Today at CommunicAsia, Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (IC Mobile) launched the CL50, an inspiring mobile phone designed exclusively for the Asia Pacific Region. The new model is Siemens first clamshell mobile phone. The elegant CL50 has dual screen display, emotive messaging and distinctive aural caller identification, which provides personalized sounds and pictures that cater to user’s individual needs. Siemens CL50 comes with a range of features that include polyphonic sounds, EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) and ring-by-person. Equipped with a WAP1.2.1 browser, users of the Siemens CL50 can access the World Wide Web anywhere, anytime. The CL50 is Siemens first mobile phone designed specifically for the Asian market. It integrates fashion and technology seamlessly, and is tailor-made for the fashion-conscious, dynamic consumer of today, says Ray Yam, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, Mobile Phones within Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group.

He added: This is the first of Siemens forthcoming range of mobile devices addressing the demands of Asia’s fast-paced, style-driven people. The dual band GSM 900/1800 mobile phone offers the latest features with personal, user-orientated options. The Siemens CL50 user will be able to assign different melodies to different callers, resulting in highly recognizable caller identification. The phone also boasts EMS, a technology that facilitates SMS messages embedded with pictures and sounds to be sent to other EMS compliant handsets.

Siemens Procurement & Logistics Services (SPLS) will be the exclusive distributor in Germany of the Virtual Keyboard developed by VKB Inc., USA, and will also handle sales throughout Europe. The device projects a keyboard onto any flat surface and makes it easy to enter text on a mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or PC. The virtual keyboard should be commercially available from the fall. The virtual keyboard ushers in a new era of mobile communications: this device projects the image of a computer keyboard onto practically any flat surface. An infrared system senses the letters and numbers typed by the user and communicates them by wire or radio to a PDA, mobile phone or PC.

This initially external solution is as easy to use as a conventional computer keyboard. The virtual keyboard is based on a chipset that will also be easy to integrate directly into PDAs and mobile phones. Now mobile phones or PDAs can at last also have a decent-sized keyboard, explains Boaz Arnon, CEO of VKB Inc. In this way the users can type in e-mails or long texts easily and effectively wherever they happen to be and can leave the laptop at home. Arnon also predicts that it will for example be used in medical environments where physicians need sterile or mobile computers in operating theaters or at the patient bedside.

The virtual keyboard adds a new innovation to our range of mobile solutions, says Asriel Eisinger, product manager at SPLS. Together with various Siemens Groups we currently explore applications of this technology within the company. The product was jointly introduced by Siemens and VKB at this year s CeBIT.

Hutchison 3G today announced partnerships with nine games development companies; iFone, It’s Alive, Supedo , nGame, Codetoys, Simian Industries, Morpheme, Cheeky Wireless and Purple Software. Under these agreements a range of new and classic arcade style games, as well as traditional board and card games, will be available through Hutchison 3G’s multimedia services later this year. These agreements cover the supply of over forty games, to all international markets where Hutchison Whampoa has 3G interests. Many of the interactive games will be written and developed exclusively for Hutchison 3G; others will be improved versions of existing games. Lisa Gernon, strategy and marketing director at Hutchison 3G commented: “3G offers an exciting new gaming platform for everyone’s pocket. Hutchison 3G is focused on offering quality content in this new format and this is why we have carefully selected partners with the expertise and creativity to deliver compelling gaming experiences.”Joe Dever, head of games at Hutchison 3G, will be at E3, Los Angeles, 21-23 May . 

For video-gaming enthusiasts who don’t wish to shell out hundreds of pounds for the latest console, there may be an alternative in the form of an upcoming $20 (14) device for playing classic Atari 2600 games. The “Atari 10-in-1 TV Games” device is a basic joypad with 10 built-in 8-bit Atari games and a standard ATV output cable allowing it to connect to any standard television. The device will join a similar product, launched last year, that plays Activision games.

