Many B2B dealers showed interest in the Sat Nav device at its Unity seminar last month.

HSC sales manager Carlos Pestana said: Work is another part of the customer-led proposition Hugh Symons is offering. It offers attractive commercials creating additional customer contact and a better chance to tie customers into their business.

Langford was killed after a confrontation with Kes Ingoldsby 18 and James Diggins 19 in a chip shop in Henley. He fell and cracked his skull after a bad-tempered exchange. A jury cleared them on the grounds they acted in self defence.

The court heard Langford challenged the pair and the jury accepted there was provocation despite Diggens admission he had punched Langford in the face.

The head of BTs Fusion endeavour has been elected as the new chairman of the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA).

Steve Andrews is BTs chief of converged communication services and will lead the global alliance of telecom operators as it attempts to accelerate the development of convergence products and services.

Andrews said: I am delighted to be taking the chair of this prestigious organisation which does so much good work in smoothing the path for convergence through global operators agreeing standards which allow services to work together. It is going to be an exciting year for convergence especially at BT. Shortly we will be launching the WiFi version of BT Fusion and we have committed to create a first phase of 12 Wireless Cities across the UK by early next year.

The FMCA has just become a legally incorporated organisation and has 26 member operators including AT&T Deutsche Telekom KPN and PCCW serving 800 million customers worldwide. The FMCA was founded by BT and was chaired in the past by former BT executive Ryan Jarvis.

The FMCA has also launched a vendor affiliation programme to encourage greater collaboration between operators and vendors and accelerate the development of new products and services.

The programme addresses the need for products and services to work together seamlessly and increase support for new industry-wide standards.

The FMCA is focusing on identifying common specifications for dual-mode WiFi-enabled handsets with more than 25 converged devices forecast for release by mid-2007.

T-Mobile is collaborating with music giant EMI to trial ad-supported mobile video. The service is already running on the mobile network with ads provided through Rhythm NewMedia.

The service offers UK users free access to mobile video content embedded with television-style advertising. T-Mobile customers get an electronic programme guide on their handset to guide them through content choices including news entertainment and sport.

The music element of the trial will feature music videos from EMI UK artists such as Lilly Allen Gorillaz The Kooks or Robbie Williams. Videos will be packaged and streamed with specifically targeted advertisements from advertisers including Coca Cola Zero Gillette Land Rover and Nike.

T-Mobile executive vice-president of business development and innovation Tony Kypreos said: We see mobile as the key emerging platform to address many of the shortcomings of traditional media today. We see 2007 as the year of deployment across our geographic base.

EMI Music UK and Ireland chairman and CEO Tony Wadsworth added: We are experimenting with a number of new business models to fulfill demand while at the same time ensuring that artists are fully compensated for their work. We think well learn more about what fans want from mobile music in this trial.

Finnish manufacturer Benefon launches its first consumer SatNav device under the TWIG brand next week backed by a 2.5 million euro advertising campaign.

Benefon CEO Jonathan Bate reckons the device will shift 10000-20000 units all via 20:20 Logistics with significant take-up during the Christmas shopping window.

Bate said: Not only will consumers have their own personal navigation
device but the channel will have a premium product to sell crucial in the run-up to the all-important Christmas market and operators a new suite of services that will further drive-up data usage.

The TWIG Discovery combines GPS navigation and location-based services with GSM telephony in a bar-style handset. It will be available across the channel from next week pitched at 29- to 45-year-old males at a mid- to high-tier price point. None of the high street multiples has an exclusive on the device.

Until now Benefon has concentrated on niche B2B market segments.

The Benefon brand has been around for a long time but the
company has been in survival mode for the past few years said Bate. The products by and large have been clunkers. But they have all featured GPS telematics and tracking – applications no other mobile phone has run – and theyve been sold into the business space. It has trickled along in that space with very little competition.

Benefon will launch five more TWIG-branded devices next year designed by Ross Lovegrove the winner of the World Technology Award for Design who has designed consumer products for Sony Apple Louis Vuitton and Tag Heuer. The Benefon brand will be faded out on next years handsets remaining only as the companys trading name.

