The row relates to the circuit-board design. The SPV is built by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC but proceedings are against Orange because Sendos patent is registered in the UK and Orange is the importer.

Sendo is also in a legal battle with Oranges SPV partner Microsoft in the US. It alleges Microsoft used knowledge gained during its one-time alliance with Sendo to develop the Orange product.

Sendo formed a partnership with Microsoft in 2001 to develop the Sendo Z100 smartphone and is suing the American software giant for allegedly stealing trade secrets.

Sendo claims that Microsoft took the information it gained during the development of the Z100 and passed it on to Taiwanese company HTC which later developed the Orange SPV in partnership with Microsoft.

Significantly the Z100 never made it to market.

Sendo has created intellectual property rights within the smartphone and mobile phone arena said Sendo chief executive Hugh Brogan.

We have been advised by our patent agents that the Orange SPV phone infringes these rights. We have tried to solve the matter in an amicable way. However we are now in a position that we have to take legal steps. We are seeking damages and an injunction to restrain sales of the product

If Sendo believes that its global intellectual property rights are infringed wherever in the world this might be we will take steps to defend those rights.

Orange said it strongly denies any impropriety regarding the intellectual property rights of the SPV and has contacted the parties involved in the design and build of the handset.

For legal reasons we cannot comment any further the network said.

Sendo is still waiting for the first hearing to decide whether its case against Microsoft will be heard in Texas or in Microsofts home city of Seattle.

The deal will not be completed until the autumn when the handset design and production division of Palm will be split away and merged with Handspring to create a new firm.

Palm shareholders will own 67.8 per cent of the new company while Handspring shareholders will own the rest.

Palm chief executive Eric Benhamou said:

These two bold moves will serve as a powerful catalyst to transform the landscape of the handheld industry.

The strategic choice of merging Handspring and the Palm Solutions Group of Palm will create the broadest portfolio and the most experienced leadership team in the industry fully capable of delivering value to customers partners and shareholders.

According to Palm the merger will offer both companies greater revenue opportunities and will provide operating savings of approximately $25 million a year. Around 125 people will lose their jobs as a result of the merger predominantly in the US.

The merger of the two companies marks a full circle for Handspring which was set up by Palm founders Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky. They left Palm when it was acquired by 3Com and set up Handspring.

Sherwood commented: "I´ve spent a happy 13 years at Vodafone as the business development director doing mergers and acquisitions. I felt that it was my time to go."
His role has come to an end and although Vodafone will continue to make acquisitions these will be in different areas. "I am now looking to pursue other opportunities in the mobile market" he said.
Sherwood who has seen many changes in the company over the past decade remained confident in its future.
"Vodafone has always had a focus on the customer and it has driven that through" he said.
"It was always concerned not just with putting the numbers on but about retention and looking after them."
Anglia Telecoms CEO Andy Smith paid tribute to Sherwood´s time at Vodafone.
"Tim has made massive contributions to Vodafone including some major acquisitions" he said. "He has been a key player in the growth of the business."
Sherwood who has already left Vodafone plans to take a couple of months holiday before examining other job opportunities.

The study confirmed that the growth in household penetration of mobile phones witnessed in previous years has slowed down with 71 per cent of UK households currently owning mobile phones.

The proportion of mobile-owning households with multiple phones increased significantly from 64 per cent in 2002 to 70 per cent in 2003 however. Most new mobile phone users continue to prefer pre-pay (75 per cent) to contract (25 per cent).

We are seeing the mobile phone market maturing rather than building putting providers in a position where finding new customers for the industry is increasingly difficult said Gunda Lapski director of European telecommunications and utilities services at J.D. Power.

There has been a significant increase in the proportion of owners of WAP phones but there is still a great deal of confusion about the technology. Many are still not using the facilities that WAP offers. Among those with WAP phones with specific features only 26 per cent claimed to use them. Only 16 per cent of users send and receive e-mails and four per cent shop via WAP sites.

However the Mobile Data Association says WAP usage is increasing (see story this page).

The J.D. Power survey found Orange Vodafone O2 and T-Mobile have all successfully improved their brand image.

O2 improved its image among pre-pay mobile phone customers by 16 index points Vodafone by 14 points Orange by 13 points and T-Mobile by seven points.

The contract phone segment also improved increasing from 100 index points in 2002 to 105 points in 2003.

Orange ranked highest in this segment.

With a nine-point increase over 2002 O2 made the greatest improvement in the contract phone segment.

The survey indicated overall customer satisfaction in the pre-pay market has significantly improved increasing from 100 index points in 2002 to 107 in 2003. Vodafone had the highest satisfaction rating in pre-pay increasing its score by eight points – the largest increase among pre-pay providers.

Orange was ranked as the top network for contract customer satisfaction according to 2111 interviews held with a cross-section of the UK mobile market between February and March 2003.

The survey examined nearly 40 different areas used in evaluating overall customer satisfaction. Contract customers said the most important factors were call quality/coverage and customer service; image; offers and promotions; cost of service; handsets; and billing.

Richard Pullin joins from Transcomm where he was group managing director. Reporting to Inquam chief executive Tony Greaves he will be responsible for the development of strategic initiatives.

He was previously at AT&T and also spent 16 years at the Digital Equipment Corporation.

The advertisements were placed at the end of 2002 and beginning of this year by Interway director Zeshan Rashid.

Mobile Internet figures from O2 Orange T-Mobile and Vodafone totalled 635 million pages in April taking the daily average to 21 million. This almost doubles the figure of 11 million per day for September 2002 when the MDA began issuing WAP statistics.

Aprils total shows that mobile-phone users are utilising their handsets for a wider variety of purposes than ever before. Mobile Internet services continue to increase in popularity and are a part of the growing range of messaging services available to the end user said the MDA.

The most popular WAP sites viewed continue to be those offering ringtones and screensavers although there is an increasing percentage now coming from sports and news.

The MDA confidently forecasts continued growth and expects WAP page impressions to reach eight billion by the end of the year.

Unique Distribution MD Angus Dawe said:

Iain has a long history in the dealer market and understands the challenges they face. This will be key to us developing a business based on long-term relationships with the dealers.

Sinnott said:

I am looking forward to reliving some of the experiences of my time at Martin Dawes. First we want to become the distributor of choice for dealers and then we want to help develop the potential these dealers have by supporting business-to-business and other initiatives. I am not talking revolutionary concepts just good old-fashioned hard work and commitment to the channel.

Dealers connecting via Unique Airtime will have the advantage of receiving favourable terms when purchasing SIM-free handsets and genuine accessories. With the support we are able to leverage from the other divisions of Unique Distribution we can save our customers time money and effort.

Industry sources close to both companies say Vodafone has moved swiftly to acquire Projects 185000 subscribers (which include 155000 on Vodafone) after learning that another network or service provider was making a move on the base.

Project became a prime takeover target after it issued a profits warning in April and laid off 50 staff including Ternhill founder Matt Sandford (see story P10).

Said one source: It wouldnt surprise me if Vodafone bought Project Telecom. Project made most of its money in the distribution of pre-pay handsets and vouchers.

Its airtime business isnt very big. With margins being squeezed by the networks the service provision side of the business will never contribute massive revenues to a company of Projects size.

The deal would make perfect sense for Vodafone because it has acquired virtually all of its independent service providers.

Vodafone said it never commented on rumours while Project Telecom chairman Tim Radford was unavailable for comment.

Vodafone is still expected any day to announce the purchase of Caudwell groups service provision arm Singlepoint for an estimated 300 million (Mobile News April 7). Vodafone recently spent around 50 million to buy 500000 customers from Swindon service provider Cellular Operations and then closed the operation down.