Mobile TeleSystems, Russia’s largest carrier, is planning to spend up to 1.6 billion dollars (or roughly 37 billion rubles, which is far more fun to say) to roll out a national 3G network which they’re aiming to finish by 2012 — right around when some countries might be starting to implement 4G networks. A bit late, perhaps - but hey, faster speeds are never a bad thing.

According to MTS, the network upgrade should pay for itself; they anticipate it to generate at least 2 billion dollars in revenue by 2011.

Via Mobilecrunch

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Qualcomm and Adobe have announced a partnership to integrate Adobe Flash directly into the BREW Mobile Platform, further solidifying Flash as a tenable platform for mobile development.

BREW is Qualcomm’s mobile application development platform, while “BREW Mobile Platform” is the name of the next generation of BREW.

While there is already a Flash Lite for BREW extension available, it’s by no means a perfect solution. It’s only available on a few Verizon BREW handsets, and pretty limited in its capabilities. As BREW Mobile Platform integrates Flash directly, it’ll be carrier agnostic; as long as the handset is running the new BREW, it’ll have Flash. In addition, many of BREW Mobile Platform’s APIs will be accessible via Flash/Actionscript, allowing developers to access phone functionality through their Flash applications — however, the exact APIs that will be supported have not been announced

The Flash development world is already excited about the possibilities. Stephen Jackson, President and CEO of Smashing Ideas, Inc., the largest developer of flash-based content in the US, had this to say:

“Today’s news from Qualcomm and Adobe is a giant step forward in expanding the Flash eco system on all mass market BREW handsets globally. The integration into the platform will enable greater opportunities for content developers as well as allow for expanded distribution with a global list of operators.

As the leading developer and aggregator of Flash Lite content in the US and EMEA, we see this as another benchmark that Flash is becoming a preferred platform for operators, device OEMs and developers for creating engaging mobile experiences.”

The first batch of Qualcomm chipsets with BREW Mobile Platform should come off the lines this fall.

Via Mobilecrunch

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Sony Ericsson recently pushed a new white paper, shining some more light on the drop dead gorgeous QWERTY/Touchscreen slider. While much of the spec sheet just outlines known or otherwise humdrum details (Yes! Emoticon support in e-mail!!), there are a few notable points:

• 256 MB of SDRAM
• 512MB of NAND flash
• 10 Hour talk time on GSM, 6.5 hour speak time on UMTS
• 3.1 Hour video call time
• 1500 mAh lithium polymer battery

All of the battery life numbers are, of course, best case estimates. Chances are, it’ll be a bit sooner before you’re back at the wall for a juice up.

For anybody interested in knowing just about everything there currently is to know about the X1, the white paper spec sheet is packed with goodies.

[Via Engadget]

Via Mobilecrunch

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Oh, Apple. I originally brushed off your iPhone for its lack of (legitimately) addable applications, and now you’re the only ones with the right idea in mind.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey anticipates Apple’s iPhone App Store, which should be coming sometime near the end of June on the back of the iPhone 2.0 software, to play a huge part in tripling the iPhone userbase to 30 million users by the end of 2010.

That’s not too crazy of a prediction, by any means. With the iPhone userbase already on its way to an estimated 9 million users by the end of 2008, and the 3G version imminent, it’s definitely doable. Factor in the enterprise features also coming in the 2.0 software, and the prediction might actually end up a bit on the low end.

Of course, by 2010, we’ll be on the 5th version of the iPhone, which will be offered in black/red and come preloaded with Bono wallpapers.

Via Mobilecrunch

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