As another effort to breathe life back into the physical CD format, Sony has created a new standard that will incorporate single tracks with cell phone ringtones.

Apple may bid for the rights to a wireless spectrum auctioned by the US Federal Communications Commission, a risky but intriguing move that would help carry the consumer electronics company into the telecommunications realm.

When squeezing out an additional 1 mm from a 2.6-mm-thick display assembly, typically the first component to address would be the glass.

"...NXP said legitimate customers are not the only ones with access to the chips. Phones can be created without semiconductor companies' even being aware of the existence of the illegal handset manufacturer until the day they start buying from a distributor...CEC Telecom's Q130, a fake Apple iPhone , is not included in black-market tallies. Rather, it is viewed as a local OEM product..."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs apologized to customers who paid full price for the iPhone before he cut the cost by US$200 yesterday.

It was on September 7, 1987 that 15 operators from 13 countries signed a memorandum of understanding that led to the development of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the first pan-European mobile standard and, subsequently, the first global mobile standard.

Hewlett-Packard unveiled five new iPaq handheld devices, two 3G mobile phones, a GPS device it calls a personal navigation device, and two traditional PDAs, without cellular connectivity.

Using a mobile phone inside a hospital may risk the lives of patients by interfering with equipment, according to academics.

India and China are top of the class when it comes to global telecom growth rates, with a total of 200 million subscribers between them in the first quarter of 2007, according to a UN report.

A US federal appeals court on Tuesday revived part of Broadcom's antitrust lawsuit against rival chipmaker Qualcomm.

Palm has put an end to the much-maligned Foleo, a "smartphone companion," that resembles a standard laptop and includes a Linux-based operating system, a 416MHz Intel/Marvell processor, and also has a dedicated graphics processor.

Foreign brands continue to dominate the Chinese mobile phone market with a market share of more than 70% in the first half of 2007, according to the latest report by CCID Consulting.

China's Shenzhen Airlines has fitted its planes with communications technology that will allow passengers to use their mobile phones to make voice calls and send email and SMS messages during flights.

A US judge dismissed some claims brought by unsecured creditors of Iridium against Motorola, saying the market had not been misled about valuation of the failed satellite phone venture.

Nokia has entered the mobile music arena, launching its own music download store in Europe along with four entertainment and media-focused handsets.

Nokia will start selling a fully US-compatible version of the N95 super-phone next month, the company announced at an event in London on Wednesday.

The 3G-ready LG-KS20 joins LG's Prada phone as the company's second iPhone-like design.

Qualcomm, Maxis Communications and Astro All Asia Networks announced that the companies have signed an agreement to conduct a technical trial of Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology in Malaysia.

LGE is promoting an aggressive premier marketing campaign from mobile phones to LCD TVs in Europe in a way to intensify its brand image.

Maxell recently introduced improvements in its line of primary lithium manganese dioxide (LiMnO2) batteries which boast an improvement in capacity of 8-9%. Now compare the 10% improvement of batteries to that seen in semiconductor computing power in the past couple of years. Just another reason why battery and system manufacturers are so hard-pressed to keep up with the demands for higher power density in laptops, consumer electronics, automotive applications, and the like.

The plant employs presently about 900 persons after heavy job cuts over the past years. Launched about 10 years ago as the then most modern cellphone manufacturing plant in Europe, during its most busy period the factory employed up to 3000 persons. Motorola at that time received public subsidies in the million dollar range. After having dislocated manufacturing processes to China, the plant now functions as a logistics and administration center.

Anadigics announced a family of three front-end ICs (FEICs) in low profile standard packages targeting next-generation, Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones and consumer electronics products.

Motorola said it filed a federal patent infringement lawsuit against Aruba Networks over wireless local area network technology for which two Motorola subsidiaries hold patents.

A teenage hacker who managed to unlock his iPhone so that it can be used with cellular networks other than AT&T will be trading his reworked gadget for a new sports car.

Yahoo Mail now includes the ability to send text messages to mobile phones. It also now allows users to send instant messages to both Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger users.

Qualcomm, a chipmaker for cell phones, said Monday it bought back or retired about 29 million shares, or US$1.1 billion, in common stock during July and August.

Microsoft announced it has inked a pact to put mobile versions of its Windows Live services onto handsets made by one of its chief competitors, Nokia.

Companies that want to bid in the FCC's upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction had better be prepared to pay up. The agency has just released a first draft of its detailed auction rules, which include reserve prices that must be met before the auction becomes valid. The coveted C block licenses (which feature the new open access conditions) will require bidders to meet a US$4.6 billion reserve; for all licenses combined, the reserve is US$10 billion.

Sources within AT&T claim that the outfit has killed off the GPS functionality in its upcoming BlackBerry 8820 to prop up its Iphone sales.