Sony Ericsson unveils the T100 mobile phone (Back to News Reports)

25 September 2002 - Sony Ericsson unveiled the T100 mobile phone. The T100 will attract modern young people who appreciate attractive design, ease-of-use and, core features at an affordable price. The phone features enhanced messaging capabilities and will start shipping in Q4 2002.

The T100 is small in size and gives a glimpse of the new industrial design that is coming from Sony Ericsson, capturing the simplicity and minimalism of Scandinavian and Japanese design. Preliminary consumer research findings have been very positive, with comments such as “right in fashion” and “looks more expensive than it is”. The phone is presented in three contemporary colorings, Icy Blue, Gentle Gold and Fresh White. The T100 is small and light, measuring only 99 x 43.5 x 17.7 mm and weighs a mere 75 grams. It has up to 4.5 hours of talk time and up to 200 hours (more than 8 days) of stand-by time

Several GSM markets have a strong need for a high-volume, low-priced phone with all the core voice and messaging features. Developed mainly for the low-price segment, the new T100 offers great value and offers consumers EMS-messaging with pictures, sound and animations, and mobile Internet browsing with WAP. It features an extensive gallery with 30 pictures, 15 animations and 10 sounds, which can be sent and there are 10 SMS templates for often used messages. If that’s not enough, a new image can be created with a picture editor.

Developed for GSM 900/1800 networks, the T100, and T102 for Mainland China, will be available in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia/Pacific. The phone will be introduced in some Western Europe markets during Q1 2003, and during the same time period there will be a GSM 850/1900 version for the Americas.

SOURCE SonyEricsson Press Release Back to News Reports

Motorola and Microsoft Drive Next-Generation Handheld Applications
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18 September 2002 - Motorola, Inc.'s Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS), the leading applications processor supplier to the PDA market, and Microsoft Corp. are collaborating on the underlying technology to drive new capabilities for handheld devices.

Motorola's DragonBall(TM) platform application development system based on ARM(R) technology now supports the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) CE operating system. The two companies announced their plans at today's ARM(R) & Microsoft Executive Summit in Redmond, Washington. Motorola's DragonBall family, which leads the industry in low power consumption, enables wireless device users to benefit from extended run times as a result of long battery life while still enjoying advanced features, such as digital photography and wireless connectivity.

Also announced today, Motorola's SPS has joined the ARM Consortium for Windows CE. Committed to its work with the consortium, Motorola's SPS will provide continued support for Windows CE, and future Windows CE platforms to help meet the group's goal of optimizing development of Windows CE-based solutions on the ARM architecture. As a new ARM consortium member and the #1 producer of embedded processors (source: Gartner Dataquest, May 2002), Motorola brings five generations of application processor expertise to Windows CE-based handheld devices.

Features such as multimedia support and wireless Internet connectivity, while standard on many wireless devices, consume significant battery power. This means less usable time and more time spent recharging batteries. Design and manufacturing techniques, such as "doze" and "sleep" modes, used for DragonBall processors translate to less power consumption, even with support for advanced PDA applications. In addition, other integrated features of the DragonBall processors, such as the multimedia extensions and video port, enable original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to use fewer components in their wireless devices, thus reducing system costs.

"The integration between Motorola's hardware and Microsoft's software provides the foundation for new, cutting edge handheld computing with advanced functionality," said Pete Shinyeda, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's Wireless and Broadband Systems Group. "The pairing of Windows CE with DragonBall processors bring added flexibility and ease of use to OEMs. The benefits to consumers are longer battery life and more features, often at lower prices."

Windows CE is the robust, real-time embedded operating system for building the next generation of mobile, small footprint smart devices. With a complete operating system feature set and end-to- end development environment, Windows CE contains everything designers need to create custom Windows-powered devices that include rich networking, multimedia and Web browsing capabilities.

Motorola's DragonBall family of processors provides designers with a complete platform solution. DragonBall processors feature an integrated suite of software and reference designs that greatly accelerate the creation of next-generation mobile communication products. As part of Motorola's Innovative Convergence(TM) platform portfolio the DragonBall family allows manufacturers to develop cost-effective wireless products with a complete range of capabilities, including digital image capture, file sharing, wireless connectivity, e-commerce using smartcards, multimedia entertainment and more -- all with fewer components, longer battery life, and extra performance for additional applications and features.

Motorola's DragonBall platform application development system based on ARM technology with Windows CE 3.0 support is now available. Support for Windows CE .NET is expected by the end of 2002.

