Mobile 4 Dev.

There are nearly four billion mobile subscribers, more than half the world's population. New phones cost as little as USD$20 and require very little education or technical literacy to operate. And with users in developing countries now outnumbering those in the developed countries, development practitioners and social entrepreneurs are beginning to leverage the power of mobile technology to reach development objectives. Sophisticated devices and data services remain most accessible in the wealthiest countries, but usage in the developing world is significantly altering business and social behaviors around the world.

Nokia challenges RIM..

Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop told reporters that Nokia is currently the world's largest smartphone manufacturer with 200 million global customers.

"Today's announcement will enable us to expand Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia smartphone owners worldwide and allow them to collaborate on Office documents from anywhere, as part of our strategy to provide the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser," said Elop.

Panasonic, NEC unveil 9 Linux phoness

The focus of the cellphone market has been shifting to software development since Google Inc and Apple Inc entered the mobile market in the past two years, with phone vendors and operators increasingly looking for open source alternatives such as LiMo to cut costs.

The market for software platforms on cellphones is led by Nokia's Symbian operating system, but it has lost much ground over the last year to Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.

Skype to hit mobile phones this year

At the Voice On the Net (VON) conference in Toronto, Skype Technologies co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennstrom reported that a mobile version of Skype will be available this year.

Skype is a free global telephony application that allows for VoIP communications, it currently runs on Mac OSX, Windows and Pocket PC, Skype plans to release a version for Embedded Linux, Symbian or Windows Mobile devices later this year.

“We will encourage hardware manufacturers to deploy Skype on their devices.” said Zennstrom. SkypeMobile for mobile devices (our unofficial name for the new Skype) will be targeted to hardware manufacturers for integration into new dual-mode (GPRS + WiFi) mobile devices once made available to carriers. Our guess is that whichever manufacturer will adopt Skype first is the platform SkypeMobile will be released for.

AT&T Getting Touch Pro2 as HTC Tilt 2

It seems like everyone wants an invite to this party, because just about everyone is picking up some variation on this possibly popular smartphone. You may already know about this Windows Mobile handset as the HTC Touch Pro2 and how it follows up on the HTC Touch Pro.

Vodafone Selling BlackBerry Curve 8520 for Free

Want to get your hands on the hottest new smartphone coming out of Waterloo, Ontario? Want to try your hand at that new trackpad that replaces the iconic trackball? Want to do it for free? Vodafone sure thinks so and that’s why it’s ready to give you the BlackBerry 8520 for the whopping price of free.

We had already known that Vodafone UK would be picking up this new BlackBerry, but we didn’t know too much about pricing. Over the weekend, the BlackBerry 8520 hit the retail channels for Vodafone and it came with a very pleasant surprised for cash-strapped smartphone enthusiasts.

There is a catch, of course, because it’s not like they’re just throwing boxes of these things into the crowd and hoping that the recipients sign up for a plan with them. Instead, you’ll need to waltz over to a Vodafone UK location and sign up for a monthly plan of at least 25 GBP.

Apple MacBook Touch Tablet PC with 3G Wireless Broadband?

Even though the team in Cupertino is keeping pretty tight-lipped about the possibilities of a large iPod touch, we’re still hearing all sorts of rumors about the so-called MacBook Touch. To further add to our interest, we are now hearing that it’ll come with 3G data connectivity for true wireless freedom.
As you may recall, the device would likely slot somewhere between the iPod touch and the MacBook, both in terms of size and price. That’s why so many people are saying that it will likely function more like a large iPod touch than a small tablet PC.
However, Munster is saying that this new device will include a 3G cellular modem, allowing you to surf the web anywhere you happen to have a cellular connection. This goes hand-in-hand with the official iPhone tethering solution that is now available