At the special Android press conference in Mountain View, Google officially confirmed the company’s first phone – the Nexus One.

This HTC-branded device is running Android 2.1 and comes with 3.7" AMOLED 480x800 WVGA display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 512MB flash onboard memory and 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB), 5 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash and geo tagging, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, compass, GPS, accelerometer and light and proximity sensor.

Nexus One is initially available from the new Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA.

Mobile internet is no longer luxury in Africa as it has become a valuable tool of global development, this according to Jose Henriques, Vodacom executive head of internet services.

Henriques was speaking to Biz-News.com in Johannesburg last week during the Mobile Web Africa conference whose focus was looking at ways of harnessing the potential of internet and applications on mobile devices.

MobiTV has added two million new subscribers in less than six months, taking its total to more than seven million.
The company says that better viewing experiences, advances in technology and higher awareness
are all helping boost adoption levels.

Vodafone is joining the increasingly busy application store game by launching its own venture in a number of European markets later this year.
The mobile operator will take a 30 per cent share of all app revenue - mirroring Apple's App Store.

INTERVIEW: Isik Uman, general manager of leading Turkish service provider Retromedya, talks to smartphone-biz.news about the rapidly changing mobile market in Turkey.
With 3G going live this summer, the nation's 66 million mobile subscribers are expected to take full advantage of new services - making it an appealing prospect for operators and service providers.

Vodafone has voiced its opposition to plans to introduce a Receiving-Party-Pays (RPP) model in Europe, saying the move would force operators to raise retail charges.
The telecoms company said this would lead to 40 million users getting rid of their cell phones.

A three-way initiative between Vodafone Australia, Cisco and Research In Motion (RIM) is to launch an integrated business communications services in Australia known as Vodafone Business One.
Starting later this year, it will combine all telecommunication services - fixed and mobile, voice and data, services and equipment - into one managed service with single-point accountability on installation, technical support and fleet management and one monthly invoice.
The service will be focusing primarily on small-medium sized businesses of between 10 to 100 employees.
By using Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry smartphones along with Cisco Wi-Fi and IP-PBX in the office, Vodafone Business One customers will be able to make calls within the office zone at fixed-line rates, while making calls outside the office via the Vodafone mobile network.