As yet another answer to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone and iPhone 3G handsets, Garmin’s Nuvifone was announced earlier this year to much fanfare and high expectations. Garmin’s prowess in GPS navigation devices was expected to give them an edge in a smartphone market that has essentially adopted GPS hardware as standard offerings. The Garmin Nuvifone was set to debut late in 2008, giving it a shot at competing with the iPhone 3G in holiday sales.

Sadly, Garmin won’t be launching their GPS-navigation savvy Garmin Nuvifone until 2009, according to the company. Specific carrier requirements, likely from AT&T (NYSE: T) in the US, have Garmin making changes to the Nuvifone that will delay its launch until next year. ASUS has been rumored to be manufacturing the Garmin Nuvifone. It’s not clear if ASUS scrapped their upcoming smartphone lineup to ensure adequate resources were available to get the Nuvifone launched as soon as possible.

The Garmin Nuvifone’s strength lies in its GPS navigation hardware and software. The company has been making GPS devices years before Apple even started work on the iPhone, and even before GPS hardware started popping up in smartphones from various manufacturers. As such, the Garmin Nuvifone should outperform other GPS-toting smartphones on the market – as far as navigational software is concerned.

It remains to be seen if Garmin will leverage the GPS hardware to support features like geo-tagging photos and location-based applications. Although, Garmin’s recent dealings with Gypsii make it likely that location-based social networking will be thrown in the mix.

[Via: WSJ]

We knew it was going to happen, but we had no idea that ASUS was looking to make such drastic cuts to its product pipeline. ASUS has confirmed that their Lamborghini-branded ASUS ZX1 Lamborghini smartphone will be headed to the chopping block. The move was expected. ASUS previously stated that they would be diverting resources to ensure that upcoming products meet their 2008 launch window. But, what we didn’t expect was ASUS putting the brakes on their upcoming ASUS P560 and M536 smartphone devices.

ASUS cites “technical immaturity” among some key component suppliers as reasons for scrapping their upcoming smartphone lineup. But, they don’t completely rule out the possibility of bringing the ASUS ZX1 Lamborghini back next year. For what it’s worth, lets hope the Lambo-handset makes it to see the light of day.

[Via: CNET]

Following on speculation that Sprint (NYSE: S) would go live with its signal-boosting Airave femtocell solution on July 15, it appears that Sprint has finally pinned down a firm nationwide launch date for its Airave.  Sprint customers with unacceptable signal strength in their homes can go about fixing their weak-signal issues in one of two ways. They can either jump to another carrier, or they can tough it out with the Sprint Airave.

By routing your Sprint handset’s calls through a VoIP connection, the Airave basically serves as a micro-cell tower in your own home. Sprint is asking for a $99.99 one-time fee for the Airave hardware and monthly subscription costs ranging from $4.99 to $20, depending on whether or not you want to use your wireless minutes or get unlimited Airave minutes and how many handsets you want to use with your Airave.

Pick up your Airave from Sprint starting August 17.

Sprint Airave

China Mobile is already the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of number of subscribers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t impress the world again. According to China’s Ministry of Information Industry, China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) surpassed the 600 million subscriber mark as of end of June!

8.63 million new users registered for China Mobile in June alone, for an official total of 53.5 million new subscribers so far this year. The figures also show that China and India are racing neck and neck in monthly subscriber additions…

[Via: PC World, textually.org]

Sony Ericsson is preparing for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing with the BOSCOSPORT styled S500i model. The so called Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) S500i Bosco Edition is basically the same as the original device, expect for the ornaments which are decorated with images BOSCOSPORT. Additionally, the profile desktop is already injected with BOSCOSPORT-saver.

Since 2002, the company BOSCOSPORT creates a bright and stylish clothes, shoes and accessories for Russian team.

As for the specs, expect the same 2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth support and music player.

The Sony Ericsson S500i Bosco edition can already purchased in all salons network “Svyaznoy” for 8 rubles with a contract.

[Via: JampBLOG]

Garmin has announced that it will be launching a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) app in Europe this September. At the moment, Garmin’s application is available in the U.S., only.

In addition to turn-by-turn navigation, Garmin Mobile also includes access to Garmin Online, providing users with such features such as local traffic and weather conditions as well as Navteq’s database of points of interest. The application will support both the built-in GPS receiver found in select BlackBerry models and Bluetooth GPS receivers.

Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry will be sold for 89.99 GBP ($179.99).

[Via: MobileBurn]

According to a recent ABI Research survey, digital camera, Bluetooth, and music/radio playback are the top three features that consumers consider essential for the next mobile phone purchase.

