Pure Communications managing director Matt Sandford said nine companies are trialing 250 BlackBerry devices between them on the back of the first business breakfast attended by 25 local businesses.

Sandfords conversion rate to date from BlackBerry trials has been 100 per cent he said last week.

Pure Communications ran the business breakfast in conjunction with O2. Sandford said: Due to the breakfast and the offer from O2 which means we can enable 30-day trials of BlackBerry devices and software to prospective clients we have around 250 devices on trial. Around 50 per cent of our connections are with BlackBerrys at present.

The interview with Sandford in last issue of Mobile News said he canned his former business Ternhill Communications. In fact Sandford sold it for a six-figure sum to Project Telecom in 2002. Ternhill which under Sandfords stewardship won Dealer of the Year at the Mobile News Awards two years in a row had no retail outlets at the time of the sale.

Sandford also made clear the reasons for his exit from Yes Telecom. He said: I left Yes Telecom because we had done a deal with Vodafone to acquire the company. My job was done. I did not throw in the towel.

He added: I have had a fantastic time in the industry and not had a struggle in making things work.

Noodle is offering cheap local and international calls via an integrated GSM and VoIP service. Its Noodle SIM carries calls over the T-Mobile network for the GSM leg of the call before routing them over IP. Its Noodle Oodles deal enables other network customers to use the service and redeem credit for calls received on the service.

Noodle customers can now top-up at 17000 PayPoint outlets across the UK with e-vouchers of £5 £10 and £20.

Noodle Mobile chief executive Sean Murray said: PayPoint is the easiest way for customers to top-up their account without having to use the internet.

Noodle plans to sign up half a million customers to its new network by the end of the year.

The new P1i builds on Sony Ericssons P990i and M600i business handsets its first-generation UIQ 3.0 devices both heavily criticised for their lack of operating memory (RAM).

Sony Ericsson said in June new bug fixes and support for the P990i M600i and W950i (which uses the same UIQ interface but is pitched to consumers) would cease.

Last month however it backtracked in the face of protests from developers and consumers deciding to press ahead with new firmware releases including RAM improvements for its existing UIQ 3.0 handsets. Further updates to the P990i M600i and W950i are expected this month.

Critics suggested Sony Ericsson has alienated business users as a result of the previous lack of RAM and been forced to promote the P1i as a premium email device for the consumer market as a result.

The problem with the P990i was its lack of RAM which meant it couldnt run multiple applications. It would shut down existing applications when new ones opened so users had to keep restarting applications potentially losing data. This has lost Sony Ericsson a lot of trust within the business
sector said a source.

The P1i has 128MB of RAM compared with just 64MB on earlier models leaving 80MB free instead of 16MB. Sony Ericsson marketing manager for UK and Ireland Ian Finn told Mobile News: There were some issues with the P990i and we have listened to and responded to consumers.

The P990i was not massive [in terms of sales]. This will sell better because it will appeal to users upgrading from a high-end bar phone. It crosses the consumer/business boundary.

The P1i 25 per cent smaller than the P990i will be ranged by all networks in time said Finn. It has an integrated QWERTY keypad 3G Wi-Fi and VoIP connectivity and supports a range of push email solutions. Its also has a 3.2-megapixel camera and Sony Ericsson music applications.

EQO is the latest VoIP company to set up in the UK buoyed by the publicity around high international mobile call costs and roaming rates. EQO chief executive Bill Tam said last week the market for international calls is worth close to $300 billion (£148bn) per annum.

It is targeting one million users globally by this time next year and claims to save the user 95 per cent on international calls.

EQO founded in Vancouver three years ago runs on around 300 Java-enabled handsets at present. It requires the user to download a 200KB client from EQOs WAP site. The phone book is imported into a new interface so the user can scroll for a name click and call.

EQO carries the call via a mobile phone network at source. The call is then routed over IP using a circuit switching network and out the other side onto a mobile network in the destination country.

