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News

• Nokia cuts logistics, support jobs

  Nokia plans to cut approximately 170 employees working in logistics, production management and support, it said on Tuesday.

• Nokia readies its own App Store with 20,000 titles

  The world's largest handset manufacturer, Nokia, is prepping its long-awaited application store for mobile devices at the end of May. With the new service, which is called the Ovi Store, the Finnish company will try to emulate Apple's success -- only with more than 20,000 titles at launch.

• Mobile phone shipments in Philippines take a dip

  Mobile phone shipments in the Philippines fell 20% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08) as the economic downturn continued to impact consumer spending adversely, according to IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 4Q 2008.

• Mobile-phone vendors focus on software as sales drop

  Mobile-phone sales continue to be hurt by the faltering economy, so vendors are increasingly looking to software and services to lure buyers of new devices.

• Acer working on several Android devices

  Acer is already working on several different devices using Google's Android operating system and software, and plans to launch a smartphone using the software later this year.

• Samsung unveils its first Google phone

  Samsung Electronics became the first major mobile phone maker to launch a smartphone based on Google's Android software.

• CTIA backs universal cell-phone charger

  CTIA, the main industry association for U.S. mobile operators, has put its weight behind an initiative calling for a universal cell-phone charger.

• Oracle likely to leave mobile Java alone

  Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems probably won't immediately affect the world of mobile Java, some industry observers said, though over time the company might have an interest in steering the technology to its benefit.

• Criminals pay top money for hackable Nokia phone

  Criminals are willing to pay thousands of euros for a discontinued Nokia mobile phone with a software problem that can be exploited to hack into online bank accounts, according to a fraud investigator in the Netherlands.

• Cheap smartphones killing mid-price phones

  Nokia's iPhone-wannabe 5800 XpressMusic smartphone is <a href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Consumers-Seeking-Cheap-Smartphones-678251/?kc=rss">doing great</a>, analysts say. But Nokia as a whole is expected to report a steep drop in profits for the first quarter of 2009. While the company still dominates with a 40 percent market share, it is expected to see its lead erode while BlackBerry maker Research in Motion gains ground.

• Live timetable information available in new mobile app

  Post-graduate IT students from Carnegie Mellon University Australia (CMUA) have created a mobile phone app that provides commuters with live timetable information.
  

• Sales drop, but market share holds steady for Nokia

  Nokia Thursday reported first-quarter sales down about 27 percent year-on-year, as sales of mobile phones dropped below 100 million units.

• Nokia E71x seen as key to growth in US market

  At the International CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas earlier this month, Nokia had one of the biggest booths, but it was mostly hidden near the back of a major hall.<br/>

• Stanford's Cinder OS tightens mobile power control

  Stanford University researchers are designing an operating system from the ground up to handle the power and security requirements of mobile devices.

• MIT: Batteries with viruses, nanotech to power cars, devices

  MIT researchers say they've combined nanotechnology with genetically engineered viruses to build batteries that could power hybrid cars and cell phones.