Over the next several months, 12 mobile operators will run trials of contactless mobile payment services in Australia, France, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.S. as a precursor to commercial launches. The trials form part of the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, which is designed to provide a single global approach to enable contactless payments using a mobile phone. Consumers will be able to use their handsets to pay for goods and services in shops, restaurants and train stations.

The Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative supports the use of the Single Wire Protocol, which was adopted by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as a standard in October 2007, to link the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) contained within the mobile handset with the phone’s embedded Near Field Communications (NFC) chip. The NFC chip can communicate with existing contactless payment systems to deliver a wide range of secure, interoperable and transparent services, such as credit and debit payments.

There are 35 mobile operators with 1.3 billion customers participating in the initiative. Executives from Korean operator KTF have paid for goods by passing their NFC-equipped handsets by contactless readers in retail outlets in Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. in a trial involving real transactions facilitated by MasterCard. For this trial, MasterCard’s Paypass application and Shinhan Bank’s credit card application were downloaded to a KTF UICC embedded in the mobile handsets, which were provided by LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. The retail outlets at the respective locations were equipped with readers that support the NFC interface and accept MasterCard’s Paypass applications, enabling real transactions in three different countries.

Jeff Hwang, a 20-year veteran of LG Electronics, has been appointed president of LG Electronics’ North American cellular phone unit. He replaces Juno Cho, who was named executive VP for LG Corp. As president of LG Electronics MobileComm USA, also called LG mobiles phones Hwang will oversee North American development, manufacturing, marketing, strategic planning, carrier relationships and business development, the company said. During the year before the appointment, Hwang led LG’s mobile communication business in the Korean market.

From 2003 to 2006, he was senior marketing and product planning VP for LG Mobile Phones, overseeing marketing intelligence, product management and marketing communications for the North American market. He has also headed the marketing group of LG InfoComm Korea, where as senior manager he launched next-generation phones in Korea. Before that, Hwang worked for LG Electronics in the United Kingdom, where he played an integral role in introducing new consumer electronic products to the British market, the company noted.

LG Electronics (LG), a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, announced today a new Dark Silver colour option for its popular LG Viewty professional-level camera phone, which has now sold over 550,000 units. LG will begin offering the LG Viewty in Dark Silver in addition the current black. LG chose this new colour to further the LG Viewty’s polished, premium image, after researching colour preferences in countries where the phone is sold and colour trend forecasts for 2008. “With this new Dark Silver colour option LG has made the LG Viewty even better, giving buyers an opportunity to customize their phones with a new high-tech finish that is still professional and complements its overall design,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “

We knew we had something special when we created Viewty, and it turns out that over half a million customers agree with us.” Another improvement to the LG Viewty is a redesigned jog wheel that makes scrolling through menus even easier. This improvement is based on customer feedback and available in some markets.

The LG Viewty, which includes a 5.0 megapixel camera and a 3.0-inch touchscreen has now topped 550,000 units in sales. This comes only two and half months after the phone’s November 2007 release in Europe. LG expects the LG Viewty will continue to sell well in Europe, where up to 10,000 units are leaving store shelves daily. The company attributes this success to the LG Viewty’s combination of top-notch features and great design.

LG has launched the KF600 EDGE which is equipped with a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera and new InteractPad touch screen system. The InteractPad is what they’re calling the lower portion of the display that is touch sensitive. This will allow users to navigate various menus in the handset. The KF600 actually has a slide out keypad, so it’s not fully touch sensitive. It’s equipped with Bluetooth, presumably with an A2DP profile as well. The KF600 is apparently the GSM version of the LG Venus VX8800.There’s no official price linked to it yet but it should be out in certain Asian countries soon. Hopefully India will be one of them. Stay Tuned.

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.

