You can’t make this stuff up people. Buy an issue of Girl Talk and get a free pink Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 6630 running the 2nd Edition of the S60 operating system. I’m speechless. This device was announced in June of 2004 with an estimated retail price of “less than €500.” It took 4 years to become free with an issue of a magazine riddled with gossip about teenage boys and what to do to get their attention.

Think about the N95 or iPhone in your pocket now, can you honestly say you know what you’re mobile phone will be able to do in 4 years?

[Via: All About Symbian]

Full congratulations are due for Palm (NSDQ: PALM) who has certainly surprised me with their latest figure of shipping 1 million Centro smartphones!

[Via: Business Wire]

I’ve often held back my thoughts on the Chumby because I thought people would soon come to their senses and realize that it was the biggest waste of invention ever to be created. Sadly via Read Write Web, one of my favorite blogs on the net, I find out that the people behind this decrepit attempt at an internet device just scored $12.5 million in VC funding.

Some back story for those not familiar with the Chumby concept:

A Chumby is a $180 device with WiFi, a 3.5 inch touch screen, 350 MHz ARM processor, stereo speakers, accelerometer and a “squeeze” sensor. The Chumby connects to the net and grabs information which is displayed in the form of widgets created in Flash Lite 3.

That $180 is better put to use buying a new mobile phone or getting a data plan for the device already in your pocket.

Someone please tell me what the point of a Chumby is and why people are paying this company to build such a product. Your mobile phone is with you no matter where you are, it is always connected to the internet, if it is fairly decent then it has WiFi, stereo speakers, a full HTML web browser and with the ability to accept external storage, such as the 8 GB microSDHC card in my Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N82, then it can even replace your MP3 player.

My generation has already replaced their desk side alarm clock with a mobile phone and we’re increasingly getting internet access on our handsets as well. What is the value add of a Chumby? I’m dying to know!

The Chumby has a “Linux-based, open-source platform” proclaims Sarah Perez, that’s fantastic, but open source is not a feature to attract mainstream users.

The Chumby is “showcase for your talents” as a widget creator, which again is fantastic, but there are already more than half a billion mobile phones on this planet that have Flash Lite, just like the Chumby. As an artist why would you not want to seek a larger install base to showcase your work?

The Chumy is “made for tinkerers,” so then what do you call people who buy stickers for their phone or phone charms or phone covers or fancy cases or any other sort of accessory that enables a human being to personalize their device?

“The Chumby is designed so that the core electronics can be easily removed from its casing, letting you create your own look for Chumby without having to write code.” You got me there Sarah, but I doubt people are going to buy a Chumby just to take it apart and slap it in some spray painted wooden case that might give you tetanus in the morning when you slam the snooze button on this over priced alarm clock with an IP address.

Update: Video of the Chumy UI via Center Networks.

So it’s not just the new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Curve Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is announcing today. Later in a day, the CDMA carrier also unveiled four other handsets:

• LG enV2 – A slimmer version of the original enV phone with larger keys and a larger internal display. There’s also a 2 megapixel camera, full QWERTY keyboard, stereo Bluetooth support, integrated GPS (that works with VZ Navigator) and a microSD memory slot. Available in April for $129.99 after a $50 rebate with a new two-year agreement. (release)
• HTC XV6900 aka Touch is the device you probably know everything about. However, unlike the original Touch this one has more memory — 256 MB ROM and 128 MB RAM — hence it should work bit faster. Other specs remain pretty much the same and include 2.8 inch touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, Windows Mobile 6 Professional edition. There’s no word on WiFi, though. Also coming in April, and will cost $349.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and with a contract. (release)
• Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Q9c – It’s not just Alltel and U.S. Cellular that have announced Moto’s QWERTY keyboard equipped smartphone. Though to be fair, Verizon doesn’t say anything about the Lime version. The carrier will be selling the device for $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, with additional $100 off being available for those who sign up for qualifying voice and data plans at the time of purchase. (release)
• Samsung Alias – Successor to the U740 model, according to Verizon’s release, even though we’re not quite sure what’s better about it except the color of the device and somewhat improved keyboard. Then again, as we’ve argued before, Verizon must be thinking that by calling their devices by names rather than numbers, customers will remember them better. Anyway, the Alias will be available in mid-April for $129.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. (release)

There you have it – Verizon showed its “CTIA cards.” What about other carriers? We’re waiting guys…

Nokia Siemens Networks just announced that they’ll be supporting WCDMA/HSPA and LTE in the 700 MHz, 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz frequencies with their Flexi Multimode Base Station solution.

“License winners from auctions in the U.S. and Canada will be eager to deploy new networks and services as quickly as possible,” said Sue Spradley, President, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Siemens Networks, North America. “We are confident that Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE solution will enable service providers to deliver high-speed wireless services in the near term, while providing investment protection in the form of a cost efficient software upgrade to LTE in the future.”

With Verizon (NYSE: VZ) already announcing that they’re going to switch to LTE for their 4G network and their success in the 700 MHz auction I can’t think of a better match.

[Via: PR News Wire]

CTIA is kick starting tomorrow and Into Mobile’s own Will Park will be at the show, in the mean time Symbian just popped out 2 press releases worthy of your attention. First PR discusses Symbian’s SQLite implementation, which directly correlates to their announcement back in December of last year that they [Symbian] joined the SQL Consortium, that will now go under the name of Symbian SQL. Expect devices with this technology to come out by the end of this year.

Location Based Services, otherwise known as LBS, will also be backed into the operating system therefore decreasing the time to market and complexity a manufacture would usually run into if they attempted to write an LBS implementation for their devices from scratch.

Second PR announces Dolby’s entrance into the Symbian Platinum Partner Program which can only mean one thing: We’re going to see phones hit the market with Dolby Mobile certification.

Today Alltel Wireless and U.S. Cellular announced availability of the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Q9c on their networks. We’ve already covered the MOTO’s smartphone in the past, so I’ll just recap the basics — there’s a 2.4″ screen, full QWERTY keyboard, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, 128MB of on-board memory, Windows Mobile 6 Standard edition, and a memory expansion slot that can accommodate cards as large as 32GB in capacity.

While U.S. Cellular is quiet when it comes to pricing, Alltel said it will sell the device for $99 after a $100 rebate and with an appropriate contract. Neither of the two carriers said anything about the availability, though we’re kinda sure, the Q9c is coming sooner rather than latter. That’s for both black and lime version… Official releases from Motorola are available from these two links.

[Via: MobileBurn]

Japanese CDMA operator KDDI has decided that they’re going to go with LTE for their next generation network, just like their competitors NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) and Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF). Expect the new network to be up and atom sometime in 2010.

[Via: Cellular News]

Virtua Fighter. Do I have to say anything more?

Virtua Fighter will be coming to mobile phones in June courtesy of Glu Mobile in June. It might be a Java application, but that isn’t certain.

[Via: Pocket Gamer]

The struggle currently taking place in the mobile industry between hardware manufactures and operators is being mirrored in the music business. Artists want more control of how their music is distributed, they want to engage their fans using today’s newly available social mediums and they’ve recognized that this silly concept of a record label oligopoly needs to die; likewise manufactures want to tap into the consumer space directly rather than letting the operators take all the credit.

Reuters has an interview with Dave Stewart, now heading Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Artist Advisory Council and Dr. Tero Ojanperä, who as of the turn of 2008 is now VP of Entertainment & Communities, to discuss the current digital music market, how mobile is changing everything and the Nokia Music Store.