Munro has been representing clients in the mobile phone industry for nearly 20 years specialising in VAT matters.

One of his first major cases was in 1991 when he was a senior partner at Birmingham law firm Williamson and Soden. He successfully represented a trader who was suing West Midlands police for wrongful arrest after an ESN-changing allegation.

It is an absolute coup to have David Munro presiding as chairman of our conference said Mobile News editor Ian White.

He is hugely respected in the industry and still remains one the very few barristers in the country with a close understanding of how the mobile phone industry operates.

Key speakers at the conference include leading VAT law specialists Hassan Khan Alias Dass Anthony Barnfather and Andrew Young. Ex-Customs enforcement officer-turned-consultant Don Mavin will also appear.

See page 49 for full details

Speculation was fuelled by the appearance of senior T-Mobile man Tim Hoettge second to CEO Rene Obermann at T-Mobiles Hatfield offices last week.

One source said: Hoettges appearance at Hatfield was certainly seen as a tad unusual and definitely added to the concerns that McBride was making an exit from T-Mobile and that Hoettge was there to see him out.

McBride responded: There is no truth in this. All of the T-Mobile countries except the US report in to Tim so he is my boss. He used to run Germany as well so was doing two jobs and was not able to spend much time in UK. Now he has hired someone to run Germany it has freed him up and he will be in the UK most weeks. His presence is not a surprise to me or to anyone.

He has been chairman of T-Mobile UK for 18 months so has a close interest in and knowledge of the business.

Downie joins from Asda where he was retail director on the executive board and director of logistics. Following an initial induction period this month Downie will take up his post at the end of the first quarter next year.

Downie is tasked with expanding Phones 4Us sales capacity by 30 per cent through increasing sales space in existing stores and opening 100 new stores.

Downie will report to Tim Whiting group MD for the Caudwell Group who took over from Peter Green when he left the company at the end of last year.

Whiting said: I have been running Phones 4U retail for 18 months and it was always my intention to appoint a managing director for the retail business once it was delivering against its potential.

The business has had a tremendous year and current trade is well ahead of our expectations and this is an excellent time for David to join.

A Phones 4U spokesman commented: We are actively seeking new stores for Phones 4U. We want to make sure all major high streets across the UK are covered.

He added: We have to make sure that we can deal with the demand. We will open them as soon as we have found the sites and kitted out the sites.

Lea would not be drawn on the precise nature of his task except to say it involved working on projects to develop business opportunities outside the usual dealer channel.

Lea was given the job by Carphone Warehouse director of indirect distribution Steve Fraser who he has known since the latter was at 3.

Lea worked at Fone Logistics for four years before an bust-up with Fone Logistics boss Ian Gillespie. Lea hinted that he and Gillespie have now settled their differences leaving him free to join Carphone Warehouse this Wednesday.

Lea joined Fone Logistics from 20:20 where he spent five years as a sales manager. Before that he was an area sales manager at Vodafone having joined from Talkland.

The promotion runs until December and the top prize will see one dealer and a guest net an all-expenses-paid holiday to either New York Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

MoCo is also offering dealers prizes every month.

In October they can win a weekend break to Ibiza Amsterdam or Venice. Other prizes are six iPod Nanos and 12 100 HMV Vouchers.

In November winners can choose between Paris Milan Cannes or Rome. Runners up get Motorola RAZRWire sunglasses or 100 John Lewis Vouchers.

December destinations are Monaco Stockholm and Berlin. Other prizes are PlayStation Portables and 100 Dixons vouchers.

Serene will be launched in Europe Russia and Ukraine during Q4. It will retail in Bang & Olufsen stores for approximately 1100 ( 770) and in select high-end Samsung distribution partners.

When Serene is placed in its docking station and a call is received it automatically opens up and activates the display. If left unanswered it closes again. If the phone is placed in the docking station or used in table mode it can be used as a mini-laptop as the display turns 180 degrees.

