Mobile Industry News

RIM launched BES Express this morning and is now available to download. The new BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express will allow businesses (of any size) to connect their BlackBerry smartphones and sync email, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos and more. This is great news for small to medium sized business, as you will no longer need to pay thousands of pounds for (most of the) BES capabilities. For complete details of BES Express or register to download it for FREE, click here BlackBerry.com/besexpress.

Vodafone today announced that nearly 450,000 Vodafone customers have signed up to its music subscription services since it signed DRM-free deals with all four major labels in 2009. This customer base gives Vodafone stewardship over the largest number of paying music subscribers in Europe.

In the month of December 2009 over 100,000 customers signed up to one of a range of music services offered across the 8 largest Vodafone markets in Europe. Growth in customer subscription numbers is being driven both by great value monthly bundles as well as unlimited access subscription services.

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Vodafone are set to offer a subsidised version of the Nexus One after winning the right to become the first operator to sell the new handset in Europe. It is however a “non-exclusive agreement”, meaning other networks could also offer the phone soon. A Vodafone spokesperson stated the Nexus One will be available “in the coming weeks”.

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Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, has announced a successful live trial of LTE (Long Term Evolution) with Telefónica O2 UK, the first fully operational operator LTE trial in the UK. During the trial, a peak downlink rate of 150Mbps was achieved in the Slough area, the headquarters of O2 in the UK.

A recent showcase also demonstrated real life case studies of future consumer demands on a mobile broadband LTE network, including high definition video streaming, mobile gaming, high speed file transfer and video conferencing. continue

According to another taxi survey organized by Credant Technologies, Londoners forget on average around 10,000 mobile phones a month in the back of taxis, and more than 1,000 other handheld devices, including iPods, laptops and memory sticks, every month.

The study highlights the fact that if you travel in taxis or other forms of public transport, then you need to encrypt your data so no one can see it. At the very least, you should password protect your data since it could easily fall into the wrong hands.

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Google is setting up to compete with mobile phone providers with its own brand handset, and a phone service providing free calls.

Google has already launched its Android operating system, but this handset will be the first official Google phone bearing the company logo.

Google will continue working with HTC to make the new handset, which will be one of the most sophisticated smartphones in the world when it is released. continue

O2 UK’s 3G HSDPA network currently covers around 85 percent of the population and it plans to make substantial improvements. O2 UK has invested half a billion pounds in its 3G network over the last two years and has now scheduled a further investment of hundreds of millions of pounds over the coming years.

The 3G network growth and investment will accelerate growth of the 3G network and make sure its 3G mobile phone and mobile broadband customers have adequate mobile data bandwidth.
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The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 really is the ultimate BlackBerry. The Bold 9700 combines the best features that have been on BlackBerry smartphones over the last year (3G HSDPA 7.2, 3.2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth v2.1, GPS, trackpad, QWERTY keyboard, smaller size, faster CPU) and combines them into a tight form factor.

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O2 have launched a new recycling service for old phones, which enables customers to get money for their “old” phones.

Estimates suggest there are over 90 million old mobiles unused in people’s houses across the UK and this service aims to rid the country of this wastage.

As well as mobiles, the service can process MP3 players, digital camera, Sat-Navs and more. continue

Research In Motion today announced the sleek and powerful BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone. The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 offers an extensive array of high-end communications and multimedia features in a compact and highly refined design that will appeal to both men and women and for both professional and personal use. continue