News on the handset front continues its frantic pace as retailers gear up for the holiday season. Today, Verizon Wireless announced its second camera phone and Sprint PCS released a new Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. handset.
Verizon said it will sell the Audiovox Corp. CDM-8900 camera phone, which will also support Verizon’s BREW Get It Now application download service. The phone will sell for $100 with a two-year agreement.
The deal is important for both Audiovox and Verizon. Audiovox has been working to expand its phone distribution and recently announced support for Sprint’s new video-mail service. The device also adds another camera phone to Verizon’s holiday line-up. Motorola Inc. recently announced it would not be able to provide Verizon with a camera phone in time for Christmas.
Separately, Sprint announced it will sell the new color-screen VI660 from Samsung for $80 with a two-year contract. The phone features voice-recognition technology from Voice Signal that allows users to verbally dial numbers in their address book, as well as access signal strength and battery life information. Samsung has installed Voice Signal technology in several new phone models.
