Despite the rapid approach of the full-on European holiday season, the mobile industry has been generating plenty of news this week. Perhaps they are getting all their work out of the way before heading off for sunnier climes. Whatever the case, here we present ten of the top stories seen this week:
1. Be a Sony Ericsson Film Maker
Sony Ericsson have launched a competition based around creating a movie based around shots taken with your Cybershot phone. Called ‘Life Captured’, it will be judged by Mike Figgis (director of films such as Leaving Las Vegas and Cold Creek Manor) and the winner will receive a C902 and the chance to see his or her movie on the big screen.
2. Market Share Increase for Sony Ericsson
Despite a drop in profits and tales of forthcoming job cuts, Sony Ericsson have increased their UK market share by 5% to 25% thanks in no small part to the release of the excellent C902 Cybershot phone.
3. Nokia Responds…
Nokia retains the top spot in the UK and a 40% global share of the market, but clearly don’t want Sony Ericsson spoiling their end of year party, so they have cut up to 10% off the cost of certain handsets. A bold move and one which is sure to increase pressure on others to do the same.
4. Motorola Also Improves
Motorola have had a difficult year, so it’s pleasing to see them report a small increase in profits and news they have retained their third place spot in the mobile phone global ranking.
5. Nokia N96 Gets A Release Date
All the above could change after October however, as Nokia have set the first of the month to unleash the N96 on the world. The follow-up to the all-conquoring N95 multimedia handset, the N96 has GPS, a 5 megapixel camera, DVB and 16GB of storage. It’s going to be huge!
6. Text Messaging Continues to Grow
Hardly the most high tech communication method, SMS messaging is still growing by 30% per year and data suggests 1.5 billion messages are being sent per week in the UK!
7. China Continues Mobile Craze.
It’s a fact there are a lot of people in China and lots of people means lots of mobile phones, 600 million, in fact! With 53 million new users this year alone, it’s easy to understand manufacturers eagerness to develop products solely for use there.
8. LG Use Never Seen Before Advertising Technique!
Who would have thought it? Semi-clad ladies used to sell a techy product, well that’s just inspired! Not that it doesn’t work though, we’ve already pre-ordered ours, but in order to justify their decision to have huge pictures of bikini-clad models advertising a mobile phone, LG have named the KF600 the ‘Bikini’. Absolute, pure genius.
9. LG Team Up with Dolby Laboratories
Following the Bikini will be difficult, but LG just may be able to do so with the announcement they are to team up with Dolby to include Dolby Mobile sound technology on their next line of high-end audio mobile phones.
10. The Latest Mobile Phone News and Reviews
The Dark Knight may have had the Bat-Bike, but Lucius Fox had a Nokia Tube! We’ve got lots of new pictures and details on Nokia’s forthcoming touchscreen handset, plus in-depth reviews of two of the most exciting handsets to be released, the Sony Ericsson C905 and the Samsung Omnia.
Join us again next week for a round-up of the coming week’s top mobile phone news stories.
