Motorola has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research. Nokia claimed the second spot, while Samsung and LG were ranked equally in third place in the company's most recent evaluation of ultra low cost handset vendors worldwide. The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors' positions in specific markets. (For the purposes of this Vendor Matrix, an Ultra Low Cost Handset is defined as a mobile phone with a retail price below US $50.00.)

Skyscape, the worldwide leading service for trusted medical information by specialty for mobile devices, announced the availability of its popular decision support suite for Apple Computer’s iPhone. With this announcement, physicians and other medical professionals will gain instant access to a broad collection of drug, clinical, lab and evidence-based medical information and medical alerts, conveniently streamed to their phone. With the availability of the industry’s most comprehensive collection of trusted resources from Skyscape on the iPhone, healthcare providers and institutions can offer their medical staff added choice and flexibility.

The hottest techno-gadget ever made now has its own ultimate guidebook - The iPhone Book written by #1 top-rated technology book author Scott Kelby and renowned gadget guru Terry White. This amazing new book, the first iPhone book in print, is a lot like the iPhone itself - simple to use and fun to learn. The book’s layout is brilliant with each page covering just one single topic so finding the information you need is quick and easy, including full-color photos so you can see exactly how it works from setting-up wireless Internet to watching videos. The iPhone Book is truly the ultimate “how-to” guide for Apple’s new groundbreaking phone. The iPhone Book is $24.95 USD and available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble and ScottKelbyBooks.

Wmode, the developer and operator of the ClearMode managed service, announced they have been selected by the Cyprus-based mobile service provider Areeba to fully manage all of Areeba's content services. Areeba will now be offering ring tones, graphics, video clips, chat services and games for their mobile subscribers. Wmode will assist Areeba to further differentiate themselves as a 3G rich multimedia mobile service provider.

Celunite, developer of a next-generation mobile software platform based on Linux and other open source innovations, announced it has become the first mobile phone operating system provider to join the LiMo Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit entity that strives to increase the adoption of Linux within the mobile industry. “We welcome Celunite as the first mobile phone platform provider to join our founding members engaged in building a world-class mobile Linux platform,” said NTT DoCoMo’s Senior Vice President, Dr. Kiyohito Nagata, chairman of the LiMo Foundation. "Celunite is keen to begin assisting LiMo to realize a competitive step change in the delivery of handsets and service propositions to consumers.”

Nokia has been ranked at the top of the latest Smartphone Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research. Motorola and RIM (Research in Motion) claimed the second and third spots in the company’s most recent evaluation of worldwide smartphone vendors. The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. ABI Research evaluates vendors on the basis of Innovation and Implementation by selecting multiple criteria related to product/company characteristics. Upon evaluation, vendors are assigned numerical scores that are aggregated and analyzed to provide overall rankings.

Two of the outdoor industry’s leaders in mapping and navigation, Magellan and National Geographic, announced an alliance that will make National Geographic’s award-winning, full-color topography maps fully compatible with handheld GPS receivers for the first time. Beginning this fall, Magellan will become the first GPS manufacturer to offer full, onscreen compatibility, usage and display of National Geographic’s maps. Magellan’s new Triton series of handheld GPS devices were developed to work seamlessly with both Magellan’s own and National Geographic’s proprietary topographic maps, which are sold separately by National Geographic.

AdMob, the world's largest mobile advertising marketplace, announced that it has launched a new advertising unit to help brands and companies reach the hundreds of thousands of new Apple iPhone users and take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Apple iPhone. The new ad unit will also help AdMob's network of over 2,000 publishers monetize their iPhone traffic, with fifteen publishers already signed up who develop Apple iPhone specific content. AdMob's ad servers will now recognize iPhone users and serve Apple iPhone specific advertisements. The new unit leverages the core technologies available for the Apple iPhone, including mapping technology for location-based advertisers.

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global mobile phone shipments grew a modest 11 percent year-over-year, to reach 258 million units in Q2 2007. Samsung overtook Motorola for the first time, to become the world’s second largest handset vendor. Neil Mawston, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics said, “Total global cell phone shipments have continued to slow down this year, but Samsung is speeding up. A combination of aggressive marketing and an attractive 3G device portfolio has driven Samsung into second position for the first time ever. Its 48 percent annual growth has come partly at the expense of Motorola, whose lackluster product portfolio across all tiers urgently needs refreshing.”

ABI Research announced the launch of a new source of business intelligence for the wireless industry, the Business Mobility Research Service. Like the company’s other Research Services, it provides a bundle of research and analysis products that blend strategic industry assessment with robust quantitative data. These include individual Research Reports and ABI Insights, along with highly granular Market Data and analyst inquiry support.