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The company has relaunched its web site as a transactional site. According to CEO Andrew Fisher the market for music products sold through music recognition services could reach nearly £1 billion worldwide within the next two years.
"There is a high incentive for carriers to push this service" he said. "Music is a champion category. People don´t choose their carrier for great location-based services but they will for music people are passionate about downloading and sharing music."
So far the service has 5.5 million users worldwide. In the UK alone it has had 1.85 million callers since its launch four years ago and boasts 8.85 million completed calls.
Shazam is also launching packages of £3 per month for unlimited identification requests or £4 per month for unlimited requests plus two free products a month.
Aimed specifically at women the pink and silver handset has an MP3 player and 50MB of internal memory expandable to 250MB.
Samsung Mobile head of product management Ender Yavas commented: "The clamshell form light weight and great range of features are ideal for modern women who are constantly on the go."
The phone has a large 262000 TFT colour display and comes with a free pink Bluetooth headset.
It is free on Anytime 200 and above.
For the first time UK consumers will be able to get secure 24-hour mobile access to banking services including mini statements and balance enquiries.
First direct chief executive Richard Kimber said: "First direct pioneered text message banking six years ago and we now send around 40 million texts a year to our customers. We see MoniLink as the natural next step for mobile phone banking."
MoniLink has been developed over the past three years by LINK and IT development firm Morse.
The service will be formally known as mobileATM and will be launched later this year.
The company is looking to recruit new partners in each country to drive sales of its Always-On Mail Enterprise Edition.
Partners who sign up to the programme are offered an introductory pack of 200 perpetual licences with free hosting and support for two years.
SEVEN reseller channel director Dan Metcalfe said: "This is the ideal time for channel partners to become involved in the enterprise mobile e-mail market. Currently fewer than 10 million of the world´s 650 million corporate e-mail inboxes are mobilised. We believe that over the next five years that figure will reach 250 million".
Always-On Mail Enterprise edition is a server-based mobile e-mail service that provides real-time access to corporate e-mail calendar and contact information.
It is available on over 120 devices and is currently used by more than 90 operators in 60 countries.
Symphony managing director Andy Smith expects to recruit up to 60 dealers within the next 12 months.
"Symphony has not really launched into the dealer market yet" he said. "But we see an opportunity to do so now and we want to give dealers a part-share in the deal. Basically were willing to give dealers part-share in ongoing commission in return for high quality customers and loyalty."
Smith explained the distributor wanted to get fixed-line and mobile users on to the same deal so was providing an incentive for dealers.
"Well pay them upfront competitive commission as well as ongoing commission for the life of the subscriber and ongoing commission for fixed-line subscribers" he said.
Smith insists that the initiative will not affect Anglia Telecom which was taken over by Symphony last year because of Anglias mobile-only focus. He added: "This is a complementary service provided by Symphony that will not affect Anglia."
"This is a long-term strategy" Smith added. "We are after high-quality business to protect our base."
The network has introduced a £20 monthly combined 3G and WiFi option that offers unlimited use or customers can opt for pay-as-you-use via a credit card payment online.
Existing price plans have also been changed. The £5 one-hour pass now allows users to spend 60 minutes online within a 24-hour period. The price of the three-hour weekly pass has been cut to £10 while the three-hour 30-day pass is down to £40.
The move is in line with the network´s strategy to drive business users on to the wireless data network. However T-Mobile WiFi managing director Jay Saw insisted it would not push connectivity on to handsets.
"We are pushing WiFi for business users on laptops" he said. "It isn´t optimised for handsets. Handset users have all they need in 3G and GPRS. Consumers can get on the web through our web´n´walk service."
Saw conceded that the momentum of hotspot locations had begun to slow but added that the service would be rolled out to five more UK airports and 17 mainline rail stations.
"The market is for businesses and we are already in the locations they want" he said.
The network currently has a presence in 400 Starbucks outlets 200 hotels and seven BAA-run airports.
The channel has known for some months that Nokia handset warranties would be changed this spring. However it has emerged that not only will handsets sourced outside the EU lose their warranty cover but so will any existing non-EU stock already in circulation.
"It´s a bit of a sledgehammer" said MoCo Cell Link MD Ian Robinson.
"Our purchase orders say our suppliers must give us UK stock but how can you check? If it turns out to have come from the Middle East or Africa does that mean that we have to make good the warranty ourselves?"
According to SIM-free distributor Frequency Telecom Nokia had not made it plain that the new rules would apply retrospectively to stock bought and supplied prior to April.
"We´re frankly astounded that a global brand such as Nokia would risk what could be a serious level of customer negativity to its brand through this move" said Frequency Telecom MD Gareth Limpenny.
He warned it would leave a number of customers high and dry and some dealers and retailers out of pocket. "We accept Nokia´s view going forward but it seems wrong to remove warranties retrospectively."
Nokia head of communication Mark Squires insisted that the new rules on warranties were set up to protect UK distributors.
"If a distributor has sourced non-EU stock we will still look at it if that stock came to them through no fault of their own" he said. "There´s no reason to source outside your own market. These changes to our warranty agreements stop distributors from other regions setting up business in the UK."
Generation HERE is the product of research commissioned by Motorola. Sticklers might find it a little short on statistics but its creators call it a "qualitative snapshot" of the way 3G phones are used.
Report editor Peter Lyle said: "It isn´t difficult to get statistics about penetration but these do not tell the whole story of how new technology affects people´s lives."
One chapter is devoted to how handsets are used in courtship whether it is through video calling potential partners or through taking pictures and offering to send them on to get someone´s number.
Other observations include differences in video-call etiquette and the way commuters download electronic novels or comics on their 3G handsets.
The complete report can be downloaded from the Motorola web site.
The deal means European Telecom will now offer the Vonage service to its existing partners.
Vonage UK director of channel sales Sue Wheeler said: "From day one Vonage has received enquiries from small independent resellers keen to offer our VoIP service to their customers."
Unlike other Internet telephony (VoIP) services Vonage does not rely on a computer to make calls. Instead customers plug a conventional mobile handset and adapter into a broadband Ethernet modem to make calls.
European Telecom director of sales and marketing Frank Masson said: "Being able to offer Vonage VoIP will strengthen the hand of any reseller involved in discussions with small businesses about their technology needs."
It is unclear whether the Mo-Fi brand a contraction of the words mobile and hi-fi will be a registered BenQ Mobile sub-brand attached to all its music devices or a marketing tool devised specifically to promote just the E61.
BenQ Mobile is still discussing whether to trademark the name or to use it as a promotional brand in the way that the Poppy was attached to the Siemens CL75.
A BenQ Mobile spokesperson said: "It is still to be decided whether the brand is used on a global scale or just for one product. Whether it will be used as a sub-brand is up to the trademarking laws."
BenQ Mobile will launch four music devices this year. The E61 unveiled at CeBIT will be supported by a Poppy-style marketing campaign.
The BenQ EF51 which has a white casing and external music buttons is due in Q3. Two more music handsets are also expected.
BenQ´s flagship clamshell handset the EF81 will be supported by a global advertising campaign featuring Real Madrid footballer Ronaldo.