VF Germany and Huawei sign MoU on LTE

… or in slightly easier-to-understand terms, Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) in Germany and Huawei have agreed on LTE testing (in Germany, you won’t be surprised to hear!).

Vodafone Germany and Huawei today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conduct a joint test gauging the performance of LTE (Long Term Evolution) in the Digital Dividend Band. This agreement marks a joint initiative to validate LTE’s application within the Digital Dividend Band (790-862MHz) using Huawei’s end-to-end LTE solution.

From this summer the cooperation will see Vodafone Germany and Huawei not only demonstrate LTE’s ability to provide broadband coverage to rural and urban areas, effectively bridging the digital divide between those areas of Germany, but also to prove its compatibility with adjacent technologies such as Digital TV and Digital Radio. The test will be based on Huawei’s end-to-end solutions and both parties will form a joint working group for conducting the test.

Another case of LTE triumphing over WiMAX as the 4G solution of choice - with some good use-cases too - I’d be really interested (as I suspect a lot of people would be) to see the end-results of the tests, because we all want to know what sort of realistic data rates we are going to get out of LTE…

What is the IntoMobile Phone Database?

The IntoMobile phone database is your resource for detailed information and user reviews for over 1800 cell phones and mobile devices.

Software history

The 1950s

* Computers become extensively used for business applications

* First contract programming firms formed
The 1960s

* Contract programming services industry grows rapidly; some companies go public

* First software products come on the market

* ICP Quarterly, a catalog of available software programs, first published in January, 1967

* Thousands of companies formed by the end of the decade

* IBM announces unbundling in June, 1969
The 1970s

* Software products become accepted by customers

* First ICP Million Dollar Awards given to 29 software products in 1971

* Software industry grows rapidly despite lack of financing sources; Cullinane Corp goes public in 1978 (first software product company to go public)

* First PC software companies founded

PCT Patents and Other International Patents

Executive summary:

The rights granted under a United States patent extend only throughout the territory of the United States and have no effect in other countries. Almost every country has its own patent law, and a person desiring a patent in a particular country must make an application for patent in that country, in accordance with that country's requirements. Fortunately, there are several international treaties that aid in applying for international patent protection, including the Paris Convention Treaty and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, otherwise known as the PCT.

In spite of the fact that each country's law is different, there are several important common factors that should be considered when contemplating international patent protection:

* foreign filing license,
* common differences from U.S. patent law,
* Paris Convention Priority, and
* Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).


Foreign Filing License:

Under United States law it is necessary, in the case of inventions made in the United States, to obtain a license from the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks before applying for a patent in a foreign country. Such a license is required if the foreign application is to be filed before an application is filed in the United States or before the expiration of six months from the filing of an application in the United States. The filing of an application for patent constitutes the request for a license and the granting or denial of such request is indicated in the filing receipt mailed to each applicant. After six months from the United States filing, a license is not required unless the invention has been ordered to be kept secret. If the invention has been ordered to be kept secret, the consent to the filing abroad must be obtained from the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks during the period the order of secrecy is in effect.
index top of page home

Common Differences from U.S. Patent Law:

The laws of many countries differ in various respects from the patent law of the United States. In most foreign countries, publication of the invention before the date of the application will bar the right to a patent. This distinction is what makes it advisable to file the U.S. application prior to public disclosure of the patent even though the U.S. patent law provides for a one year grace period. Since other countries do not have such a grace period, the prior disclosure of the invention will prevent the filing of international applications in most cases.

Maintenance fees are required in most countries, but they will differ in timing and amount from U.S. maintenance fees. In addition, most countries require that a patented invention be manufactured in that country after a certain period, usually three years. This requirement is generally referred to as the "working requirement." If there is no manufacture within this period, the patent may be void in some countries, although in most countries the patent may be subject to the grant of compulsory licenses to any person who may apply for a license.
index top of page home

Paris Convention Priority:

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is an international intellectual property treaty adhered to by more than 100 countries. The Paris Convention, as it is usually called, provides that each country guarantees to the citizens of the other countries the same rights in patent and trademark matters that it gives to its own citizens.

The treaty also provides for the right of priority in the case of patents, trademarks and industrial designs (design patents). This right means that, on the basis of a regular first application filed in one of the member countries, the applicant may, within a certain period of time, apply for protection in all the other member countries. These later applications will then be treated as if they had been filed on the same day as the first application. Thus, these later applicants will have priority over applications for the same invention which may have been filed during the same period of time by other persons. Moreover, these later applications, being based on the first application, will not be invalidated by any acts accomplished in the interval. The period of time mentioned above, within which the subsequent applications may be filed in the other countries, is 12 months in the case of first applications for patents and six months in the case of industrial designs and trademarks.

It is this right of priority under the Paris Convention which allows public disclosure after the filing of a U.S. patent application but before international application are filed. Without this claim to priority, no international applications could be filed after public disclosure. For patent applications claiming Paris Convention priority, however, date that is relevant for determining whether the invention had been previously disclosed is the filing date of the first application. Thus, disclosures made after the U.S. filing are irrelevant to international applications claiming priority under the Paris Convention. Note, however, that this analysis applies only for countries which are members of the Paris Convention. Although most industrialized countries are members of this treaty, applications in non-member countries should still be filed before public disclosure. Note also that conduct which constitutes public disclosure of an invention can vary from country to country.
index top of page home

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT):

Another treaty, known as the Patent Cooperation Treaty or PCT, facilitates the filing of applications for patents on the same invention in member countries. The PCT provides for centralized filing procedures whereby a single application filed in a PCT governmental receiving office can constitute an application for patent in one or more (including all) member countries. Once the application is filed, one of the eligible PCT governmental searching offices will perform a patent search on the application. When the search is completed, the applicant may then elect to enter what is known as "Chapter II" of the process, a PCT governmental office evaluates the patentability of the application pursuant to patentability standards set forth in the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Eventually, the applicant will be required to have the PCT application officially entered into the national patent office of each of the countries from which the applicant desires patent protection.

There are several advantages to the PCT process. First, the applicant can file a single PCT application rather than filing a series of national applications. The single PCT application is much less expensive than the individual national filings. Although the applicant will eventually be required to incur a cost similar to the national filings when the PCT application is entered in each national patent office, the PCT procedure allows these costs to be delayed for up to eighteen months. This period of time will allow the inventor a better chance to analyze the patentability and profitability of the invention, and therefore the applicant can make a more informed decision regarding where the patent application should be filed.