The device includes classics such as Centipede, Asteroids, Missile Command, Battlezone, Adventure, Combat and four others, according to Jakks Pacific, which is making the device under license from Infogrames Interactive, owner of the Atari intellectual property. It will retail under the brand of Jakks’ Toymax International subsidiary. British mobile phone developer IFone said last year it would work to put classic Atari games into mobile phones, and this year has announced deals with Ericsson and Vodafone to deliver games.

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today that they will introduce a new billing system that enables users to pay monthly mobile phone bills at convenience stores using a two-dimensional bar code on the screens of their mobile phones. The service, dubbed “combien?” will be available at two am/pm Japan convenience stores in Tokyo (”Ichiban-cho Honsha Biru” and “Kokusai Akasaka Biru” stores) beginning May 20, . Service will expand to some 1,400 am/pm stores nationwide by early July. It will also be available at several Lawson convenience stores by mid-July and expand to some 700 locations in Tokyo’s 23 wards and Nagoya as of September. DoCoMo is also negotiating similar arrangements with other convenience stores.

Since the service eliminates the need for a hard-copy invoice, customers can easily pay their bills whenever they visit a participating convenience store. The service is targeted at i-mode users who pay their bills by invoice. The bar code is downloaded from a dedicated site linked to the i-mode portal. To prevent double payment, the bar code is valid only on the day when it is downloaded. A dedicated scanner is used to read the two-dimensional bar code, after which the customer pays the bill.

World’s first full-scale MMS services commercially launched in Hungary Ericsson and Westel today launched the world’s first commercial, full-scale Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) based on Ericsson’s MMS technology. Now mobile subscribers in Hungary are able to send and receive multimedia messages containing image, text and sound. “This is a major achievement for the whole industry. Westel succeeded in putting MMS on the market for revenue producing customers together with Ericsson, the clear market leading supplier of multimedia messaging” said Andras Sugar, CEO of Westel. “As the innovative leader of the Hungarian mobile market, we are dedicated to bring people even closer to each other by helping them capture memories and share the special moments of their lives.”

The commercial launch of MMS is a major footstep towards the take off of GPRS services. With this launch, MMS will be available for the almost 2.75 million subscribers of Westel, which marks up for more than 50% of the Hungarian market. However, as several industry reports have indicated, MMS is expected to be one of the biggest growth areas in mobile services over the next few years, and the natural evolution of Short Message Service (SMS). “The Hungarian market with its relatively low PC penetration, high mobile phone penetration and high SMS usage is a perfect market for the MMS service. Westel, with its high innovation and drive, is an excellent partner for us in offering these fun and exciting services to users,” said Ingvar Larsson, Vice President and General Manager of Ericsson Service Network and Applications.

It is an outstanding achievement that Westel makes MMS available for both its monthly subscription and prepay card customers from the first day of launching the service. The MMS launch was based on SonyEricsson’s T68i mobile phones and CommuniCam II TM cameras, today the only MMS enabled device on the market.

A fundamental repositioning in the UK mobile industry took place in London today, with the launch of T-Mobile. T-Mobile is the new name of One 2 One, the UK network of T-Mobile International, and is part of an ongoing strategy to position the network as a leading global player. T-Mobile International currently serves over 53 million mobile customers, primarily through its majority -owned subsidiaries in the UK, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and the USA. It’s reach extends to nearly 67 million customers in total, in operations where Deutche Telekom has a whole or partial shareholding.

Motorola to Showcase New  Handset and Accessory Portfolio At CTIA Wireless  Fusion of Latest Design, Technology, Fashion and Function Resonates Across Product Line Next week, at CTIA Wireless , Motorola (NYSE: MOT) will showcase its new handset and accessory portfolio with a renewed focus on design and a strong portfolio of digital personalization options. The Motorola PCS collection includes five new distinctively designed handsets, three existing handset models with enhanced technology additions and eight companion accessories, which provide additional entertainment and functionality choices.

