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Bharti Airtel, Asia's leading integrated telecom services provider, and HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today announced the launch of India's First Google Android-powered mobile phone – The HTC Magic.

Airtel has been a frontrunner in bringing innovative and cutting edge technology to its customers. The Android powered HTC Magic opens new arena for customers and the developer community to interact in order to bring new applications to Android-based mobile phones. The introduction of the Android platform in India is a step in this direction where innovation, development and deployment of mobile applications are encouraged in an 'open ecosystem'. The Android platform not only gives Airtel a faster go to market capability but also helps to provide more rich & varied service offerings for all Airtel users while creating commercial viability for small developers/entrepreneurs.

"Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer delight in the Indian telecom sector. Being the first to bring the Google Android powered HTC Magic to India further underscores our commitment to enrich the communication experience of all Airtel users." said, Raghunath Mandava, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel. Added, "The HTC Magic presents a powerful mobile internet and multimedia experience that should drive the uptake of accessing the internet over mobile amongst Airtel users."

HTC Magic mobile phone opens up a whole new mobile experience for all Airtel users. A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and extraordinary compactness for a smartphone, the HTC Magic presents a supreme mobile internet and multimedia experience. Enhanced with Outlook synchronization, Smart Dialler, and an onscreen keyboard with predictive text, the HTC Magic is a true entertainment and communication powerhouse. Also, to begin with, Airtel customers can avail many utility based applications such as Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-mobile search and City Search on the HTC Magic.

Jack Tong, Vice President, HTC Asia, said, "HTC is proud to partner with Airtel in launching the much-anticipated Android-powered HTC Magic in India. The HTC Magic opens up a whole new world of possibilities for people to enrich and customise their mobile phone. HTC has always been known for its industry firsts and technology advancements, and is thus a natural partner to Airtel."

For Airtel customers, HTC Magic also allows free data download of 100 MB per month for a period of 6 months. The HTC Magic will be available at a market price of Rs. 29,900/- at Airtel Relationship Centres and authorised HTC resellers across 17 cities. The cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Cochin, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Patna.

The Android platform constitutes a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. Developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 47 technology and mobile companies, Android brings Internet-style innovation and openness to mobile phones and enables developers to create mobile applications to optimise the functionalities of the mobile phone. Android does not differentiate between the phone's core applications and third-party applications, thus providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services.

Airtel applications available with HTC Magic:


1. Portfolio Manager:
Portfolio Manager is Mobile Client application to provide general public a secured and user friendly service platform. Its objective is to facilitate investors in Indian share market to manage their portfolio in a handsome way. Special offer for HTC Magic mobile phone users – 3 Months subscription waiver

2. Hello Tunes Manager:
Hello Tunes Manager will be used by subscribers to search for, buy and share hello tunes/hello tune albums. You can use Hello Tunes Manager to send/receive hello tune recommendations from friends, rate hello tunes and much more. Special offer for HTC Magic – Free Hello Tune downloads for one month.

3. Weather Channel:
This application provides detailed weather forecasts for the current day and next 6 days. Any location of user's choice can be marked as favorite. The user can obtain weather forecast for (a) Current location (b) Favorite location (c) Any other location of choice.

4.Mobshare:
MobShare is a Mobile phone picture sharing Application that enables Immediate, controlled, and organized sharing of mobile pictures, and the browsing, of the shared Pictures.

5. In-Mobile Search:
This application enables the user to search for contacts, image files, audio files and video files from a single interface. The user can search any of the above mentioned files starting with the query string entered. It provides the user to view the image or play the audio / video files without the use of any external applications.

6. City Search:
This application incorporates both location and data call technology, steering you towards the very best activities that your city has to offer. For the selected category, the application retrieves appropriate list of options for any location review. The application provides the full information (address, contact number and other information) for any selected option. User also has an option to call the selected option or SMS the info from the application.

The unique features of HTC Magic:

1. Superior support and unbeatable mobile internet experience:
HTC Magic android mobile features a trackball with zoom in/out function. It is also equipped with fit-the-width rendering, and auto screen rotation for an easier navigation experience and internet browsing.

2. Providing broad flexibility for personalisation:
The HTC Magic mobile has a 3.2" HVGA touch screen display and features a trackball for easy access and a 3.2 mega-pixel camera. It provides full fidelity PC browsing experience, where users can expand and personalise their phone to fit their lifestyle.

3. Simply Better:
HTC Magic is enhanced with cool HTC goodies like Smart Dialler and a versatile on-screen keyboard. Smart Dialler lets you call people in whatever way you like, by either dialling the phone number or by dialling the first few letters of the name of the contact. The versatile keyboard helps to choose the favourite way to type and the predictive text completion helps in typing much faster.

4. Choose Your Connections:
Take your inbox with you wherever you go. HTC Magic allows Microsoft Exchange server synchronisation for email, calendar and contacts. Simply put, with HTC Magic, one can always keep the personal and office emails flowing.

