Its almost official – Motorolas new products are scoring hits with consumers.

Findings last week from research and analysis firm Gartner Group show that after a stream of disappointing quarters Motorola has turned the tide with strong sales in Western Europe of the V300 V500/525 and V600 phones.

Motorola VP for personal communications for Europe the Middle East and Africa Ron Garriques gave a cautious welcome to the report.

Its just one quarter where weve had a little bit of momentum. We are trying to improve quarter by quarter.

Its down to two things. We really focused on the European market this time and on our UMTS handsets and value-added services. Four years ago we werent number one in the world anymore.

We set ourselves the target of getting back to number one in North America Latin America and China. We looked then at the European market and changed our mindset.

Garriques went on: We said that when Europe switches from GSM to UTMS we will be there. To change to UMTS was a major undertaking because we changed the whole software platform. It took us two years to nail it which is not an unreasonable amount of time.

The price cuts by our competitors have generally been on candy-bar phones so it doesnt actually affect us so much. We are pretty confident with out UMTS offerings and value-added services.

We have strengthened our handset portfolio across the board including our smartphone offerings and young-professional category. We are attacking four spaces in which we havent previously been so strong said Garriques .

According to Gartner Nokia suffered a decline in market share because of decreased sales in Western Europe and North America but worldwide sales were up by five million units.

Nokias dramatic drop in market share resulted from a weak product portfolio and the decision by operators in Western Europe to source more phones from Nokias competitors said Ben Wood principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner.

The challenge for Motorola is to maintain this strong performance. Now that it has started to regain the trust of key global operators it must keep its promises.

Jas Singh managing director of London dealer Microline says Motorola sales are improving but he adds that Motorola still has improvements to make before its phones will really appeal to consumers.

Motorola is asking us to sell more phones and is giving us extra commission but it still has a long way to go. It is resolutely sticking to its guns when it comes to its menu and its a real shame because its just not user-friendly.

Phones are becoming more complex and users need to be able to access information. Consumers love Nokia because its menu system is so simple. Motorola should follow suit.

Nokia director of corporate communications Mark Squires claims that by the end of year weak will not be a word anyone will use when talking about Nokias product portfolio.

We have another 30 product launches still to come this year he said. If you look at the uptake of the 7200 in the consumer market and the 6230 in the business market you will see the welcome they have received.

Ex-Phones 4U shop assistant Kevin Addison earlier this month pleaded guilty to 30 counts of fraud and theft and was fined 400 and ordered to pay 1200 compensation.

Addison forged more than 30 contracts and stole handsets. He left the chain last September.

A Phones 4U spokesperson said:

Any Phones 4U employee found to be involved in this type of activity will be dealt with in the strongest manner possible and will be reported to the police.

The racket was earning the gang 1 million pounds profit.

The trial and sentences follow an 18-month investigation codenamed Operation Zarzu that tracked down the men following a spate of burglaries at mobile phone shops across London between November 8 2001 and September 30 2003.

The Carphone Warehouse was one target with outlets in Richmond Woolwich Streatham Harrow Clapham Kingston Coventry Ilford Hampstead Swiss Cottage and Bexleyheath all hit by the gang.

Phones 4U shops in West Ealing Eltham Tooting Streatham Ilford Kingston and Battersea were also burgled. Other burglaries took place at the Vodafone shop in Orpington and Jessops in Kingston.

Police arrested the gang in November and they were sentenced earlier this month at Blackfriars Crown Court.

The crooks would target a prospective phone shop and carry out reconnaissance of the property often using several vehicles including vans and stolen vehicles some of which were later seized by police.

Two or more of the group would stalk the shop during the night setting off the alarms and disabling the security devices.

Police believed the gang had good knowledge of the security systems of the mobile phone shops.

The gang would hide and wait for the arrival of police or security having scaled either the roof of the building or found access to the rear.

The gang members would communicate with each other via walkie-talkie.

A police patrol would check for obvious signs of entry at the shop and finding none would leave. The gang would then break in and grab specified mobile phone handsets to order. These were then delivered to a business address in Middlesex registered to businessman Abdul Awada.

The handsets would be unlocked and re-packaged alongside bona fide and legitimately purchased mobiles that were to be exported. These boxes would then be packed into large laundry style bags and smuggled out of the country for sale abroad.

Awada 39 of 13 Corfe Close Hayes Middlesex pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handling stolen property and was sentenced to18 months

Peter William Clarkson 49 of 10 City View East Dulwich pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and received an 18 month suspended sentence.

His son Peter Dennis Clarkson 26 of 134 Axminster Crescent Welling Kent pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and received a five-year sentence.

William Dove 22 of 134 Axminster Crescent Welling pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and received three years.

Joseph Reed of 8 Wayhill House Lough Road Camberwell was sentenced to four years.

The chief investigator detective inspector Martin Ford said: This investigation led to the arrest of a prolific and highly professional team of burglars culminating in guilty pleas before the Crown Court.

Mainline will run a series of ads in trade publications aimed at raising awareness of the uses of mobile phones and technologies in business.

Business customers responding to the insertions will be directed to a website and then forwarded on to their local Mainline dealer.

The marketing campaign is one part of its new b2b dealer programme called Business Mobile. Business Mobile also provides selected Mainline dealers with Orange accreditation and gives them extra dealer incentives.

We are confident that dealers involved will get a considerable number of leads from the marketing support we are providing through Business Mobile said Mainline head of marketing Gail Hollinshead. An increase in Orange connections should reflect that.

The seven top performing dealers selected for the Business Mobile campaign are In Touch Phone Box Lister Communications Geko Direct Direct Telecoms Phone Works and Redline Communications.