A second advantage of the PCT process is that the evaluation of patentability made by the PCT governing body handling the examination should lead to more uniform results in connection with the patentability of the invention in each country. Although individual countries are not bound by the determination made during the PCT process, a positive PCT decision on patentability is often persuasive evidence in a national patent office.

Additional advantages of the PCT process include advanced application manipulation designed to achieve such results as obtaining an early search result from the European Patent Office; delaying entry into the U.S. Patent Office, and utilizing the patentability requirements of the PCT document rather than the U.S. Patent Act. These advanced applications should be discussed with a qualified patent attorney with experience in handling PCT applications.

Apple Inc. Company Description

Apple aims for nothing short of a revolution, whether in personal computing or digital media distribution. The company's desktop and laptop computers -- all of which feature its OS X operating system -- include its Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook for the consumer and education markets, and more powerful Mac Pro and MacBook Pro for high-end consumers and professionals involved in design and publishing. Apple scored a runaway hit with its digital music players (iPod) and online music store (iTunes). Other products include mobile phones (iPhone), servers (Xserve), wireless networking equipment (Airport), and publishing and multimedia software. Its FileMaker subsidiary provides database software.

Desktop Info 0.70

Desktop Info displays system information on your desktop in a similar way to some other desktop information tools. Unlike others, this application stays resident in memory and continues to update the display in real time.

Desktop Info about 840KB of memory and zero cpu. Looks like wallpaper. Perfect for quick identification and walk-by monitoring of production or test server farms. Info includes time, host, user, cpu usage, os info, memory usage, network info, disk usage, event logs. Displays items, position, fonts, colours, sizes, refresh times are customizable.

Why Information Management?

Only IBM Information Management has the end-to-end capabilities to help you manage your data and content, pull together trusted information that cuts across diverse silos, and also gain valuable insights to optimize your business. Learn more about Information On Demand or get started now with an information agenda.

Brief history of Forex trading

Initially, the value of goods was expressed in terms of other goods, i.e. an economy based on barter between individual market participants. The obvious limitations of such a system encouraged establishing more generally accepted means of exchange at a fairly early stage in history, to set a common benchmark of value. In different economies, everything from teeth to feathers to pretty stones has served this purpose, but soon metals, in particular gold and silver, established themselves as an accepted means of payment as well as a reliable storage of value.

Originally, coins were simply minted from the preferred metal, but in stable political regimes the introduction of a paper form of governmental IOUs (I owe you) gained acceptance during the Middle Ages. Such IOUs, often introduced more successfully through force than persuasion were the basis of modern currencies.

Before World War I, most central banks supported their currencies with convertibility to gold. Although paper money could always be exchanged for gold, in reality this did not occur often, fostering the sometimes disastrous notion that there was not necessarily a need for full cover in the central reserves of the government.

At times, the ballooning supply of paper money without gold cover led to devastating inflation and resulting political instability. To protect local national interests, foreign exchange controls were increasingly introduced to prevent market forces from punishing monetary irresponsibility.

In the latter stages of World War II, the Bretton Woods agreement was reached on the initiative of the USA in July 1944. The Bretton Woods Conference rejected John Maynard Keynes suggestion for a new world reserve currency in favour of a system built on the US dollar. Other international institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) were created in the same period as the emerging victors of WW2 searched for a way to avoid the destabilising monetary crises which led to the war. The Bretton Woods agreement resulted in a system of fixed exchange rates that partly reinstated the gold standard, fixing the US dollar at USD35/oz and fixing the other main currencies to the dollar - and was intended to be permanent.

The Bretton Woods system came under increasing pressure as national economies moved in different directions during the sixties. A number of realignments kept the system alive for a long time, but eventually Bretton Woods collapsed in the early seventies following president Nixon's suspension of the gold convertibility in August 1971. The dollar was no longer suitable as the sole international currency at a time when it was under severe pressure from increasing US budget and trade deficits.

The following decades have seen foreign exchange trading develop into the largest global market by far. Restrictions on capital flows have been removed in most countries, leaving the market forces free to adjust foreign exchange rates according to their perceived values.

But the idea of fixed exchange rates has by no means died. The EEC (European Economic Community) introduced a new system of fixed exchange rates in 1979, the European Monetary System. This attempt to fix exchange rates met with near extinction in 1992-93, when pent-up economic pressures forced devaluations of a number of weak European currencies. Nevertheless, the quest for currency stability has continued in Europe with the renewed attempt to not only fix currencies but actually replace many of them with the Euro in 2001.

The lack of sustainability in fixed foreign exchange rates gained new relevance with the events in South East Asia in the latter part of 1997, where currency after currency was devalued against the US dollar, leaving other fixed exchange rates, in particular in South America, looking very vulnerable.

But while commercial companies have had to face a much more volatile currency environment in recent years, investors and financial institutions have found a new playground. The size of foreign exchange markets now dwarfs any other investment market by a large factor. It is estimated that more than USD 3,000 billion is traded every day, far more than the world's stock and bond markets combined.

THEMES TO WATCH – UPCOMING SESSION

* New Zealand Jun. Performance of Services Index (Sun 2230)
* UK Jul. Rightmove House Prices (Sun 2301)
* Australia Q2 Producer Price Index (Mon 0130)

Market Comments:

Ahead of the US opening, we seem to be seeing yet another confirmation that the market wants to stay in the ranges for now, as the Dollar Index stepped back from the abyss yesterday (when it broke to a new low since early June for a few minutes) before pushing back strongly in the European session. Still, a further move back, for example, below 1.4000 in EURUSD is needed to fully wipe away the recent USD sell-off, but the latest moves are very consistent with the summer doldrums behavior of the market over the last six or eight weeks of range trading. Trend followers continue to find frustration in this market and need to see the 1.4170/1.4210 levels give way to get up hopes for an extension of the USD sell-off.

The markets saw a number of inputs overnight and this morning, first with a terrorist event in Jakarta and then with the Bank of America and Citigroup earnings this morning, which were generally positive but failed to generate much attention. This was after the hysterical rally that was supposedly sparked by the Goldman Sachs earnings recently, a rally further fueled, if to a lesser degree, by JP Morgan Chase's results. Now we have the threat of a CIT bankruptcy offering some background dissonance. The markets are fickle with their attention if nothing else.

Other good news could be found in the housing starts/building permits data, which were far stronger than expected and sparked a very sharp sell-off in long bonds. While the house building numbers do clearly appear to have stabilized since the beginning of the year, we have to wonder whether the rate of housing starts has even reached anywhere near a sustainable replacement rate. There are well over 100 million households in the US, so a rate of 500-600k probably is far below the necessary rate. At this instant in time, though, the market clearly prefers to focus on stabilization.

