Staff Reporter

T-Mobile now requires dealers to have their own dealer codes to connect. It wants increased control of its dealer base since the launch of its popular Flext tariffs say distributors.
"The trial was intended to encourage new stockists" said a T-Mobile spokesperson. "We are now reverting to the old system which is slightly more refined and simple. It will only really affect dealers that have become stockists in the past year."
One Avenir dealer said: "T-Mobile wants to regulate its dealers individually. It doesnt want dealers connecting through Avenirs dealer code. It wants them to connect via their own code. That way if dealers are selling its product unscrupulously it can keep an eye on it."
Fone Logistics marketing manager Julian Parven added: "T-Mobile relaxed the rules recently to encourage dealers to trade in its tariffs. But T-Mobile has since prevented dealers hiding behind a universal code. Were in favour of this."
Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove said: "It is a quality control thing. Most networks say that the risk lies with the distributor. Naturally the risk with a distributor code is that some dealers will put through good value connections and some wont. So there will be an average."

We re pleased he said. The content providers are pleased. We are looking at having 200 sites on i-mode by the end of the year.
O2 is looking for more handsets to add to the current clutch of i-mode-compatible phones the NEC 343i NEC 411i Samsung S500i and Samsung Z320i. The first addition the Samsung S400 is available now.
Griffiths said that the network planned to increase activity within the shopping section as users become more comfortable making transactions using their handsets.

The latest ABC-audited circulation figure for the period July 1 to December 31 last year now puts the newspaper´s circulation ahead of its main rival and proves it is the most widely-read UK mobile trade publication.

The service allows users to browse more than 600000 full-length tracks in a wide range of genres. Downloads will cost 1.50 each plus standard GPRS charges.
MobMusic also includes a free PC application that enables users to transfer their existing catalogue of CDs and mp3s on to their mobile.
There is also an exclusive music discovery service available via PC. The Music Room allows MobMusic members to listen to and purchase their favourite music 24/7 direct to their mobile.
For 1.50 a week members also receive their own Music Locker that keeps a record of all the tracks they buy so if they change or lose their phone they can download the track again for free. Members also receive other music offers including gig tickets and pre-release exclusives.
Monstermob CEO Martin Higginson claimed the service s independence guaranteed transparency of pricing and promised it would deliver a compelling service where others have failed .

A spokesman for the company said he could not reveal the size of the investment or its source but said the money would not be in the form of a cash injection. It would be available to call down once an acquisition opportunity emerged.
Part of the company s strategy is to develop an e-commerce package for dealers as a white-label offering. The package will be hosted by Fone Logistics but each customer would be able to put their own branding on the product. The spokesman said the offering would be developed through acquisition.
Other moves include the extension of Fone Logistic s recently acquired distribution contract with Nokia. The company is currently in negotiations with two other handset manufacturers over similar deals.
The company has also announced the appointment of two non-executive directors. Mike Bower and Gary Fawcett are both former executives at Link Telecom. Both men have secured a shareholding in Fone Logistics. This forms part of the company s new financing which also includes other private investors and bank funding. The spokesman declined to confirm the size of the new non-execs shareholding.
The move aims to show the dealer community that Fone Logistics intends to remain independent following the news that rival Phones International Group received a multi-million pound war chest from Credit Suisse a fortnight ago.
Fone Logistics managing director Ian Gillespie said: Fone Logistics is a popular with independent dealers because we are independent.

Nokia s share in CDMA lags well behind its dominance in GSM. The new joint-venture would account for around 20 per cent of the global CDMA market a figure that is comparable to Samsung s share.
Nokia which already sources handset components from Sanyo brings to the table a range of entry-level and mid-range CDMA devices. Sanyo is better known for its mid- to high-end CDMA kit. Nokia has relationships with 60 CDMA operators around the globe. Sanyo has strong relationships with CDMA operators in Japan and North America.
This is the best way to create an attractive CDMA phone portfolio said Nokia president and COO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
The deal is expected to be finalised next quarter and the venture to begin operations in Q3.

He will report directly to UK managing director Philip Rambech. Hughes was previously country manager for Panasonic Ireland for four-and-a-half years and also worked for mobile phone distributors Brightpoint Ireland and Central Communications.
Hughes will oversee the BenQ-Siemens brand campaign in Ireland and look to increase its share of the Irish market through its new portfolio of 3G and multimedia devices.

Huawei will supply Vodafone-branded consumer 3G handsets across 21 countries starting in September.
The handsets will carry only the Vodafone brand the first time the company has offered devices branded in this way for the consumer market.
Vodafone group chief marketing officer Peter Bamford said: This agreement shows the cost benefits that Vodafone s size and global reach can bring to our customers.
The agreement marks Huawei s first significant entry into the European handset market.

The findings come in an independent poll of 50 brand-name companies commissioned by mobile infrastructure software provider Airwide Solutions.
It predicts that by 2008 89 per cent of brands will use text and MMS to reach their audience with nearly a third planning to spend more than 10 per cent of their marketing budget on the medium.
In five years more than half of the brands (52 per cent) expect to spend between five per cent and 25 per cent of total marketing budget on mobile marketing.
40 per cent of brands have already deployed text messaging campaigns and 18 per cent have deployed MMS campaigns.
Despite this enthusiasm to adopt mobile marketing however more than half (55 per cent) of those polled said they were unsure how to reach specific target audiences via mobile campaigns.
Factors that would make mobile advertising more attractive include the ability to reach a specific target audience together with information about how the user responded to a marketing message and proof that a message has been received by the user s handset.
Commenting on the results Airwide chief marketing officer Jay Seaton said: With reliable infrastructure in place and a means to control and measure campaigns it will be a race to create and deliver the most effective mobile marketing initiatives to subscribers.

Benefon s latest handset the TWIG Discovery is a GPS/GSM device offering navigation without the need for separate GPS modules. It incorporates digital 2D and 3D mapping from NAVTEQ including street-level detail and points of interest information.
We are determined to offer best-in-class personal navigation said Benefon CEO Jonathan Bate.
Working with NAVTEQ ensures that our customers will benefit from the best quality mapping available. Being a fully integrated device also means that the consumer can have the benefits of navigation outside of in-car solutions .
NAVTEQ Europe vice-president and general manager of consumer applications Serge Bussat added:
TWIG Discovery users can find necessary information that facilitates their travel wherever they are and whenever they need it.
The TWIG Discovery includes a short-cut key and voice instructions for navigation.