October 2007 Archives

Pantech duo Rated 3.5 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The Pantech duo is the little sister of the Helio Ocean, it’s smaller but has many of the same features including two keypads: a portrait keypad for phone calls and landscape QWERTY keypad for messages or Web surfing. The reviews so far have been good, but unexciting because of the big splash previously made by the Ocean.

One complaint was that when you slide open the numerical keypad the phone does not answer or hang-up. It appears that big-handed reviewers found the QWERTY keypad to be too small, while having the delete and enter keys next to each other created problems. Having two keypads, however, is the one of best features of the phone as well as good audio quality. If you are considering buying the phone, we suggest that you try out the keypads to see if you like them, first.

The Web and IM 3G access for the Pantech duo was called “speedy” and most reviewers liked its small size, except when using the QWERTY keypad.  Reviewers also commented on the short battery life, and lack of Wi-Fi and GPS. They found fault with the subpar design and flimsiness.

To view summaries and links to reviews, continue reading. For Pantech duo specifications go to our Pantech Duo announcement entry.

Now you can let your fingers do the walking on your iPhone, iPod Touch and other AT&T handsets with the help of YellowPages.com.

The site is introducing a new Web application for iPhone and iPod touch* users, as well as a downloadable local search application now compatible with 20 popular and widely available AT&T mobile devices including the BlackBerrry.

The new iPhone-optimized Web application provides a design developed specifically for the touch-screen and keyboard interface, and automatically resizes for both the vertical and horizontal layout of the screen.

Texas Instruments’ OMAP platform and BlueLink Bluetooth technologies will be used in a variety Samsung mobile smartphones.

AT&T announced a new wireless calling plan for seniors, 65 and older. The new AT&T Senior Nation 200 plan includes 200 Anytime Minutes, 500 Night & Weekend Minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling to more for a $29.99 monthly access fee. Proof of age is required at point of sale.

The Pantech duo is now available from AT&T it features two keypads that slide out: a landscape QWERTY and a portrait phone numerical keypad. The UMTS/HSDPA-enabled Pantech is powered by the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. It sells for $199 with rebate and two year contract.
 
Specifications:

• Form Factor: Two way slider
• Band/Modes: GPRS/EDGE quad-band MTS/HSDPA dual-band (850/1900Mhz)
• Dimensions: 4.01 x 1.97 x 0.78 inches (102 x 50 x 19.9 mm) Display: 2.2” 262K TFT (240*320 pixels)
•  Camera: 1.3 megapixels
• Sound: 64k Polyphonic, MP3, WMA, WAV ring tone
• Multimedia: MP3, AAC, AAC+, MPEG4, H.263, WMA, WMV
  
• Connectivity: USB, Bluetooth Stereo (1.1, 1.2)
•  Internal Memory: 50MB External Memory: Micro S

Atheros Communications, Inc. announced the Atheros ROCm™ single-chip AR6002 family which features breakthrough low-power for mobile Wi-Fi. The AR6002 draws near-zero standby power and has nominal impact on battery life even in active mode. This great great performance eliminates the the power consumption challenge for mobile designers when deciding whether to include Wi-Fi in devices like smartphones, personal media players, digital still cameras, gaming and other portable consumer devices.

The chips are available as samples and will be in volume production in the first quarter of 2008.

T-Mobile Shadow Rated 3.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

Although not all the reviews are in yet, the T-Mobile Shadow from HTC does have a shadow of a chance of becoming popular if people can get used to the Windows Mobile interface, its different keyboard and navigation wheel (also referred to as rotating or spinning jog wheel).

Reviewers praised the sleek design, Quad-band GSM, Edge Wi-Fi capabilites, and the way the Windows operating system is made more user-friendly, while it takes time to learn the reduced two-letters to a key keyboard. Some reviewers liked the new slider and the function buttons while others found them slippery.

The worst problem commented on by two reviewers is that the call quality is poor and makes voices higher-pitched, a bad sign for sopranos and tenors. 

If more exciting stellar reviews appear we may improve the rating. For summaries of the reviews and links continue reading.

To help California residents affected by the wildfires, AT&T announced that AT&T Wi-Fi service will be offered free of charge at nearly 600 hot spot locations across Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Orange and Ventura counties.

Residents or travelers can use Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as laptop computers, iPhones or personal digital assistants (PDAs) to connect to the Internet or corporate networks by using any of the AT&T Wi-Fi locations. Customers can view a full list of AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots in California by visiting www.attwifi.com.