A more troubling issue that may garner more focus in coming weeks and months is the potential second round of defaults from so-called Alt A loans, many of which are up for refinancing in this period. These tended to be larger loans than subprime loans. Combine this with the threat of a commercial mortgage debacle and we have good cause to question any further rally impulse from the financial sector. This could do the GBP some harm - and it is interesting to note that despite the huge reversal lower in EURGBP, for example, after the Goldman Sachs earnings report, we are seeing a strong rally in the pair back well above the 0.8600 level.

As we are about to go to press, the bottom continues to completely fall out of the bond market -suggesting that the risk appetite rally is attempting a comeback (or possibly the devaluation concerns). If this move is sustained, it will threaten to push the JPY crosses sharply higher into the close today (Japan has three-day weekend with Monday holiday). It is also interesting to note the CHF selling off - possibly also on the tremors in the bond market.

Chart: EURUSD
The break of the descending trendline did not follow through, nor did yesterday's break above 1.4150. This churning tendency has made life for the technical analyst more than difficult of late. Now the key breaks higher reside at 1.4170/1.4210 (previous high), which could set up at a test of the 1.4338 high for the year. To the downside, the bears need to see the 1.4000 level give way to gain confidence that the USD will continue to resist the sell-off.

Technology Overview

We stand alone in our focus on developing the "perfect search engine," defined by co-founder Larry Page as something that, "understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want." To that end, we have persistently pursued innovation and refused to accept the limitations of existing models. As a result, we developed our serving infrastructure and breakthrough PageRank™ technology that changed the way searches are conducted.

From the beginning, our developers recognized that providing the fastest, most accurate results required a new kind of server setup. Whereas most search engines ran off a handful of large servers that often slowed under peak loads, ours employed linked PCs to quickly find each query's answer. The innovation paid off in faster response times, greater scalability and lower costs. It's an idea that others have since copied, while we have continued to refine our back-end technology to make it even more efficient.

The software behind our search technology conducts a series of simultaneous calculations requiring only a fraction of a second. Traditional search engines rely heavily on how often a word appears on a web page. We use more than 200 signals, including our patented PageRank™ algorithm, to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important. We then conduct hypertext-matching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, we're able to put the most relevant and reliable results first.

*

PageRank Technology: PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.

PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. We have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and our technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page's importance.
*

Hypertext-Matching Analysis: Our search engine also analyzes page content. However, instead of simply scanning for page-based text (which can be manipulated by site publishers through meta-tags), our technology analyzes the full content of a page and factors in fonts, subdivisions and the precise location of each word. We also analyze the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user's query.

Our innovations don't stop at the desktop. To give people access to the information they need, whenever and wherever they need it, we continue to develop new mobile applications and services that are more accessible and customizable. And we're partnering with industry-leading carriers and device manufacturers to deliver these innovative services globally. We're working with many of these industry leaders through the Open Handset Alliance to develop Android, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform, which will offer people a less expensive and better mobile experience.

Software Principles

At Google, we put a lot of thought into improving your online experience. We're alarmed by what we believe is a growing disregard for your rights as computer users. We've seen increasing reports of spyware and other applications that trick you in order to serve you pop-up ads, connect your modem to expensive toll numbers or hijack your browser from the site you're trying to visit.

We do not see this trend reversing itself. In fact, it is getting worse. As a provider of services and monetization for users, advertisers and publishers on the Internet, we feel a responsibility to be proactive about these issues. So, we have decided to take action. As a first step, we have outlined a set of principles we believe our industry should adopt and we're sharing them to foster discussion and help solve the problem. We intend to follow these guidelines ourselves with the applications we distribute (such as the Google Toolbar and Google Desktop). And because we strongly believe these principles are good for the industry and users worldwide, we will encourage our current and prospective business partners to adopt them as well.

These guidelines are, by necessity, broad. Software creation and distribution are complex and the technology is continuously evolving. As a result, some useful applications may not comply entirely with these principles and some deceptive practices may not be addressed here. This document is only a start, and focuses on the areas of Internet software and advertising. These guidelines need to be continually updated to keep pace with ever-changing technology

System z software

In today's challenging economy, cost containment is a competitive necessity. With new and forthcoming technology announcements, System z can help you drive down IT costs - not just in energy and space consumption, but in the development, integration and performance of today's critical applications.

These new and enhanced capabilities can help you:

Do more with less
- Boost productivity with easy cross-platform development
- Leverage existing skills and popular languages

Centralize management
- Rectify potential problems before they impact customers
- Increase visibility across IT infrastructure
- Gain accurate insight into IT costs

Get more insight
- Improve service with more accurate and timely information based on real-time data
- Minimize the cost of gaining business insight

Simplify and integrate
- Integrate existing systems into low-cost Web 2.0 applications and services
- Create reusable services out of existing applications
- Simplify integration of applications

Connect, collaborate and innovate
- Build business-centric portals fast and efficiently
- Provide greater visibility for faster business response

The Birth of IMS/360

Uri Berman worked with Pete Nordyke at Rockwell's Space Division on a massive parts list application for the Apollo space capsule. They had the idea of separating the disk access and recovery functions from the applications programs which accessed the data. Uri created Data Language/I (DL/I) which was also used with the program when it was converted to run as Information Management System (IMS) for the IBM S/360. IMS became a major program product for IBM with many thousands of installations and Uri was given an Outstanding Contribution Award with a large check attached.

The Title Plant Operating System: A Data Base System of Index Files for Recorded Documents

Jerry describes his experience in the mid-1960s while working for PRC in developing a comprehensive system for a Title Insurance company to manage the records for both real property transfers and related court actions. This system was an early application on the IBM S/360. Jerry notes that the system was still in operation in 2006.

by Jerry Koory

Operating System Roots

Bob traces the evolution of operating systems from his early work on CPCs and the first IBM scientific computers through the GMR-NAA system and the development of SOS, IBSYS and the Direct Couple to the IBM OS/360.

First Person Essays

The Software Industry Special Interest Group, under the leadership of Bob Patrick, has initiated a new page on our website to enable people to tell stories about significant systems and applications in which they were involved.

We're looking for informal descriptions giving some background on the event (or product or program) and how you became active in it. We're not looking for a detailed technological description, but rather the application, marketing, business and technical highlights which made the experience memorable to you. For instance, you might want to note how the project came about, how it was organized and staffed, what hardware and software were used, its relationship with other projects and its significance and usage.