He’s got his hunting/fishing cap on. He’s got a conspicuously covered beer/soda in his hand. He’s chilling out in his folding camp chair and watching TV on his cell phone. Wait a second, did you say that he’s watching TV…on his cell phone? That guy doesn’t look like he’s in Korea! That’s why LG dressed him up the way they did. This guy on the right is as American as they come. And if he wants to watch some very American television content-football, baseball, fishing shows, Gossip Girl-on his phone, then, darn it, he should be able to. Shouldn’t he? Today, LG announced this morning at CES in Las Vegas a partnership with Harris Corporation and Zenith to create a new form of over-the-air terrestrial mobile digital TV standard called MPH. With a “simple” upgrade of Harris MPH “exciters” to existing terrestrial DTV antennas, live television will be available to consumers on the go. LG plans to build MPH antennas into cell phones, navigation systems, a laptop USB dongle and, through a partnership with Kenwood, in-car entertainment systems. You may recall that last year from Samsung called A-VSB around Vegas to test it out). You may recall that last year I reported on a similar technology from Samsung called A-VSB (I even went on a test drive around Vegas to test it out).

This year, Samsung again talked up A-VSB, claiming that it would go into consumer trials when the digital changeover occurs in February of 2009, and unveiling new mobile phones and portable players with integrated A-VSB antennas. So why it is that Korean company are so adamant about bringing mobile TV to the US? Personally, I think it’s because Koreans love the technology so much that they want us to share in the goodness. And on the American side, I think local TV broadcasters are concerned about maintaining their relevance as television moves into an Internet-protocol, time-shifted, Sling boxed world.

Orange unveiled its line up of exclusive mobile handsets available for Christmas 2007. New must-have devices in popular shades of pink, autumn/winter 07’s hottest colour, purple, sleek classic red, as well as stylish and traditional black and silver, mean that there is a handset to everyone’s taste in Orange’s Christmas range.

The new line up of exclusive handsets available to Pay As You Go and Pay Monthly customers from Orange stores and online via Orange.co.uk, includes a great selection from major brands Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG, as well as the first device released from Orange’s own label handsets ‘Berlin’.

The most varied ever range, priced from £49.99 to 199.99 (for PAYG customers) not only includes a number of exclusive pink devices but other carefully selected phones in sophisticated hues with unisex appeal. Exclusive to Orange, the red Sony Ericsson W910i Walkman phone is hotly tipped to be a Christmas best seller - attractive to both men and women looking for a high spec device with stylish good looks. It is made for entertainment, perfect for music, video, web access and 3D games and includes SensMe™ so you can select music by your mood. Following on from the success of the LG Shine handset, the limited edition Pink Shine launches exclusively on Orange. The Shine’s mirrored finish and brushed metal body perfectly combine style and function, making this a handset sure to appeal to the 85% of young women out there who want a pink handset for Christmas*. Also available in pink, exclusively from Orange are the Samsung F210, Sony Ericsson W580i and Sony Ericsson W200i. For the more serious follower of fashion, Orange is offering the Samsung U600 in purple.

Influenced by the autumn and winter designer collections, this sleek mobile phone in this season’s hottest colour comes with a 3.2 Mega pixel camera and a high quality 262K colour screen. At only 11mm thin, it is the latest model from the Ultra Edition II range. Named after one of the coolest cities in the World, the Christmas line up also includes ‘Berlin’ from Orange. The Orange ‘Berlin’ offers real value for money for the younger customer wanting a high spec device by combining the full feature set of 3G, 2 MP camera, MP3 player and Bluetooth. Francois Mahieu, Device Director, Orange UK said: “Colour and fashion handsets have been growing in popularity for a while now and this Christmas demand will be very high. Based on last year’s sales we predict that a quarter of all handsets sold in this period will be colour variants. People want choice, so we have secured exclusivity with top brands as well as launching our own label dLondon – 10th September 2007: Today Orange unveils its line up of exclusive mobile handsets available for Christmas 2007.

New must-have devices in popular shades of pink, autumn/winter 07’s hottest colour, purple, sleek classic red, as well as stylish and traditional black and silver, mean that there is a handset to everyone’s taste in Orange’s Christmas range.