He was previously trading manager for mobile communications. The retailer said that it was still seeking a replacement for him. In the meantime a new role of mobile phone buyer has been created and filled by Rebecca Hughes who formerly managed franchises such as Star Wars Batman Barbie and Finding Nemo for Woolworths. Cooke will no longer have any involvement in buying mobile phones for the retailer.

John McFarnon chairman of Woolworths distributor Unique distribution dismissed any speculation that the retailers buying relationships were under review as a result of the reshuffle and said he was confident about Woolworths commitment to selling mobile handsets.

He said: Its going to be interesting to see what is going to happen to Woolworths over the next six months but it has put Rebecca in place so it must be committed to selling mobiles.

Woolworths recently reported shaky figures for the half year to July 30. The retailer experienced a pre-tax loss widening by 9.1 per cent to 35.9m compared with the same period a year earlier.

The ongoing poll showed 87.03 per cent of voters thought that the handset was a miss at going to press. This is out of a total of 7908 votes.

The handset which had its world-wide debut at The Carphone Warehouse on October 15 topped the retailers sales for the following weekend but has received a number of bad reviews across the media. Among the criticisms of the Apple iTunes-compatible handset is that it has a limited capacity storing only 100 songs compared with the iPod Mini which can store 10 times that number. Other available handsets such as the Sony Ericsson W800i are also capable of storing many more songs. Another gripe is that the design of the ROKR is based on a handset that has been on the market for more than a year.

A Motorola spokesman said: The ROKR has had some great reviews from publications including The Sun The Guardian and The Daily Mail and topped The Carphone Warehouses sales lead in the first week where it now represents the top-selling phone for subscription based customers in this channel.

Motorola is very excited about where the ROKR is taking mobile phone music and feel it places us at the forefront of this constantly evolving sector of the market.

A BenQ spokesman said: Siemens spotted a gap in the market. Women arent catered to in the UK by handset manufacturers. We have an all-female marketing team at Siemens and they have persuaded Germany to produce a limited edition phone aimed at women for the UK market. A lot of our hopes for the Christmas market are pinned on it.

BenQ said that it would launch its first 3G phones in January.

Following the official handover of Siemens Mobile to Taiwanese company BenQ last week Siemens confirmed the appointment of Philip Rambech as managing director. Rambech previously worked at PalmOne and Sony Ericsson.

Philip has only been with us for a week so he has to analyse the situation before he sets out his strategy said the spokesman.

The CL75 will be available from the end of October priced 99.99.

LG said last week that its portfolio of devices for launch in Q2 2006 to be previewed at 3GSM in Barcelona in February will be the first LG handsets in the UK to feature unique LG design characteristics.

The marketing push will start in March and run through the year. It will include cinema advertising as well as television and print media.

Weve got fantastic products in the pipeline and we will launch a marketing campaign to reflect the prestige of the new products in Q2 said LG Mobile UK marketing manager John Bernard. LG Mobile will come to life more in 2006 and be very aggressive on the back of the handset range and this campaign.

We want to hammer home the point about LG Mobile as a young vibrant brand. You will see us taking the brand to the key 16- to 25-year-old market and attacking that market segment.

The 2006 campaign comes on the back of LG Mobiles sponsorship of the Action Sports Championships itself worth several million pounds. The Action Sports Championships event encompasses skateboarding BMX and freestyle motocross and climaxes in Manchester on October 21-23.

LG will launch handsets to the open market from next month.

Among the Q2 2006 launches is the LG LP5500 a five megapixel cameraphone with a 180-degree swivel screen and digital camera. Also slated for March is a new device a slim black slider phone that is still under wraps which is just 10mm thick.

The working model shown to journalists in Seoul South Korea last week features a checkerboard keypad and a 1.3 megapixel camera. LG Mobile executive vice president of R&D Skott Ahn said that the launch model would feature a two megapixel camera and appear in both GSM and 3G versions.

LG Mobile vice-president and general manager for Europe Simon Hahm said: The Carphone Warehouse and The Caudwell Group have both expressed excitement at LGs Q2 range already and are both looking to broker periods of exclusivity with us.

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