T-Mobile announced that it’s Shadow will be available in time for Halloween. The people-centric smartphone running Windows Mobile will come in sage and cooper.

The Shadow features include:

• Email and texting from the MyFaves page.
  
• A spin navigation wheel.
  
• Wi-Fi and EDGE-enabled high-speed Internet access.
  
• A reminder feature.
• T-Mobile Address Book that lets customers easily import contact information from Yahoo!®, Gmail™, Microsoft Outlook® Keypad that is 5 letters wide with two letters each like the Pearl.

The T-Mobile Shadow is expected to sell for between $149.99 and $349.99, depending on the contract. T-Mobile has also lowered its unlimited Wi-Fi and EDGE data plan to $19.99 per month, from $29.99 per month.

As part of a class action lawsuit settlement, Sprint is agreeing to give their customers the unlocking code so that their handsets can be available for other CDMA networks.

Various news sources reported that for the Holidays iPhone sales will be limited to two per customer and must be paid for by credit card or debit card to discourage unauthorized purchases for reselling and unlocking the phones.

When we called our local store to confirm the report, no one answered the phone.

Alltel announced that the Federal Communications Commission has approved the company’s merger with TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners (GSCP).

Alltel expects the merger to close before Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22. At close, Alltel shareholders will receive $71.50 per share in cash.

Alltel operates America’s largest wireless network, which delivers voice and advanced data services nationwide to more than 12 million customers. Headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., Alltel is a Forbes 500 company with annual revenues of nearly $8 billion.

Verizon in its 3Q2007 announcement stated that it has added 1.6 million customers wireless customers and a 14.4 percent increase in total wireless revenues even with its stiff competition from AT&T the exclusive seller of the iPhone.

“Our third-quarter results show that we have hit our stride as a leading wireless, broadband and enterprise company,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Reuters reported, “Verizon Wireless’s customer growth exceeded Wall Street expectations and made up for slowdown in Verizon’s landline, or wireline, business.”

A recent study of retail wireless stores by J.D. Power reported overall customer satisfaction with the wireless retail sales experience has steadily decreased since 2006, driven in large part by dissatisfaction with salespeople

Verizon Wireless ranked highest in customer satisfaction among major wireless carrier-owned retail stores, performing particularly well in store facility, store display and price/promotion. T-Mobile closely followed Verizon Wireless in the rankings.

The average wireless retail sales transaction takes approximately 1 hour to complete from the time the customer enters the store to the time the final paperwork is finished and the cell phone is received. This is an increase of nearly 4 minutes from the last reporting period.

AT&T reported that 99% of cell sites in L.A. Orange and San Bernardino Counties and 95% in San Diego Counties were working during the wild fires. There were only 25 cell sites affected which are currently in the process of being repaired.

Residents in affected areas were able to make free phone calls from AT&T stores. AT&T also set up free calls, laptop and Internet access at Qualcomm Stadium.

Free Wi-Fi service has been established for evacuees, and free calling is available At Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad. AT&T sent out Cell on Wheels (COW) to enhance network capacity for an increase in traffic at Plaza Camino Real. Additional capacity was also added at a mobile command center in Rancho Bernardo.

As far as news go, the presence of Microsoft at CTIA permeated the coverage of CTIA.  In their assessment of the show, writers commented on the following:

• Sascha Segan at PC Magazine in his analysis of the show pointed out the prevalence of MIcrosoft and the overwhelming denial of the “i” word, liking it to the earlier PC battles between Apple and Microsoft. He called the Windows Mobile I-Mate handset one of the flashiest new phones at the show. He noticed the slew of social networking services and reported that Guitar Hero could be the superhero of the show.
• Eric Zeman in his CTIA wrap up for InformationWeek wrote “nothing set the show on fire. Hell, the parties were barely fun,” and thought that making the show in late October, too late for the holidays caused the announcements of handsets to be done way before the show.
• The hottest phones from Yahoo’s Gadget Hound were the BlackJack II, I-Mate Ultimate 9502, Sprint Touch, Samsung F700, and Samsung SCH-i760.

There were few mentions in analysis of CTIA about Xohm Senior Vice President of Mobile Broadband Operations Atish Gude’s Day 3 keynote, where he talked about Sprint’s commitment to their WiMax strategy and the ecosystem of the wireless Web.

