DT Gets iPhone?

T-Mobile appears to be the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in Germany next week. Apple reportedly has a revenue sharing deal similar to that with at&t, in which Apple collects a portion of the monthly subscription fees. Pricing will reportedly be set at 399 Euros ($554) for an 8GB model. It isn't clear whether 3G support is forthcoming.

Pantech Duo for at&t

Touch screen smart phones aren't universally desired. So at&t is introducing a dual-sliding phone like the Helio Ocean, but using the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. The Pantech Duo uses the 3G network, , a sleek-looking dual-slider that zips along on their 3G HSDPA network, has a 1.3-megapixel camera, and can do push email.

Samsung Croix for Vodafone

As expected, the iPhone is changing smart phone design, pushing devices in the direction of more capability as media players. That ultimately will have repercussions for enterprise information technology managers as well, since business users are going to want to use such devices.

The Samsung F700V Croix will be introduced by Vodafone as an "iPhone killer" when Apple's device is introduced in European markets.

The Croix features a 3.2-inch touchscreen and 3G access using HSDPA running at a 3.6Mbps peak download rate. It has front and rear cameras for video calling and capture. The Croix should play AAC and MP3 songs as well as H.264, MPEG-4, and Real videos.

The device closely resembles the minimalist design of Apple's iPhone. A single navigation button near the bottom of the phone resembles the single button on Apple's iPhone, while rounded corners and a rectangular shape give the Ultra Smart F700 an iPhone-like appearance. The device includes a slide-out keyboard to accommodate typing and Web browsing.

The Croix also features 5-megapixel camera offering auto-focus.

Credit Facebook for Force.com

Force.com is an on-demand application development platform that will extend Salesforce.com's subscriber base far beyond traditional business software users sometime in 2008. And you can bet Facebook's success as an applications platform had something to do with the decision.

Force.com will give customers, developers and independent software vendors the ability to create custom applications and user interfaces that can be accessed from desktop PCs, iPhones or retail kiosks using the Salesforce.com service. That's the advantage from the end user perspective.

For developers and hosts, there are other advantages, such as ability to create and support new applications without the need for new Web servers and data center facilities. The new platform will operate in much more of an on-demand basis, as a result.

Visualforce uses HTML, AJAX and Flex programming languages.

New Sprint Handsets Q4

Sprint Nextel Corp. will deliver four new wireless handhelds by year's end, including the HTC Touch, featuring touch-screen capabilities similar to Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

The Palm Centro features a full keyboard and touch-screen navigation, while the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 has its SureType keypad of both numeric and alphabetic keys interspersed. The fourth phone is the LG Rumor, featuring a typical phone touch pad and a separate slide QWERTY keyboard.

The Touch allows users to "sweep their finger up the display to launch an animated, three-dimensional interface comprising three screens: Contacts, Media and Applications."

HTC Touch also relies on Windows Mobile 6 Professional as the operating system and most likely will be a quad-band device supporting GSM, GPRS, EDGE and EVDO-A, plus Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi.

There's a sort of odd disquiet out there right now in the VoIP world. It's almost as though VoIP has become something like broadband access. One expects it to be there, but there aren't too many important issues to ponder beyond that. Indeed, any number of other issues now seem to require attention, including various ways to unify communications. Hence the greater interest in all forms of fixed-mobile convergence, presence, communications enabling basic business or consumer processes. Mobility itself now seems more germane than VoIP, in many respects.

ISP Subscriber Growth Favors Tier One Providers

Not that anybody should be surprised by the latest ISP subscriber figures, but large tier one telco and cable providers are racking up more market share while independent mass market providers are losing share. The one countervailing trend is that providers focused on the small and mid-sized business, such as Covad, continue to grow.

For those of you familiar with the SME space, it is, always has been and always will be a fertile segment for independent providers of all sorts. The latest ISP figures only confirm that observation, again.

Massive Email Outage in the Works?

NTP, a patent holding company based in Arlington, Va., is suing Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA for infringing several of its patents, all of which are related to the delivery of e-mail to mobile devices. You might remember that NTP wrung $612.5 million out of Research in Motion for doing so.

In its new round of suits, NTP claims mobile carriers mobile email services also violate those patents.

NTP wants an injunction to stop the infringing actions. Injunction. As in "you will stop delivering email now and then we will go to court to figure out whether you really are infringing or not. Injunction. As in massive North American email outage.

Five of the eight patents NTP claims are being infringed were the subject of NTP's 2001 patent suit against Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry. In November 2002, a jury found that RIM infringed upon NTP's patents.

In 2006 RIM agreed to pay NTP to settle the case.