Mobile phone industry introduces novel devices and software
Industry analysts at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona said cellphone makers were starting to compete on more than looks, technology and price.

India deal puts Vodafone in new world
India's skyrocketing mobile phone market will be a vast change from the British cellphone operator's more advanced European businesses.
- Vodafone's arrival in India affirms vast changes

New mobile phone system would cut cost to immigrants sending cash home
The global system is designed to make transactions as easy as text messages.

The no-name brand behind the latest flat-panel price war
Syntax-Brillian almost certainly lost money. But the company forced premium brands to lower prices throughout the holiday season and take notice of the upstart.

Alliance of music publishers and mobile operators to start cellular music service
A new cellular music service dubbed MusicStation will begin operating in the second quarter of the year.

'Content' is king again — this time, on the cellphone
At the 3GSM trade show, user-generated videos and blogs are the next big thing on mobile phones.

Intel prototype may herald a new age of processing
The company said it had already begun design work on a commercial version that would essentially have dozens or even hundreds of Intel-compatible microprocessors laid out in a tiled pattern on a single chip.

Powered by toys: the story continues
Zizzle, which snagged a lucrative toy-licensing agreement early on in the company's history, has now established itself as a significant force in the $23 billion industry.

Hand-helds race ahead for road warriors
Nokia was set to announce on Monday three new cellphones for business users and a new version of its Intellisync Mobile Suite software for corporate road warriors.

Your next phone will be better, faster and cheaper, that's almost certain
But some analysts and industry players caution that the cutting edge may still be a bit ragged and that some of the new features will not live up to their promise.

MySpace, the online social network owned by News Corp., said Monday that it was offering free software tools to let media companies block the uploading of unauthorized video clips, expanding on an earlier program to block unauthorized music.

MySpace, one of the Internet's most popular services, has licensed audio-fingerprinting technology that helps identify the digital audio signature in a video file. Videos whose audio tracks match those in its database will be blocked, said Audible Magic, the company that developed the technology.

MySpace said it maintained a database of fingerprints uploaded by content owners. The blocking of unauthorized clips is on a voluntary basis to prevent the exclusion of materials that companies want to be uploaded, like those by a company's marketing department. $@

Verint to buy Witness to expand services

NEW YORK: Verint Systems, whose software helps companies analyze their performance, agreed to buy Witness Systems for about $950 million to add more programs for call centers.

Verint, based in Melville, New York, will pay $27.50 a share for Witness, 23 percent more than the closing price Friday. Verint's parent company, Comverse Technology, will contribute $293 million in a preferred stock purchase and Verint will borrow the rest, according to a statement Monday.

Witness, whose profit surged more than fourfold in its latest reported quarter, lists Continental Airlines and DaimlerChrysler among its customers. $@(Bloomberg)

EU to increase spending to subsidize film sector

BRUSSELS: The European Union said it would spend €755 million, or $979 million, over the next seven years to subsidize European movies, increasing its budget for supporting the film industry by two-thirds.

The new package of subsidies, presented Monday at the Berlin International Film Festival, compares with €454 million spent by the EU from 2001 through 2006. Half of European films watched in cinemas are made with EU financial help, the European Commission said on its Web site. $@(Bloomberg)

Nokia venture on target

BARCELONA: Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany said Monday that their network-equipment joint venture was on schedule to start in the first quarter of 2007.

The venture said that it had identified €1.5 billion in annual cost cuts.

"We feel absolutely comfortable these are achievable," the designated head of the new venture, Simon Beresford-Wylie, said at the 3GSM mobile communications trade show in Barcelona. $@ (Reuters)

Group buys APN News

SYDNEY: Independent News & Media and Carlyle Group agreed to buy APN News & Media, one of the largest media companies in Australia, after increasing their takeover offer to 1.87 billion Australian dollars, or $1.45 billion. $@(Bloomberg)