The desire for camera phones with 2 or more megapixels leads the pack with 47% of consumers listing this feature as a “must have,” followed by Bluetooth at 34% and music/FM radio functionality at 32%.

Read the full article »

The iPhone application analytics and advertising company Pinch Media and mobile search and advertising company JumpTap announced the creation of the iPhone application advertising network. Here’s why they think it’s significant:

The partnership combines Pinch Media’s analytics and advertising technology for iPhone App Store applications with JumpTap’s comprehensive mobile ad network. Developers can easily insert advertisements into their applications to effectively creative revenue to drive their businesses. In turn, advertisers can creatively reach the iPhone’s desirable demographics in the immersive in-application environment.

Pinch Media’s analytics module provides a comprehensive view into the number of unique users, length of time the application is being used, geographic location and other valuable data. This information provides advertisers the unique opportunity to reach relevant audiences through in-application advertising.

Earlier we saw Greystripe and AdMob announcing similar offerings to allow iPhone developers to make additional cash by placing ads into their apps…

Well that sure took a while. As the rest of the world had the honor of being part of HTC’s launch markets for the up and coming HTC Touch Diamond, the US has had to wait for HTC to push their US-spec HTC Touch Diamond through the FCC. The HTC Touch Diamond already passed FCC tests in Euro-trim, but this latest approval gives the US-spec Diamond a thumbs-up for US duty.

Sure, devoted ROM cooks were able to give the Euro-spec HTC Touch Diamond some 850Mhz frequency capability. And then HTC came out with their own ROM update that gave the HTC Touch Diamond EDGE-support on the 850Mhz band. But, without a dedicated 850/1900Mhz 3G radio under the hood, the HTC Touch Diamond just couldn’t crack the US market like we’d hoped.

But, as they say, the longer the wait, the sweeter the reward. And, with the fully US-3G compatible HTC Touch Diamond getting the greenlight from the FCC, we’re finding ourselves giddy with excitement for the iPhone-fighting HTC Touch Diamond to put its VGA display up against all smartphone competitors in The States.

For now, all we have to go on is an image of the FCC label. But, seeing as how the world is well-versed in all things Diamond, a simple label is more than enough for now. HTC Touch Diamond – next stop, the US!

Here’s a quick rundown on the HTC Touch Diamond spec-sheet:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• TouchFLO 3D
• 256MB ROM / 192MB RAM
• 4GB storage
• Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) MSM 7201A @ 528MHz
• Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM/EDGE
• Dual-band (850/1900Mhz) HSPA
• 2.8″ VGA (480×640) touchscreen display (!)
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• WiFi
• Orientation sensor
• FM Radio
• eGPS
• 3.2MP auto-focus camera
• Front-facing VGA camera
• 900mAh battery

FCC

Australians looking to get their fill of sleekly-styled BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) goodness are going to be in for a treat, come September. Telstra has announced that they’ll be bringing the heralded BlackBerry Bold 9000 to their Aussie customer-base towards the end of September.

The BlackBerry Bold boasts a full QWERTY-keyboard that RIM is so darn good at designing, so text messaging fiends with a need to have push-email integrated in to their smartphone can text away to their heart’s content on a comfortable and reportedly quite usable keyboard.

Telstra’s launch window for the BlackBerry Bold essentially dashes any hopes that RIM had of getting their new flagship handset out in time to catch some summertime sunshine, but late September is a good compromise. RIM is also planning to unleash their 3G-toting BlackBerry Bold on a smattering of countries around the world over the next couple months, so all you non-Australians just sit tight – the BlackBerry Bold is coming. As for AT&T (NYSE: T), all we know is that the Bold is coming before November 1.

More importantly, Telstra is planning to offer the BlackBerry Bold for free to its business customers. Of course, there’s likely to be a lengthy contract involved, but hey, if you wanna play, you gotta pay.

Here’s a quick run-down of the BlackBerry Bold 9000’s spec-sheet. Note the  gem of the BlackBerry Bold feature-set – the tri-band HSDPA radio that should have the Bold cruising 3G networks the world over.

• Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900hz) GSM/EDGE
• Tri-band (850/1900/2100Mhz) 3G/HSDPA
• WiFi
• GPS
• 624MHz Intel PXA270/Marvell Tavor PXA930 CPU
• BlackBerry OS 4.6
• 480×320 pixels screen
• 2 megapixel camera with flash
• 5 hours of talk / 13 days of standby time
• 128MB of flash plus 1GB of onboard memory (with encryption)
• Standard 3.5mm headphone jack
• Size: 4.5×2.6×0.5 inches
• Weight: 4.7oz

Telstra