In addition to stories on systems, operations and applications, we're also interested in a broad range of topics including stories about publishing, conferences, financing of companies, consulting experiences and any stories that will help others better understand how the software industry grew and became such an important part of our daily lives.

An Overview of the History of the Software Industry

The following is a brief overview of each of the first three decades in the history of the software industry including links to lists of companies founded in each of those decades. We're always adding to our lists of companies, so if you know of ones that aren't yet on our list, please send us an email and let us know about them.
The 1950s

* Computers become extensively used for business applications

* First contract programming firms formed
The 1960s

* Contract programming services industry grows rapidly; some companies go public

* First software products come on the market

* ICP Quarterly, a catalog of available software programs, first published in January, 1967

* Thousands of companies formed by the end of the decade

* IBM announces unbundling in June, 1969
The 1970s

* Software products become accepted by customers

* First ICP Million Dollar Awards given to 29 software products in 1971

* Software industry grows rapidly despite lack of financing sources; Cullinane Corp goes public in 1978 (first software product company to go public)

* First PC software companies founded

Forex History - The Evolution OF FX Markets QUICK LINKS FREE DEMO ACCOUNT OPEN AN ACCOUNT The Gold Exchange and the Bretton Woods Agreement

In 1967, a Chicago bank refused a college professor by the name of Milton Friedman a loan in pound sterling because he had intended to use the funds to short the British currency. Friedman, who had perceived sterling to be priced too high against the dollar, wanted to sell the currency, then later buy it back to repay the bank after the currency declined, thus pocketing a quick profit. The bank’s refusal to grant the loan was due to the Bretton Woods Agreement, established twenty years earlier, which fixed national currencies against the dollar, and set the dollar at a rate of $35 per ounce of gold.

The Bretton Woods Agreement, set up in 1944, aimed at installing international monetary stability by preventing money from fleeing across nations, and restricting speculation in the world currencies. Prior to the Agreement, the gold exchange standard--prevailing between 1876 and World War I--dominated the international economic system. Under the gold exchange, currencies gained a new phase of stability as they were backed by the price of gold. It abolished the age-old practice used by kings and rulers of arbitrarily debasing money and triggering inflation.

But the gold exchange standard didn’t lack faults. As an economy strengthened, it would import heavily from abroad until it ran down its gold reserves required to back its money; consequently, the money supply would shrink, interest rates rose and economic activity slowed to the extent of recession. Ultimately, prices of goods had hit bottom, appearing attractive to other nations, who would rush into buying sprees that injected the economy with gold until it increased its money supply, and drive down interest rates and recreate wealth into the economy. Such boom-bust patterns prevailed throughout the gold standard until the outbreak of World War I interrupted trade flows and the free movement of gold.

After the Wars, the Bretton Woods Agreement was founded, where participating countries agreed to try and maintain the value of their currency with a narrow margin against the dollar and a corresponding rate of gold as needed. Countries were prohibited from devaluing their currencies to their trade advantage and were only allowed to do so for devaluations of less than 10%. Into the 1950s, the ever-expanding volume of international trade led to massive movements of capital generated by post-war construction. That destabilized foreign exchange rates as setup in Bretton Woods.

The Agreement was finally abandoned in 1971, and the US dollar would no longer be convertible into gold. By 1973, currencies of major industrialized nations floated more freely, as they were controlled mainly by the forces of supply and demand. Prices were floated daily, with volumes, speed and price volatility all increasing throughout the 1970s, giving rise to new financial instruments, market deregulation and trade liberalization.

In the 1980s, cross-border capital movements accelerated with the advent of computers and technology, extending market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones. Transactions in foreign exchange rocketed from about $70 billion a day in the 1980s, to more than $1.5 trillion a day two decades later.

Forex History - The Evolution OF FX Markets QUICK LINKS FREE DEMO ACCOUNT OPEN AN ACCOUNT The Gold Exchange and the Bretton Woods Agreement

In 1967, a Chicago bank refused a college professor by the name of Milton Friedman a loan in pound sterling because he had intended to use the funds to short the British currency. Friedman, who had perceived sterling to be priced too high against the dollar, wanted to sell the currency, then later buy it back to repay the bank after the currency declined, thus pocketing a quick profit. The bank’s refusal to grant the loan was due to the Bretton Woods Agreement, established twenty years earlier, which fixed national currencies against the dollar, and set the dollar at a rate of $35 per ounce of gold.

The Bretton Woods Agreement, set up in 1944, aimed at installing international monetary stability by preventing money from fleeing across nations, and restricting speculation in the world currencies. Prior to the Agreement, the gold exchange standard--prevailing between 1876 and World War I--dominated the international economic system. Under the gold exchange, currencies gained a new phase of stability as they were backed by the price of gold. It abolished the age-old practice used by kings and rulers of arbitrarily debasing money and triggering inflation.

But the gold exchange standard didn’t lack faults. As an economy strengthened, it would import heavily from abroad until it ran down its gold reserves required to back its money; consequently, the money supply would shrink, interest rates rose and economic activity slowed to the extent of recession. Ultimately, prices of goods had hit bottom, appearing attractive to other nations, who would rush into buying sprees that injected the economy with gold until it increased its money supply, and drive down interest rates and recreate wealth into the economy. Such boom-bust patterns prevailed throughout the gold standard until the outbreak of World War I interrupted trade flows and the free movement of gold.

After the Wars, the Bretton Woods Agreement was founded, where participating countries agreed to try and maintain the value of their currency with a narrow margin against the dollar and a corresponding rate of gold as needed. Countries were prohibited from devaluing their currencies to their trade advantage and were only allowed to do so for devaluations of less than 10%. Into the 1950s, the ever-expanding volume of international trade led to massive movements of capital generated by post-war construction. That destabilized foreign exchange rates as setup in Bretton Woods.

The Agreement was finally abandoned in 1971, and the US dollar would no longer be convertible into gold. By 1973, currencies of major industrialized nations floated more freely, as they were controlled mainly by the forces of supply and demand. Prices were floated daily, with volumes, speed and price volatility all increasing throughout the 1970s, giving rise to new financial instruments, market deregulation and trade liberalization.

In the 1980s, cross-border capital movements accelerated with the advent of computers and technology, extending market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones. Transactions in foreign exchange rocketed from about $70 billion a day in the 1980s, to more than $1.5 trillion a day two decades later.

MG Financial History

MG Financial, founded in 1992, is one of the oldest and most recognizable names in retail foreign exchange industry. MG's strength and focus are in providing online trading services for the foreign exchange market. MG Financial accepts customer orders via the Internet as well as over the phone.

