MobileMonday Global

^{Flagships sail in Shanghai and Hong Kong} Nokia and partners to open ten specialty stores In Beijing in 2009

04 Jan 2009 at 17:02 GMT Nokia and Chinese mobile phone chain store D.Phone announced a news Nokia specialty store in Beijing.

The Nokia specialty store jointly managed by D.Phone and Nokia uses the unified exterior appearance and brand logo of Nokia.

^{EUR 25 billion boost to network builders} Finally: China approves 3G licenses

01 Jan 2009 at 18:40 GMT China's government has finally issued the 3G network licenses after years of waiting. The state council website announced the end of long wait on Wednesday.

The announcement is excepted to trigger hot competition for among the network equipment companies. The country's industry minister said in mid-December that Chinese carriers are expected to spend 280 billion yuan on base stations, switching gear, transmission networks and other infrastructure.

^{Almost traditional Chinese stylus} Nokia announces Chinese touchscreen phone

31 Dec 2008 at 17:52 GMT In an event held the last day of 2008 in Nanjing Nokia unveiled a new pen-input phone. The Nokia 6208c caters to a number of different customers, specifically those in China.

This is the first Nokia touchscreen-equipped feature phone, running Series 40 user interface. Despite the high quality camera and large screen, the new phone is not a 3G device but works only in GSM-EDGE networks.

Global sales of Android-handsets to top 5-8 million units in 2009

27 Dec 2008 at 17:49 GMT Most branded handset vendors as well as vendors in China and Japan are all planning to launch Android-powered mobile phones in 2009, reports Taiwanese internet publication Digitimes.

The news site quotes its Digitimes Research saying that the likely to global sales of Android handsets wuld be 5-8 million units in 2009, accounting for 4-7% of the global handset market.

Nokia's Mail on Ovi public beta goes 'live' around the world

27 Dec 2008 at 17:38 GMT More than 110 million Nokia mobile phone users can now set up their own Ovi email account directly on their phones, Nokia announced on December 22.

Mail on Ovi, the free email account from Nokia can be set up directly on Nokia phones without requiring a PC to get started. People who use Nokia Series 40 devices can create their own email address directly on their mobile phones.

Nokia sells security appliance business to Check Point

27 Dec 2008 at 17:30 GMT Nokia has signed an agreement to sell its security appliance business to Check Point Software Technologies. The two businesses have collaborated for over a decade to deliver enterprise security solutions. This agreement is the natural culmination of that long-standing collaboration, Nokia says in its December 22 press release.

^{Content from Israel} Aspiro Mobile Solutions provides mobile gateway to Israel-based Media Market

27 Dec 2008 at 17:21 GMT Aspiro Mobile Solutions has signed a new agreement with Media Market, regarding gateway services in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The agreement enables Media Market to sell their services on the mobile in the Scandinavian countries.

Media Market is headquartered in Tel-Aviv and is a provider of mobile content. The company has a large market share in the countries they are represented and they currently sell mobile entertainment in Israel, the Baltic States, Britain and Germany through various consumer trademarks.

2008 Mobile Excellence Award Winners announced

21 Dec 2008 at 22:55 GMT The Mobile Excellence Awards (MEA) Monsay announced its 2008 Mobile Excellence Awards winners i9n Los Angeles.

The Mobile Excellence Awards were founded to recognize the best in mobile categories including media, marketing and technology within the mobile entertainment industry.

^{Worldwide iPhone requests grew 52 % from October to November} WiFi usage growing rapidly in US and UK

18 Dec 2008 at 17:17 GMT AdMob, the world's largest mobile advertising marketplace, today highlighted growing WiFi usage in the US and the UK in its November 2008 Mobile Metrics Report. Worldwide iPhone requests grew 52 percent month over month to 359 million in November, giving the iPhone 6.3 percent of total requests. In the US the iPhone is now the #1 device with 9.9 percent of requests.

^{Ahtisaari supports a plan to organize a wireless research program} Nobel Peace Prize winner to open doors for MobileMonday in Africa

17 Dec 2008 at 18:16 GMT President Martti Ahtisaari, who received the Nobel Peace Prize last week, will be supporting the efforts of MobileMonday to establish an African research program on the opportunities of mobility.