It will operate over Vodafones GPRS network to provide business users with an always on seamless and secure link to their corporate email inbox.

Emails and calendar appointments are forwarded to the users BlackBerry wherever they are. There is no need to dial in or log on.

Following Vodafones announcement of the introduction of its GPRS roaming capability across 14 European countries BlackBerry users will be able to hook into their corporate inbox over the Vodafone GPRS network while abroad.

Vodafone plans to initially offer the service with support for Microsoft Exchange with Lotus Domino to follow.

Sales for Nokia Mobile Phones decreased by seven per cent compared with the previous year reflecting lower sales in Europe and the Americas partially offset by growth in Asia Pacific.

Nokia predicts sales for the second quarter of 2002 are anticipated to grow by two per cent to seven per cent compared with the second quarter of 2001 for Nokia Mobile Phones and – 10 per cent to five per cent for Nokia Networks.

Overall sales growth is forecast to accelerate to 15 per cent or more for the second half culminating in full-year annual sales growth ranging from four per cent to nine per cent.

The company put in a solid overall performance for the first quarter 2002 with mobile phone profitability exceeding all expectations said Nokia chairman and chief executive

Jorma Ollila.

The strong bottom line in our mobile handset business continues to be driven by Nokias global leadership. Based on Nokias preliminary research for the first quarter 2002 we believe we have at least maintained our estimated 37 per cent share of the overall mobile phone market in line with our long-term 40 per cent share target.

Once the initial bundle of inclusive minutes is used up customers continue to pay a flat rate for extra calls. A business tariff called O2 All Calls has also been introduced with an inclusive call allowance package which can be used for all call types.

Other new O2 packages include a pre-pay tariff called Pay and Go Wild which gives up to 25 worth of text messages and voice calls to any UK network or landline for just 10 direct debit per month.

Customers get 2.50 free call time on activation and a further 2.50 when registering details within 30 days of activation. Up to 50 text messages and 50 minutes of calls to any network can be made each month.

O2s UK chief executive David McGlade said:

In the past customers have been expected to adapt to complex mobile tariffs. Now we are changing and simplifying our charges.

People much prefer easy-to-understand calling plans that give them the freedom to choose how they use their mobile along with inclusive text messages and inclusive minutes for calls to other mobile networks.

Every six months customer calls will be carefully analysed and if they could be on a better calling plan well tell them so and invite them to change added McGlade.

Abrar Hussein (20) of Henderson Road Forest Gate was caught when he tried the same trick at the shop two months later and arrested.

Hussein pleaded guilty to obtaining the phone by deception and attempting to similarly obtain the second phone. He was remanded on bail until May 16.

Mad Box liquidators Hacker Young & Partners held a creditors meeting last Friday.

The collapse of Mad Box casts doubt over the deal between Euro Cellulars UK distribution business M-Fusion and MTV to supply MTV-branded content which was announced late last year.

Mad Box Media had plans to produce MTV-branded polyphonic ringtones screen logos and games on branded MTV 2Go cards through 20000 retailers by the end of the year. M-Fusion sales director Chris Savva had hailed the deal as one of the biggest content deals in the industry. This was followed by the launch of a multi-million pound advertising campaign for the products.

Win Donaldson was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

Clearly the mobile retail sector has been going through a difficult period in the past 12 months and as the leading event for the sector Mobilexpo could not expect to remain immune from these pressures.

We hope to be in a position to announce our plans for future editions said Reeds group exhibition director Tim Porter.

Mobilexpo was due to be held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on May 22-23.

Around 40 companies had contracted to attend Mobilexpo but the major handset manufacturers were not in a position to commit themselves to being exhibitors this year.

Mobilexpo was established by

Trident Exhibitions in consultation with Mobile News in 1995 and was sold to Reed Exhibitions in 1998.

It is the second trade show to be cancelled in a year. Last September Mobileworldexpo was axed.

This decision has been made as part of our commitment to customer service and to ensure that we can meet our 14 days repairs promise.

We will continue to work with Nokia to provide solutions a Carphone Warehouse statement said.

Mark Squires Nokias senior manager of communications said:

The statement from Carphone Warehouse is essentially correct in that together we found that we had a component issue affecting screen performance with some of its stock of Nokia 8210 mobile phones.

The Carphone Warehouse and Nokia agreed together to temporarily suspend sales of this product while we identify if there are any further affected units currently in its possession.

The good news is that this recently identified issue has been resolved and we are confident that this temporary situation will be rectified very shortly.

In the meantime we have offered customers who are affected in the UK an additional one years guarantee on any screen repair which might be necessary as a result of one of these units slipping through the net.

The Nokia 8210 and 8850 phones with faulty displays were shipped between October 2001 and January 2002. The company blamed the problem on an unnamed supplier saying it had rectified the problem and that the supplier will be bearing the cost.

Nokias reliability problem has been noted by industry analysts.

Per Lindberg an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein estimated reliability problems could cost Nokia up to $150 million ( 92 million) per quarter.

Dealer Nick East of North East Comms recently highlighted the 8210s screen fading problems in a long letter itemising the reliability problems he had found with various models of Nokia handsets (see Mobile News April 15).

Person-to-person texts sent across the four UK GSM network operators last month were more than three times up on the 372 million sent during the same period last year.

March marks the end of the first quarter for the year which shows steady growth in texting across UK airwaves with a record 3.9 billion texts.

This monumental figure nearly quadruples the total for 2000 Q1 which was only 1.05 billion and shows an increase of 33 per cent on 2001 Q1 when 2.6 billion texts were sent.

More than 75 billion text messages were sent worldwide in the first quarter this year up more than 50 per cent on the same period of 2001.

The MDAs total forecast for 2002 is now put at 360 billion messages up from the 250 billion reached during 2002.

The campaign draws on a research study which demonstrates that if you drive and use a mobile phone you are four times more likely to have an accident.

The campaigns contains the strapline: Think! Switch it off before you drive.

Radio ads posters and a TV ad cleverly convey how difficult it is to concentrate on two things at the same time.

Road Safety minister David Jamieson said:

More and more people own mobile phones and research has shown that using them while driving greatly increases the risk of an accident. Even the most careful of drivers will be distracted by a phone call or text message and that will affect their concentration and anticipation.

O2 said it welcomed the DTLRs driving safety initiative and confirmed it too would help by issuing a safety leaflet to all its employees customers and through its retail outlets across the country explaining the safety issues around using phones in cars.