Cell phone news

Combination is natural culmination of successful 12-year collaboration between companies

Espoo, Finland and Mountain View, CA, USA - Nokia announced today that it has signed an agreement for Check Point Software Technologies to acquire Nokia’s security appliance business. The two businesses have collaborated for over a decade to deliver industry-leading enterprise security solutions, and this agreement is the natural culmination of that long-standing collaboration.

“For over 10 years, the security appliance business within Nokia has held a leading position in the security appliance market. Our IP security platforms have developed a well-deserved reputation as the premier platform on which to deploy Check Point’s leading security software,” said Tom Furlong, Senior Vice President of Services & Software at Nokia. “This business fits naturally with Check Point, and the combination will provide a great path forward for the thousands of customers who depend on Nokia security solutions today.”

“As a pioneer in security appliances, the Nokia security appliance business has been an important strategic partner for Check Point and has helped us achieve early leadership in the security appliance market,” said Gil Shwed, Chairman and CEO at Check Point. “Adding Nokia’s security appliance portfolio into Check Point’s broad range of security solutions is the natural conclusion of our long collaboration, and will assure a smooth path forward for our mutual customers.”

Check Point and Nokia have long provided customers with a range of best-of-breed security solutions, proven in high-performance, mission critical environments. Nokia’s security appliance business provides purpose-built security platforms optimized for Check Point Firewall, virtual private network (VPN) and unified threat management (UTM) software. About 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have bought Nokia’s security platforms. More than 220,000 Nokia appliances have been installed with over 23,000 customers worldwide.

Check Point has a broad range of security gateways, available as software as well as dedicated appliances. More than 700,000 Check Point security gateways have been licensed with over 100,000 customers worldwide. Check Point’s customer base includes 100 percent of Fortune 100 and 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

The agreement between Nokia and Check Point is expected to close in the quarter ending in March 31, 2009. It is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About Check Point Software Technologies
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is the leader in securing the Internet. Check Point offers total security solutions featuring a unified gateway, single endpoint agent and single management architecture, customized to fit customers’ dynamic business needs. This combination is unique and is a result of our leadership and innovation in the enterprise firewall, personal firewall/endpoint, data security and VPN markets.

Check Point’s pure focus is on information security. Through its NGX platform, Check Point delivers a unified security architecture to protect business communications and resources, including corporate networks and applications, remote employees, branch offices and partner extranets. The company also offers market-leading endpoint and data security solutions with Check Point Endpoint Security products, protecting and encrypting sensitive corporate information stored on PCs and other mobile computing devices. Check Point’s award-winning ZoneAlarm solutions protect millions of consumer PCs from hackers, spyware and identity theft. Check Point solutions are sold, integrated and serviced by a network of Check Point partners around the world and its customers include 100 percent of Fortune 100 companies and tens of thousands of businesses and organizations of all sizes.

Sony Ericsson today announced the extension of its portfolio strategy to include support for the Open Handset Alliance

“Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson. “We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands. Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver.”

Membership of the Open Handset Alliance will complement the company’s existing Open OS strategy which is based on the Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms.

Sony Ericsson has just launched the latest panels for its multimedia convergence phone, the Xperia™ X1, teaming up with the popular social networking site Facebook and Microsoft Windows Live. These web-centric panels come in addition to the existing connectivity panel from Dashwire, a site which allows you to sync your phone content to the web and share it to a range of popular social networking sites.

The new Facebook application built for Sony Ericsson uses the unique interface of the Xperia™ X1 to deliver an intuitive version of the site, putting images of your friends onto your phone’s desktop (standby screen) and showing their latest status updates as you touch their images. Touch through to access more Facebook features.

New functions available through the Xperia™ X1 Facebook panel include:

* An entirely new visual representation of friends’ statuses
* Simple and fast upload of photos to Facebook
* Easy access to Facebook friends list and phone numbers, with click to call capabilities.

As you touch to view different information, icons and links change to give you one touch access to the information you are likely to use - for example, touch the photo icon from your profile page to see your photos, from a friend’s profile page touch the photo icon to see their photos.

The Xperia™ X1 marks the beginning of a partnership between Sony Ericsson and Microsoft. In addition to building the X1 on the flexible, powerful Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, which helps extend the phone’s connection to Microsoft Web and PC experiences, a new Windows Live panel will help Xperia™ X1 users instantly bring their existing Windows Live contacts and features to their phone.

