Wireless giants CMG, Comverse, Ericsson, Logica, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens are partnering to raise awareness of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and to promote the technology’s development in an open global market. MMS combines audio and video clips, photographs and images with text messaging. The companies involved in this initiative said they believe it will lead the way to profit in 2.5-generation (2.5G) and third-generation (3G) networks.
Fears surrounding the effects cell phones have on human health received a fresh boost, following the revelation that Nokia had filed patents in the United States detailing its work on cellular radiation shields. One of the patents was reported to include new components for cell-phone radio frequency (RF) shielding. While official studies have not been able to establish a link between cell-phone use and cancer, there is increasing concern that the industry cannot afford to ignore the calls for greater safety. Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia have admitted in the past that they have conducted their own investigations, but again have been unable to find any reliable evidence to prove a link to human health problems. However, this move by Nokia is being seen as a pre-emptive step in what might become a legal fight in the U.S. courts. Motorola has since denied it is designing any components with regard to this speculation, but admitted it is trying to develop methods to reduce the level of RF transmitted by handsets. Ericsson said it is working on similar technology, but the objective is to improve battery life.
The GSM Association announced its Mobile Services Initiative, or M-Services, which the group said will create a globally available set of services for the mobile Internet over GSM and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. The association also boasted strong industry support for the initiative from companies including Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Openwave, One 2 One and BT Wireless. The services will include enhanced graphics, music, video, games, ring tones and screen savers.
U.K. smart-phone operating system developer Symbian has dropped Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and switched to the Opera 5.0 browser. The company said it made the decision after evaluating a number of browsers and selected the Opera software due to it being optimized for limited screen space together with other advanced features. The company said Opera would now become its default browser for all Symbian reference designs targeted at handheld devices. The company added that the Nokia 9210 Communicator device, which is due for release next quarter, will be the first handheld to use the full range of Symbian’s software.
