A select group of BART riders is helping to launch a first-in-the-nation technological trial that will allow participants to walk up to any BART fare gate with a specially-equipped Sprint wireless phone and pay for their ride by tagging the cell phone on a reader located on top of the gate. Once through the gate, the 230 trial participants can hold their specifically-equipped Sprint cell phone up to certain Jack in the Box and Sprint “smart advertisements” on BART station walls and download either directions to the nearest Jack in the Box restaurant or content from Sprint.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Mobile Device Market Trends in 2008 to their offering. The objective of this report is to identify the rising trends in the global mobile device market in 2008. The research material in this report is based on our strategic research and consulting projects conducted in 2007 on the major mobile operators and handset vendors in Asia (particularly on Korea, Japan and China). In addition, interviews with professionals in the industry, including mobile service providers were used as a reference for carrying out a comprehensive market analysis.

A recent survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, an infoUSA company, fielded by international data collection and panel specialists Research Now, revealed that Smartphones (excluding iPhone and RIM Blackberry) were the most returned electronic technology products of the holiday season, with slightly more than one-fifth (21%) of Smartphone buyers returning their purchase to the retailer.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of “NFC-Enabled Phones and Contactless Smart Cards 2008-2018” to their offering. Near Field Communication (NFC), by which electronic devices communicate if held within a few centimeters of each other, is underpinned by global ISO specifications. It has attracted the attention of the largest telcos, transport companies, banks and others and new trials are frequently announced all over the world.

The worldwide mobile phone market experienced an expected sequential downturn in shipments following a busy holiday quarter. According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 291.6 million units during the first quarter of 2008 (1Q08), down 11.6% from the 330.8 million units shipped during the previous quarter (4Q07) and up 14.3% from the 255.0 million units shipped during 1Q07. While the first quarter results are in line with IDC's 2008 forecast, concerns over the economy may negatively impact handset purchases as the year progresses.

Ron Risman, the owner of CameraTown, informed us about CameraTown’s latest project; the world's first photography portal for the Apple iPhone. Digital photography is hot and changing almost every week. New products like high resolution digital SLR cameras, entry-level compact cameras, photo printers or top quality pro lenses are introduced by the top of the digital imaging industry. Those Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users who want to be informed by the latest news need to check out this new Photography portal for Apple iPhone. This year is promising lots of interesting new products; the DLSR camera is absolute the product to look out for. New products will come up later on this year!

Mobile Linux is well poised to take on the surging smartphone market according to “Mobile Linux: Google and Motorola Hold the Short-Term Keys to Success,” from the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies Service. Mobile Linux offers an attractive package in terms of customization, cost, developer community, time to market, security and multi chipset support to handset manufacturers and mobile operators, according to industry analysts Strategy Analytics. This report evaluates the current status of the mobile Linux market and assesses the impact of recent initiatives by industry players in the mobile Linux arena.

Nokia announced the launch of the global Nokia Media Network, a premium advertising network including over 70 leading publisher and operators as well as Nokia media properties. AccuWeather, Discovery, Hearst, Reuters, and Sprint have joined with Nokia to form the first global mobile ad network of top tier publishers. Nokia Media Network's wide reach of the most desirable mobile audience is yielding click-through rates averaging 10% in certain channels, the highest reported response rates in the industry.

Nokia has joined the WWF Climate Savers program with a pledge to build on its strong environmental record by improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions across its business. The company is targeting a series of energy savings including halving the stand by energy used by its mobile phone chargers, using green electricity to power 50 per cent of its facilities by 2010 and reducing the overall energy needs of its sites by 6 per cent by 2012.

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. announced the launch of 8 new models of power management LSIs suitable for mobile devices. The new LSIs which will be available from January 2008, provide low power consumption, low noise and high efficiency. “We entered the power management LSI market in July 2006 to leverage our strength in manufacturing technologies for high-voltage and lower power consumption devices, which are widely used in manufacturing processes and TFT LCD driver LSIs. The models we add today significantly reduce power consumption which means longer battery life for mobile devices,” said Takaki Yamada, President of Silicon Microdevice Company at Oki Electric Industry.