March 03, 2006, 3:51 PM PST
Nokia is number one
Posted by: Kent German

Nokia's had a busy week. Yesterday, the company announced that Frank Nuovo, its design chief of 16 years, is resigning. Nokia's always been on the forefront of radical cell phone design (such as the Nokia 7380), so it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Two days earlier, Gartner reported that Nokia was the top worldwide cell phone vendor in 2005. Of the 816.6 million handsets sold last year, Nokia had a market share of 32.5 percent. That's pretty significant, considering not only the amount of competition that the Finnish company faces but also the overwhelming success of the Motorola Razr V3. Motorola followed with 17 percent, Samsung had a 12.7 percent share, LG claimed 6.7 percent of all the phones sold, Sony Ericsson had 6.3 percent, and Siemens followed with 3.5 percent.

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March 03, 2006, 3:43 PM PST
Hallelujah! BlackBerry is saved!
Posted by: Molly Wood

The streets of America have been saved from the prospect of millions of CrackBerry addicts stumbling down them, miserable and bereft at the loss of their always-on e-mail. In other words, RIM and NTP have settled their long-running patent dispute for a one-time payment of $612.5 million. The move preserves the sanity of BlackBerry's large and passionate customer base, which includes substantial portions of the U.S. government. The move also preserves the sanity of non-BlackBerry users, who are pretty psyched to finally be discussing something else.

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March 03, 2006, 3:36 PM PST
VoIP without the overhead
Posted by: Felisa Yang

Haven't gotten on the broadband bandwagon but still want to take advantage of the low cost of VoIP calls? Wary of investing money in a full VoIP service that may or may not work for you? Or maybe you just don't want to deal with downloading VoIP software or getting tangled in a USB headset? Jajah is turning the idea of VoIP calls on its ear. Simply go to Jajah.com, enter the phone number you want to call from (landline or mobile), then enter the phone number you want to call. After a moment, your phone will ring and when you pick up, you'll be asked to hold while your call is connected. After this, the call will proceed as normal. In fact, the person you're calling won't even know it's not a normal call (except that no number will show up in their caller ID screen).

What's happening here is that instead of connecting directly to the person you're calling, both sides are being called by Jajah over VoIP lines. The last segment of each call is relayed over PSTN lines, which means that voice quality won't be affected when you upload/download data during the call, as it often is over traditional VoIP services. After all, the call isn't relayed over your Internet connection.

How much does this cost? Well, it varies by region and by carrier. Rates to many countries can be as low as 2 cents a minute to landlines and around 15 cents a minute to mobile lines. A handy pull-down chart on Jajah's site lets you look up per-minute rates. Instead of operating on a prepaid basis, as SkypeOut does, Jajah will bill you regularly and provide itemized statements.

While Jajah's site and service are currently up and functional, their official U.S. release will be March 14. On that day, the site will be updated to reflect prices in U.S. dollars (prices are currently in Euros) and the customary structure of U.S. telephone numbers (for example, you won't have to enter the country code for calls within the States). Jajah offers 5 minutes of free landline-to-landline calls to test the service, so you can try it with no obligation.

We will have a full review of this Internet service after the U.S. site's full launch, so check back after March 14.

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March 03, 2006, 3:14 PM PST
New Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headsets
Posted by: Nicole Lee

Along with a slew of new cell phones, Sony Ericsson announced three new Bluetooth headsets a couple of days ago. All of the headsets come with a digital signal-processing technology that allows for crisper and clearer sound. The first is the HBH-IV835, a small, hookless headset that's worn by pushing it in the ear. It's compact and stylish in a glossy black. The HBH-GV435 is a bit larger and comes without a visible boom--and thus can be worn discreetly behind the ear. Finally, there's the HBH-PV705, a lightweight headset with an ear hook; plus, there's a strap in case you want to wear it around your neck. Its earpiece does not cover the ear canal, which may allow for additional comfort. The HBH-IV835 will be available in mid-Q2 of this year, while the HBH-GV435 and the HBH-PV705 will both be available in Q3 of this year.

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March 03, 2006, 2:42 PM PST
Game over: RIM settles with NTP
Posted by: Bonnie Cha

It's unbelievable but joyous news nonetheless: Research in Motion reached an agreement with NTP this afternoon, ending a long, ongoing battle with the patent-holding firm. And more important to you, this keeps your beloved BlackBerry alive. The companies announced in a press release today that RIM has paid NTP $612.5 million, and as such, "...the litigation against RIM has been dismissed by a court order this afternoon. The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief." RIM plans to hold a conference call this afternoon to discuss details, so tune into News.com for continuous coverage.

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March 03, 2006, 1:27 PM PST
Do-gooder AOL says it won't tax nonprofit e-mail
Posted by: Molly Wood

Facing increasing backlash about its plans to charge a fee for guaranteed e-mail delivery, AOL says it will pick up the tab for nonprofit organizations. So now, you can be guaranteed to receive e-mail from big, wealthy spammers who want your money, and from nonprofits who need your money. E-mail from small businesses that, say, want to announce that they're going out of business because they can't afford the cost of continued communication with their customers? Well, out of sight, out of mind.

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March 03, 2006, 1:16 PM PST
Record companies get antitrust stink-eye
Posted by: Molly Wood

So, you know how record companies have been pushing Steve Jobs to let them charge more for digital song files, saying 99 cents is too low and songs should be priced according to popularity? Well, it sounds like those record companies might have had a few too many conversations about just how much to charge. The Department of Justice has reportedly opened an antitrust probe to find out whether Sony BMG, Warner Music, EMI, and Universal Music colluded in order to come up with a pricing scheme that would satisfy all of their respective, oh-so-empty pockets. Steve Jobs: "Ha-HA, suckers! Didn't I tell you to take your 99 cents? Didn't I?"

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