Research In Motion (RIM) has unveiled its newest smartphone, the BlackBerry 9000, called BlackBerry Bold in reference to its gorgeous display and its symbol of accomplishment and aspiration.

For customers seeking a smartphone that makes a bold statement, Research In Motion (RIM) introduced the admirable BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone. Crafted from premium materials, inside and out, that radiate elegance with a dramatic presence, the BlackBerry Bold is designed to give business professionals and power users unprecedented functionality and performance in an intuitive BlackBerry® smartphone. It is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world and comes with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi®, as well as a rich set of multimedia capabilities. From its lustrous black exterior, satin chrome finished frame and stylish leather-like backplate, to its stunning display, sophisticated user interface and newly designed full-QWERTY* keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold smartphone is a symbol of accomplishment and aspiration. [RIM Press]

BlackBerry Bold Smartphone features:

• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
• 480 x 320 displaywith 65,000 colors
• 624MHz Intel PXA270/Marvell Tavor PXA930 mobile processor
• 128 MB Flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory, as well as a microSD/SDHC memory card slot
• Runs BlackBerry OS 4.6
• Applications include phone, email, messaging, organizer and browser and GPS
• DataViz® Documents to Go® suite preloaded to download Word, Excel or PowerPoint files and edit them directly on the handset.
• MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4 and WMV3 codec support
• 2MP camera with flash
• 4.5 x 2.6 x 0.55-inches, 4.7 ounces
• Battery life: 5 hours of talk time, and 13 days on standby time

Price for the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone was not disclosed but it is scheduled to be available from wireless carriers around the world beginning this summer.

Research In Motion is still the smartphone market leader although it is facing increasing competition from Apple’s iPhone.

Adobe Systems announced it will start licensing its Adobe Flash Player software for mobiles devices at no cost to improve the mobile Internet experience.

The project, called the Open Screen Project, is supported by a group of industry leaders, including ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics, Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless. The project is dedicated to driving rich Internet experiences across televisions, personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics. Also supporting the Open Screen Project are several content providers, including BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal, who seek to reliably deliver rich Web and video experiences live and on-demand across a variety of devices.

The Open Screen Project is working to enable a consistent runtime environment — taking advantage of Adobe® Flash® Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR™ — that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and devices, including phones, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and set top boxes. The Open Screen Project will address potential technology fragmentation by enabling the runtime technology to be updated seamlessly over the air on mobile devices. The consistent runtime environment is intended to provide optimal performance across a variety of operating systems and devices, and ultimately provide the best experience to consumers. [Adobe PR]

According to Adobe, its Flash Player currently reaches over 98% of Internet-enabled computers and more than a half billion handsets and mobile devices. The company also said it is working on a version of Flash for the popular Apple iPhone.

VirtualLogix, a real-time virtualization software startup, has received an equity investment from Motorola.

The amount was not disclosed but Motorola’s investment follows similar moves by companies such as Intel, Cisco Systems, and Texas Instruments, which previously invested in VirtualLogix.

VirtualLogix allows cell phone manufacturers to create mobile devices that run multiple operating systems, sharing the resources in an easier and more efficient way.

VirtualLogix VLX for Mobile Handsets is a high-performance, real-time virtualization solution that is targeted at wireless devices using ARM core-based system-on-a-chip (SoC). VLX for Mobile Handsets allows multiple execution environments to simultaneously run on a single ARM processor core. The secure, fault tolerant architecture enables the isolation of each execution environment, allowing phone services, trusted services or device management functions to run unaffected by potential corruptions in an open operating system (OS) such as Linux and its applications.

Virtualization software enables smart phone functionality to be quickly introduced using feature phone architecture by enabling existing modem software and real-time operating system (RTOS) to co-exist with the open OS and its applications on the same processor core.

VLX for Mobile Handsets maintains real-time operating system (RTOS) performance guarantees, allowing handset manufacturers and wireless operators to deliver more reliable, lower-cost mobile phones with advanced features to the mass market. [VirtualLogix]

As mobile devices proliferate with continued short life duration, “demand for simplified product designs that allow dynamic mobile experiences will intensify,” stated Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Ventures, when announcing the investment.