Comment from Mobile and Wireless News:

Most of the coverage  CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment lacks the entertainment aspect.  Perhaps, when the show is in San Francisco, it tends to loose the entertainment flare like it had when it was in Los Angeles, The Entertainment Capital of the World.

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Samsung Juke SCH-U470 rated 3 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews.

Although the Samsung Juke SCH-U470 (Verizon) has not been reviewed by many grammatically correct sources yet, it has been referred to as “sexy” for design, called the “funnest music phone” and a better music player than a phone. One reviewer called the Juke “a Star Trek Communicator with a fashion twist,” due to its GPS capabilites. The Juke has more of an MP3 player look and a very small screen, described as “too small for the Web.”

Problems pointed out in the reviews are that the Juke lacks 3G or V Cast support and it doesn’t have an expandable memory slot.

Which leads us to wonder “Should we rate the Juke as a phone or as a music player?” Surely, the new iPod Shuffle is smaller, cheaper and cuter and the iPod Touch is sexier. Therefore, until we find reviewers who rave about the phone aspects of the Juke, we will have to rate it 3 out of 5 as a phone. If however, you really want a music player and don’t have one yet, and need a new phone the $99 price after rebate with a two year contract may be a good deal for you.

Samsung Juke SCH-U470 rated 3 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews.

Although the Samsung Juke SCH-U470 (Verizon) has not been reviewed by many grammatically correct sources yet, it has been referred to as “sexy” for design, called the “funnest music phone” and a better music player than a phone. One reviewer called the Juke “a Star Trek Communicator with a fashion twist,” due to its GPS capabilites. The Juke has more of an MP3 player look and a very small screen, described as “too small for the Web.”

Problems pointed out in the reviews are that the Juke lacks 3G or V Cast support and it doesn’t have an expandable memory slot.

Which leads us to wonder “Should we rate the Juke as a phone or as a music player?” Surely, the new iPod Shuffle is smaller, cheaper and cuter and the iPod Touch is sexier. Therefore, until we find reviewers who rave about the phone aspects of the Juke, we will have to rate it 3 out of 5 as a phone. If however, you really want a music player and don’t have one yet, and need a new phone the $99 price after rebate with a two year contract may be a good deal for you.

While Southern California was still burning, the news from Day 2 of CTIA included more announcements and SMS help for SoCal:

• The announcement by Dustin Moskovitz, founder of Facebook and Mike Lazaridis, founder of RIM, during a keynote address at CTIA that Facebook will be developing an open Facebook application for BlackBerry devices was reported by almost all wireless publications. The San Francisco Chronicle commented, “The deal underscores how much Facebook wants to attract older members, and how willing RIM is to go after a younger market.
• PC World noticed the AT&T Blackjack II, that runs Windows Mobile 6, will be one of the first devices to support Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008.
• Guy Krakow a MSNBC thought the new mobile game from Cellfun, Mobile Ring that pits presidential candidates in a boxing match was a “big hit,” as well as being impressed with the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic phone.
• The Associated Press reported on the fact that users can now get AOL Instant Messaging on Verizon and Alltel phones.
• Wireless Week wrote about CTIA CEO Steve Largent’s suggestion that “subscribers of participating wireless carriers can donate $5 to (Southern California Fire Red Cross) relief efforts by text messaging the keyword “GIVE” to “2HELP” (24357).”

The massive fires in Southern California have made the name Qualcomm ubiquitous in news stories.  The evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium were pleased with the food, amenities and services, shinning a positive light on the San Diego wireless technology innovator.

There were many more mentions of the Qualcomm Stadium than the winners of the Qualcomm 3G A-List Awards.  The winner in the Government category was Korean NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) emergency response that incorporates GPS, LBS, medical videos, photos and data in case of an emergency. To see all the winners “continue reading.”

The Times Online and many other resources reported that there were free phone calls, massages and acupuncture available at Qualcomm Stadium. Network World stated that “about 30%” of Qualcomm CTIA attendees went home at at least 12 Qualcomm employees lost their homes. Most Qualcomm employees however, do appear to be safe.

Qualcomm announced a new computer chip that can provide wireless access over EV-DO(Sprint, Verizon) or HSPA (AT&T) technologies. Notebooks featuring the multi-mode Gobi solution can take advantage of the high-speed mobile Internet services offered by leading network operators in virtually all parts of the world, as well as GPS.