The Windows Live panel uses existing Windows Live ID to sync contacts held in the X1’s phonebook, and the panel will provide easy access to an intuitive Microsoft messenger interface, including Hotmail and Live Messenger, the world’s most widely used free instant messaging service. The panel will also give users access to the Windows Live Search function, which is tailored to mobile phones and can be voice activated and controlled. Other Windows Live services will be incorporated into the panel throughout the year. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Ericsson takes mobile music into 2009 with the W705 Walkman™ phone and Wireless Home Audio System MBS-900

Building on an array of innovative launches in 2008, Sony Ericsson announces two new products into its mobile music range looking beyond music into 2009 to offer the most state-of-the art mobile music experience.

Liverpool, UK – November 6, 2008 – Introducing advanced wireless connectivity combined with Sony Ericsson’s best-in-class audio experience, the W705 Walkman™ phone and Wireless Home Audio System MBS-900 were unveiled today in conjunction with the MTV Europe Music Awards where Sony Ericsson is one of the main sponsors. The latest products underpin Sony Ericsson’s commitment to provide consumers with an enhanced mobile entertainment experience however they choose to consume media.

Using Wi-Fi™ to connect to broadband hot spots, consumers can use their W705 to go online for the best songs or most popular YouTube™ video clips or stream tunes wirelessly to the stylish MBS-900 speaker via Bluetooth™. With Clear Bass, Clear Stereo and premium headphones, the W705 delivers a sound that has crystal clear clarity and is dynamic, rich and natural.

“We’re really proud of what we have achieved in 2008 with our market leading mobile music range, said Ben Padley, Head of Global Music Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “Combining premium design and best-in-class sound quality with super-fast access to a host of digital content whether it be from PlayNow ™ arena or via the web, we really are offering the most feature-rich mobile music experience available today.” Read the rest of this entry »

Available Today, Exclusively Through Verizon Wireless, Motorola Krave Puts the Flip on Touch

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., October 14, 2008 – Verizon Wireless and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced that Motorola Krave™ ZN4, featuring two layers of touch – on the interactive clear flip outside and the full touch-screen inside – is now available exclusively on the nation’s most reliable wireless network at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores.

Krave puts fun at your fingertips with the latest entertainment and phone features from Verizon Wireless, many of which are accessible with one touch, even when the phone is closed. Krave supports all of the hottest multimedia services from Verizon Wireless, including V CAST Mobile TV, V CAST Video, V CAST Music with Rhapsody and VZ NavigatorSM1.

Putting the Flip on Touch
Motorola Krave combines the familiarity of a flip design with the excitement of touch and haptic feedback. Without opening the phone, the clear flip provides customers with one-touch access to popular features and services – such as watching V CAST Mobile TV1, accessing photos, playing music and viewing incoming messages. The flip design also makes it easy to place clear and reliable phone calls while preventing touch-screen wear, and a side lock key prevents accidental usage.

“Motorola Krave is uncompromising. It delivers high-quality multimedia experiences while remaining true to the way consumers expect a phone to work and feel,” said Ken Hallman, vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices. “The clear, touch-enabled flip over the large, high-resolution touch-screen is nothing like you’ve seen and yet it’s totally intuitive.”

With Motorola Krave, customers can satisfy all of their cravings for the best in Verizon Wireless multimedia entertainment services, including:

V CAST Mobile TV and V CAST Video1 – Watch videos for both services in landscape mode on the phone’s 2.8” vibrant color display. V CAST Mobile TV offers broadcast-quality, full-length TV shows; V CAST Video offers snack-sized video clips, including sports highlights, breaking news, entertainment, weather and more.
V CAST Music with Rhapsody1,2. – More than 5 million songs are available on V CAST Music with Rhapsody purchase full songs over-the-air; download the master copy of songs to their PCs, free of digital rights management software; and sync favorite tracks, albums and playlists from their PCs to their phones using a USB cable (sold separately). The phone supports Bluetooth® stereo technology for listening to music, a 3.5 mm headset jack, and up to 8 GB microSD™ optional removable memory for additional storage of music, photos, video and more.
VZ Navigator1 – Provides visual and audible directions to thousands of destinations, including businesses and other points of interest, maps of locations and offers the ability to share directions with others.
Visual Voice Mail1– Delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions. Visual Voice Mail is the ideal tool for the busy mobile professional who may need to prioritize which messages he or she listens to first.

The dedicated camera key on Motorola Krave provides quick access to a touch-controlled 2.0 megapixel camera. The accelerometer detects the movement when the phone rotates and changes the display, making it easy to catch landscape and portrait shots, as well as capture and view video.

Customers can watch clips from popular video-sharing sites directly from the phone’s HTML browser; and they can enjoy videos and pictures directly from MMS messages, without downloading them first to the phone. Texting and e-mailing is simplified with its virtual landscape QWERTY keypad with haptic feedback, conveniently-sized buttons and accelerometer.