With these new products, Motorola is reinforcing its leadership role in presenting progressive communication options that infuse high-tech with high-style. “Anyone who tracks our industry will recognize the new direction represented by our portfolio. Design, style, elegance, entertainment and overall experience — these are all the hallmarks of a renewed and refocused Motorola PCS,” said Mike Zafirovski, president of Motorola’s Personal Communications Sector. The collection builds on the company’s technology heritage, reinforcing Motorola’s leadership position in bringing consumers advanced technology innovations with J2ME(TM), EMS, MMS, GPRS and 3G technologies (CDMA 1X and UMTS).

The new portfolio includes six new handsets powered with J2ME technology, providing consumers the ability to personalize their phones with new applications as their individual needs change and grow. Several handsets in the new portfolio also provide consumers with either enhanced or multimedia messaging technology — adding a new level of expression through messaging with audio, graphic, text and imaging content. Additionally, Motorola continues its progressive approach by providing consumers with faster data and Internet connection speeds through CDMA 1X or GPRS technology*, included in each new handset. Motorola also will demo the company’s first dual mode 3G UMTS product, the Motorola A820, showcasing a look at the future of wireless communications where video merges with voice and data for a completely new mobile experience.

Air France has become the first airline in the world to offer an in-flight mobile phone service on international flights. Using to the Mobile OnAir system, passengers travelling on board one of the Airbus A318 aircraft operating European routes can now. Send and receive sms and mms messages send and receive emails via all phones with Internet access during the second half of the trial, passengers will be able to make and receive phone calls, with the service being regulated to maintain passengers’ comfort and well-being. Customers on board this Airbus A318, with seating for 123 passengers, can find out more about this service in an information leaflet in seat pockets. Information will also be included in the cabin crew announcement.

Air France welcomes feedback on this service from its passengers, who can fill in a twenty-question survey. At the end of the six-month trial, Air France will examine the feedback and comments made by customers to determine whether to launch this service on all its flights.“We are seizing every opportunity to offer customers the latest technological innovations, while continuing to make their travel comfort and well-being our main priority”, stated Patrick Roux, Executive Vice President Marketing Air France.

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, said “We are delighted that Air France is the first airline to use the Mobile OnAir onboard mobile telephony system on international flights. This marks an important phase in the implementation of a new generation of in-flight services and we are confident that this trial will define the future standards in terms of in-flight passenger communication”. The Mobile OnAir onboard mobile telephony system, certified by EASA (European Aviation Safety Authority) does not interfere with the radio-navigation instruments on this Airbus A318 and may only be used at cruising altitude once the new illuminated sign “Switch off your phone” is turned off. The system is activated at 3,000 metres (10,000 feet).

Famous actress Catherine Zeta-Jones will be T-Mobile global spokeswoman and will appear in T-Mobile worldwide advertising campaign. The campaign will start this summer when US subsidiary VoiceStream will be re-branded “T-Mobile US”. Zeta-Jones who starred in such films as “The Mask of Zorro” and “Traffic” says she was attracted to T-Mobile “get more from life” message because it mirrors the way she uses mobile communications to enhance her own quality of life: “The ability to reach someone on a whim to share a story, a laugh or a memory is incredibly empowering.

As a global company, T-Mobile is the perfect catalyst for that type of spontaneous communication. “T-Mobile International CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke praises Zeta-Jones as “the perfect choice to represent T-Mobile” due to her “strong international appeal as a respected actress who lives life to the fullest.” VoiceStream CEO John Stanton stresses that Zeta-Jones has “the right combination of international appeal, intellect, and style and exudes a remarkable attitude of self-confidence and reassurance all the qualities we want the T-Mobile brand to represent in the marketplace. “While Zeta-Jones will be the worldwide spokesperson for T-Mobile, Andre Agassiz and Stefanie Graf will appear in more content-focused campaigns, e.g. advertisements in connection with T-Mobile European t-sports service.