During Robert Gibbs' first press conference as Barack Obama's press secretary, Gibbs announced that Obama would be able to keep his beloved BlackBerry, although it comes with some conditions that Obama has eagerly agreed to. Only a small number of Obama's senior staff and very close friends will know his e-mail address, along with security features being enhanced on the device to keep the President safe from someone hacking into his phone (finding out his exact location) and people who are given Obama's e-mail address will be briefed about appropriate communications between them and the President.
Obama will be the first sitting president to use e-mail while serving in the White House. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush didn't use e-mail while serving as President, although Bush was an avid e-mailer before entering the White House.
The data on Obama's BlackBerry will be subject to the Presidential Records Act, which requires the National Archives to record presidential records, including e-mail communications and is available to the public (and congress) to view. That is one reason previous presidents, such as Clinton and Bush, chose not to use e-mail as a source of communication between staff and personal friends.

Europeans will soon be able to buy the new G1 phone, when Germany’s T-Mobile, releases it to select European countries by January 30th, 2009.
The G1 phone is manufactured by the HTC Corp of Taiwan and features a touch-screen, keyboard, Wi-Fi connection, and the features of search, maps, and e-mail. Industry analysts consider the G1 phone the most likely Apple iPhone contender, although it will take time to know for sure if the G1 is a major threat to the iPhone.
In the USA the G1 retails for $179 (139 Euros) in conjunction with agreeing to a two year contract, although in Germany the phone will sell for the amazing and symbolic price of one Euro ($1.33) in combination with a two year contract.
One of the hopes for T-mobile is to start a continuous revenue stream from data traffic as prices for mobile voice call plans decline. Both Google and Apple have been trying to get countless software developers to create applications for their respective devices, but Google, unlike Apple, is letting their phone’s operation system be open to adaptation by outside developers. By using this partnership there are now more then 40 manufacturers and other wireless phone companies that are contributing to application development for the G1 phone.
The competition between T-mobile’s G1 phone and Apple’s iPhone is bound to be interesting and competitive, but the ironic part is that Apple’s iPhone is sold exclusively through T-mobile in a lot of European countries.

Many industries are being hit by the global recession and the mobile-phone market is no exception, as one of the biggest suppliers of mobile devices, Nokia, is realizing as their sales plunge.
Nokia, a Finnish handset maker, had fourth-quarter sales drop 19 percent to $16.5 billion compared to the same period last year. Nokia’s profit also dropped by more then 69 percent.
In November and December, Nokia had warned investors that sales were going to be lower than expected, but Nokia did not expect the magnitude of decline that happened. High end sales were not the only products that hit Nokia hard, as low end sales were also hit at the same time. For Nokia this was a surprise as they had driven much of their profit into low end sales the last several quarters.
The company lost money to Apple with its iPhone and Research In Motion with their BlackBerry devices in high end sales. They also felt a slowdown in developing markets, where they provide phones cheaper then in more developed nations due to already strained economies. In China which is Nokia’s largest market, the company sold 36 percent fewer devices then the same period a year ago and sales were down 23 percent in the Middle East and Africa.
For Nokia to make more of a profit, they will need to reduce there annual costs in there devices and service operations. The estimated figure that would need to be cut would be $900 million by the end of 2010 and the cost cutting will no doubt be resulting in job cuts, but Nokia’s CEO said he doesn’t know how many jobs will be lost.

Since its release at the beginning of 2008, no one has really had any complaints about the Touch Cruise from HTC - but then again, we haven't really heard much of anything about the device. Even though the mobile device wasn't a hit to begin with, HTC has taken last years design and rehashed it hoping that the device might catch more attention. The dimensions of the overall device have shrunk from 110mmx58mmx15.5mm down to 102mmx53.5mmx14.5mm. The weight of the Touch Cruise was also decreased by 20%. The whole body also was smoothed out, getting rid of harsh edges for smoother curves.
On the software side of things, HTC also made some changes with the device. They added a re tagging feature that they are calling "Footprints." When you snap a picture with the Touch Cruise, Footprints will auto-tag the photo with your GPS coordinates and then it gives you the option to record a voice or text note.
The Touch Cruise isn't just a nice phone however, the phone comes with a car cradle that lets the phone magically morph into a turn-by-turn GPS unit, while adjusting the UI accordingly.

