866 Cellphones
Just another Cellphones News weblog
Fractus sues 10 cell phone makers for antenna patent violation
Author: +866.com28 Apr
Fractus S.A., a relatively unknown Spain-based company, has recently sued no less than ten mobile phone manufacturers for infringing nine different patents.
According to the company, the handset makers that infringed its patents are: Samsung, LG Electronics, Research In Motion, HTC, Palm, Pantech, Sharp, Kyocera, Sanyo and UTStarcom.
The allegedly infringed patents are related to internal antennas used in cell phones.
Reportedly, Fractus “is an early pioneer in developing internal antennas for cellular phones and other industries” and it holds more than 80 patents worldwide, 30 of them being held in the United States – where the suit against the ten handset makers was filed.
No other details were given, but the declaration of Fractus’ lawyer doesn’t quite promise good things for Samsung, LG and the others:
“It is very brave of Fractus to fight against these cell phone companies, many of whom knew about Fractus and its technology yet still continued to infringe. Fractus’s inventions have added tremendous value to both the cell phone user and manufacturer.”
HTC has already responded to Fractus’ accusation by saying:
“This patent infringement lawsuit will not impact the Company’s core competency, current customers in USA or devices already on sale in USA.”
We’ll bring more about this as soon as new details pop up.
Source: Press release – thanks to PDA.pl for the tip.
Related posts
BlackBerry Niagara 9630 appears in new live pics, video
Author: +866.com16 Mar
It’s not the first time the BlackBerry Niagara 9630 shows up in leaked photos. But the previously-appeared ones were kind of small, so it’s about time we see some large and clear images with the smartphone.
As you probably already know, Research in Motion didn’t officially announce (or confirmed) the Niagara 9630, but the device will probably be fully unveiled in the next few months.
Until now, we only know that the 9630 is a 3G CDMA handset, so US customers will see it launched via Verizon or Sprint.
Anyway, here are the live pics with it, spotted over at CrackBerry:
There’s also a blurry video with the Niagara 9630 – it’s said the smartphone runs here on BlackBerry OS 4.7.1.10, which is so unstable that it won’t even start up:
Related posts
RIM partners with U2, sponsors their 360° Tour
Author: +866.com11 Mar
U2, one of the world’s most popular pop-rock bands, has officially announced that the upcoming U2 360° Tour is sponsored by Research in Motion / BlackBerry.
The news may come as a surprise for some, especially for those who know that U2 had a strong relationship with Apple several years ago: U2’s Vertigo single appeared in a TV commercial for Apple’s iPod, while the Cupertino company released a special edition U2 iPod, as well as an iTunes U2 box set.
Well, now the band seems to not like Apple anymore, since it turned to its smartphone market rival – the Canadians from RIM.
Apparently, the partnership with the BlackBerry manufacturer will go beyond sponsoring the 360° Tour, and we might even see U2 music pre-loaded on RIM’s smartphones.
“This tour announcement marks the first stage of a relationship and shared vision between RIM and U2 that we expect will lead to new and innovative ways to enhance the mobile music experience on the BlackBerry platform for U2 fans. We look forward to sharing more details as the relationship unfolds,” declared U2’s manager Paul McGuinness.
For those who are interested, the U2 360° Tour is set to debut on June 30, at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, and it will end in the US, at Chicago’s Soldier Field, on September 12.
Related posts
One third of the messaging phones in North America are made by LG
Author: +866.com6 Mar
Messaging phones (you know, the ones featuring QWERTY keyboards) are becoming more and more popular all over the world, and especially in the US and Canada.
Now, who do you think is leading the North American messaging phone market? It’s not Research in Motion, although all its BlackBerries have QWERTY keyboards.
It’s LG, the world’s third largest handset maker, which managed to sell about 11.8 million messaging phones in North America in 2008 only.
Overall, there were 33.7 million such phones shipped in North America last year (smartphones included), thus LG controls a third of the market.