SOURCE Motorola Press Release Back to News Reports

Hutchison 3G UK announces revolutionary new digital mapping for location-based services (Back to News Reports)

London – 19 September 2002 - Hutchison 3G UK Limited today announced agreements with five companies to deliver the digital mapping technology and the location-based services to be offered to consumers under the 3 brand later this year. As they develop, location-based services will enable 3 customers to pinpoint their position on a digital map delivered to the 3G handset, then follow directions to services such as hotels, restaurants, shops and businesses using a detailed real-time display.

An agreement with Ordnance Survey will see Hutchison 3G incorporating Ordnance Survey's detailed and intelligent digital map data into its 3G services. Hutchison 3G has licensed a suite of products from Ordnance Survey, including OS MasterMap - Britain's definitive digital map database. This incomparable database identifies over 400 million features of the British landscape, providing a consistent, national framework for referencing geographic information.

Tele Atlas will provide mapping data for the UK and Europe, supplying detailed street plans for over 30,000 cities from the largest seamless map of Europe in existence. Initially the Tele Atlas data will be deployed in the UK and later made available in other European countries where Hutchison Whampoa has 3G interests.

whereonearth, IONIC Software and TCS (NASDAQ:TSYS) will deliver a technology platform that supports the location-based services. All three agreements will be initially deployed in the UK, before being made available in all countries where Hutchison Whampoa has 3G interests.

whereonearth, leading a partnership with Telcontar, will supply location-based services software, data engineering tools and professional services.

IONIC Software will deliver standards based software such as Web Feature Server (WFS), using GML and Web Map Server (WMS), as well as the Ionic Portrayal Engine and other professional services.

TCS will provide location-based software and services, including its Xypoint® Location Platform which blends messaging and location applications.

Colin Tucker, managing director of Hutchison 3G commented: “We are creating a service, that, on demand, shows you where you are, what you want and how you want it - and puts it in the palm of your hand. Over time this will become an absolutely indispensable component of daily life for all of us.”

He continued: “The scale and scope of technical integration taking place behind the scenes is unprecedented in the industry. We are delighted to be working with the leading providers in this area to develop these unique and exciting services for 3’s customers.”

SOURCE Hutchison 3G UK Press Release Back to News Reports

Design students use MMS to explore the way we communicate
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19 september 2002 - Nokia and Contra Publishing today announced the launch of see what I'm talking about?, a book exploring how multimedia messaging (MMS) is changing the way in which we communicate. Four design students at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London were given a sneak preview of the MMS future, by trying out the Nokia 7650 imaging phone several weeks before its commercial launch. They created an MMS community in Europe and documented their experience in a new book.

In preparing for the launch of MMS enabled phones, Nokia loaned several Nokia 7650 phones to their advertising agency, Contra, as research tools. Four Central Saint Martins students - Jo Jackson, Harriet Banks, Tom Vernon-Kell, and Rory Brady - then approached Contra with an idea for an MMS related book, and got the green light from both Contra and Nokia to produce one using the Nokia 7650 phones.

"It was exciting to be among the first to use the technology, and to experiment with it as a new design tool and communication medium. What's more, we've successfully documented the birth of a new mode of expression, and that's pretty cool," said Jo Jackson. The students' experiences are documented in see what I'm talking about?, which has been printed by Contra Publishing. The book is structured as a timeline and presents a visual and textual dialogue, illustrating the multidimensionality of MMS messaging.

The Nokia 7650 phone has an integrated VGA camera that allows users to take and send multimedia messages, incorporating color images, text and sound. The students shared messages with one another for four weeks and created a new mobile community based on instant multimedia messaging.

Contra CEO Antti Ohrling said: "As an ad agency, we were drawn by the idea that multimedia messaging could be used as a base for creating new, interactive communities. This project shows that when you combine talent with technology and innovation, the results are inspiring."

Designed to be an experiment in social interaction, the students found that whereas many forms of electronic communication tend to abbreviate and limit shared experiences, the imaging phones accomplished the opposite: "It expanded and enhanced our ability to express ourselves and share that. It puts the human back in e-form communications," said Harriet Banks.

Christian From, Senior Marketing Manager, Nokia said, "We felt this project was a great opportunity to see what would happen when four visually talented young people were given MMS phones to use as they please. And the results are far more exciting than we anticipated. This book is a good illustration of how rich MMS is as a communication means."

SOURCE Nokia Press Release Back to News Reports