The CES (Consumer Electronic Show) ended a couple of weeks ago and one of the highlights was the nine new cell phones that were announced. All of which are different and have many features available to them.
One of the phones that was announced was the new Palm Pre from Palm. The phone features include a 3.1- inch touch screen display, Slide out QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and a 3 mega pixel camera with LED flash.
Also announced from Sony Ericsson was the C510 and W508. The C510 features a 3.2 mega pixel camera and is comparable to that of a normal point-and-shoot digital camera. The W508 features Shake and Gesture control, which allows users to control volume control, shuffle function, switching off the alarm, and muting the volume, when the phone is in mp3 player mode. The W508 also features SenseMe and TrackID both of which are features that are found on most Sony Ericsson mobile phones.
Motorola announce three new phones, the Tundra Va76r, MOTO W233 Renew, and the Motosurf A3100. The MOTO W233 Renew is the first mobile phone made of 100 percent recycled materials, the Motosurf A3100 features a touch-enabled screen, and Windows Mobile, while the Tundra Va76r is a cell phone that will be able to withstand extreme conditions due to its rough exterior, and will feature Push to Talk service.
Nokia announced two new phones during the CES. The 7510 which will be available through T-Mobile USA and the E63 smart phone, which will be available through many different wireless carriers, and will be affordably priced at $279.
HTC also joined in at the CES and announced the S743 which will feature a 12-key front keypad with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and will sport a small form factor design so the device will fit comfortably in your hand.
At the 2009 CES there were nine new phones announced through five different wireless carriers. With all of these new phones consumers are bound to have a lot of different options phone and feature wise and it may get difficult to choose which one fits your needs.

Land Lines are a dying breed in residential sector. Tough economic time aren't helping either. To spice up this sector, Verizon Wireless has produced a new touch-screen home phone system in hopes that consumers will keep their unattractive landline services. The company has named the new product the Verizon Hub and it is set to be released commercially on Feb. 1st, 2009.

The new device features visual voicemail, contact list management and messaging options; which is set to include text messages, calendar alerts and audible turn-by-turn directions that can be sent to any Verizon cell phone. The device also doubles as a digital picture frame and comes equipped with access to local news, weather, directions though VZ Navigator, directory assistance, and the choice to preview movie trailers, along with purchasing movie tickets through Handango. Verizon has also stated that they plan to make available VCast music and videos specifically for the Hub and that the Hub will be upgradeable from a companion website on a PC or from a Verizon mobile phone.
Verizon has claimed that the Hub will work on any existing open broadband connection from any broadband service provider, anywhere in the United States. At launch the Hub will only be able to do syncing features like sending GPS directions to a cell phone if you have a Verizon Wireless plan, but Verizon is considering opening it up to work with other wireless providers such as AT&T and Sprint.
Verizon’s new Hub is designed to appeal to the increasingly amount of consumers who are ditching or contemplating about ditching their land line service in the near future. The Hub will be sold for $199 after a $50 mail-in rebate plus a two-year contract with a monthly charge of $35. If Verizon can convince the general public that their product is worth the extra money then the Verizon Hub might become a staple in most American homes.

First announced last week, UStream.tv's iPhone app is finally out and is available as a free download through the Itunes App Store. The app lets you search through UStream content and it will begin playing the selected feed almost immediately on your phone.
Another feature of the app is the ability to have a live user chat with others who are watching the same feed that you are. The live chat is either displayed below or to the side of the video you are watching depending on how you are holding the device. You will need to create an account, if you don't already have one on UStream.com, to see and leave comments, otherwise the space where the comments would appear stays grayed out. Other then video, the stand out feature of this app is the audio quality, which is comparable to the audio that you would get from your computer speakers.
The downside to the UStream.tv app is that you are required to have a Wi-Fi connection to use it or your iPhone won't load the app. This is do to the app not yet supporting the 3G or Edge networks, although the company that created the Ustream.tv  app has said they plan to incorporate both networks in an app upgrade which is planned for the months ahead.
If the UStream.tv app gets upgraded to support the 3G and Edge networks, I believe that this app could be a staple in all iPhone users repertoires do to the great video feeds and the excellent audio quality.

In a recent CNN interview Barack Obama stated that he is determined to bring his BlackBerry with him to the White House whether his security team likes it or not.
Before the president-elect was sworn in Tuesday, the U.S. Secret Service reportedly told Obama that he would have to hand over his BlackBerry once his term started. In theory a hacker could break the security on Obama's phone and potentially obtain top secret information such as data about national security or his exact whereabouts.
Obama's BlackBerry is reportedly a 8830 World Edition, which has GPS features built in. The manufacturer of BlackBerry devices, Research In Motion, heavily stands by their security features, no technology is a hundred percent hack-proof.
The U.S. Secret Service prohibits any president from carrying a cell phone in order to minimize all of the possible security risks. Also all of the president's e-mail must also be recorded and made available for the public to view when requested.
Obama has been viewed as the most tech-savvy president and his campaign was the most digitally sophisticated one ever due to their use of the internet to organize and raise funds. Many people seem to agree that stripping Obama of his BlackBerry will make his transition to the White House extremely rough.
Obama has stated that despite security concerns he plans to take his BlackBerry with him into the White House, but the decision is awaiting final approval and has yet to be determined.