Carphone Warehouse supply chain director Giles Harvey speaking at the Retail Week Supply Chain Conference vowed that the growth of the company would continue.

Harvey advised delegates at the conference how to link the consumer into the supply chain for a seamless operation. He pointed up the changes he has made to the supply chain at Carphone.

He said: The customer is king. You need to understand consumer demand and deliver their needs. Carphone is growing incredibly fast and the growth will continue.

The trial of VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) has shown promising results with improvements in the inventory systems and the availability of products. VMI is currently only being used in the UK which only counts for 50 per cent of the business. The next challenge is to improve the supply chain across Europe.

Sony Ericsson has joined up with Sonys music arm Sony ATV Music Publishing to showcase new music talent on its handsets.

M-BUZZ is a promotional space for a number of new and developing artists and will use Sony Ericssons PlayNow service and the web.

M-BUZZ will initially showcase a limited number of artists and bands each month hand-picked by Sony/ATV.

Sony Ericsson president Miles Flint said: Todays announcement is another great example of the cooperative spirit that exists between Sony Ericsson and other Sony Group companies which gives us an opportunity to bring appealing innovative content to our mobile phones. M-BUZZ enables music fans not just to hear new unsigned acts but also to find out more about the musicians through interviews home movies and more creating a new mobile music experience.

The first phones offering M-BUZZ will be the W850 and W950 Walkman phones which are expected in shops in two weeks.

T-Mobile is planning to offer a full SatNav system for small businesses complete with a web-based vehicle tracking service as part of a business package deal later this year.

Building on T-Mobiles existing Co-pilot service the package will allow users of selected high-end mobiles – including the Vario II and Nokias E61 and N71 series – to enjoy a turn-by-turn spoken-word SatNav service.

Crucially however the new SME system will include a web-based vehicle tracking service allowing office staff – and even customers of a small business – to see where a driver is via an interactive web page.

The package has been developed by ALK Technologies the company behind the Fleetcenter vehicle tracking service for major companies as well as the Co-pilot service being offered on T-Mobiles web site and via selected business dealers.

Weve been working closely with T-Mobile on this project which will be offered as a free bundled deal to T-Mobiles business dealers said ALK Technologies European marketing director David Quin.

Speaking at last weeks Mobile Content World show Quin said that the SME SatNav/tracking bundle would be attractive to small businesses as it gives them access to the same vehicle tracking systems that many major companies already use.

Even better is the fact that T-Mobile will include this deal as part of its standard (WebnWalk) package deals. There are no extra charges involved he said adding that the companz believed this would encourage customers to stay with T-Mobile beyond their standard contract period.

The no-subscription SatNav and vehicle tracking system is made possible by the fact that the UK mapping data and software – together with selected European maps – can be stored on a one gigabyte storage card which fits into the handset.

The web side of things meanwhile is not a lot more than a webpage added Quin. With T-Mobiles WebnWalk deal the mobile is in constant contact with our servers at no extra charge so the web display of the vehicles location is as up-to-date as youre going to get.

Mobile telephony and data solutions provider Redstone has launched an incentive scheme for dealers. The winners will receive a trip with a number of different ski associated activities to a well-known ski destination in January 2007.

To join dealers have to register with Redstone and maximise their 02 connections. The scheme awards points according to the number of 02 upgrades and contracts signed up between September 1 and December 24. All Blackberry connections score double.

Dealers will be placed into leagues allowing a greater chance of winning. Once registered Redstone will confirm which league the dealer is competing in and will issue monthly league tables to allow progress to be monitored.

Derek Williamson has joined T-Mobile as head of business marketing.
Williamson will be responsible for delivering mobile voice and data products and services to SME and corporate customers.

Williamson joins T-Mobile from O2 where he was involved in the early development of its 3G services. He also had roles in the corporate industry sector marketing and business marketing departments at O2.

The sheer scale and speed of the mobile communications industry makes T-Mobile an exciting and challenging place to work said Williamson. I will be dedicated to developing simple innovative and good value mobile products and services that genuinely meet the needs of businesses.