Fone Arena

 
German engineering giant Siemens is selling its mobile phones unit to much smaller Taiwanese rival BenQ, it said on Tuesday, drawing a line under hundreds of millions of euros of losses.

The deal — which will cost Siemens 350 million euros ($431 million) before tax — will enable BenQ to double its annual revenues to $10 billion, the company said, and catapult it out of relative obscurity into the world’s top 10 mobile handset vendors.

BenQ will use the Siemens brand name for five years and will take over some high-profile sports sponsorship contracts, including one with star soccer team Real Madrid.

It will also take on 6,000 Siemens employees — half of whom are in Germany, where many have job guarantees until 2006 negotiated last year in exchange for longer working hours.

The company’s headquarters will remain in Munich, Germany.

In return Siemens will acquire a 2.5-percent stake in fast-growing BenQ — Taiwan’s top maker of computer equipment and mobile phones — with the issue of 50 million euros worth of new BenQ shares.

Source:reuters

London – For everyone who wants a beautifully designed 3G phone that can access the latest music and videos from Vodafone live! Sony Ericsson and Vodafone are now announcing the V600i. Specially designed for Vodafone by Sony Ericsson, this 3G UMTS handset is groundbreaking in design, performance and functionality with wide appeal for consumers wishing to experience the full range of Vodafone’s 3G consumer services. The V600i is delivers the full performance and possibilities of 3G networks, including high quality video telephony and fast download of full track music and video and other mobile content from the Vodafone live! portal.

The V600i has sleek good looks and sober black colouring. It is also easy to use and to navigate around its features. Sony Ericsson’s intuitive dual front camera/phone design allows the handset to be used vertically as a phone, and horizontally as a camera, and the 1.3 MegaPixel camera has an active lens cover for swift activation and protection. For consumers keen to try video telephony, it can be done in just a few clicks with the use of the direct video telephony button. The V600i offers a world of applications, from exciting mobile content to video calling and personal creativity. Images, videos, games are always crisp and clear on the large – 1.8 inch – 262.000 colour TFD screen

The V600i is fully featured with a suite of business applications for personal information management and PC-synchronisation via USB, making it the ideal executive work tool, providing business efficiency with high speed access. Thanks to its Bluetooth™ capabilities, it is the ideal phone to use in the car with a Bluetooth wireless handsfree solution or on the go with a Bluetooth portable handsfree.

The V600i offers a great entertainment experience through ‘Vodafone live!’ services, effortlessly handling 3D games, music and animations. Consumers can enjoy content streamed from the Vodafone live! portal, including live sports and music videos. The V600i offers rapid browsing in combination with the broadband capabilities of Vodafone’s UMTS networks, enabling users to gain access to pages quickly, and to download content, whether it’s pictures, music, mail, news, ringtones or games quickly. The phone features a superb 3D Java gaming engine and brings multiplayer gaming via Bluetooth to a new level of interactivity.

High quality audio coupled with an FM radio and the ability to import full track music downloads direct to the phone make the V600i an ideal companion for travelling, the gym or simply relaxing. For consumers keen to exercise their creative muscle, a host of personal creativity tools allows them to personalise ringtones, wallpapers, still shots and video footage in new, inspiring ways. The 32MB internal memory of the V600i makes it possible to store a rich library of ring tones, video clips, music and pictures.

The V600i will be available in Vodafone stores starting in some markets in early Q3 2005.

Source:Sony Ericsson

Unveils Nokia 1110 and Nokia 1600, affordable, easy-to-use mobile phones, and Nokia Prepaid Tracker

Nairobi, Kenya – At a press conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, Nokia outlined its strategy to bring the benefits of mobility to new growth markets. Today, Nokia also introduced the Nokia 1110 and Nokia 1600 – two new mobile phones aimed at first time users and consumers in growth markets like Africa.  At the same time, Nokia unveiled the Nokia Prepaid Tracker, the world’s first completely networks-based solution that enables prepaid users to monitor their account balance on the handset display after each call. The Nokia 1110 and Nokia 1600 join Nokia’s range of entry level phones which emphasize ease-of-use, reliability and affordability, and contain technological features which reduce the total cost of mobile ownership for consumers. Both models are expected to be commercially available during the third quarter 2005.
 

"The number of new mobile users in fast growing markets continues to rise dramatically and nowhere is the rate of growth more evident than in Africa. By the end of this year, Nokia anticipates Africa will be home to 100 million subscribers and expects the African subscriber base to double to 200 million by 2009. Nokia has been instrumental in propelling the industry towards the goal of 3 billion people connected globally by 2010 because mobility offers so many benefits, such as creating employment, opening new channels of communication for social services and even helping to stimulate economies," said Juha Pinomaa, Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia.
 
"At Nokia, we firmly believe the key to success in new growth markets like Africa, is to work closely with mobile operators to reduce the overall cost of mobile phone ownership for consumers. It is equally important for us to work closely with government bodies to overcome possible barriers that are preventing forward momentum. With the right combination of mobile phones, network solutions services and a regulated environment, we envision a mobile landscape where operators can profitably offer mobile services to consumers for as little as USD 5 per month. When the cost of mobile services becomes this affordable, we foresee the growth curve in growth markets accelerating sharply. "

New York – Today Nokia introduced its first device in the new Internet Tablet category, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York. The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a dedicated device optimized for convenient Internet browsing and email communications in a sleek pocketsize format. The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet features an impressive high-resolution (800×480) widescreen display with zoom and on-screen keyboard, ideal for viewing online content over Wi-Fi. Aside from Wi-Fi, the device can also connect to the Internet utilizing Bluetooth wireless technology via a compatible mobile phone.