A report by the EU statistical office Eurostat reported today that almost one in five EU households have gone fully wireless, cutting off landline subscriptions that dominated the telecommunications market for over one hundred years. In 2005, out of every 100 habitants, 95 had a mobile phone. In 1996 only 8 out of 100 could go mobile.

New comers to the European Union tend to have more wireless only households. A country like the Czech Republic boasts that 42% of households have switched over to mobile phones, while only 11% in Germany can make that same claim. It is believed the poor landline infrastructure in ex-communist countries has fueled the switch to wireless handsets in central and eastern Europe.

In Finland, home of mobile giant Nokia, 47% of households have done away with landlines to embrace cellphones. But in Sweden, where rival Ericsson is headquartered, 0% of households rely only on mobile phones.

For every 100 people, Luxembourg leads the EU with 158 mobile subscription, or 1.58 subscriptions per person. Lithuania and Italy are close seconds with 127 and 122, respectively.

The report also has stats on the most talkative mobile users. Cypriots were the chattiest EU citizens, talking an average of 6 minutes a day per subscriber. The figure was lowest in Poland and Germany, with 1.3 and 1.6 minutes of talk time, respectively.

Eurostat

Research firm Gartner announced today that this year’s fourth quarter will see an increase in cellphone sales worldwide. In the third quarter vendors combined to sell over 289 million handsets, with strong demand in Asia and Africa lifting sales 15% from a year ago. These numbers are predicted to continue, with holiday sales in Europe and North America helping to boost purchases.

“I think it’s going to be a good Christmas, showing growth of 10 to 15 percent from last year,” Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said.

Cellphone providers foresee market growth of over 10% this quarter over last year’s numbers. Gartner said annual sales are set to reach 1.134 billion phones. These sales numbers easily make mobile phones the largest consumer electronics sector in the world.

Western Europe should see good holiday sales. New models from Nokia and Sony Ericsson are expected to be hot items this Christmas, while growth in emerging markets like Africa and China is set to continue.

“India and China are not showing any signs of slowdown,” Milanesi said.

Nokia is the company that is cashing in the most on growth in emerging markets. The company’s market share rose to 38% in the third quarter from 35% in the same quarter last year. Nokia has a strong lead in markets like China and India.

India is seeing tremendous growth, with 8 million new customers signing up for mobile phones each month. Cellphone makers are targeting first time buyers in India with low-priced handsets to gain market share in this rapidly developing country of a billion people.

For you number crunchers, here are some statistics provided by Gartner. Samsung overtook Motorola with 14.5% of the market, compared to 13.1 for the U.S. company. Sony Ericsson and LG Electronics also increased their market shares to 8.8% and 7.1 percent, respectively.

Nokia has benefited from the sales of ultra-cheap handsets, which has boosted its profit margins. Nokia’s profit margin on cellphones rose to 22% in the quarter, while its best performing rivals, Samsung and Sony Ericsson boosted their profits just over 12%.

Gartner

AT&T (Ma Bell) and LG Electronics MobileComm (LG Mobile Phones) announced the availability of the new Shine by LG today. The Shine is a sliding form-factor device that features a silver exterior and comes with video, music and camera features. The phone is sold exclusively through AT&T and comes with a 2.2-inch mirror LCD screen.

The phone is packed with some of AT&T’s best features, including AT&T Video Share, Mobile Banking, and AT&T Mobile Music. This phone isn’t just about style and glamour; it provides state-of-the-art mobile device computing and wireless services.

“This is the kind of device that people will stop and ask if they can hold it,” said Carlton Hill, vice president of Product Development for AT&T’s wireless unit. “The Shine by LG will be appealing to anyone who believes that a mobile phone should work well and look great.”

“Metal is back and taking on a whole new look with this season’s must-have mobile phone, the Shine by LG,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of Product Strategy and Marketing at LG Mobile Phones. “Consumers will be captivated by the Shine’s brushed-metal body and mirror LCD, and they will be excited to find that the phone is more than just a pretty face.”

I’ve never been big on looks. The biggest fashion statement I make is changing my underwear once a week. But the Shine does have a 2.0-megapixel camera with video record and Bluetooth 2.0 capability for music and voice. The handset is available through AT&T retail location or online for $149.00 after a two-year contract-activation agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate. Perhaps this silver bell is just what you need to help ring in a new year.

AT&T Wireless
LG Mobile Phones

Nokia, the world’s largest cellphone manufacturer, is being sued by Qualcomm, a U.S. chipmaker, over two technology patents held by Qualcomm. The lawsuit is scheduled to begin today in the British High Court.

Qualcomm is asking the court for an injunction that will stop Nokia from selling products in Britain that use the patents in dispute. Nokia is denying that any of its products infringe on Qualcomm patents. It is unclear what Nokia products will be affected if the British High Court grants Qualcomm its request for an injunction.