Both legs of the call over GSM networks are charged at local rates. Where both parties on the call are EQO users the cost of the two legs is subtracted from their respective network call bundles. Where the recipient is not an EQO customer the termination cost is subtracted from the callers EQO account.

The propensity to call internationally is higher in London because of the number of migrants and foreign nationals and its dispersed community said Tam.

The primary market in the UK is the migrant market many have left their home countries for economic reasons and want to stay in regular contact with friends and family at home.

At the moment they are either using calling cards or else making VoIP calls from PCs in internet cafes he added.

Replacing Alistair Johnson Barrat joined Orange last month. She was previously head of consumer pay monthly and convergence for Mobistar.

Barrat will be responsible for driving the companys uptake of multimedia and data services as well as encouraging existing mobile customers to adopt convergence services such as data broadband and Oranges fixed-mobile devices.

She reports directly to Orange UK vice president of marketing Jean-Pascal Van Overbeke.

David Hinc has been promoted from head of managed services to commercial director while former head of operations Nick Thomas rejoins the group as operations director. Thomas will be in charge of managing the companys logistics and distribution as well as the groups new warehouse in Hayes.

Thomas said: Returning to Unique will be a huge challenge but with renewed vision clear direction and a hunger to succeed driven by our new Chief Executive Andy Tow the sky really is the limit.

Unique has also appointed Andrew Evison as account manager David Birkett as Unique Airtime operations manager and Ron Wood rejoins as national sales manager. Wood returns having spent several years running sales operations at UniqueAir Vodafone and Vanguard.

Unique Distribution CEO Andy Tow said: The wealth of experience and business knowledge these five key appointments bring to Unique will be invaluable as our business plan for the future is implemented.

With financial security and a clear strategy Unique is in a position to attract talented individuals who can hit the ground running and produce rapid commercial results.

The team talk with John Doctor Shop Ryan about the future of the independent dealer. There is also a review of the Nokia 7900 Prism and a rant from Mobile News Ian White about pointless PR.

To cap it all off Iain Graham and the team take a light hearted look at all the latest headlines affecting the mobile industry. So dont miss out listen to the latest edition of the Mobile News podcast by clicking here.

Vodafone said it was unaware its adverts were appearing on the
BNP page in Facebooks political organisations section because it purchased advertising for the site in bundles.

Vodafone added that it did not support any party political interests.

A spokesperson said: We advertise our products and services across a wide range of online and offline publications. In the case of online bundles of space are purchased across a number of sites including social networking sites.

We were not aware a Vodafone advertisement would appear next to a British National Party group on Facebook. To avoid any misunderstandings we immediately withdrew our advertising as soon as this was brought to our attention.

Vodafone is working with its media buyer to ensure tighter controls are in place before signing further advertising deals.

Meanwhile Orange who also advertises on Facebook said Vodafones actions were hypocritical.

A spokesman said: It sends a mixed message to customers as Vodafone is currently working on a deal with MySpace.

A lot of our customers use Facebook. We find it highly successful.

India is the worlds fastest growing wireless market and Nokia has produced more than half of all handsets sold in the country. There are now 190 million Nokia users in India with a record 7.34 million joining in June.

India is now only second to China for Nokia sales which is a rise of two places from 2005.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said: India is playing an increasingly important role in the global economy buoyed by impressive economic growth skilled manpower and tremendous business opportunity.

As the market leader in devices and infrastructure Nokia is committed to build the telecom ecosystem in the country and foster the creation of a favorable environment for collaboration and economic development.

3 has opened two trial concession stores inside HMV shops in Hatfield and Merry Hill.

The stores opened last Saturday and 3 has plans to extend the project to include further concessions in HMV stores in Reading and Leeds. If the project is successful 3 intends to expand the trial to include 10 additional HMV stores.

A 3 spokesperson said: Our partnership with HMV aims to give music fans the chance to buy music they want in the way they want to buy it. People will have access to all our products and services in the stores as well as everything a music lover wants.