Unemployed Ademola Okimeji (35) pleaded guilty in Horseferry Road Magistrates Court in London to attempting to steal a Nokia and Samsung phone from The Orange Shop in Whiteleys shopping centre in Queensway Bayswater on December 19.

Okimeji tried to use a debit card in the name of Conroy which had been intercepted in the post on its way to the genuine owner. He also had a forged Halifax building society passbook and gas bill in the same name of Conroy.

However the debit card had been reported stolen and The Orange Shop manager called the police. Okimeji tried to escape but was caught and arrested.

The judge said: These were serious offences carefully plotted and planned. If he succeeded at The Orange Shop he would have gone to other shops and committed more offences.

Okimeji was bailed on condition he does not go to the Whiteleys shopping centre.

Samsung says the 10mm barrier was considered the technological limit in making slim handsets. Samsung says Sony and other Japanese companies have developed bar-type handset models which are around 10mm thick but that it is the first company to develop and introduce a 9.8mm thick flick-type phone including a standard battery.

Vodafones retail stores are now selling the GPRS-equipped Motorola Timeport T260 from 99.99. This is 100 cheaper than BTCellnets pricing of the same handset announced last month.

BTCellnet launched its GPRS network to corporate users in June last year and to consumers last month.

Vodafone UK is also introducing a GPRS WAP service for faster access to mobile internet services such as Vizzavi e-mail bank accounts restaurant guides while making and receiving voice calls.

Customers will be charged on the amount of data sent or received. Vodafone will be offering two price plans which they can add to their normal monthly tariffs.

There is the bundled option of GPRS 1 that is aimed at more frequent WAP users and which includes 1 MB of data transferral for 7.49 per month.

This equates to accessing 500 and a 1000 WAP pages per month.

The non-bundled GPRS price plan costs 3.99 per month and means paying for WAP access pro-rata at 2p per KB sent and received.

On GPRS 1 customers can carry over any remaining KBs of data from their monthly bundle for two more months.

Vodafone is also enhancing its text message tariffs by offering 50 or a 100 inclusive text messages on its Vodafone 20 + 50 Text to Leisure 200 + 50 Text as well as on a number of business plans.

Vodafone says the new price plans will provide savings of up to 3 per month for any customer sending more than 25 messages.

Meanwhile BTCellnet is extending its GPRS offerings with the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device.

Corporate customers can now order the BlackBerry running over BT Cellnets GPRS networks and be always connected to their business e-mail account and to receive read and respond to messages in real time.

BlackBerry is developed and manufactured by Research In Motion and was launched in the USA in 1999.

It is the largest in Vodafones history and will involve branding on the sidepod nose and front wing of the Ferraris. The Vodafone brand will also appear on the drivers overalls and helmets. Vodafone also gets the opportiunity to market directly to Ferraris fan base.

This is an exceptionally good deal for us says Vodafone chief executive officer Chris Gent.

It is moving us into the super league of world-wide branding.

Vodafone dipped its toe into the world of Formula One last year when it had a small amount of branding on the Jordan cars. This was mainly its website address.

The Ferrari deal dramatically upstages Oranges sponsorship of the Arrows team which has yet to produce a team capable of competing for the world championship let alone podium places.

F1 reaches a world-wide audience of 52 billion people each year.

Power and Associates 2001 UK Mobile Telephone Customer Satisfaction Survey.

Of households with at least one mobile phone the portion with two or more phones has increased from 52 per cent last year to 67 per cent this year.

Orange remains in top position for the fourth year running achieving a customer satisfaction score of 108 points for pre-pay.

One 2 One was the most improved network for customer satisfaction says J.D. Power.

Nearly one in 10 housholds with a mobile phone has a WAP phone. Yet just one in three is actually used for internet access.

There has been a significant decrease this year among non-WAP phone owners expressing an interest in accessing the internet with their mobiles says Gunda Lapski director of telecoms and utilities for J.D. Power.

The difference may well be a reflection of the negative publicity that has surrounded WAP.

Peter Sheridan told police a bomb had been planted at London Bridge railway station. He made the call at 11pm on July 11 and told a New Scotland Yard receptionist it would explode in 20 minutes.

But police traced the hoax call to his mobile phone. Sheridan a pipe fitter pleaded guilty to making the hoax call.

He is expected to be jailed for more than six months once he appears for sentencing.

The 4.99 vouchers are being sold from Woolworths. Dixons The Link WH Smith Currys and The Carphone Warehouse.

They are activated by calling a voucher hotline or visiting the official website.

On activation Big Brother fans get text alerts about the latest goings-on in the Big Brother House.

Ring tones are also included in the price. BTCellnet is the main sponsor of Big Brother II.

The slogan for the campaign is Youre on holiday. Theyre not. Rub it in.

The campaign is the first effort for Vodafone by its new agency WCRS. The TV campaign will run for six weeks on national terrestrial and satellite television.

The TV work is supported by radio press posters on-line and ambient media activity. Posters will appear not only in the UK but overseas as well.

Unemployed Algerian Abdulkader Merhabi (31) of Ilford Essex pleaded guilty to attempting to steal the 199 phone from Isabelle Briche at Paddington station on May 23.

The Court heard it was around 5.30 pm when two plain-clothed policemen noticed Merhabi walking from a platform at Paddington tube station through to the concourse at the mainline station eyeing women passengers. The under cover police followed him and saw him watching Isabelle Briche as her phone rang she spoke on the phone and replaced it in a holster on her waist.

Meharbi then crept behind her and tried to grab the phone with his left hand. He tried to remove the phone with his right hand. but she felt the movement and removed the phone from the holster and placed it on the table in front of her.

Merhabi walked away followed by the two policemen who stopped and arrested him. He was remanded on bail until June 21.

This is not going to be an easy ride but the rewards will be vast. A Group managing director can expect a package topping 500000 a year said Caudwell Group boss John Caudwell

The recruitment programme will be called the Caudwell Graduate High Flier Scheme and will seek graduates who were high achievers at university.

We as a Group are missing opportunities in UK and European markets because we simply cannot recruit exceptional people fast enough.

The first stage in the planned recruitment drive is Caudwells attendance at three key recruitment fairs: on June 20 June 22 and 23 in various locations throughout the country.