In April of 1997, MG Financial released the first version of its online trading platform. This trading platform enabled traders to view real-time quotations, execute transactions, and track open positions. Since the trading platform’s introduction, important features such as real-time charting have been added.

DealStation™, which went live on January 30th 2000, has revolutionized forex-trading platforms by offering traders the latest Java “Push” Technology, which immediately “pushes” new information to your computer, automatically updating your screens. The implementation of Java technology enhances overall system performance, which will improve speed and execution time. Since then MG has also added Desktop and HTML versions of the DealStation™.

MG Financial began a news/research in the middle of 1997. This division was formed to provide MG Financial 's clients with up-to-date information on the foreign exchange market. Analysts of the news/research division contribute expert commentary on MG's affiliate news & analysis website, Forexnews.com. MG's team of analysts is frequently quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Investors Business Daily, and interviewed on Bloomberg TV.

In order to increase the connectivity between the trader and the market, MG also added alert!fx™ and Wireless trading to its product line. Traders can now use their web-enabled Mobile Phones or Personal Digital Assistants to connect to our proprietary wireless version of the DealStation™ to check rates, charts & news, to monitor account status, and to place orders. alert!fx™ sends rate, news, margin and technical indicator alerts to any email-enabled device of trader's choice.

In 1998, MG Financial became the first foreign exchange market maker to obtain fidelity bond insurance. The insurance, issued through the subsidiary of a NYSE company, protects the assets of MG Financial from fraud and embezzlement by members of the firm.

MG Financial's greatest asset is its people. The firm has recruited individuals from all nationalities and backgrounds in order to obtain its own in-house global environment. The firm's talented and competent staff is dedicated to exceeding our clients' highest standards of satisfaction.

Foreign Exchange (FOREX) is the arena where a nation's currency is exchanged for that of another. The foreign exchange market is the largest financial

Foreign Exchange (FOREX) is the arena where a nation's currency is exchanged for that of another. The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with the equivalent of over $1.9 trillion changing hands daily; more than three times the aggregate amount of the US Equity and Treasury markets combined. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location and no central exchange (off-exchange). It operates through a global network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another. The lack of a physical exchange enables the Forex market to operate on a 24-hour basis, spanning from one zone to another in all the major financial centers.

Traditionally, retail investors' only means of gaining access to the foreign exchange market was through banks that transacted large amounts of currencies for commercial and investment purposes. Trading volume has increased rapidly over time, especially after exchange rates were allowed to float freely in 1971. Today, importers and exporters, international portfolio managers, multinational corporations, speculators, day traders, long-term holders and hedge funds all use the FOREX market to pay for goods and services, transact in financial assets or to reduce the risk of currency movements by hedging their exposure in other markets.

MG Financial, now operating in over 100 countries, serves all manner of clients, comprising speculators and strategic traders. Whether it’s day-traders looking for short-term gains, or fund managers wanting to hedge their non-US assets, MG's DealStation™ allows them to participate in FOREX trading by providing a combination of live quotes, Real-Time charts, and news and analysis that attracts traders with an orientation towards fundamental and/or technical analysis.

How to Get Started

People are introduced to the exciting world of foreign exchange in many ways: friends, current events, newspapers, television, and many others. For those of you who are new to forex, the following guidelines cover the basics of currency trading.

Step 1: "Practice makes perfect"
Demo trade. The demo account was designed to help traders gain familiarity with the speed and movements of the market. When you are demo trading, you should learn how to: 1) place market orders to enter a trade, 2) place stop-loss orders to protect your positions, and limit orders to take profits, 3) place OCO orders and If Done Orders to execute more advanced strategies.

Step 2: "Study, Study, Study".
Forex traders use fundamental analysis, technical analysis, quantitative analysis and sometimes a combination of all three to make their trading decisions. Fundamental analysis involves the use of economic, financial and political news to determine trading decisions. Technical analysis involves the study of Charts to predict future price movements based on past price patterns and trends. Quantitative analysis consists of the use of preset statistical models and properties in quantifying price formations such as averages, retracements as well as identifying oversold and undersold situations.

In order to help novice and experienced traders alike, MG has developed www.forexnews.com, a leading site on foreign exchange analysis, news and education. Comprehensive previews and summaries updated 4 times per day, insightful editorials covering the latest market developments and an open forum for discussing trading tips and ideas, are just some of the many features of Forexnews.com and MG's commitment to educating and informing Forex participants.

Step 3: Manage your money wisely.
You should always be aware of the amount of money in your account before placing a trade. If you think a long-term trend is developing, then you should consider whether you have enough funds to maintain your margin and withstand any movements against your position(s) that may occur. We encourage everyone who opens an account with us to ask themselves the following questions prior to entering each trade:

1) How much am I willing to risk?
2) What is my upside and downside potential?
3) What are the market conditions? (Is the market volatile or calm?)
4) What is the logic behind entering this trade?
5) When can I conclude if the assumptions/logic behind the trade are/is correct or wrong?

Before entering an order, you should consider both your entry and exit points. One of the mistakes most commonly made by traders, especially new traders, is letting emotions get in the way of their strategy.

Step 4: Stay Connected:
It is impossible to follow the forex market 24 hours day, 7 days a week. For better management of your account, we encourage you to use our Wireless Service and alert!FX™.

Step 5: Open a Live Account.
If you feel ready to trade this market, fill out our application forms and submit them today. Since the emotional factor may be higher than it was when you were demo-trading (as you are now committing real money), it is essential that you develop an effective strategy while demo-trading and plan to abide by it when trading your live account.

software history

The 1950s

* Computers become extensively used for business applications

* First contract programming firms formed
The 1960s

* Contract programming services industry grows rapidly; some companies go public

* First software products come on the market

* ICP Quarterly, a catalog of available software programs, first published in January, 1967

* Thousands of companies formed by the end of the decade

* IBM announces unbundling in June, 1969
The 1970s

* Software products become accepted by customers

* First ICP Million Dollar Awards given to 29 software products in 1971

* Software industry grows rapidly despite lack of financing sources; Cullinane Corp goes public in 1978 (first software product company to go public)

* First PC software companies founded

Forex Historical Data

Forex historical data for all major currency pairs.Historical data for Forex can be found by scrolling down in the box below the stock tickers.

Select your prefered time frame for your data,monthly data, daily data or intraday data.Historical data can also be found for Crude Oil,Indices and Many U.S and U.K Stocks.

