eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
China Calling with Cell-Phone Standard
China, the worlds largest market for cell phones, is aggressively developing a homegrown technology that can run the next generation of mobile telephone networks, challenging the traditional dominance of American and European companies. During the 1990s, as China spent $10 billion to build a national mobile telephone network, foreign companies reaped most of the rewards. Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia produced much of the equipment that runs the networks and many of the phones on them. Now, the country is planning for 3G. If China develops its own 3G standard, it could save on the royalties it would otherwise have to pay foreign firms for their gear — a tab that reportedly runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars. And if Chinas standard gained favor abroad, its companies could then collect royalties from foreign counterparts. In China, construction of 3G networks and the manufacturing of new phones could absorb $8 billion in the first three years, said Edison Lee, an Asia telecommunications researcher at J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong.
Read the full story on: TechNews.com
Mobile Competition Comes to Afghanistan with Launch of Second Network
Afghanistan became the latest battleground for mobile phone companies with the launch of the countrys second commercial cellular network. Roshan — or “light” in Dari and Pashto — is a new GSM network launched by the Telecom Development Company of Afghanistan Ltd. (TDCA). Roshan chief executive officer Karim Khoja said by the end of the year the firm aimed to have a 50 percent share of the market currently dominated by the Afghan Wireless Communication Co. (AWCC). Roshans imminent arrival on the Afghan cellular scene has already prompted price cutting by its rival, with AWCC dropping its sign-up fee for a SIM card from 130 dollars to 50 dollars.
Read the full story on: Yahoo! News
Samsung, Nokia Team on Cell Phone Apps
Samsung Electronics and Nokia have reached a basic agreement to collaborate on software and market development for cellular handsets and smartphones. The companies agreed on the basic concept of mutual cooperation about software development and new, future market generation, said Samsung spokesperson Seung Youn Kim. The informal discussions did not include any specific agreements but did lay the ground for more formal arrangements to be reached in the future in areas including operating system and application design.
Read the full story on: PCWorld.com
Palm Forges New Tungsten Handheld
Palm last week launched its newest Tungsten handheld targeted at businesses, the Tungsten T2. T2 comes with 32MB of memory, twice that of its predecessor, the Tungsten T. It also includes a new “transflective” display, which is the same size and resolution as that of the Tungsten T, at 320 pixels by 320 pixels, but Palm says it is more easily viewed both indoors and outdoors. The handheld also comes with the latest edition of Palms operating system, version 5.2.1, and built-in Bluetooth wireless. Tungsten T2, which is available now, will sell for $399, according to Palm.
Read the full story on: CNET News.com
Treo 600 Moves Closer to Launch
Handsprings upcoming Treo 600 smart phone has taken a step closer to commercial launch with the device gaining approval this week from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Two versions of the Treo 600 were approved: one compatible with the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) wireless standard, and carrying the Sprint PCS logo in an image included with the documents, and one compatible with the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless standard. Few technical details of the devices were included in the approval papers although Handspring last week provided some basic details. The device will be based around an Arm microprocessor and run Version 5 of Palmsources operating system.
Read the full story on: InfoWorld