LG announces entry level GB106 and GB110 handsets

Your search for an entry level handset is over as LG rolls out two new low-end handsets namely the GB110 and GB106. These candy bars are aimed at low to mid range consumers.

The GB106 bundles up a 1.5 inch color screen, five-way D-pad, 1.5MB of memory and an FM Radio. The built-in FM receiver eliminates the need of a headset while listening to radio broadcasts. Its battery life provides talktime up to 4 hours and standby time up to 400 hours.

Well, the other handset GB110 takes you to a slightly higher level, in addition to the features in GB106, it also packs in a microSD card slot up to 2GB and a VGA camera. Its 950 mAh battery lets you extend your conversations.

The LG handsets may hit the shelves this month, the pricing details are not announced.

Source:
http://www.techgadgets.in/

Bharti, Vodafone launch new BlackBerry smartphone

Leading mobile operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar on Tuesday launched yet another BlackBerry smartphone. Priced at Rs. 21,990, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone allows easy typing and dialling, besides incorporating many enhancements into its sleek flip design.

The spacious keyboard allows easy typing and dialling, while its external display helps in previewing calendar reminders, email, text messages and phone calls at a glance. It also has leading mobile messaging solution and a wide range of impressive Internet and multimedia capabilities.

“BlackBerry smartphones have been well-received in the Indian market and the launch of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip will help expand the appeal of the BlackBerry platform to an even wider range of customers,” said Research In Motion (RIM) Vice-President (India) Frenny Bawa.

The combination of RIM’s powerful mobile email solution and rich multimedia capabilities, together with support for text messaging, picture messaging, enhanced web browsing and built-in Wi-Fi, makes the BlackBerry Pearl Flip ideal for balancing a busy lifestyle, said Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel.

Similarly, Vodafone Essar Director (Marketing and New Business) Harit Nagpal said they had long been a partner of RIM, bringing various BlackBerry smartphones to India. “The new smartphone is ideal for people who want a uniquely powerful and sophisticated clamshell handset, delivering the full capabilities of the BlackBerry solution as well as access to various mobile business and lifestyle applications.”

source :
http://www.hindu.com/

Samsung beats Motorola as India’s No. 3 mobile brand

The January-March 2008 quarter has seen a change in the pecking order of the Indian mobile phone market. While Nokia is still enjoying leadership position by a huge margin followed by Sony Ericsson, there has been a change in the position for the third slot. Korean vendor Samsung has replaced Motorola to emerge as the third largest player in the Indian market.

Latest ORG data reveal that Samsung is the only prominent player to have increased its market share in the Indian market in the January-March period. It has gained market share from 5.7% in January to 7% in March. In the same period, Motorola India lost market share from 6.7% to 5.9%, but Sony Ericsson remained at the same level of 8.1%.

Motorola India director (marketing-mobile devices) Lloyd Mathias refused to comment on market share. “However, the only thing we can say is that there has been a rationalisation of our portfolio in India. We are not competing in all segments and the focus has moved towards mid-to-high end phones. In fact, our average selling prices have increased in India,” he said.

Motorola recently announced that its global handset shipment had seen a fall from 40.9 million phones in Q4 of 2007 to some 27.4 million handsets in Q1 of 2008. On the other hand, Samsung, which has become the world’s second largest handset vendor, plans to launch a series of new products at entry-level and premium segment to further consolidate its Indian share. Not only are existing vendors sprucing up their plans in the mid-to-high end phone segment, but even Apple’s much-hyped iPhone is set to debut in India towards end of the year.


Source :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Vodafone India cuts long distance, roaming tariffs

Vodafone Essar, India's third-largest mobile operator, said on Tuesday it cut long-distance and roaming tariffs effective immediately.

Vodafone Essar, in which Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) owns a controlling stake, said national long distance calls would be 1.3 rupees (3 U.S. cent) a minute. It did not give the earlier tariff.

While roaming, customers would be charged 1 rupee a minute for incoming calls and local outgoing calls. Long distance calls would cost 1.5 rupees a minute, the company said in a statement.

Larger rival Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) last week cut its long distance and roaming tariff. ($1=40.9 rupees)


Source :
http://www.reuters.com/