Qualcomm has filed similar suits against Nokia in the Untied States, Germany, France, Italy, and China. None of these cases has reached a verdict or settlement.

“Nokia is confident the facts and the evidence presented at trial will clearly and definitively demonstrate that Qualcomm’s alleged GSM patents are invalid and not infringed,” Nokia spokeswoman Anne Eckert said.

The two companies failed to renew a key technology licensing pact that expired on April 9 of this year. Ever since, the legal complaints and answers from the two have been papering courtrooms around the world. It is estimated that Nokia pays Qualcomm around $500 million annually for its patents.

It looks as though Nokia is willing to play legal hardball in its attempts to lower the amount of money it pays Qualcomm for the right to use the patented technology. If it wins the suits, Nokia won’t have to pay anything for them. This threat may be enough of an enticement to get Qualcomm to negotiate on a new agreement that could save Nokia millions in patent use fees. If Qualcomm wins the suits, Nokia might be out some money for legal fees but then it is back to business as usual. The courts shouldn’t award Qualcomm more for their patents than Nokia has paid in the past.

Qualcomm
Nokia

Gemalto, a digital security company, has partnered with Valimo, a mobile signature company, to create a secure mobile signature application for the mass market. Valimo’s Mobile Authentication Client (VMAC) will be put on Gemalto’s SIM (subscriber identity module) to provide customers with a safe way to sign documents electronically.

“We have seen a significant increase in interest from the telecommunications community for mobile signatures. Gemalto is the most reliable and experienced player in the field of mobile security and is at the forefront in providing the market with inventive and strong solutions for mobile authentication and signing” says Tapio Vailahti, Chief Executive Officer at Valimo. “We are proud that Gemalto embraced Valimo’s mobile
signature approach with the VMAC embedded in its SIM cards. With Gemalto
committed to the Valimo Mobile Authentication Client, I see good signs
ahead.”

A mobile signature is the digital equivalent of a handwritten signature on a document like a contract. The mobile phone acts as a pen for e-services that may require handwritten authentication and as a password provider. Things like online banking, internet check out and entry to corporate intranets from outside the office can be done over the phone without additional devices, software or passwords.

“Implementing the Valimo VMAC is a natural progressive step from Gemalto’s roll out of mobile signature schemes in Europe,” says Jean Francois Gros, Director Partner Solutions at Gemalto. “The Gemalto SIM cards will provide a state-of-the-art option for mobile operators who intend to roll out mobile signature services to their subscriber base. We consider that the whole SIM community should benefit from a best-of-breed
combination with respect to SIM cards and mobile signature applications”.

Valimo
Gemalto

Deutsche Telekom’s mobile unit T-Mobile announced today that it would sell the Apple iPhone without a contract. This was done in order to comply with a court injunction awarded to rival Vodafone by a German court. (See yesterdays post.) In Europe, when a mobile phone is sold that has a lengthy service contract attached to it, the hand set is sold at a discounted price.

T-Mobile will sell an unlocked version of the iPhone for 999 euros, or $1,477. The unlocked phone will be able to use any service provider the consumer wishes. The same phone will sell for 399 euros ($590) if the customer signs a two-year contract with T-Mobile to provide carrier service.

Apple has been trying to protect the iPhone from being unlocked ever since it was released earlier this year in the Untied States. The media has followed attempts by people to unlock the phone to free owners from a lengthy contract with AT&T. Now that an unlocked version is being sold in Europe to comply with a court order, the future of the iPhone’s exclusive carrier contract is in doubt in the United States.

There is no court injunction to keep enterprising Germans from buying unlocked iPhones and selling them to Americans. Unlocked versions of the phone have already been sold on Internet sites. Now a flood of sales may come out of Europe. If buyers are willing to pay extra to keep from signing with AT&T, now there is little to stop them.

It will be interesting to see if T-Mobile’s unsubsidized price of 999 euros will be challenged or not. This is over twice the asking price for the subsidized price of 399 euros. It is conceivable that a rival company will argue that the unlocked price is set too high, and is an attempt to get around the court injunction.

All this is taking place just before Apple is scheduled to open the Asian market to the iPhone. Laws are different there but Apple can’t be happy with the German court. Now that the iPhone lock has been picked by legal means, it will be harder to keep it locked in other markets. It will be interesting to see if the exclusivity of the iPhone remains, or if the whole thing unravels from European legal rumblings.

Yesterday the British telecom group Vodafone sued Deutsche Telekom’s mobile unit T-Mobile for the exclusive right to sell Apple’s iPhone in Germany. A German court granted Vodafone its request for a preliminary injunction designed to stop the sales of the iPhone linked to an exclusive 24 month T-Mobile contract. The injunction doesn’t keep T-Mobile from selling the handset but may force Apple to allow other service providers in Europe to carry the iPhone.