Although Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was a keynote speaker and announced a new server smartphone software from Microsoft there were lots of other news stories at CTIA.

• Tom Kraznit at CNET posted a blog entry about how a panel talked about how instrumental the iPhone has been in influencing the mobile market.
• PC World IDG News Service noted that Microsoft will be backing the mobile enterprise services company, Enterprise Mobile Inc.
• The competition is heating up because AZ Central made sure its readers knew that Microsoft plans on decreasing the price of Windows Mobile Phones below $100.
• PC World has reported on some neat new PC/phone related products to keep PC files on your phone or vice a versa, Web access, GPS sharing, microblogging, and ad supported free International calls from Talkster.
• The Seattle Times mentioned the presence at CTIA of it’s local biz Whrrl, a social discovery service with mobile and Web access.

IBM and MediaTek announced that they will combine their expertise in millimeter wave (mmWave) radio technology ( the highest frequency portion of the radio spectrum where massive amounts of information can be sent quickly) and digital chipsets to create revolutionary multimedia wireless products.

The large bandwidth for data transmission available at the mmWave frequency band enables at least 100 times higher data rates than current Wi-Fi standards.

mmWave wireless technology can be widely used at home and office for applications such as multimedia content downloads or uncompressed HDTV streaming from your DVD player.

Development of this technology is expected to take at least three years.

AT&T reported a net wireless subscriber addition of two million making its total base to 65.7 million. It also reported activating 1.1 million iPhones since its launch in late June. Its increase in profits is attributed to wireless and broadband services.

Also reported:

• AT&T’s wireless revenues totaled $10.9 billion, up 14.4 percent from the year-earlier quarter.
• Wireless service revenues, which exclude handset and accessory sales, grew 13.7 percent to $9.9 billion.
• Wireless data revenues increased 63.9 percent versus results in the year-earlier quarter.

According to a new survey from CTIA , there are over 243 million wireless users in the US and:

• Wireless data service revenues for the first half of 2007 rose to $10.5 billion. This represents a 63% increase over the first half of 2006, when data revenues were $6.5 billion.
• 28.8 billion test messages were reported in June 2007 alone - almost one billion messages a day. This represents an increase of 130% over June 2006.

Tuesday, October 23, is the first day of CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2007 in San Francisco, expect lots of news, announcements, and new services.  We will be consolidating information about the event, at the end of each day.

According to the September 2007 edition of World Cellular Data Metrics, there was a 43% increase in data ARPU in North America.

Subscribers in North America generated the highest monthly ARPU from mobile data services worldwide, at US$8.90 in 2Q 2007. Subscribers in Western Europe generate on average only US$7 per month.

Strong uptake of all-you-can-eat data packages, a near three-fold increase in 3G subscriptions year-on-year and rapid growth in SMS traffic in North America were the main reasons for the 43% rise in data ARPU in the region in 2Q 2007 compared with 2Q 2006.

Just in time for CTIA, a new product that automatically mirrors smartphone information on the Web, Dashwire was announced from a Seattle company, started by a former Microsoft employee, Ford Davidson.

The service allows you to

AT&T announced that wireless customers will soon be able to download more than 5 million full-track songs over the air from Napster, music subscription service. Starting November 15, AT&T wireless customers can search Napster and download songs for $1.99 each or 5 for $7.49.

Napster Mobile will also feature joint delivery, sending a track to the user’s wireless handset while making a duplicate copy available for download to the user’s PC at no additional charge. An e-mail notice will be sent to the user’s PC and will provide a link to download the new song.

Other new services announced are MobiVJ, a streaming video service, and VIP Access, a mobile fan club and discovery service.

The GSM Association (GSMA), the trade association of GSM mobile phone operators, and The Western Union Company announced an agreement to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.

Western Union and the GSMA are developing a commercial and technical framework to enable consumers to send and receive low-denomination, high-frequency money transfers using their mobile phones. Service is expect to begin the second quarter of 2008.

Alltel announced a great 3rd quarter, adding 205,000 subscribers and surpassing $2 billion in quarterly wireless service revenues for the first time.

Highlights of their wireless gains include:

• Average revenue per wireless customer (ARPU) was $55.96, a 4 percent increase from last year. Data revenue per customer was $6.36, up 70 percent from last year and 13 percent sequentially.
• Wireless service revenue was $2.1 billion, an increase of 15 percent from a year ago.

Alltel is in the processing of being acquired for  $25 billion by TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs.

