Nigerian Times

• Gray-market handsets are cell phones manufactured in China that are not recognized or licensed by government regulators. Makers of these products generally do not pay China’s value-added taxes and, therefore, profit illegally from their participation in the market. • China’s gray-market cell phone shipments will amount to 255 million units in 2011, up 11.8 percent from 228 million in 2010. This compares to a rise of 43.6 percent in 2009. 13 Apr 2011 18:00 Africa/Lagos Gray-Market Handsets Continue to Plague AME Mobile Markets, Pyramid Finds PR Newswire CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 13, 2011 CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of gray market handsets sold across AME will remain steady through 2015, however the sharp increase in legitimate handset sales during that period will reduce the percentage of gray market handset units sold in AME to 13 percent, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com). Squashing Gray Markets for Mobile Handsets describe...

Young ladies with their Samsung Galaxy S phones Young and Mobile: A Global View of Cellphones and Youth Nielsen’s new whitepaper on Mobile Youth Around the World reveals that most young people with mobile phones chose their own device. In fact, across all the countries surveyed, only 16 percent of young people reported that their parents selected their mobile phone. Price was the most common consideration among youth in selecting a mobile phone, though that is true among other age groups, too. Youth aged 15 to 24 in all countries surveyed put price as the first purchase driver, with the exception of Russian youth, 21 percent of whom placed design/style first. (Some grown-ups care about design, too. Around 14 percent of Brazilian adults say design/style is the most important consideration, compared to seven percent of U.S. adults.) African girls with mobile phones Click here for more details .

The latest talk of the town is the Samsung Chat and Samsung Galaxy S 4G Android Phone and the newest Nokia Astound based on Symbian 3 platform and finally the hottest talk of the town is the new Samsung Notebook PC has won the 2011 Top Eco and Performance Design Award and lest you forget Samsung Mobile also won the cool Sowambe Award for Best Use of Twitter in Nigeria . See the following press release for the full gist on the TCO Award. 22 Mar 2011 10:00 Africa/Lagos Top Eco and Performance Design Award Goes to New Samsung Notebook PC STOCKHOLM and HOUSTON, March 22, 2011/PRNewswire/ -- The TCO Certified usability and eco-label for ICT products today awarded the prestigious TCO Certified Edge designation to the new Samsung Notebook Series 9 for outstanding achievement in outdoor readability. A first in notebook design, the Samsung Notebook Series 9 delivers superior brightness, which is essential for outdoor readability, while not compromising any key performance or environmental fe...

Nokia E72 No additional fee for data on top of service plan; works with any service plan/data provider. Average cost of paid app $3.47 Easy set up of work and personal email in only 3 steps Out of the box access to consumer email accounts such as Hotmail and Gmail Stay connected to 10 personal email accounts at once Immediate access to most popular IM communities (Yahoo, Microsoft Live and Gmail) High-quality 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens and one touch auto focus Free Ovi Maps with Walk and Drive navigation Ultra slim line design with Stainless Steel and Brushed Aluminum Create separate, customized home screens for work and personal life. BlackBerry Bold 9700 Must have additional BlackBerry data plan ($4+ for RIM vs $1.85 for Nokia) Average cost of paid app $8.26 Over 10 steps to set up email on BlackBerry Dedicated app needed for instant messaging 3.2MP camera No free maps and navigation BlackBerry 8mm thicker than Nokia E72 No ability to separate/tailor home screens Advantages ...