Korean manufacturer VK Mobile has filed for bankruptcy after it failed to repay debts of 1.78 billion won ( 1 million).
It?s the third time VK Mobile had failed to honour debts in just over a week according to reports.
VK chief executive officer Yi Cheol-Sang was quoted last week in The Korea Times apologising to ?customers banks subcontractors and employees?. He promised to ?get VK back on track?.
Korea Investment & Securities analyst Greg Roh said: ?The bankruptcy of VK shows how tough the global mobile phone market is for second-string makers both at home and abroad. Only a few cell phone vendors will eventually stay alive.
?Even if creditors clear away debts VK is not likely to be profitable in the face of challenges from global giants like Nokia and Motorola on top of Samsung and LG.?
VK reportedly borrowed 10 billion won from Korean network operator SK Telecom and raised a further 1.4 billion won by issuing new shares.
VK Mobile was founded in 1997 as a manufacturer of batteries for mobile phones. It started to make GSM and CDMA handsets in 2001. It won a licence to provide GSM handsets to the Chinese market in 2002 and won an export award from the Korean government in 2003.
In the UK VK supplied the VK207 handset to Vodafone in March 2004 with Unique Distribution as fulfilment partner. After poor sales it released a pink variant that sold better. Last year it backed the UK release of the pink VK530 with a hefty ad campaign.
VK reported losses of 64.9 billion won in 2005.

Virgin Mobile to sell clothing in own stores

Virgin Mobile is to open its first standalone phone store at the end of the month at Lakeside shopping centre Thurrock.
It plans two more standalone Virgin Mobile outlets by the end of the year with a ?significant wave of new store openings? scheduled for 2007.
Virgin Mobile is recruiting 20 new staff for the first three stores and said that hundreds of new jobs would be created as the roll-out gathers pace next year.
Newly appointed managing director Alan Gow who replaced Tom Alexander following the sale to cable operator NTL in April indicated they were likely to be large-format sites.
Gow also said that Virgin Mobile would look at any Link stores that O2 chooses to sell off if its takeover goes ahead.
?We?re not on a shopping spree though. You won?t see hundreds of stores overnight? he added.
Virgin Mobile will sell music artwork and clothing alongside mobile phones in an attempt to stand out from the competition.
?We started by selling phones in Virgin Megastores and our competitors said we?d never sell mobiles in record shops but how wrong they were? said Graeme Hutchinson trading director at Virgin Mobile. ?The stores will also provide an excellent opportunity for the roll-out of our unique ?quadruple play? offer.?

Sales slump hits TomTom share price

Poor sales of satellite navigation system TomTom have resulted in a decline in its share value.
Shares slumped five per cent last week after the company issued a sales warning after shortages of a particular component.
TomTom head of investor relations Taco Titulaer said: ?Sales of the new GO range have been constrained in the second quarter due to short-supply of a component. It takes time to supply products to shops and we expected our revenue for the second quarter to be slightly higher.?
The company admitted that sales revenue would be limited to about 190 million. But Titulaer said: ?Production levels are back up to speed again and in line with our planning.?
The company?s final second quarter results will be released next Tuesday (July 25).

Redstone has made a formal offer of £17.3 million for the group whose divisions are Symphony Telecom and Anglia Telecom Centres. The bid is subject to Symphony Telecom shareholder approval.
Anglia Telecom CEO Andrew Smith commented: "The Anglia Telecom Symphony and Redstone combination offers dealers a complete fixed-line data VoIP broadband and mobile product set."
He added: "Symphony and Anglia Telecom will benefit from additional funding with more products to sell and a massively increased customer base."
Symphony Group currently has an annual combined turnover of about £60 million. This will rise to £130 million. Redstone does not currently provide a mobile telecommunications offering.