Nokia N95 Rated 4 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The reviews of the Nokia N95 smartphone run the gamut from initial excited "wow's" to descriptions of why "it sucks." 

The Nokia N95 is more than a phone and has more capabilities than some computers; a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, FM Radio Tuner, TV-Out option and Bluetooth.  However, one reviewer warned that the GPS antenna points to the ground and reported problems in London using the GPS.  Some reviewers didn't like the cheap/junkie feel of the device's operational buttons and the high price tag.

The $750 MSRP and a street price around $600 is a hefty price to pay.  If you decide to buy the N95 make sure that it is the 3G version and that it is compatible with your carrier.

Verizon has four smartphones ready for the the holidays.  Here are their names and lists of features:

Samsung SCH-i760 - Windows Mobile, stylus operation, QWERTY keyboard, separate phone dial pad, Bluetooth and 1.3 megapixel carmera. Priced at $349.99* after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement.

Verizon Wireless XV6800 - Windows Mobile, hidden, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 2.0 megapixel camera/camcorder with flash, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

SMT5800 smartphone- Windows Mobile, a five-way navigation key and slide-out QWERTY keyboard,  2.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus and Bluetooth.

Palm Treo 755p -touchscreen  QWERTY keyboard f a 1.3 megapixel camera a Bluetooth. The built-in 60 MB and  miniSD slot,to add up to 8 GB of additional memory. Prices have not been announced on all the phones but are expected to close to other smartphones.

The House voted this week to temporarily extend a moratorium on Internet access taxes until November 2011.

The moratorium was created by the Internet Tax Freedom Act in 1998. It prevents state and local governments from taxing Internet access, including cable modems and Internet service over phone lines as well as wireless transmission services like those delivered via a BlackBerry. The Senate has not voted on the bill yet.

Verizon and Samsung’s Juke will available starting Friday. The Juke is a clone of both MP3 player and mobile phone. It has an iPod-like thumb wheel to navigate through multiple music formats: mp3, .wma, .aac and .aac+ files. Other features include: a swivel hinge, small handy size, 2 Gig of memory, Bluetooth, low light camera, stereo earphone, and USB cable

Available in red, teal and navy blue, the Juke costs $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

In an effort to save time for our readers we are initiating a new service.  We look at all the reviews of a phone or service and then report to you what the consensus of the reviews is. If you want to see the individual reviews click on the permalink to view this entire article with links and summaries.

Palm Centro Rated 4 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

“The touch screen is just one of several features that make this a first class phone with a coach class price,” writes Larry Magid for CBS about the Palm Centro.

Most reviewers commented that the functionality of the Palm Centro is good and they like the Palm OS features and the cheap price ($99 with a contract.)  However, they still want it to compete with the iPhone, and commented on the small keyboard, lack of Wi-Fi support and poor syncing abilities with Macs.

If you are a power user, you are probably better off with a iPhone or another high-end smartphone.  If you only need a little Internet access and decent e-mail access along with calendaring/phonebook Palm features, the Palm Centro will be a good phone you.  Then you can spend the $300 price difference between the Centro and the iPhone on a new PC computer or weekend getaway.

This article is currently the most popular article we have posted so far.

In an effort to save time for our readers we are initiating a new service.  We look at all the reviews of a phone or service and then report to you what the consensus of the reviews is. If you want to see the individual reviews click on the permalink to view this entire article with links and summaries.

Palm Centro Rated 4 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

"The touch screen is just one of several features that make this a first class phone with a coach class price," writes Larry Magid for CBS about the Palm Centro.

Most reviewers commented that the functionality of the Palm Centro is good and they like the Palm OS features and the cheap price ($99 with a contract.)  However, they still want it to compete with the iPhone, and commented on the small keyboard, lack of Wi-Fi support and poor syncing abilities with Macs.

If you are a power user, you are probably better off with a iPhone or another high-end smartphone.  If you only need a little Internet access and decent e-mail access along with calendaring/phonebook Palm features, the Palm Centro will be a good phone you.  Then you can spend the $300 price difference between the Centro and the iPhone on a new PC computer or weekend getaway.

This article is currently the most popular article we have posted so far.

After its acquisition of Tellme, Microsoft has introduced Microsoft Live Search free search service with mobile, Internet and phone access.

The voice-navigated free information service, is accessed by dialing 800-CALL-411 on any phone. You then can find any business in the place you choose, then get its information and a map sent directly to your cell phone via a text message. You can also search by business category and connect directly to the business that you select.