CDMA2000

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, to make a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specification within the scope of the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 project of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 3GPP specifications are based on evolved Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) specifications. 3GPP standardization encompasses Radio, Core Network and Service architecture.[1]

The groups are the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Association of Radio Industries and Businesses/Telecommunication Technology Committee (ARIB/TTC) (Japan), China Communications Standards Association [2], Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (North America) and Telecommunications Technology Association (South Korea).[1] The project was established in December 1998.

3GPP should not be confused with 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), which specifies standards for another 3G technology based on IS-95 (CDMA), commonly known as CDMA2000.

Personal Communications Service

Personal Communications Service or PCS is the name for the 1900 MHz radio band used for digital mobile phone services in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), GSM, and D-AMPS systems can be used on PCS frequencies. The FCC, as well as Industry Canada, set aside the frequency band of 1850-1990 MHz for mobile phone use in 1994, as the original cellular phone band at 824-894 MHz was becoming overcrowded. Dual-band GSM phones are capable of working in both the 850 and 1900 MHz bands, although they are incompatible with 900 and 1800 MHz European and Asian systems. However, GSM "world phones" (some of which are known as tri-band or quad-band phones, because they operate in three or four different frequency bands, respectively) offered by North American carriers support both European and domestic frequencies. Outside the USA, PCS is used to refer to GSM-1900. In Hong Kong, PCS is used to refer to GSM-1800.

Sprint was the first company to set up a PCS network, which was a GSM-1900 network in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area in the USA.[1] Eventually however, Sprint converted that network to CDMA technology and sold the GSM infrastructure to Omnipoint, which later became part of T-Mobile USA. Nowadays, the PCS frequencies have been adopted for usage in most parts of the Americas.

Samsung Omnia

Samsung has delivered yet another gem, this time with the name of Samsung Omnia. The gorgeous widget provides a wide array of world class features that make it a stunning piece of technology all together. Ultra-elegant looks and futuristic design is what separates it from other existing mobile phones in the market. The large TFT touchscreen display screen with the high-end features like Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and Handwriting recognition helps the users to get a different experience all together. There is also 5.0 mega pixels camera, that has the impressive ability to click the most remarkable images in no time. Samsung Omnia is blessed with abundant memory, this widget allows the users to store large data in any form. The long standby time of the battery (approximately 500 hours) also makes sure that the users need not to recharge the battery again and again, in middle of a smooth session.

Key Features

Weight : 127 grams
Talktime : Up to 5 h 50 min
Standby : Up to 500 h
Colour Display : TFT touchscreen, 256K colors (65K effective)
Ringtones : Polyphonic, MP3
Camera : 5 MP
MP3 : MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA/OGG/AMR player
Bluetooth : v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared : NO
GPRS : Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48
Video Recording : video, flash; secondary videocall camera
3G : HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps

Samsung Tocco Lite Pink

Key Features

Weight : 93.5 g
Talktime : Up to 10 h
Standby : Up to 800 h
Colour Display : TFT resistive touchscreen, 256K colors
Ringtones : Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, WAV ringtones
Camera : 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
MP3 : MP3/WMA/AAC/H.263/H.264/MPEG4 player
Bluetooth : Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared : No
GPRS : Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
Video Recording : Yes
3G : No

Table PC

Generically, a tablet PC refers to a laptop or slate-shaped mobile computer, equipped with a touchscreen or graphics tablet/screen hybrid to operate the computer with a stylus or digital pen, or a fingertip, instead of a keyboard or mouse.

This form factor offers a more mobile way to interact with a computer. Tablet PCs are often used where normal notebooks are impractical or unwieldy, or do not provide the needed functionality.

Specifically, Tablet PC refers to a product announced in 2001 by Microsoft, and defined by Microsoft to be a pen-enabled computer conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of the "Windows XP Tablet PC Edition" operating system or a derivative thereof

Mobile internet device

A Mobile Internet Device (MID) is a multimedia-capable handheld computer providing wireless Internet access.They are designed to provide entertainment, information and location-based services for personal use, rather than for corporate use. MIDs are larger than smartphones but smaller than the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC).^{[citation needed]} They have been described as filling a niche between smartphones and Tablet PCs.

Controversial raw materials

Mobile phones and other electronic products have high quality capacitors in them, which contain Tantalum. A major source of Tantalum is the coltan ore from some illegal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo operated by rebel groups to get money to fund their civil war.^[25] A typical mobile phone has 40 milligrams of Tantalum. A conflict-free source of Tantalum are mines at Wodgina in the Pilbara region near Perth, Australia.

Impact

In developing regions like Africa, mobile telecommunications help to fight political corruption

Services

Mobile telecommunications have the potential to significantly contribute to socioeconomic development particularly in developing countries due to the ability to bridge non-existing wired telecommunications and transportation infrastructure and delivering various services directly to the end-user. One of such revolutionary services is Indian CellBazaar.

Satellite

Mobile telecommunication over satellite: this technology started with services offered for airplanes and vessels that are not covered by normal cellular networks. this technology is still very limited as commercial services (Thuraya is a good example for mobile operators offering satellite mobile service for end users)

Release of 4G mobile

The next evolution that is expected to be released soon is the 4th generation which is based on LTE (Long Term Evolution) and Wi Max technologies that are promising an internet speed that reaches 233 Mbit/s for mobile users.

4G, an abbreviation for Fourth-Generation, is a term used to describe the next complete evolution in wireless communications. A 4G system will be a complete replacement for current networks and be able to provide a comprehensive and secure IP solution where voice, data, and streamed multimedia can be given to users on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis, and at much higher data rates than previous generations.

Health risk

Because mobile phones emit electromagnetic radiation, concerns have been raised about cancer risks that may pose when used for long periods of time.^[19] This radiation is non-ionizing, but localized heating can occur. The current consensus view of the scientific and medical communities is that health effects are very unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations.

Cellular phones became widely available only relatively recently, while tumors can take decades to develop. For this reason, some health authorities have urged that the precautionary principle be observed, recommending that use and proximity to the head be minimized, especially by children.

Usage

The cell-phone novel is the first literary genre to emerge from the cellular age via text messaging to a website that collects the novels as a whole. In virtual online computer games, readers can put themselves into first person in the story. Cell phone novels create a personal space for each individual reader. Paul Levinson, in Information on the Move (2004), says "...nowadays, a writer can write just about as easily, anywhere, as a reader can read" and they are "not only personal but portable".

Media

The mobile phone became a mass media channel in 1998 when the first ringing tones were sold to mobile phones by Radiolinja in Finland. Soon other media content appeared such as news, videogames, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and advertising. In 2006 the total value of mobile phone paid media content exceeded internet paid media content and was worth 31 Billion dollars (source Informa 2007). The value of music on phones was worth 9.3 Billion dollars in 2007 and gaming was worth over 5 billion dollars in 2007 (source Netsize Guide 2008 ^[13]).