Bluetooth Capabilities
Motorola Krave supports Bluetooth wireless pairing so customers can pair their phones with the following profiles: headsets, hands-free for car kits, dial-up networking, stereo, phonebook access, basic printing and imaging, object push for vCard, and file transfer. For additional information on car kit and accessory compatibility, please visit www.verizonwireless.com/bluetoothchart.

Pricing
Motorola Krave ZN4 is available for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. Monthly access packages for V CAST Mobile TV, V CAST Video and V CAST Music with Rhapsody range from $13.00 to $15.00 per month; Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 monthly access, while VZ Navigator is available for $9.99 monthly access. Other charges may apply when downloading or using applications.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today unveiled its next-generation One Point Wireless Suite and announced the upcoming release of its Wireless Manager 2.0, a powerful network management tool that works with the indoor RF Management Suite to offer a single point of control for Motorola indoor and outdoor wireless networks, enabling a truly all-wireless enterprise.

With the addition of proven indoor wireless network design, management and security software, the next-generation One Point Wireless Suite provides businesses with innovative and powerful solutions needed to optimally design and manage indoor and outdoor networks. The design solutions enable network operators to replace costly field-based or manual designs with highly accurate software-based plans – helping reduce planning and labor costs while creating a network design with optimal coverage, capacity and performance. Automatic discovery and provisioning features reduce deployment costs and errors, enabling faster network setup, while sophisticated measurement and verification tools validate the deployed network’s performance. The management capabilities enable easy viewing of network status and quick identification and resolution of problems to help minimize network downtime.

“We are expanding the One Point Wireless Suite to enable network operators to control every detail of their networks – from wireless network design through deployment and full operational management mode,” said Philip Bolt, vice president and general manager, Motorola Wireless Broadband Solutions. “With the addition of our time-proven indoor solutions and the introduction of Wireless Manager 2.0, Motorola will help customers unwire their enterprise, reduce costs and eliminate complexity associated with planning and managing their wireless infrastructure.”

The advanced Wireless Manager 2.0 pulls together diverse information and data from all tiers of the network, indoor and out, consolidates it and delivers a unified view to network managers. This flexible, powerful and scalable tool also offers network operators a new level of visibility through real-time, highly advanced visualization of the network in an embedded Google Maps environment. Network elements are overlaid on satellite images as icons and a wide range of information, including connectivity between nodes, link quality or range and availability is displayed on the screen. This enables operators to visually monitor the health of all network components, including device-specific information. Motorola’s Wireless Manager 2.0 also offers historical trend analysis of how the network has performed and changed over time and allows users to view pre-defined or custom reports to receive a health check of the network at any given point in time.

The next-generation One Point Wireless Suite includes the following components, which can be used individually or in combination, depending on network design and management needs.
MeshPlanner provides the ability to design and measure mesh networks and point-to-multi-point backhaul. MeshPlanner replaces costly field-based or manual design and verification with software-based processes, reducing planning and labor costs while creating a network design with optimal coverage, capacity and performance.

PTP LINKPlanner maximizes link planning efficiency while optimizing coverage and minimizing interference for single or multiple point-to-point (PTP) links. The software allows you to create “what if” scenarios while determining important performance measurements to include link reliability, throughput, and path loss. The tool integrates with Google Maps to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire PTP wireless network. Reports generated from the tool serve as valuable installation guidelines and validate overall link performance across the PTP portfolio of wireless Ethernet bridges.

LANPlanner is one of the industry’s most widely used and comprehensive predictive design and verification tool for enterprise wireless LANs (WLANs). A majority of enterprise WLAN planning tools require physical site surveys to develop a detailed performance map, which takes significantly more time and resources to complete. Motorola’s approach allows network managers to plan the wireless network from their own office by importing the AutoCAD drawings of their building, answering a few questions and letting Motorola’s patented LANPlanner analyze and predict the performance. The just released LANPlanner v11.0 adds the ability to simulate the performance of 802.11n products like Motorola’s AP-7131, the industry’s first tri-radio 802.11n access point (AP).

Wireless Manager enables streamlined deployment and provisioning of networks, which helps to reduce costs and enables faster network setup. Once the network is operational, the software enables full management capabilities including quick detection and resolution of problems that impact network performance and user satisfaction, activity scheduling, automated firmware upgrades and security provisioning and enforcement.

RF Management Suite allows network operators to take full control of their indoor wireless LAN. This complete management solution provides network and security control throughout the complete lifecycle of the WLAN infrastructure — from planning and deployment through day-to-day monitoring and troubleshooting. The tight integration with Motorola AirDefense wireless IPS provides around the clock protection against unauthorized access as well as cost-effective compliance with HIPAA and other government and industry regulations.
Motorola’s industry leading portfolio of reliable and cost effective wireless broadband solutions provides and extends coverage both indoors and outdoors. It offers high-speed connectivity systems that support voice, video and data solutions enabling a broad range of applications for both fixed and mobile public and private networks. With Motorola’s One Point Wireless Suite of innovative software solutions, customers can now effectively design, deploy and manage their broadband networks at lower installation costs while maximizing up-time and reliability.