The HTC Magic for Airtel Customers:
* The Android platform opens up an unique opportunity to Airtel customers to customize their device with multiple mobile applications

* Airtel customers can avail many utility based applications such as Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-mobile search and City Search

* HTC Magic offers cutting edge innovation with 3G capabilities, 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, and 3.2 mega-pixel camera for an unmatched personalised mobile Web experience

* Airtel customers to get free data download of 100 MB per month for 6 months

* HTC Magic available at Airtel Relationship Centres and authorised HTC resellers across 17 cities

Source: HTC India

Nokia introduced the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic touchscreen mobile phone, a compact XpressMusic mobile phone that uses a touch interface for accessing people and content on the brilliantly clear homescreen. The 'scrolling' Contacts Bar provides direct access to 20 people and their latest conversations and media updates. The homescreen also features one touch shortcuts to content and popular social networks, like Facebook and MySpace. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic mobile follows in the footsteps of the top-rated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic mobile, expanding the TouchScreen XpressMusic mobile phone range with a youthful device that has a solid stainless steel frame finish and comes in five vivid colors.

At the core of the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic mobile is the music and entertainment experience. It is an ideal mobile phone for those who wish to quickly and easily access, share and mix a huge selection of media. In true XpressMusic form, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is a great music player with 27 hours of playback time, excellent audio quality and a 4 GB memory card for storing music and other media. Videos, either self made or from social media sites such as Youtube and Facebook can be enjoyed on the brilliantly clear 2.9 inch widescreen display. New music can be purchased through the Nokia Music Store, either directly on the mobile phone or through a PC. The music collection is easily managed and can be synchronized with the PC using the Nokia Music for PC application. Calls and music can be conveniently managed and listened to with the Nokia Stereo Headset WH-205 with tangle-free cable.

The innovative 'people carousel' features thumbnail images of up to 20 close friends and provides easy access to them and their communications history including emails, phone calls, photos or other social media updates. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic mobile phone also features the pop-up Media Bar so music, photos, videos, Internet and on-line sharing applications such as Ovi Share, Flickr and VOX are just a touch away.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic touchscreen mobile supports GSM/EDGE networks and also offers fast and affordable access to internet services via the integrated wireless LAN over the ubiquitous wireless networks. Nokia is collaborating with Boingo and offers three months of free Internet access in select markets. Boingo works with hundreds of hotspot operators around the world in familiar locations such as airports, hotels, coffee shops and restaurants.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic mobile phone is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 199 (INR, 13,300 /-) before taxes and subsidies.

Source: Nokia Press

HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, today unveiled its new flagship device, the HTC Touch Diamond2. The device integrates innovation and simplicity with a unique style and an intuitive interface. HTC Touch Diamond2 perfectly balances function, form factor and cutting-edge technology to personalize communication and mobile Internet experience.

"The HTC Touch Diamond2 ushers in a mobile communication experience that simplifies how we communicate with people in our lives whether through voice, text or email," said Ajay Sharma, Country Head, HTC India. "At HTC, our endeavour has always been to deliver the latest, cutting-edge sophistication in our portfolio of mobile phones that seeks to improve how people live, work and communicate, and the HTC Touch Diamond2 is the extension of the same conviction of ours."

SIMPLIFYING HOW PEOPLE ACCESS THEIR INFORMATION WITH PUSH INTERNET
Continuing on its commitment to make the mobile Internet easier and more enjoyable, HTC is proud to introduce Push Internet technology with the HTC Touch Diamond2. HTC Push Internet alleviates slow downloading and rendering of Web pages on a mobile phone. Users can preselect their favourite Websites to get immediate access to them when needed.

BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER BY SINGLE VIEW CONTACT INTEGRATION
With the HTC Touch Diamond2, HTC is introducing a new people-centric communication approach, providing a single contact view that displays the individual conversation history of contacts regardless of whether voice, text or email were used. This can be viewed from the contact card or the in-call screen during a phone conversation, ensuring the latest communication contact-by-contact is always at hand.

HTC TOUCHFLO 3D INTEGRATED WITH WINDOWS MOBILE
The HTC Touch Diamond2 incorporates HTC's latest TouchFLO 3D interface. TouchFLO 3D has been more deeply integrated into a customized version of Windows Mobile 6.1 to deliver more consistency throughout Windows Mobile applications and menus. Focused on making navigation easier and more intuitive, TouchFLO 3D brings important information to the top-level user interface, including quick access to people, messaging, email, photos, music and weather. As part of this improved Windows Mobile integration the touch focus areas have been enlarged to be more finger-touch friendly.

The HTC Touch Diamond2 is the next step in the evolution of the successful HTC Touch Diamond. Crafted to fit perfectly into the hand, the Touch Diamond2 evolves the compact design and iconic style of the original HTC Touch Diamond. It incorporates a larger 3.2-inch high-resolution wide-screen VGA display for a greater viewing area in a design just 13.7mm thick. The phone also includes a new touch sensitive zoom bar for even faster zooming of Web pages, emails, text messages, photos or documents.

