
Read the full story here.

Today Verizon Communications announced the quarterly results for its Verizon Wireless unit. Verizon Wireless added 1.5 million subscribers and reported a low churn rate for Q2.
Read the full story here.

Nokia has agreed to pay back EUR1.3 million to the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state had given Nokia EUR4 million in grants to open the plant in the first place, and has been demanding a refund.
Read the full story here.

The Palm Treo 800w should be getting a small update soon that will add Bluetooth voice dialing to the QWERTY smartphone's feature set.
Read the full story here.

While it has yet to be announced officially, the RIM BlackBerry 8220 Kickstart is fairly well known on the internet rumor mills. Now it has appeared in a full review over at CrackBerry.com.
Read the full story here.