Don’t get your hopes up, the K850i will STILL be black. However, the trimmings at the sides will be changed from the erstwhile two editions, Velvet Blue and Luminous Green, into silver. The name of the new K850i release is the Quicksilver (how apt). Aside from the impending K850i Quicksilver Black release, Sony Ericsson is also reportedly releasing a firmware upgrade for the K850i to fix little buggies causing errors as well as to improve its performance.

Obopay, Inc., the pioneering service provider for payments via mobile phones, announced Obopay will be available for BlackBerry(R) smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM). The new Obopay application for BlackBerry users provides fast, customizable access to Obopay’s full suite of mobile payment services.”The typical BlackBerry user epitomizes our need for convenience as professionals and consumers. This merges perfectly with Obopay’s commitment to giving people everywhere expedient means to send and receive money and pay for goods and services,” said Obopay Chief Executive Officer, Carol Realini. Obopay takes full advantage of the BlackBerry wireless solution’s features.

With Obopay, users can send and receive money, check their balance and payment history, and purchase goods and services. The customized application gives users an elegant experience, including a simple mechanism for users to send money to individuals directly from their BlackBerry(R) Address Book.

Orange has applied for two television channels in response to a call for applications made by the French Audiovisual Council on 6 November 2007 for the allocation of DVB-H mode frequencies to be used for broadcasting Personal Mobile Television services. The first channel is Orange Sports TV, the information and sports discovery channel already available in 3G, on Orange’s broadband TV offer and on the BIS satellite package. The second channel, O’TV, is targeted at an audience of 15-35 year-olds. Orange, pioneer and leader of mobile TVOrange, the first in Europe to launch live mobile TV in 2004, has now opened up access to television using Edge, 3G and 3G+ technology to more than 6 million of its French customers. Orange offers up to 62 live TV channels and 3,000 videos.

Based on its experience, Orange believes strongly in the potential of personal mobile television, which the Group plans to support through all available technologies. This is why Orange is also committed to personal mobile television as a content producer. While the DVB-H business model is made clearer via a debate involving all the sector’s players, the success of the service is based on the design of channels adapted to mobile consumers.

Orange Sports TV: “All sport, wherever I want, whenever I want, however I want “Orange Sports TV is the first French television channel specially created for mobile viewing. Launched on 6 September 2007, Orange Sports TV is a sports information channel with a highly specialized team of writers and crew who are lent support from the experience and content provided by its prestigious partners such as CNOSF (The French Sports and National Olympic Committee) and the Sporever Group. Orange Sports TV is also available on broadband TV, the Internet and via satellite. O’TV: “My TV how I want it, when I want it, where I want it”

In his new post, Peters will be responsible for driving marketing efforts for Windows Mobile, one of the fastest-growing businesses at Microsoft; Windows Live for mobile; and other mobility brand offerings related to product planning, product management and campaigns, and marketing communications. Peters most recently was vice president responsible for brand management and all U.S. retail technology marketing for the office supply company Staples Inc. He was behind the development of the Staples “easy” brand concept that was instrumental in driving sales.

It was also Peters’ idea to create the Easy Button, which was sold through retail outlets to raise money for charities such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Before joining Staples, Peters spent six years at Intel Corporation, where he was responsible for setting global brand strategy. He developed the brand architecture for the Intel family of processors that helped upgrade the chip manufacturing company’s market image.

Before coming to Intel, Peters spent 11 years in advertising agencies, including Hal Riney & Partners advertising in San Francisco, where he led the launch of the nation’s first true PCS offering for Sprint “This is an exciting journey for Microsoft’s mobile business; with Todd’s winning combination of technology and consumer experience, he’s absolutely the right person at the right time as we expand in appeal to a broader audience,” said Pieter Knook, senior vice president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft. Peters will report to Knook, leading marketing efforts to define and deliver the future of mobility for Microsoft customers and partners. His official start date was Jan 21.

Nokia today unveiled its latest addition to the Prism Collection, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism, aimed at design-conscious consumers. With its seamless diamond-cut design with a crystal centre key, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism continues to highlight the geometric shapes and personalized style of the Prism Collection. Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism will be available in the first quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of EUR 375, before taxes and subsidies. Nokia worked in collaboration with the creative designer Frédérique Daubal, which resulted in unique laser-etched graphic designs, distinctive wallpapers as well as exclusive accessories to the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism. The wallpapers inspired by Daubal communicate the reflection of light and capture the feel of angular prisms and triangles.” At Nokia we are constantly looking for new and innovative shapes, styles and materials combined with advanced features and personalized experiences,” said Jo Harlow, who oversees the Live category in Nokia. “Additionally, we continue to seek opportunities to collaborate with designers and artists at the top of their fields, who can offer different talents and insights to help us create products that meet the individual and unique lifestyle needs of consumers.”

The graphic design of the aluminium back cover, together with intriguing light effects, make each handset unique and complement the glamorous appeal of the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism. Combining special design and technology, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism features an eye-catching large OLED display, with organic, modern digital art wallpapers inspired by Daubal. From a technical standpoint, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism comes with a 2 megapixel camera, 3G technology for fast and easy downloads and browsing, 1 GB of internal memory and a music player with matching headset. The user can also personalize the color of the light in the keymat choosing from 49 different colors.

