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Tag: launch

  • Truphone Anywhere Launches on Android G1


    Truphone has announced its Truphone Anywhere application is now available for Android-enabled mobile handsets.

    The offering coincides with T-Mobile’s announcement earlier this week that the G1 mobile phone is be rolled out into various continental European markets.

    A German version of Truphone Anywhere for Android is being made available and will be the first native language multi-communications application in the Android Market in Germany and Austria when it launches at CeBIT in March.

    The application is available now as a download on the Android Market in the UK and the US.

    The company says Truphone Anywhere for Android delivers an all-in-one conversations hub that offers customers low international call rates, in addition to the cost of a local call.

    Truphone customers can also Instant Message their friends across a variety of networks including MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Twitter from within one Android application.

    Users can acces Google Talk for the price of a local call, and similarly will soon will be able to Instant Message and call their friends on Skype.

    The launch means that Truphone is now available on Android, the Apple iPhone, the Apple iPod touch, Blackberry and Nokia devices.

  • Dell Smartphone Needs To Shine


    Suggestions that Dell is to launch a smartphone have surfaced again following a research note by Kaufman Brothers analyst, Shaw Wu.

    Wu speculates that the move would be to offset the impact smartphones are having on notebook sales.

    But the analyst warns that Dell would have to make its device truly distinctive to stand any chance of securing a healthy slice of the extremely competitive smartphone market.

    For this reason, Wu suggests Dell would be well advised to consider acquiring a software maker.

    The comments come after investigations within Dell’s supply chain reportedly indicate that lengthy discussions with potential component suppliers are reaching fruition.

    While details such as device specifications and a launch date are unknown, some reports suggest Dell is planning a handset launch as early as next month at 3GSM or the Mobile World Congress.

    Dell has publicly tried to play down rumors of it launching a phone but has stopped short of openly denying the claims.

  • Acer Smartphone Gets Launch Date


    The first Acer-branded smartphone is to go on sale in the first quarter of 2009.

    While no details have been released – handset info or precise regions where it will be sold – it does at least firm up what have until now been largely speculative reports.

    The first Acer-branded handsets are expected to launch in first-quarter 2009 initially in Western Europe and Russia, with other markets to follow later.

    The company appears optimistic about the smartphone market, which it signalled its intent to enter with the purchase of Taiwan smartphone maker E-Ten Information Systems earlier this year.

    While Acer is confident the smartphone segment will be a major growth driver for the company over the next 3-5 years, it is equally bullish in other areas.

    With news of its smartphone activity came an similarly optimistic forecast from Acer about its growth opportunities for 2009.

    The company expects its notebook shipments to increase 15-20 per cent in 2009 and overall sales to grow 25-30 per cent year-on-year.

  • Inventory Problems Cloud Storm's Launch


    Whether the long, cold waits – and, for many, ultimately empty-handed departures – were down to a security issue or general inventory problems is still not clear.

    What’s certain is that the Blackberry Storm’s US launch didn’t go as either exclusive operator Verizon or maker Research In Motion would have wished.

    Lines of people formed outside Verizon Wireless stores on Friday to buy the Storm, the first touch-screen phone from RIM that aims to compete with Apple’s iPhone.

    Today, Verizon has placed a notice on its online ordering page stating that: "Due to limited availability of the BlackBerry Storm 9530 smartphone, orders will ship by 12/15".

    While Verizon has declined to give specifics on inventory levels, the shipping delays are being attributed in some quarters to a last-minute security glitch.

    The Storm was to have launched with OS version 4.7.0.82, but because of the security issue every handset had to be downgraded to .65.

    This time-consuming task is the most likely reason why so many fewer handsets arrived in-store and online for release.

    Just to make matters worse, some of those who did manage to buy a Storm were met with activation issues as Verizon’s servers seemingly met the same fate as AT&T’s and Apple’s on iPhone 3G launch day.