The mobile phone is often called the Fourth Screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens as the first three) or Third Screen (counting only TV and PC screens). It is also called the Seventh of the Mass Media (with Print, Recordings, Cinema, Radio, TV and Internet the first six). Most early content for mobile tended to be copies of legacy media, such as the banner advertisement or the TV news highlight video clip. Recently unique content for mobile has been emerging, from the ringing tones and ringback tones in music to "mobisodes," video content that has been produced exclusively for mobile phones.

The advent of media on the mobile phone has also produced the opportunity to identify and track Alpha Users or Hubs, the most influential members of any social community. AMF Ventures measured in 2007 the relative accuracy of three mass media, and found that audience measures on mobile were nine times more accurate than on the internet and 90 times more accurate than on TV.

Market

In Q3/2008, Nokia was the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, with a global device market share of 39.4%, followed by Samsung (17.3%), Sony Ericsson (8.6%), Motorola (8.5%) and LG Electronics (7.7%). These manufacturers accounted for over 80% of all mobile phones sold at that time.

Other manufacturers include Apple Inc., Audiovox (now UTStarcom), Benefon, BenQ-Siemens, CECT, High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), Fujitsu, Kyocera, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Neonode, Panasonic, Palm, Matsushita, Pantech Wireless Inc., Philips, Qualcomm Inc., Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM), Sagem, Sanyo, Sharp, Siemens, Sendo, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, T&A Alcatel, Huawei, Trium and Toshiba.^{[citation needed]} There are also specialist communication systems related to (but distinct from) mobile phones.

SIM Cards

In addition to the battery, GSM mobile phones require a small microchip, called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM Card, to function. Approximately the size of a small postage stamp, the SIM Card is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit, and (when properly activated) stores the phone's configuration data, and information about the phone itself, such as which calling plan the subscriber is using. When the subscriber removes the SIM Card, it can be re-inserted into another phone and used as normal.

Each SIM Card is activated by use of a unique numerical identifier; once activated, the identifier is locked down and the card is permanently locked in to the activating network. For this reason, most retailers refuse to accept the return of an activated SIM Card.

Those cell phones that do not use a SIM Card have the data programmed in to their memory. This data is accessed by using a special digit sequence to access the "NAM" as in "Name" or number programming menu. From here, one can add information such as a new number for your phone, new Service Provider numbers, new emergency numbers, change their Authentication Key or A-Key code, and update their Preferred Roaming List or PRL. However, to prevent someone from accidentally disabling their phone or removing it from the network, the Service Provider puts a lock on this data called a Master Subsidiary Lock or MSL.

The MSL also ensures that the Service Provider gets payment for the phone that was purchased or "leased". For example, the Motorola RAZR V9C costs upwards of CAD $500. You can get one for approximately $200, depending on the carrier. The difference is paid by the customer in the form of a monthly bill. If the carrier did not use a MSL, then they may lose the $300–$400 difference that is paid in the monthly bill, since some customers would cancel their service and take the phone to another carrier.

The MSL applies to the SIM only so once the contract has been completed the MSL still applies to the SIM. The phone however, is also initially locked by the manufacturer into the Service Providers MSL. This lock may be disabled so that the phone can use other Service Providers SIM cards. Most phones purchased outside the US are unlocked phones because there are numerous Service Providers in close proximity to one another or have overlapping coverage. The cost to unlock a phone varies but is usually very cheap and is sometimes provided by independent phone vendors.

Having an unlocked phone is extremely useful for travelers due to the high cost of using the MSL Service Providers access when outside the normal coverage areas. It can cost sometimes up to 10 times as much to use a locked phone overseas as in the normal service area, even with discounted rates. T-Mobile will provide a SIM unlock code to account holders in good standing after 90 days according to their FAQ.

For example, in Jamaica, an AT&T subscriber might pay in excess of US$1.65 per minute for discounted international service while a B-Mobile (Jamaican) customer would pay US$0.20 per minute for the same international service. Some Service Providers focus sales on international sales while others focus on regional sales. For example, the same B-Mobile customer might pay more for local calls but less for international calls than a subscriber to the Jamaican national phone C&W (Cable & Wireless) company. These rate differences are mainly due to currency variations because SIM purchases are made in the local currency. In the US, this type of service competition does not exist because some of the major Service Providers do not offer Pay-As-You-Go services. [Needs Pay-As-You-Go references, rumored T-Mobile,Verizon provide one, AT&T does not as of 12/2008

Power Supply

Mobile phones generally obtain power from batteries, which can be recharged from a USB port, from portable batteries, from mains power or a cigarette lighter socket in a car using an adapter (often called battery charger or wall wart) or from a solar panel or a dynamo (that can also use a USB port to plug the phone).

On 17 February 2009, the GSM Association announced that they had agreed on a standard charger for mobile phones. The standard connector to be adopted by 17 manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola and Samsung is to be the micro-USB connector (several media reports erroneously reported this as the mini-USB). The new chargers will be much more efficient than existing chargers. Having a standard charger for all phones, means that manufacturers will no longer have to supply a charger with every new phone.

Formerly, the most common form of mobile phone batteries were nickel metal-hydride, as they have a low size and weight. Lithium-Ion batteries are sometimes used, as they are lighter and do not have the voltage depression that nickel metal-hydride batteries do. Many mobile phone manufacturers have now switched to using lithium-Polymer batteries as opposed to the older Lithium-Ion, the main advantages of this being even lower weight and the possibility to make the battery a shape other than strict cuboid. Mobile phone manufacturers have been experimenting with alternative power sources, including solar cells.

Applications

The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging, with 74% of all mobile phone users as active users (over 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion total subscribers at the end of 2007). SMS text messaging was worth over 100 billion dollars in annual revenues in 2007 and the worldwide average of messaging use is 2.6 SMS sent per day per person across the whole mobile phone subscriber base. (source Informa 2007). The first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993.

The other non-SMS data services used by mobile phones were worth 31 Billion dollars in 2007, and were led by mobile music, downloadable logos and pictures, gaming, gambling, adult entertainment and advertising (source: Informa 2007). The first downloadable mobile content was sold to a mobile phone in Finland in 1998, when Radiolinja (now Elisa) introduced the downloadable ringing tone service. In 1999 Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo introduced its mobile internet service, i-Mode, which today is the world's largest mobile internet service and roughly the same size as Google in annual revenues.