Speaking at the Nokia Connections event in Helsinki earlier this month Nokia senior vice-president of imaging and multimedia Juha Putkiranta agreed Nokia had taken its lead from other manufacturers in the design of its new 6260 clamshell phone.

Sometimes we innovate said Putkiranta. Sometimes we pay attention to what others are doing and copy with pride.

The swivel design of the new Nokia 6260 business phone launched in Helsinki with four other handsets resembles the Samsung P730 and the Motorola V80.

The 6260 can be used like a normal clamshell or opened up and folded flat so that the display faces up and it can be used as a bar phone. The display also twists 90 degrees for the camera/video function.

Kai Öistamo senior vice-president for mobile phones at Nokia said:

You have to take good ideas from wherever they come. You have to take good ideas and create something new.

We have always been open to ideas from other places. You could argue that this swivel function actually comes from video cameras. This whole movement and innovation originates there.

(See full story P18)

This follows Customs and Excises withholding of a 2.4 million VAT refund from its bulk handset division Phone Direct (Mobile News June 1)

The funding must be sanctioned by shareholders at an AGM on July 13. The funds will enable the group to resume bulk-trading activities and help finance other parts of the business.

The refinancing satisfies the working capital requirements and continues our original strategy which was to use the wholesale trading in mobile phones to get cash to grow other areas of the business. said TTG Group financial director Julian Synett.

We see this as a significant achievement in what is a difficult market to raise capital. The current climate and uncertainty about the economy has made it quite difficult for small-capital businesses like ours.

He added: It is an indication of the confidence of the institution investors in our ability to go forward.

TTG Europe has been chasing the 2.4 million VAT refund for nearly a year and the issue is to go to a VAT tribunal in October.

The bulk business remains part of our plan for the next 12 to 18 months as there will always be bulk trade in mobile phones but after that were not sure yet said Synett.

Anglia Telecom a subsidiary of TTG Group said it has remained profitable throughout despite Phone Directs situation.

Dixons is offering the phone for 49.99 as a web exclusive. Shoppers at Dixons high street stores will pay 64.99. The best price The Carphone Warehouse website can offer is 74.99.

Scott Allison of Glasgow-based Freedom Mobiles said: Its an incredible deal. This has got to be about numbers. Either 3 has to get enough customers to reach a critical mass by a certain date or it is taking part in a contest to see who can lose the most money in the least time. The logical conclusion is that soon 3 will be offering pre-pay handsets for nothing.

Amazon.com and Dixons are making little profit on the handsets. The E313 listed by 3 at 212.00. The network offers 180 in commission so the handset costs 30 to buy in.

A 3 spokesman told Mobile News Pricing is up to individual dealers. There are some very good offers out there especially on-line which has historically been more competitive than the High Street.

The E313 on ThreePay is just part of an offering that is currently delivering an extremely healthy ARPU of 44 per month. Our top-end phones are comparable in price to top end GPRS handsets from other operators he said.

The 20 Turbosound brand of headset fits phones by all manufacturers and comes with three different moulded earpieces which exclude background noise and enable the user to listen to audio at a lower level.

They were designed by audio specialist Andrew Shiach who has worked with musicians such as Radiohead Pink Floyd and AC/DC and have been developed in association with the deaf charity RNIDwhich represents the interests of nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK.

Music is becoming quite an issue in the mobile space as more phones come equipped with MP3 players so it is a good time to enter the market said Shiach.

The noise problem is a big issue and this product is a serious attempt to try to educate people about the potential damage done by earphones.

Shiach is looking for his contacts in the music industry to endorse his range of audio accessories and raise the profile of both the product and the problem.

The Carphone Warehouse will have stock of the new headsets in its shops in October.

Advanced Communications Solutions which is distributing the product to retailers is also in talks with Dixons and Orange.

Caudwell Group accessories division Dextra will distribute the headsets to the independent dealer channel.

3 is bringing out a handset-recycling scheme with recycling organisation Fonebak.

Fonebak recycling boxes are being installed in all 160 3 stores around the UK including its flagship shops and 3 concessions within the Superdrug chain.

Each handset is sent to the Fonebak recycling centre for reuse or recycling.

3 UK COO Gareth Jones said: By joining the Fonebak scheme we can take your old phone and recycle it with the proceeds going to help 3s chosen charities.

I am currently looking for a further six dealers to figure prominently in my plans to double our share of the business market he said.

T-Mobile has structured its business sales into three channels. The first Business Partners is a group of 19 dealers that have been hand-picked for their performance.

The second is Solution Partners. This is made up of technical data specialists offering a value-added retail service integrating and supporting data solutions into larger corporate customers.

This is a new channel for us and one thats growing very quickly and very well said Ainslie. By working with the big manufacturers like Microsoft and IBM we can create products that really work for our customers. That programme is well on the way and well-developed.

T-Mobiles third channel Multiple Business is concerned with retailers such as The Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U.

T-Mobile had been perceived as not being interested in business. But we have made significant changes and now have the structure to provide the best possible service for business customers said Ainslie. To be a serious player in the business market we need to focus on customer needs and deliver real solutions. Historically we have had a number of false starts trying to deliver that. Weve learned lessons and have the right formula.

Three months in we are ahead of target to double our business customers every year for the next two years. We are going for an aggressive approach with strong growth targets. The credibility of our brand name is growing every day. This gives us a real opportunity to do what is needed to get businesses on board.

A recent NOP survey gave us the number-one spot in terms of customer satisfaction. So weve got a remit to tell businesses they would be better off with us than with other networks. Our direct sales force is going after corporate accounts.