The injunction centers on the unsubsidized nature of the handset price and the two year contract that Germans must sign for an iPhone. In Europe, mobile phone operators typically subsidize the cost of handsets for customers who sign long-term contracts for mobile phones that are locked to one network. In some European countries this is regulated by law.

“It is not permissible to link the use of the iPhone exclusively to T-Mobile’s network,” a Debitel spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Debitel is a German mobile phone operator that has filed a complaint with Germany’s telecoms regulator about T-Mobile’s iPhone deal.

“The legal basis for the injunction is currently being examined,” a T-Mobile spokesman said. “We have an exclusive device in our portfolio, but if you look at the market, that’s normal. The main thing is we will sell the iPhone. There is no stop to selling the iPhone.”

Legal challenges to the exclusive nature of the iPhone have been filed in the United States but to date nothing has come from these actions. Europe may be a different story. Consumer protection and anti-trust laws are very different in Europe and vary between countries. One of the staples of the iPhone is the exclusive right to carry the handset on a network. Apple works out lucrative deals to share revenue with carriers that win the bid to carry the iPhone.

One way Apple may be able to overcome the German injunction is to offer an unlocked iPhone in Europe that can access any service provider. Apple can claim that the current 399 euro price is a subsidized price and offer unlocked iPhones for a high price that few consumers would pay. I’m sure Apple has some clever lawyers working on ways to keep the iPhone locked in Europe so don’t stay up nights worrying about Apple’s European profits.

AT&T is in negotiations with Ingenio to buy the online advertising company. Ingenio’s technology traces the effectiveness of advertisements by tracking phone calls made to businesses based on phone numbers used in ads. The ads tracked can be online, on mobile phone Web sites, or print. Ingenio’s technology provisions the phone numbers and tallies the calls. Rates paid by advertisers are based on the volume of phone calls generated by the ads.

AT&T plans to meld Ingenio into its Yellow Pages Web site. This will allow AT&T to take advantage of the trend toward performance-based advertising. With Ingenio’s service, advertisers don’t need their own Web sites to use the service. Advertisements appear across Ingenio’s network and point viewers to phone numbers to call, not necessarily to Web pages.

Currently companies like AOL use Ingenio for pay-per-call ads, and MSN uses it for ads sent to mobile phones. AT&T expects the deal to buy Ingenio will be finalized in January of next year.

This move by AT&T will help the company compete with Google and Yahoo! in the online advertising arena. Advertisers are looking for better ways to target their audience with ads and for ways to track the success of advertising campaigns. Ingenio will help AT&T in this endeavor.

AT&T
Ingenio

Verizon Wireless announced the release of two new mobile phones today. It seems that the holiday season brings out the best in companies. The Voyager and Venus will be on sale this week. Both hand sets will be sold in all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores. The Venus goes on sale today and the Voyager will make the display case on November 21.

“These phones offer customers some of the most exciting technology available today,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “The combination of touch and tactile keypads that are features on both devices give customers a winning combination that is rare in the market today. We are excited about these phones and expect them to be in high demand during the holidays.”

Both handsets include a 2.0 megapixel camera, VZ Navigator capability, a microSD memory slot that can support up to 8 GB of additional memory, and dual screen displays. The Voyager has a large external touch-screen while the Venus has dual external screens, with the bottom screen using touch technology. Both units also offer access to V CAST Video. This service provides news, sports and entertainment clips along with 3D games. V CAST Music can be used by the phones to access over 2.4 million songs that can be downloaded to the handsets’ memory.

“The Venus and the Voyager by LG are two groundbreaking handsets with the advanced features and style that LG Mobile Phones is known for,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy and marketing for LG Electronics MobileComm USA, Inc. “These distinctive devices give consumers the choice they want in their mobile phone experience.”

The Venus is available for $199.99 after $50 rebate and two-year customer agreement; the Voyager will be available for $299.99 after $50 rebate and two- year customer agreement. Both phones can be purchased online or in a Verizon store. If you are afraid the Voyager is going to be out of stock by the time you get to the story Wednesday, it can be pre-ordered at the link below.

Verizon Wireless

If you have been hoping that a mobile phone is available for sale before the holidays that supports Napster’s wireless digital music service, your wish has been granted. Service provider AT&T and handset maker Samsung have collaborated to create the first mobile phone that supports Napster’s mobile music archive, and it goes on sale this Friday, November 23, just in time for the holiday gift buying rush. This mobile phone, which is exclusive to AT&T, will allow customers to search a music catalog and preview song samples before buying the music.

Napster has a catalog of over five million songs and this partnership will help AT&T compete with Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel in the music download arena. AT&T currently allows Napster subscribers to transfer music form their personal computers to their cell phone via a cable or storage card. This new phone allows music to flow in the other direction. Customers who download a song to their cell phone will get an e-mail allowing them to put a second copy of the music on their personal computer for no extra charge. Songs will cost $1.99 each, or $7.49 for five per month.

AT&T
Napster