Motorola Inc said on Wednesday it will post an operating loss in the current quarter as its cell phone business is taking longer than expected to turn around, dashing Wall Street hopes for a profit and sending its shares down as much as 23 percent. The company, whose weak cell phone product line caused it to lose customers to rivals like Nokia and Samsung Electronics in 2007, warned of further market share losses this quarter and backed off its forecast for its mobile devices division to return to profitability in 2008. Motorola forecast a first-quarter loss per share from continuing operations of 5 cents to 7 cents, before any reorganization charges. Analysts had expected a profit of 9 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. “The figures had us scratching our heads, checking the date to see if we were looking at an earnings release from 2002,” JPMorgan analyst Ehud Gelblum said in a note to clients.

Some analysts questioned if Motorola would stay intact after its outlook overshadowed quarterly results that were in line with expectations. Activist shareholder Carl Icahn has called for a break-up of the company. He was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. “They’re flirting with the handset death spiral. They’re losing share, which makes them smaller, which makes them less competitive on costs, which makes their phones less compelling, which loses more share,” said Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder. Asked about the potential for a company break-up, Motorola Chief Executive Greg Brown would only say he was focused on cutting costs, getting mobile devices back to profit and expanding the set-top box and enterprise mobility units.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has teamed up with cell phone makers, service providers, and retailers to promote cell phone recycling. Partners in the EPA’s Plug-In to eCycling program for cell phones include AT&T Wireless, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, and T-Mobile. The old phones can be dropped off at retail stores or mailed back to the manufacturers.

The agency said an estimated 100 to 130 million cell phones are no longer being used, with many languishing in storage.” Recycling a cell phone offers an opportunity for everyone to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, and conserve natural resources,” the EPA said Tuesday in a release. “If Americans recycled 100 million phones, we could save enough upstream energy to power more than 194,000 U.S. households for a year.” Reusing those 100 million cell phones would save enough energy to power more than 370,000 U.S. homes each year, the EPA added.

The nation’s leading cell phone makers, service providers, and retailers have teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to answer America’s call for easy cell phone recycling. As part of EPA’s Plug-In to eCycling program, partners supporting the cell phone recycling campaign include AT&T Wireless, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, and T-Mobile.

“Thanks to our Plug-In partners’ efforts, recycling an old cell phone has become a quick and easy way for Americans to help protect the environment,” said Susan Bodine, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “By dropping it off at a store or sending it through the mail, Americans have more recycling options today than ever before.” To kick-off the campaign, EPA released today a series of print public service announcements, “Recycle Your Cell Phone.

It’s An Easy Call,” which highlight the convenience and environmental and social benefits of recycling a cell phone. EPA also introduced a podcast that addresses many common questions on cell phone recycling. EPA started the campaign because many consumers still do not know where or how they can recycle their unwanted cell phones. Consequently, less than 20 percent of unwanted cell phones are recycled each year.

Recycling a cell phone offers an opportunity for everyone to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, and conserve natural resources. An estimated 100 to 130 million cell phones are no longer being used, many languishing in storage. If Americans recycled 100 million phones, we could save enough upstream energy to power more than 194,000 U.S. households for a year. If consumers were able to reuse those 100 million cell phones, the environmental savings would be even greater, saving enough energy to power more than 370,000 U.S. homes each year.

The sleek slider-style and powerful, Samsung SCH-r610, is now available to customers, a subsidiary of unlimited wireless service company Leap Wireless International. This ultra-slim mobile phone is packed with a high-resolution, 262K TFT display,  with microSD memory slot, 1.3 megapixel cameras, WAP 2.0, stereo bluetooth and a loud, clear speaker phone. Because Cricket customers have unlimited wireless access, it has a digital talk time of up to 3 hours and standby time of up to 350 hours.

Cricket customers can get all these features inside a 4.06 x 1.96 x .5 inch handset weighing only 2.92 ounces. In addition, SCH-r610 is data capable, giving Cricket customer’s access to mobile Web and ability to download games or apps. It is available at Cricket retail stores and dealers for $250.

End-user generated revenues from mobile games will reach nearly $10 billion by 2009, according to a November report by Juniper Research. Over 460 million mobile users are expected to download games by 2009, which is double the current number, the report said. Verizon Wireless and other carriers are trying to capitalize on the billion-dollar opportunity. Guitar Hero III, the third installment of a very successful console music video game published by Activision, a worldwide developer and distributor of interactive entertainment, is being offered to Verizon Wireless customers through the carrier’s partnership with Hands-On Mobile, a publisher of mobile entertainment products.

The mobile version of the video game lets cell phone users jam to music, much like they do on the console game. Users get rich graphics and high-quality audio, despite the fact that they’re playing on a cell phone and not a large screen, said Verizon Wireless. There are some modifications, however, that had to be made to the game in order to play it on cell phones. For example, Guitar Hero III Mobile comes with four authentic guitars and three venues, which requires players to hit number keys in sync with colored notes that appear on a scrolling fret board.

Verizon Wireless customers initially get 15 song tracks from the Guitar Hero console series, but they can add more tracks to the video game with song packs that Verizon Wireless will introduce each month, the carrier said. Wireless, in partnership with Hands-On Mobile and Activision, on Thursday began offering the Guitar Hero III mobile game exclusively to its customers.