T-Mobile USA introduces BlackBerry Bold 9700 with Wi-Fi Calling

T-Mobile USA announces the release of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 that offers Wi-Fi Calling and GPS. T-Mobile claims that the Bold is its first 3G powered Blackberry and also RIM’s (Research In Motion) first phone to offers built-in support for 3G connectivity as well as voice calls over Wi-Fi.

The high-end Bold 9700 offers top class performance, functionality and advanced features. Designed with high-gloss black finish, chrome highlights and leather textured back. The Wi-Fi (802.11g) enabled handset supports 3G HSDPA networks across the globe, next generation (624) processor, 256MB Flash memory and built-in GPS.

“Increasingly, T-Mobile customers are expanding the use of their BlackBerry smartphones by communicating with friends and family online and through the latest applications and services,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA, Inc. “Customers deserve a fast and reliable broadband experience, and that’s what we’re delivering with the new BlackBerry Bold on T-Mobile’s nationwide 3G network.”

With industry’s top mobile email and messaging solutions, the powerful BlackBerry Bold 9700 device keeps users connected while on the go. It also permits access to social networking sites like Facebook. The Bold 9700 also equips RIM’s specially designed compact full-QWERTY keyboard for precise typing and amazing touch-sensitive optical trackpad enhancing the navigation experience. The feature-rich device offers a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus functionality, flash and video recording, music and video player and a strikingly clear high-resolution display.

“The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 delivers state-of-the-art features and performance in a compact and beautifully designed handset,” said Don Morrison, chief operating officer, Research In Motion. “This sleek and powerful 3G smartphone offers an incredibly refined mobile experience that is ideal for both personal and professional use.”

Users can easily access the BlackBerry App World on the device, which enables them to browse and download several mobile applications. The Bold 9700 comes pre-loaded with applications such as the Slacker Radio for free access to music, TeleNac GPS Navigator that allows viewing turn-by-turn directions and visual voicemail. With a hot swappable microSD/SDHC memory card slot, users receive an additional storage to save their huge collection of multimedia files. Users can even save their applications with a 2GB memory card.

Source: http://www.mobiletor.com/

More Mobile Phones Than People In The UK

The UK has passed 10 million 3G mobile phone users for the first time this year, according to figures for Q1 released recently.

High speed W-CDMA connections reached the 10m mark during the first 3 months of 2008 to finish the quarter at 10.83m, up from 7.1m a year earlier. This takes the W-CDMA proportion to 15.3%, up from 10.5% last year.

Another impressive statistic from the report is that there are more mobile phones in the UK than there are people. Total mobile phone ownership in the UK stands at 70.67m which is 16% more than the actual population. The latest phone ownership figure has actually fallen by 119,000 customers since last year.

Mobile networks suffering a net loss in subscribers include O2, T-Mobile, Virgin and Tesco while Orange gained 114,000 subscribers, Hutchison (Three) gained 75,000 and Vodafone 41,000.

source : http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/

Mobile phone users may pay to receive calls

Mobile phone customers could pay to receive calls as companies seek to protect their profits after being forced to cut other charges.

The European Commission has promised to bring down controversial termination charges – the fee that mobile phone companies charge each other as well as landline companies for connecting calls to their networks.

The charges, on average about 7p for each call, total an estimated £1 billion every year in the UK.

Viviane Reding , the European telecoms commissioner, is due later this month to unveil how she intends to slash these charges to about 1p – a move that has incensed some of the mobile phone giants, who believe her policies are a major threat to their profits.

Ms Reding last year forced mobile phone companies to lower the charges they levied on holidaymakers when they made calls abroad.

They have warned her – in private meetings with the Commissioner – that they could charge customers to receive calls, if termination charges were cut.

The prospect of being charged to receive calls will shock UK consumers but it is the norm in the USA.

Ms Reding said there were no laws stopping companies doing this. In an interview she said: "I think the business models are not for the European commissioner to decide. Business models are for the operators to decide."

Her spokesman, Martin Selmayr, later sought to clarify her statement, saying, "This is all part of the Commissioner pledging to drastically reduce the costs to call mobile phone companies.

"Companies could introduce tariffs that made you pay to receive calls, but most consumers will not tolerate this. They will go elsewhere. This is an empty threat from the mobile phone companies."

The Commissioner has promised that whatever changes she introduces, mobile phone costs will fall overall.

British customers currently pay 40 per cent more to use their phones than their American peers – even though most American phone companies charge you to receive calls.

Smaller mobile phone companies – which argue they unfairly subsidise termination charges of the larger players – have backed Ms Reding's proposals.

Kevin Russell, the UK chief executive of 3, said bigger networks were introducing a "scaremongering campaign to try and frighten people."

He added: "Any change would undoubtedly make the market more competitive, giving consumers much better deals than they can get today."

source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/