Motorola’s next-generation One Point Wireless Suite, including the new Wireless Manager 2.0, will be on display at Booth #1213 during the Gartner Symposium/IT Expo on October 12-16 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin in Orlando, Fla.

The Wireless Manager 2.0 is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009.

A series of pictures of the upcoming Kate were leaked at CellPhoneSail just recently. This time, they’re not blurry and shows some nice details. Kate is the successor of the K770. Its features include a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a xenon flash, HSDPA, quad-band GSM and the A2 software platform.

http://cellphonesail.net/2008/10/06/new-cyber-shot-reveal/

Today Verizon Wireless and Vodafone announced their exclusive claim to being the first family of carriers to offer the new RIM BlackBerry Storm smartphones. Verizon Wireless will have exclusive rights to the BlackBerry Storm 9530 smartphone while Vodafone, one of Verizon’s parents, will claim rights to the BlackBerry Storm 9500 in Europe, India, Australia, and New Zealand. No specific launch dates have been given, but the joint press release mentions availability “later this fall.”

As the first touchscreen BlackBerry device, a lot is riding on the Storm for RIM. BlackBerry devices have always been known for their fine, usable keyboards and the devices on a whole have been the tool of choice for many people that rely on email to do business. As such, the introduction of a touchscreen on a BlackBerry is something of a risk, as touchscreens have long been considered poor when it comes to text input - and a BlackBerry is nothing without text input.

To that end, RIM is using what it calls the first “clickable” touchscreen display on the market for the Storm. RIM president Mike Lazaridis says that the Storm “solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens” by responding more like a physical keyboard. The 360×480 pixel resolution touchscreen has a certain amount of give to it, and users will feel a positive click when they press on it. On top of that, the display also supports multi-touch input and finger gestures for navigation and application control.

The touchscreen is also backed up by an accelerometer, which enables it to automatically rotate with the device. As such, RIM is able to have the Storm use a SureType 20 key virtual keypad design, similar to that of that BlackBerry Pearl, when the phone is held vertically while offering a full QWERTY layout when used in landscape mode. The auto-rotation also helps when used with the web browser, which has a row of buttons across the bottom of the screen that allow users to switch between page and single column modes as well as control whether the user’s finger controls the mouse pointer or is used for panning and scrolling. Another feature of the browser that people will appreciate is the double-tap zoom control, like that found on the iPhone and in Opera’s 9.5 browser for devices like the HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung i900 Omnia.

And since RIM knows just how important text is to a BlackBerry user, the Storm also supports copy and paste functionality. We don’t have a lot of other details on the phone yet, but we do know that there will be GPS support for navigation, and that the browser can handle RSS feeds. A 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus is on board, backed up by special versions of Flickr and Facebook, and Bluetooth stereo support is there along with a regular 3.5mm headphone jack socket.

The RIM BlackBerry Storm 9500 for Vodafone will support 3G UMTS(INFO) and HSPA(INFO) data on the 2100MHz band as well as quad-band GSM/EDGE. The Verizon version goes a step further by offering all of the network support of the 9500 as well as EV-DO Rev A(INFO). support for Verizon’s 3G network for true dual-mode(INFO) 3G world roaming. It measures about 112.5mm x 62.2mm x 14.0mm (4.4″ x 2.4″ x .5″) in size and weighs about 155g (5.5oz). It offers 1GB of internal storage space and supports microSD cards as large as 16GB in capacity.

We still don’t have any word on pricing or availability for the new Storm line, but we are certainly anxious to get our hands on one to test out that new touchscreen.

Read more.

There have been live pics of this device since W595’s announcement, but Sony Ericsson did not show it on their website until now: The Orange branded version of the newest Walkman slider, the so-called W595s.

The W595s is - for now - only available on the Romanian website, you can find a few pics of it here and try it here.

blog.se-nse.net

LG Electronics (LG), a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, and PRADA Group (Prada) today announced that the global sales of the much lauded Prada Phone by LG have reached one million units.

Since its March 2007 debut the Prada Phone by LG has been recognized as one of the world’s most sophisticated handset combining innovative design with technological breakthroughs including the first complete touch screen. This visionary approach by intimate and productive partnership from two vastly different industries became a platform for new design opportunities and opened doors to diverse multimedia experiences.

Encouraged by the strong market response, LG and Prada have committed to further collaborations and will launch a new handset model starting from Europe in the 4Q of 2008.