1) Research In Motion introduced Monday its BlackBerry 8800, designed to offer up multimedia consumer features to the corporate user.



Adopting some of the features of its consumer-oriented handheld, the BlackBerry Pearl, the BlackBerry 8800 includes a media player and a microSD expandable memory slot for music and videos. The device is among many smart phones being unveiled this week at the 3GSM World Congress, a wireless-industry trade show in Barcelona, Spain.

RIM says the BlackBerry 8800 also features its slimmest corporate design yet, with a QWERTY keyboard and trackball screen navigation system. Global-positioning system software and Bluetooth 2.0, for use with wireless headsets, also are built into the device.

The BlackBerry 8800 is expected to be available this month through a variety of carriers worldwide. Pricing has not yet been disclosed.

2) Nokia feels that mobile and the Net are starting to merge

"The worlds of mobility and the Internet are merging," Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said during a press conference. "The products we are launching today reflect some key areas that we believe become part of a new connected life and where we will start to see much more widespread adoption."

Nokia announced three additions to its E series phones specifically designed for business users: the E61i, a thin BlackBerry competitor; the E65, a stylish slider; and the E90, a device with high-speed 3G connectivity that uses the next-generation technology HSDPA as well as integrated Wi-Fi.

"Only 30 percent of companies have mobile phones deployed throughout their work force," Kallasvuo said. "That translates into a huge opportunity for us."

Nokia also introduced the 6110 Navigator, the company's first navigation-enabled handset designed for the mass market. Kallasvuo said he expects similar mapping and navigating functionality to soon be embedded as a standard feature on a wide range of Nokia phones and multimedia devices.

Along with the business-focused phones, the company revealed the first handset developed for streaming TV, the Nokia N77 multimedia computer. The device is designed to be used on networks that use the mobile-TV broadcasting technology DVB-H. Nokia predicts that the technology will be embedded in between 5 million and 10 million units by the end of 2008 and in about 20 million units by the end of 2009.

3) Yahoo starting to move into mobile advertising area

The Internet media company has begun offering its brand advertising to reach mobile phone users across markets in Western Europe, South Asia and the Americas, capitalizing on its prowess in supplying Web advertising to computer users.

Yahoo said it has signed up major advertisers including Hilton's Embassy Suites, Infiniti, Intel, Nissan, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble Asia-Pacific and Singapore Airlines. They will be among the initial advertisers on Yahoo's mobile advertising system.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company already offers online marketing services to a large majority of the top 100 U.S. advertisers. By expanding onto mobile phones, Yahoo aims to help corporate advertisers run coordinated campaigns that reach both computer and phone audiences, an official said.

"This is really about Yahoo staking out its leadership in the emerging space on the mobile phone," said Steve Boom, Yahoo senior vice-president for mobile and broadband.