April 28 - 2:40pm EDT   Motorola last week introduced its MOTO V10 for the Korean market, which sports a body color that flows from black at the top of the handset to red at the bottom. The dual-color body has a soft feel material on its backside for a better grip. [full story]

April 16 - 12:00pm EDT   The Internet-connected Verizon Hub home phone may soon get its own applications store, according to a Wednesday report. The phone, launched in the US on February 1st, already gets updates through the Internet for weather and traffic information, and users can watch videos via Verizon's V CAST service, but is now set to open to third-party software that would enable new tasks using the Internet, GPS or both. One new use for it would be to give users the ability to access Internet radio stations, for example. [full story]

April 14 - 12:20pm EDT   The largest wireless provider in South Korea, SK Telecom, announced at a gathering of over 1,000 industry professionals and software developers on Monday that it will launch an application store in trial stages this June, with a full-fledged debut coming in September. The store will differ from originator Apple's App Store as it will cater to four cell phone operating systems, including Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android and Linux. As well, all cellphone users will be able to access the store, regardless of their carrier or type of phone they own. [full story]

March 25 - 11:15am EDT   Samsung today grew its touchscreen phone line by one and launched the Haptic 8M. The phone's name comes both through the haptic (vibration) feedback on its very high-resolution, 480x800 3.3-inch display but also an 8-megapixel camera that can tag and recognize faces in photos. It also carries flash, detects smiles and scans business cards. [full story]

March 24 - 4:30pm EDT   Korean telecommunications provider SK Telecom is rumored to be entering the handset manufacturing market via affiliate SK Telesys, which officially announced plans to enter the phone manufacturing business. Local Korean media reports SK Telecom has created a team called G Project to develop innovative and original platforms and user interfaces that would be of the same scope to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. G Project is working closely with handset manufacturer HTC, and many believe the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer is the top choice for a partner. SK Telecom paved the way for HTC to sell its hardware in Korea. [full story]

February 9 - 4:15pm EST   The LiMo Foundation on Monday announced six new wireless providers have committed to release LiMo Platform based handsets in 2009. The Linux OS-based phones will become available from Verizon Wireless, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica and Vodafone sometime in 2009. The open-source Linux operating system in the devices will be based on the latest version of the LiMo Platform. [full story]

December 24 - 3:15pm EST   Korea's LG recently showed off an upcoming flip phone meant for fashion-conscious ladies. The HSDPA handset gives users the option to set one of 18 emoticons on the 1.1-inch external display. The internal screen is 2.4 inches in size with a 240x320 resolution. Photos captured by the 3-megapixel camera are stored on the internal 512MB of memory, along with music supported by basic media player functionality. [full story]

December 17 - 4:45pm EST   Samsung will soon be offering the SCH-W690 clamshell handset via one of South Korea's wireless providers, SK Telecom. The handset's most distinguishing feature is its 2.6-inch AMOLED display with 240x320 resolution and 262K colors, as AMOLED technology is still relatively rare in handsets. It offers better color contrast and video playback quality than conventional LCD screens. The smaller 1.5-inch external screen is an OLED display with 128x128 resolution and 65K colors. [full story]

July 24 - 12:25pm EDT   National carrier Sprint has signed a deal to sell a massive number of cellular towers, according to an announcement. The company says it is selling approximately 3,300 towers to TowerCo, a deal that should gain Sprint about $670 million in cash. Because the company still needs the towers to maintain coverage, it has arranged a licensing deal with TowerCo that will see it provide CDMA, iDEN and WiMAX support in exchange for a regular leasing fee. [full story]

July 17 - 11:00am EDT   SK Telecom isn't interested in a direct takeover of Sprint but is nonetheless interested in gaining a clear stake in the American wireless carrier, according to reports. The Korean company now denies that it has any plans to completely buy out Sprint but is now said by sources of BusinessWeek to be mulling a "major stake" in the cellular provider that would require seats on Sprint's board of directors, handing a significant amount of influence to SK Telecom over larger decisions. [full story]

July 15 - 4:40pm EDT   Korean communications giant SK Telecom is discussing buying out third-largest American cell carrier Sprint, CNBC claims. Although technically smaller than Sprint, sources say SKT hopes to bring a private equity group into the deal that would give it enough financial clout to complete the deal. The Korean company allegedly wants any takeover to occur on friendly terms and is proceeding slowly, with any possible agreement still uncertain and weeks away at the earliest. [full story]

June 27 - 11:10am EDT   Virgin Mobile today shook up the American wireless business with news that it would acquire Helio for $39 million in share equity, merging the latter into Virgin's mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business. The deal also has Virgin absorbing some of Helio's debt and also gives the carrier Helio's 170,000 customers in the US, with the latter ending its brand in the US. The deal should be completed during the summer pending US government approval, according to the two companies. [full story]

June 25 - 1:20am EDT   Last reported in May, Virgin Mobile USA is set to absorb SK Telecom-owned Helio in a deal said to approach the former paying the Korean telecommunications firm almost $50 million, leaving SK holding 20-percent of company holdings. The Financial Times writes that the MVNO will dissolve its identity in favor of the more recognizable Virgin Mobile brand, and integrate its 200,000 users into Virgin's customer base of 5.1 million mobile users. [full story]

June 20 - 1:45pm EDT   The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market in the US may be on the verge of collapse with Helio about to scale back or shut down entirely, according to a rumor circulated by Engadget. The provider is allegedly telling store managers that it will shut down at least some of its retail shops in possible preparation for a takeover by Virgin Mobile. No information has yet appeared to suggest that Helio is withdrawing support for the service itself. [full story]

June 20 - 10:00am EDT   Over one million units of Samsung's Soul designer phone have sold since it went on sale a month ago, the company says. Although limited to just Europe for its initial launch, the device has been one of the most popular phones in recent weeks and has sold better in this early stage than the iPhone managed in the first quarter of the year, when Apple sold 1.7 million units in three months. [full story]