Leveraging HTC's TouchFLO 3D experience combined with a people-centric communication approach and HTC's new Push Internet technology, the HTC Touch Diamond2 offers an advanced touch experience that is optimized for one-hand use.

With a five mega-pixel auto focus camera, expandable memory, gravity sensor and an ambient light sensor, the Touch Diamond2 brings the most sophisticated capabilities to a broad consumer audience looking for the professional benefits of a smartphone without sacrificing size, looks or functionality.

Pricing & Availability:
The new HTC Touch Diamond2 will be available at a Market Operating Price of Rs. 29,990/- at all leading HTC Authorized Resellers across the country.

Courtsey: HTC India

The highly anticipated Nokia N97, Nokia's flagship mobile computer, will begin selling in June in more than 75 countries. Along with a tilting 3.5" touch display, QWERTY keyboard and a fully customizable home screen, the Nokia N97 mobile computer will offer instant access to the full range of Ovi services.

"The Nokia N97 mobile phone is an important step towards our vision of delivering a highly personalized Internet experience," said Jonas Geust, Vice President and head of Nokia Nseries. "Fuelled by a multitude of music, maps, games, media and applications via Ovi, the Nokia N97 mobile transforms the Internet into an experience that's completely tailored to the tastes and interests of its owner."

The Nokia N97 mobile phone is Nokia's first handsat to feature a personalizable home screen, which can be customized with a range of widgets which bring live information directly to the device. These widgets include key social networking destinations like Facebook and Hi5, news services like the Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters, as well as shopping and weather information. The Nokia N97 mobile is the first device to ship with the Ovi Store, which offers easy access to applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services, and much more. Ovi Store has paid and free content from a range of global and local content providers and developers, including Paramount Pictures, Facebook and Qik, as well as a selection of Twitter applications.

Enjoy your upgrades
The beauty of this Nokia mobile is that taking it out of the box is just the beginning. As with any computer, people can constantly improve and refresh their Nokia N97 mobile computer with new features, functions and fixes so they can do even more with the device. An exciting roadmap of new features and functions is planned to roll out in the second half of 2009.

Entertainment ensured
The Nokia N97 mobile computer has also direct access to the huge catalogue of music in the Nokia Music Store. With multiple high-speed connectivity options and 32GB of storage (up to 48GB using a microSD card) it is possible to directly download and store tens of thousands of songs on the handset. And you can listen to your favourite music on the Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905, which Nokia also launched today. This headset brings crystal clear sound, eliminates background noise, and is the ideal accessory for listening to music and making calls on the Nokia N97, as well as being compatible with a diverse range of other mobile and music devices.

High-quality images and video clips at 30 frames per second (fps) can be captured using the 5 megapixel camera with integrated Carl Zeiss optics. Images can also be geo-tagged to specific locations and shared instantly with friends or uploaded online via Ovi Share, Twitter or Flickr.

Notes to editors:
A full list of Nokia N97 features is available at http://2009.nseries.com/
The Nokia N97 press page: http://www.nokia.com/press/n97
Compatibility with the aforementioned services may be limited to certain countries.

Courtsey: Nokia Press

Consumers wanting a feature packed mobile only have to look as far as the new Nokia 6730 Classic mobile phone, which begins shipping in June and will be available exclusively across Vodafone's global footprint. Mobile internet, Vodafone Music Client and personal and business email access along with mobile navigation capabilities are all included in the Nokia 6730 Classic mobile. The device utilises S60 software which means customers can easily download their choice of additional applications from the web.

Peter Becker-Pennrich, Director of Terminals Marketing at Vodafone says "The Nokia 6730 Classic is a great all-round mobile phone - just as perfect for mobile internet users as for music fans who want to take their tracks with them. This product follows a successful line-up of Vodafone exclusive devices from Nokia and is another great example of our collaboration."

With the Nokia 6730 Classic, getting lost and being out of touch with your friends could be a thing of the past thanks to the mobile navigation capabilities on the handset. The services offer accurate turn by turn instructions helping both drivers and pedestrians to find their way. It also provides access to comprehensive point of interest databases and both white and yellow pages information making it easy for the user to find their destination, whether that is an address, a company or even a person.

'Feature packed' describes Nokia 6730 Classic really well. With its iconic design - available in sleek black or white - the device is a perfect upgrade for Nokia 6500c or Nokia 6300 users or anyone seeking an elegant device, optimized for mobile internet and navigation. What's more, this mobile comes with industry-leading power-saving features and accessories" says Gustavo Eichelmann, Head of Vodafone Global Account Team, Nokia.

Courtsey: Nokia Press

Apple today introduced the new iPhone 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast as the first generation Apple iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new Apple iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model. Apple iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11.

"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year."

Apple iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

Apple iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone's groundbreaking Multi-Touch user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world’s most advanced mobile platform.

Apple iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the Apple iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac® or PC. Apple iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

Apple iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe, a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

Apple iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes® 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit www.apple.com/iphone.

*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

**Based on Apple iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation Apple iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Courtsey: Apple.com