Negative Blogs

Apple’s iPhone is set to make its debut in China by the end of this year after the US company reached agreement with China Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator.

China Unicom on Friday said it would start selling the 3G iPhone in the fourth quarter after signing a non-exclusive three-year contract with Apple.

The company said it would not use Apple’s traditional revenue-sharing model and would instead pay the group on a wholesale basis.

China Unicom said it hoped the introduction of the iPhone would boost falling profitability.

The company said on Friday that first-half net profit fell 42.1 per cent to Rmb6.62bn ($969m) amid heated competition, while revenues dropped 4.3 per cent to Rmb74.51bn.

Chang Xiaobing, chairman and chief executive, said he expected iPhones to lure more high-end users who spend more on data services. National Hard Money Association

Nokia has pledged to strike back at Apple and produce mobile phones that will compete effectively with the U.S. technology company’s iPhone.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief executive of Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, said that it was aiming to be “even more competitive” following criticism that it had failed to come up with a handset to match the iPhone.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Kallasvuo also insisted that Nokia would succeed with its strategy of transforming itself from a mobile manufacturer into a supplier of services on handsets, such as maps and music.

Nokia is the world’s largest maker of smartphones — mobile phones that double up as mini computers — but it has been losing market share to rivals led by Apple and Research In Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry.

This week, Nokia will try to inject fresh momentum into its smartphone strategy with the release of a device featuring a Linux operating system. Analysts say Nokia’s Symbian operating system and S60 software, used on most of its smartphones, need an overhaul.

Nokia is also expected to unveil plans to sell netbooks, or small, mobile computers. National Hard Money Association Conference

Microsoft and Nokia will on Wednesday announce an alliance aimed at challenging Research In Motion’s lead in the corporate mobile phone market.

The Finnish mobile phonemaker is planning to use Microsoft’s Office Mobile suite of software on its smartphones – handsets that double up as mini computers.

The partnership could help buttress Nokia’s lead in the smartphone market. The world’s largest mobile phone maker has been losing market share to rivals led by RIM.

For Microsoft, the alliance with Nokia will help defend its position against Google, the US search engine.

Google’s Android operating system for smartphones is gaining ground, and giving the US technology company the chance to put its web-based software on handsets.

RIM has carved out a strong position in supplying smartphones to business people, partly because the Canadian handset maker’s Blackberry devices have user-friendly e-mail.

The partnership between Microsoft and Nokia will seek to make up ground on RIM by including the US technology group’s Office Mobile suite of software – which includes word processing and spreadsheets as well as e-mail.

The first Nokia handsets featuring Microsoft’s Office Mobile suite are likely to be available next year, added one person familiar with the alliance. The handsets are expected to include Nokia’s E series, such as the popular E71. Hard Money Association

Chinese factory that makes iPhones said Wednesday that it has suspended several staffers after an employee committed suicide, apparently under duress when a prototype went missing.

Sun Danyong, 25, jumped off the 12th floor of the Foxconn Science and Technology Group in the southern city of Shenzhen last week.

The recent engineering school graduate sent 16 model phones to phone manufacturer, Apple, but only 15 were received, said the state-run newspaper New Beijing Post.

Because of the missing phone, Sun was questioned by company officials and — according to posts on online forums by his friends — detained, searched and beaten.

Apple China said it was awaiting the results of an investigation into Sun’s death.

“We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect,” Apple said in a statement.

Palm missed out on a big opportunity to cash in on pent up demand for its widely praised Palm Pre by having limited inventory for the highly anticipated product’s launch last weekend.

By all accounts, supplies of the product were limited at Sprint Nextel stores even as customers lined up to buy it.

Bloomberg reported that Sprint , the Pre’s exclusive wireless carrier, ran out of inventory at some stores, putting customers on waiting lists. There were reports that a number of stores had a handful of phones available.

Remember this is Palm’s big comeback. And it is a big time comeback! The Palm Pre represents a definite improvement in user interface and design over the Apple iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry and any and all comers.

The product, which was engineered by Jon Rubinstein, the lead designer of the Apple iPod, has received a number of rave reviews. Indeed, the blogosphere is buzzing that the Palm Pre has out iPhoned the iPhone.