The companies had a combined annual turnover of around 115 million in 2005. Strax expects sales to increase to around 140 million in 2006.

More… has supply agreements throughout Europe with network operators and retail chains including Vodafone Telefonica and retail chain Phone House.

Strax vice-president of sales and marketing Phil Drake said: As consolidation within the industry takes place over the next few years the acquisition of more… enables us to compete more effectively in the UK and European market with the other industry big players.

According to Drake Strax can now offer OEM and OAP relationships with all the leading manufacturers. The company would continue to seek acquisition and merger opportunities.

The number of texts sent across UK GSM network operators on New Years Day increased by 24 per cent compared with 2005.

The MDA reckons that the total number of text messages sent in 2006 will reach 36.5 billion up 4.5 billion on the estimated total for last year. The MDA forecasts an average of three billion messages will be sent each month with 100 million sent a day in 2006.

MDA chairman Mike Short said: SMS is on every handset now and it penetrates deeper and wider than ever before. It is also more cost-effective than ever. With over 600 million of mobile content carried on SMS last year it is a key enabler of the mobile content industry.

The UKs annual SMS figures have risen by more than 22 per cent each year since 2001 according to the MDA.

Some are even more bullish however. Christina Domecq CEO of voice-to-text service SpinVox said: We are expecting larger numbers than predicted by the MDA.

Domecq believes growth will come in part from voice/data convergence. Users are clearly keen on text so services that allow them to choose whether they take calls or communicate via text have real meaning to users – and ultimately value to operators she said.

ROKs patent application describes the process of placing audio-visual media content on to memory cards and then converting the content into a format that is ready for playback on mobile devices.  

ROK Entertainment chairman and CEO Jonathan Kendrick claimed the patent grant was an important step for ROK and that the market for content-loaded memory cards is increasing rapidly. ROK also has patent applications pending in other countries.

We knew we had invented some very special technology when we completed the development of ROK Player he said.

To be awarded a patent means we can now push ahead with the global roll-out of our content-loaded memory cards.

This took a step forward last week with the launch of ROK USA with an immediate mandate to implement ROK Player and ROK TV across the US.

Solicitor Ravinder Saimbhi told the court that Elizabeth Murphy had not set out to steal the phone but had simply signed for it while visiting her co-defendants home .

Murphy 44 of Endell Street Covent Garden London and Olugbe Akinade 50 of Sutherland Court Marylands Road in Maida Vale west London – both recovering addicts who are unemployed – pleaded guilty to stealing the 150 Nokia handset belonging to Edwin Henry on December 7 last year.

Akinade also admitted failing to attend bail at Marylebone police station on December 14.

The accused were remanded until January 11 for reports on bail with a condition that they attend any appointments as directed by the Westminster Drugs Project.

The new dates are January 19 in Solihull and January 20 in Bristol. Sixty dealers attended events in Birmingham London and Newcastle in December.

Sessions focus on driving B2B connections and increasing revenue by developing strategic partnerships through networking. Dealers are also offered information on products and services that would appeal to new business customers.

Former delegate Direct Telecoms director Jim Rock said: Although our sales team all possess varying levels of experience and industry knowledge they all benefited from different aspects of the day.

The research conducted by International Marketing Partners for technology solutions provider GMI surveyed the responses of over 17500 consumers around the world.

These covered 15 leading consumer electronics brands including Apple Canon Casio Dell Hitachi Hewlett-Packard Microsoft Nokia Panasonic Philips Pioneer Sanyo Sharp Sony and Toshiba. Nokia was the only pure phone brand surveyed in the research.

The results were announced at this years Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas last week.

Called Brandbarometer the research found that consumers across the world judged Nokia to be innovative friendly and engaging. The company also scored highly for being customer-focused and for being most responsive and empathetic.

Sony and Nokia were seen as the two most reliable brands on the list. In contrast Sanyo was perceived as stagnant dull insignificant and weak.

Nokia put the trust the respondents have in the brand down to consistency and managing expectations in the technology.

This result is based on the consistency of how we see the brand said Nokia UK director of communications Mark Squires.

We keep expectations of the brand on a manageable level. For instance we chose to modify our browser slightly over time. That does not always happen. Its a journey all good manufacturers take with their customers.

Tracks are categorised so listeners will get tracks they like based on their previous preferences. They will also get the opportunity to buy and download songs.

The service will be launched in the UK France Germany Italy Portugal and Spain in the coming months. It will be rolled out to 20 more countries over the year.

Vodafone director of consumer platforms Lee Fenton said: This partnership with Sony will drive Vodafones strategy to become a leading global music provider.

Xchange is designed for Elites dealer community to save points over a longer period than is usually allowed by other incentives. Prizes on offer include a Bose Digital home cinema sound entertainment system or a cage dive encounter with a great white shark.

Elite director of sales and marketing Barry Nash said: We are in it for 2006 to lock in and reward for loyalty. Rather than the usual three- or four-month burst we are running the scheme over a longer period because we dont want to disadvantage smaller customers.

Last September around 400 O2 customers were given a Nokia 7710 with a digital receiver that can pick up signals within a 120km radius of Oxford. Participants in the trial receive 16 TV channels covering music sport news comedy soaps documentary drama cartoons and niche interests.

Arqiva (formerly NTL Broadcast) and Nokia are also involved in the trial. The service is based on the DVB-H transmission standard.

O2 vice president of research and development Mike Short admitted: We were a little surprised at the interest shown in viewing mobile TV in the home. The initial results show that the viewing interest is of the order of three hours per week. He attributed the interest to a number of causes. First some of the channels are not available on terrestrial TV; second mobile TV is treated as a second receiver and because its mobile it can be watched in whichever room users choose.

We are pleased with both the home use and the level of use he added. The trial has not ended yet but we are encouraged so far and can see its scope going forward. But the spectrum rights and the content rights have to be sorted out before it can take off. The regulators have to move because a decision regarding spectrum needs to be made.

O2 will make public the interim results of its mobile TV trial in Oxford tomorrow (Tuesday).

It hopes CPWs 635 stores will help it double the number of ribbons sold last year to two million.

The issue can only be addressed through communication said chairman Charles Dunstone.