The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000. Mobile news services are expanding with many organisations providing "on-demand" news services by SMS. Some also provide "instant" news pushed out by SMS. Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo!^[10] and small independent news companies such as Jasmine News in Sri Lanka.

Companies like Monster.com are starting to offer mobile services such as job search and career advice. Consumer applications are on the rise and include everything from information guides on local activities and events to mobile coupons and discount offers one can use to save money on purchases. Even tools for creating websites for mobile phones are increasingly becoming available.

Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two Coca-Cola vending machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually the idea spread and in 1999 the Philippines launched the first commercial mobile payments systems, on the mobile operators Globe and Smart. Today mobile payments ranging from mobile banking to mobile credit cards to mobile commerce are very widely used in Asia and Africa, and in selected European markets. For example in the Philippines it is not unusual to have one's entire paycheck paid to the mobile account. In Kenya the limit of money transfers from one mobile banking account to another is one million US dollars. In India paying utility bills with mobile gains a 5% discount. In Estonia the government found criminals collecting cash parking fees, so the government declared that only mobile payments via SMS were valid for parking and today all parking fees in Estonia are handled via mobile and the crime involved in the activity has vanished.

Mobile Applications are developed using the Six M's (previously Five M's) service-development theory created by the author Tomi Ahonen with Joe Barrett of Nokia and Paul Golding of Motorola. The Six M's are Movement (location), Moment (time), Me (personalization), Multi-user (community), Money (payments) and Machines (automation). The Six M's / Five M's theory is widely referenced in the telecoms applications literature and used by most major industry players. The first book to discuss the theory was Services for UMTS by Ahonen & Barrett in 2002.

Features

Mobile phones often have features beyond sending text messages and making voice calls, including call registers, GPS navigation, music (MP3) and video (MP4) playback, RDS radio receiver, alarms, memo and document recording, personal organiser and personal digital assistant functions, ability to watch streaming video or download video for later viewing, video calling, built-in cameras (3.2+ Mpx) and camcorders (video recording), with autofocus and flash, ringtones, games, PTT, memory card reader (SD), USB (2.0), infrared, Bluetooth (2.0) and WiFi connectivity, instant messaging, Internet e-mail and browsing and serving as a wireless modem for a PC, and soon will also serve as a console of sorts to online games and other high quality games.

Some phones include a touchscreen.

The largest categories of mobile services are music, picture downloads, videogaming, adult entertainment, gambling, video/TV.

Nokia and the University of Cambridge are showing off a bendable cell phone called Morph

Handset

There are several categories of mobile phones, from basic phones to feature phones such as musicphones and cameraphones, to smartphones. The first smartphone was the Nokia 9000 Communicator in 1996 which incorporated PDA functionality to the basic mobile phone at the time. As miniaturisation and increased processing power of microchips has enabled ever more features to be added to phones, the concept of the smartphone has evolved, and what was a high-end smartphone five years ago, is a standard phone today. Several phone series have been introduced to address a given market segment, such as the RIM BlackBerry focusing on enterprise/corporate customer email needs; the SonyEricsson Walkman series of musicphones and Cybershot series of cameraphones; the Nokia N-Series of multimedia phones; and the Apple iPhone which provides full-featured web access and multimedia capabilities.

MOBILE PHONE

A mobile phone or mobile (also called cellphone and handphone,^[1] as well as cell phone, wireless phone, cellular phone, cell, cellular telephone, mobile telephone or cell telephone) is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. In addition to the standard voice function of a mobile phone, telephone, current mobile phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, gaming, Bluetooth, infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video, MP3 player, radio and GPS. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network consisting of switching points and base stations (cell sites) owned by a mobile network operator (the exception is satellite phones, which are mobile but not cellular).

A mobile phone, as opposed to a radio telephone, offer full duplex-communication, automatised calling to and paging from a public switched telephone network (PSTN), handoff (am. English) or handover (European term) during a phone call when the user moves from one cell (base station coverage area) to another. A cell phone offer wide area service, and should not be confused with a cordless telephone, which also is a wireless phone, but only offer telephony service within a limited range, e.g. within a home or an office, through a fixed line and a base station owned by the subscriber.

The International Telecommunication Union estimated that mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide would reach approximately 4.1 billion by the end of 2008.^[2] Mobile phones have gained increased importance in the sector of Information and communication technologies for development in the 2000s and have effectively started to reach the bottom of the economic pyramid.^[3]

Third generation

Not long after the introduction of 2G networks, projects began to develop third generation (3G) systems. Inevitably there were many different standards with different contenders pushing their own technologies. Quite differently from 2G systems, however, the meaning of 3G has been standardized in the IMT-2000 standardization processing. This process did not standardize on a technology, but rather on a set of requirements (2 Mbit/s maximum data rate indoors, 384 kbit/s outdoors, for example). At that point, the vision of a single unified worldwide standard broke down and several different standards have been introduced.

The first pre-commercial trial network with 3G was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in the Tokyo region in May 2001. NTT DoCoMo launched the first commercial 3G network on October 1, 2001, using the WCDMA technology. In 2002 the first 3G networks on the rival CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology were launched by SK Telecom and KTF in South Korea, and Monet in the USA. Monet has since gone bankrupt. By the end of 2002, the second WCDMA network was launched in Japan by Vodafone KK (now Softbank). In March the first European launches of 3G were in Italy and the UK by the Three/Hutchison group, on WCDMA. 2003 saw a further 8 commercial launches of 3G, six more on WCDMA and two more on the EV-DO standard.

During the development of 3G systems, 2.5G systems such as CDMA2000 1x and GPRS were developed as extensions to existing 2G networks. These provide some of the features of 3G without fulfilling the promised high data rates or full range of multimedia services. CDMA2000-1X delivers theoretical maximum data speeds of up to 307 kbit/s. Just beyond these is the EDGE system which in theory covers the requirements for 3G system, but is so narrowly above these that any practical system would be sure to fall short.

By the end of 2007 there were 295 Million subscribers on 3G networks worldwide, which reflected 9% of the total worldwide subscriber base. About two thirds of these are on the WCDMA standard and one third on the EV-DO standard. The 3G telecoms services generated over 120 Billion dollars of revenues during 2007 and at many markets the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones. In Japan and South Korea the market no longer supplies phones of the second generation. Earlier in the decade there were doubts about whether 3G might happen, and also whether 3G might become a commercial success. By the end of 2007 it had become clear that 3G was a reality and was clearly on the path to become a profitable venture.

Live streaming of radio and television [2] to 3G handsets is one future direction for the industry, with companies such as RealNetworks [3] and Disney [4] recently announcing services.