Live Search for Windows Mobile with voice input. The updated Live Search for Windows Mobile(R) 5.0 and 6.0 will be available for download for free, and now includes voice input, gas prices, and hours of operation for businesses. The service can also use Global Positioning System (GPS) data on GPS-enabled phones to provide location-aware local search for customers.

Sprint and HTC Corp. announced the availability of Touch by HTC™, a full touch screen wireless phone integrating Windows Mobile 6 with advanced entertainment features. The Touch by HTC brings together email and business applications with Sprint’s exclusive multimedia content including over-the-air music downloads, live TV and streaming Sirius radio.

The Touch has a 3 inch touch screen that operates by finger swiping. It uses Windows Mobile 6 operating system, which is compatible with Windows PC software applications such as Outlook and uses Internet Explorer as the browser.

Touch by HTC offers MicroSD card slot that supports up to 4GB - a 512MB card is included with the device. Additional features include a 2.0 MP camera/camcorder with up to 5X zoom, advanced stereo Bluetooth® and Voice-activated dialing. The phone costs $249 with a two-year contract ($100 mail-in rebate) and has been sold previously in Asia and Europe. It will be available November 4.

Agito Networks, Inc., announced its RoamAnywhere™ Mobility Router. Agito Networks’ patented RF and location-based technology provides fast, automatic routing between the enterprise Wi-Fi networks and any carrier cellular network.

The company says it can reduce up to 60 percent of cellular expenses, and avoid deployment of costly, carrier-specific equipment to address poor cellular coverage. The router will work with Wi-Fi enabled phones.

LG reported  its sales of handsets rose to a quarterly record of 21.9 million units on increases in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East in the third quarter. LG posted a net profit of $370 million. The company, however, expects sales of appliances to decline in the US due to credit problems. 

A new study by NPD shows that iPhone buyers were more like to have given up their Treos (by 10X) or T-Mobile Sidekicks (by 3X) for their iPhone while BlackBerry users were not attracted to the iPhone, probably due to lack of corporate e-mail support.

The iPhone caused an exodus from carriers, Alltel and T-Mobile took the biggest hit. Consumers who switched carriers to buy an iPhone were three times more likely to switch from Alltel or T-Mobile than from other carriers. Sprint and Verizon also lost customers to AT&T and the iPhone, but not nearly to the same degree, due to their existing over-the-air (OTA) music offerings, rich video and data services and 3G networks already in place.

Nokia announced that their S60 smartphone will introduce new features including touch technology with tactile feedback. The phone also features Web video and Flash capabilities.

AT&T Inc. announced a new rate of 5 cents a minute for wireless customers in the United States who call landline numbers in Mexico with the AT&T World Connect Mexico $3.99 a month plan  

The 5 cents a minute rate is a special offer available for customers who sign up for AT&T World Connect Mexico from Oct. 15, 2007 to Jan. 15, 2008. These customers will continue to pary the 5 cents a minute rate after the offer period ends. Because of a wireless termination charge applicable in most countries, customers calling from a wireless number in the U.S. to a wireless number in Mexico will pay 21 cents a minute.

Comment from Mobile and Wireless News:

AT&T is not the first wireless company to offer discount rates to Mexico.  On a trip to our local mercado in L.A. we found prepaid plans with very cheap rates to landlines in Mexico. CallPlus Wireless prepaid GSM service offers free long distance within the U.S.A. and to 50+ pre-selected countries for as low as 5 cents a minute. Movida has a 5 cents a minute rate to major cities in Mexico. Tuyo sounds cheap at 2 cents a minute to Mexico but requires the additional 10 cents a minute airtime fee.

Nokia Battery Advisory: If you have a Nokia phone with a BL-5C battery it may over heat and cause damages.There have been approximately 100 incidents of over heating reported globally. No serious injuries or property damage have been reported. Over 46 million of the batteries were shipped.

The battery is found in the following phones: Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60.

And in Nokia Wireless GPS Module LD-1W, Nokia Wireless GPS Module LD-3W.

Motricity, a leading provider of mobile content services and solutions, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the mobile services business unit of InfoSpace, Inc., a leading developer of mobile technologies and infrastructure services, for approximately $135 million in cash.

The acquisition expands Motricity's customer base to include 11 of the top 13 carriers in North America including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, Bell Mobility, Tracfone and Alltel.