The latest messaging phone from LG is Verizon’s LG Versa, a touchscreen handset that has a detachable QWERTY keyboard and can be bought for as low as $199.
Source: Telecoms Korea (subscription needed to view the article).
Related posts
RIM
Author: +866.com6 Mar
When we first heard about Research in Motion’s own app store, we thought it would be named BlackBerry Application Storefront. In fact, this was the name presented by RIM itself.
Apparently, the Canadian smartphone manufacturer changed its mind, as now we hear the app store is in fact officially called BlackBerry App World – and that’s actually a good name.
It looks like BlackBerry App World will go live in a couple of hours, at 10 PM Eastern Time, and it will be accessible at this address (for the moment, there’s nothing there, of course).
No details yet about the applications that RIM allows in its App World, but we’ll surely hear more about this pretty soon.
Via BlackBerry Cool
Related posts
RIM and its BlackBerry smartphones doing better than expected
Author: +866.com12 Feb
Although most handset manufacturers declared rather weak sales lately, Research In Motion has proudly announced that its net subscriber account additions for the fiscal fourth quarter (which ends on February 28, 2009) is higher than expected.
As such, the maker of BlackBerry smartphones believes that the net subscriber account additions for said period may be about 20% higher than the 2.9 million additions initially estimated. So we’re looking at about 3.5 million new BlackBerry subscribers in the last four months.
The good results were driven by the holiday buying season, but also by the post-holiday season, when RIM’s new devices (BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Pearl Flip) continue to attract many customers from North America and other international markets.
However, the Canadian company, which sold the 50 millionth BlackBerry handset last month, says that the higher than expected subscriber account additions do not reflect its financial performance. Which could mean it has profits lower than estimated – but I guess it’s all good as long as they do have a profit.
Source: RIM
Related posts
India gets the BlackBerry Curve 8900 too
Author: +866.com16 Jan
After the Pearl Flip 8220 and the Storm, India will now have the latest BlackBerry smartphone too, namely the Curve 8900.
Smaller than the Bold (and better looking, I might add), BlackBerry Curve 8900 is the thinnest handset ever outed by Research in Motion, measuring only 13.5 mm in thickness.
But that doesn’t mean it’s poorer in features. Except for 3G, the 8900 has them all, including: a 480 x 360 pixels TFT display, GPS, Wi-Fi, full HTML browser, push e-mail, media player, a 3.5mm headset jack, a 3.2 MP autofocus camera and, of course, a full QWERTY keyboard.
Customers will be able to buy the BlackBerry Curve 8900 via the top three Indian carriers: Reliance, Airtel and Vodafone. The smartphone’s retail price is of Rs. 27,990 (around 572 USD).
Via MoneyControl
Related posts
RIM getting maybe $50 million or more of free advertising from US pres Barack Obama
Author: +866.com10 Jan
Getting a world-famous person to endorse your product to millions of people worldwide isn’t hard. After all, product endorsers, no matter how popular, have their price which companies are more than willing to pay.
But can you imagine having the world’s most powerful man endorse your product? And for free, at that? That is exactly what BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM) is experiencing right now, as the U.S.A.’s President-elect himself Barack Obama confesses that he just can’t live a day without his personal BlackBerry.
Due to legal and security concerns, he might be forced to let go of the device he needs using the most once he takes office. However, President-elect Barack Obama has often stated that his BlackBerry just means so much to him, and in a recent interview CNBC and The New York Times, he said, “I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry. They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”
Marketing experts claim that if the so-called “BlackBerry president” only charged RIM for all the publicity and credibility that he gives them, it could amount to $25 million, maybe even $50 million. If that’s so, then this could very well be “almost the biggest endorsement deal in the history of endorsements,” as Burns Entertainment president Doug Shabelman says.
Well, that’s good news for RIM, then. They could use a little backing up, especially with that sweet-looking new Palm Pre smartphone that was just launched recently.