O2 head of indirect partners David Plumb explained: "The Advance programme is already in place with our direct independent dealers. The plan is now extended to six months so they can make more long-term investments."
Advance partners are currently offered only a month-by-month trading agreement.
"This means these distributors don´t have to worry about our money being withdrawn after a month" said
Plumb. "Instead they can make longer-term plans taking on more staff or expanding their premises knowing that they have guaranteed investment for a six-month period. It is a way of providing them with more stability."
An O2 spokesman added: "The new Advance programme aims to provide the tools to provide a good customer experience attract and retain high-value customers increase average revenue per customer grow the business market share and reduce churn."
O2 has also expanded the Advance programme to encourage other key distributors to sign up. Those signed up so far include Anglia Telecom Fone Logistics Avenir Moco and 4U/Dextra.
"They are all engaged in a one-year business plan with the aim of becoming part of the Advance programme after six months if their connections and value meet the standards set" said Plumb.
The new six-month plan will launch on July 1.

T-Mobile UK director of marketing Phil Chapman said: "We strongly believe that in the future mobile will be an individual´s primary means of accessing the Internet just as it already is for voice."
The daily rate is charged at 0.73p per kilobyte of data until the user has spent £1 after which they pay nothing more for the rest of the day.
Compatible handsets include the Motorola V3 Nokia 6131 Nokia 6233 Sony Ericsson K750i and Samsung E870.

"The introduction of Pay Point´s retail partners extends our distribution reach by a further 15000 outlets" said EasyMobile sales and marketing director Mike Lewis.
EasyMobile went live with Pay Point a payment collection network from mid-June.
E-vouchers were initially introduced in May this year available from The Link Currys Currys.digital and PC World.

The package will give small office/home office customers and SMEs access to the mobile Internet.
The new offer includes the launch of two handsets incorporating easy to use QWERTY keyboards for the business market and a range of new services including push-mail and inclusive data allowances removing the need for a separate e-mail device.
"This marks our first steps into the business market" said Allera.
Mobile Office Mail allows customers to have their e-mails delivered to their 3G handsets exactly as they would on a PC.
The service is powered by SEVEN Networks Always-On Mail mobile e-mail platform which allows each e-mail to be pushed to the handset.
3 UK marketing director Graeme Oxby said: "E-mail is critical for many businesses and 3´s advanced network can deliver the service to mobile devices offering performance and value."
The Mobile Mail option includes 10MB of data per month for £2.50 and is expected to meet the needs of most small business users.
The enhanced version Mobile Office Mail is aimed at larger businesses. It enables retrieval of Exchange and Lotus e-mail and includes 15MB of data for £5 a month.

LG said the Chocolate phone has racked up sales of a million units worldwide since its international launch in May.
Simon Hahm president of LG Electronics´ European business division for mobile said: "When we created the Chocolate phone we knew had a special product on our hands but the scale of success after just one month of sale in the UK has surpassed our expectations."
LG expects the Chocolate to replicate its success in Europe as it launches in China Russia and Mexico.

The offer is also intended to encourage the use of Web´n´Walk which is so far understood to have had disappointing take-up.
It is hoped that the services on offer will drive users to go for the unlimited browsing option which costs an additional £7.50 per month.
The bundle will be available through T-Mobile stores and online through the network´s own web site and also Dial-a-Phone.
It is also being offered to business users through T-Mobile´s preferred dealer Business Partners programme. According to senior product manager Darren Drinkwater take-up has been good through the channel with deals at 80 units a go.

The company claim 97 per cent of calls have been answered within three rings (seven seconds) compared with 88 per cent for the 10 months before. And 97 per cent of e-mails received since January were responded to within 60 minutes of receipt.
A spokesman from Parkway Telecom a Yes Telecom business partner commented: "Following the launch of the CARE initiative levels of support have increased considerably."

UBC Media Group CEO Simon Cole commented: "People are buying music online and are listening to the radio on their phone. This service will allow people to buy music as they listen on the move."
Consumers will subscribe to the service and top up the amount of credit they have for music downloads in the same way as they would top-up a pre-pay mobile phone.
The download cost is expected to be around £1.25 a track.
The consumer trial runs in Birmingham for four weeks from July 10 with 100 users able to download music in real time from Heart FM´s DAB station.