The Curve was available in the UK dealer channel on May 3. RIM product manager Karen Rudnitski said: The Curve is a smartphone with no compromises.

Weve built a camera application into the BlackBerry experience so you can easily upload images to the web. Weve made the media player behave like you would expect a portable music player to behave with features like shuffle and sorting by album genre or song. The media player is more graphic-based more intuitive and simpler to use.

Rudnitski added the integrated desktop multimedia suite would allow for easier download search and organisation of music and movie files.

She said: We recognised downloading multimedia files from your PC was a bit of a chore so we have made that process simpler.

The Curve includes a faster internet browser enhanced email increased security features and a two-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom. The new 3.5mm headphone jack fits most headphones and BlackBerry has also made spell check available in text and email for the first time.

The Curve features RIMs trackball navigation system first seen on the Pearl.

Last quarter one million subscribers worldwide signed up to BlackBerry.

A new directory service has been launched to boost the presence of independents online giving them a higher position on search engines than their own stand-alone websites.

indie-guides.co.uk works via a virtual network; every dealer that joins helps to lever the indie-guides directory at the top of the online search listings giving independents more coverage when someone is searching for a mobile retailer in a particular area.

Members are given 200 words to write an editorial up to two images contact details plus the opportunity to add keywords to use the indie-guides search to its full capacity.

Indie-guides managing director Steve Wickens said: Indie-guides is a simple concept designed to be an inexpensive yet effective way of helping independent businesses prosper against the tide of corporate competition. Indie-guides is dedicated to boosting business for independent retailers. It will increase traffic to your website and generate email and telephone enquiries from genuinely interested prospects.

At present indie-guides is offering a launch promotion of a free 90-day trial with membership costing £10 per month per outlet/location thereafter.

To unlock a handset on SE Tool log files need to be purchased online at £2 per file.

Previously each handset required 25-30 log files but now some phones can be unlocked using just a few files making the cost more achievable for dealers.

One dealer said: SE handsets were unlockable but the price simply wasnt feasible. At this price dealers will be snapping it up.

Previously SE handsets of higher specification than the W810i were practically unlockable.

Five new bundles will be released next month. Pay monthly customers can choose from daily net browsing for £1; monthly evening and weekend browsing for £5; or monthly anytime browsing for £8.

Pre-pay customers can choose from £1 daily browsing or £5 weekly browsing. Users will be subject to a 1GB maximum under Oranges fair usage policy.

Customers who do not purchase a bundle and are pay monthly customers will now be charged a maximum of £1.50 a day for mobile internet browsing whereas pre-pay customers will be charged £2.

Orange customers will also now have free access to their own personalised Orange World homepage as well as news headlines and favourites. They can also use the Orange Local service free from July to September.

Orange mobile and convergence vice-president Jean-Pascal Van Overbeke said: Our new pricing structure makes it easy for our customers to understand exactly what they are getting and for how long when they access mobile internet.

Turner will report directly to Fonesure CEO and founder Mark Gordon.

He will be in charge of 16 staff and be responsible for developing the companys insurance products and new offerings.

Turner has more than 15 years experience in the insurance sector and will be based at the companys headquarters in Westcliff-on-Sea.

He joins from insurance company Allianz Cornhill.

The managing directors role is newly created.

Former strategy and business development director Craig Tillotson will lead the consumer business unit and remain on the UK board.

Ian Shepherd former commercial operations director for Vodafones consumer business unit steps into Tillotsons shoes as strategy and business development director. Tim Yates returns to being chief marketing officer on the UK board after a stint as interim business consumer director.

Vodafone UK CEO Nick Read said the new appointments would strengthen the companys leadership position and deliver its Mobile Plus strategy to become a total communications provider.

The Lords Committee recently published an influential report on the EUs proposals to cap mobile phone roaming charges and concluded that a wholesale price cap of 30 euro cents per minute was necessary to protect customers and ensure small businesses were not impeded from doing business across the EU.

While the committee welcome the EU moves to introduce caps they are concerned that the introduction of retail caps will stifle competition and discourage innovation in the mobile phone market.

Chairman of the committee Lord Freeman believes the vote will lead to is a step in the right direction. He said:

People have been overcharged for using their phones abroad for too long now and it has become clear the market would not have resolved this issue alone. This vote should ensure we move towards a fairer system.

However we do have some areas of concern with todays vote as we feel averaged wholesale caps rather than retail price caps could have ensured customer savings while maintaining an element of competition in the market that would encourage innovation.

The two companies have signed a four-year contract to develop a raft of extra features for the successful PSP which has already shipped over 8 million in Europe and 24 million globally. The partnership will introduce wireless broadband communications and includes high quality handheld video calls voice calls and messaging services.

BT chief of Mobility and Convergence Steve Andrews believes the deal will benefit avid gamers. He said:

We are very excited by the opportunity to give customers a whole new communications experience connecting and seeing friends across the world through BTs technology.

President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe David Reeves feels that the deal will open up multiple new avenues for hand held gaming consoles. He said:

It is very exciting for us to be partnering with BT on such a unique project. The opportunity to combine our market leading expertise with BTs knowledge in communications opens up many possibilities and we look forward to bringing many exciting communication functions to PSP fans.

Many monthly contract users are mismanaging their accounts by either failing to use all their inclusive minutes or unknowingly using services that are not inclusive in their contract.

Two thirds of monthly contract users receive an average of 257 peak and 257 off-peak free inclusive minutes as part of their deal each month but the average monthly contract payer still has over 100 minutes left unused at the end of their monthly billing period.

The average value of a cross network inclusive minute is £0.04p and when this total is extrapolated across the lost minutes of the entire nation the stark reality of £88 million in wasted minutes every month is revealed.

The pattern is the same when it comes to texts with an average of 73 unused texts per customer which totals £66 million of unused texts nationwide each month.

Monthly contract users are also paying on average £6.01 each month for services that are not inclusive in their contract. This figure tallies up to more than £70 per user during a 12-month period.

Mobile Phone expert for uSwitch.com Chris Frost believes that the research shows that many pay monthly users are signing up to packages without understanding if the tariff is right for their personal needs. He comments:

Not only are we failing to take full advantage of our free minutes and texts; on top of contract costs we are going on to pay a further £56 million collectively for non-inclusive texts and talk time.

Furthermore many mobile customers are unaware of the fact that they are actually paying for the free phone provided with their deal as part of their contract – they are effectively buying a phone on credit.

This indicates that many of us are getting it very wrong when it comes to choosing our deals.

Daventry-based accessories distributor Shebang has doubled its projected turnover for the year to £20 million in just over two months. />Shebang managing director Iain Humphrey said: Shebang is growing at pace. Just two months ago we were tracking at £10 million for the year. Our projected turnover for the year is now double that. />We are offering a good alternative to a very drab distribution sector at the moment. When everyone else in distribution is worried for their futures we are really buoyant. />Meanwhile Humphrey has signed London dealership Fonehouse up to the Sellfone 3G retail management system which works in conjunction with Shebang. It is the latest win for the firm which now has all the major independent dealerships signed to the system including JAG Get Connected and Intek. />Said Humphrey: Once we reached critical mass with Sellfone which was around 350 dealerships we quickly switched our focus to quality connections. />We are now refusing more applications than we are accepting. For us to accept Fonehouse on board shows the quality of the business that [Fonehouse managing director] Clive Bailey is writing within the M25.