So far, programmers had to code every application (social networking services, games, email or any other features) for each of the different operating systems, including Windows Mobile, Symbian, or Google’s Android. But with virtualization, Motorola could for instance have a Web-browsing application written for one system, an e-mail application for another, and calling features designed for a third OS, and gracefully integrate them onto one single phone.

Jaxtr, a social communications startup that let users link their phones to the web, is now providing a service that allows sending free SMS internationally, without restrictions, whether or not the recipient is a Jaxtr member.

Recipients can reply directly with their cell phones, or click on a link, sign up to Jaxtr and send a free reply through their cell phone’s Web browser.

The service allows text-messaging directly from the member’s home page to cell phones in 38 countries. Jaxtr’s basic membership is free and includes access to the new international SMS service.

Jaxtr’s new service is ad-supported although they plan to incorporate a premium service for a fee in the future.

Mobile phone calls will be allowed on planes flying in European airspace under new rules established by the European Commission.

The decision took three years of hearings and negotiations, and pressure from business travelers, airlines and manufacturers of new in-flight mobile phone systems, but Europe now has a standardized code to match up technical and licensing requirements across borders.

However, at this time only 6 passengers on any given flight can get a signal at the same time, although there are plans to expand it to 12.

Airlines are currently thinking of ways to offer the new service. Among the ideas considered: mobile-free sections of the aircraft, or use at limited points in the flight.

Cell phones will have to be switched off during takeoff and landing, and will not operate over countries that prohibit passengers from using their cellphones in during flights.

To ensure that the phone calls don’t interfere with the airplane equipment, they will be linked to the ground through a mini cellular network stored in an overhead luggage compartment.

The network’s purpose is to create an area of coverage in the aircraft that connects, via a satellite, to mobile networks on the ground. Cell phone companies are expected to establish roaming rates as if they were international calls; depending on the provider, these could range from €2 to €3 per minute ($3.2 to $4.8).

Yahoo said it would add new voice-enabled features to its mobile platform to make Web search easier to cellphone users.

The new OneSearch 2.0 technology will let consumers use voice commands for search services beyond current mobile voice recognition systems. The service will allow wider searches for locations, restaurants, flight information, Web sites, news or local listings.

Yahoo mobile voice searches may take as little as five seconds to recognize the search and to return the results to the device on conventional networks and from 10 to 20 seconds on slower networks.Yahoo plans to introduce the service on 500 different devices and international markets by the end of the year. Consumers will be able to download OneSearch at m.yahoo.com/voice.The company, which predicts there will be more than 40 times more mobile devices than PCs by 2010, expects to monetize OneSearch and other mobile services such as instant messaging or e-mail through advertising.

Amazon has launched a new service that allows shoppers to compare prices and buy products on their cellphones via text-messaging.

The service, called TextBuyIt, is designed to let users text the name of a product, its description, its UPC or its ISBN to “Amazon” (262966 on the keypad) and then returning matching items as well as prices. Buyers can instantly purchase their selection by texting back the single-digit identification number next to desired item. Amazon then calls to confirm the order and walk the customer through the checkout process.

Amazon will be facing competitors such as mShopper, which launched a similar mobile shopping service in 2007.

Sony Pictures Television said it will become the first Hollywood studio to launch a movie network on cellphones in the U.S.

The company has signed deals with AT&T and MediaFLO to start offering movies from several labels as early as May.

The channel, called PIX, will contain full-length movies that have been already broadcasted on TV, theatres or DVDs such as “Karate Kid,” “Ghostbusters” or “Resident Evil.”

The service will be ad-supported and not be available on demand although Sony could eventually convert PIX to an on demand model or take it online.

AT&T has not yet disclosed a price for the new mobile TV package.

A company called Microvision specializes in the development of new generation display and imaging products for mobile applications.

Our products address the unmet need facing growing mobility markets. Namely, consumers want a far better viewing experience than they currently get from traditional small displays on their mobile devices. Microvision offers OEMs in the telecommunications, consumer electronics, automotive, and avionics markets customized design and development of our proprietary display engine, called PicoP™. PicoP enables an ultra-miniature video projector capable of producing color rich, high resolution, large images, but small and low-power enough to be embedded directly into mobile devices, such as cell phones.

Other potential display applications based on the PicoP are numerous and include tiny projectors embedded into or used as accessory displays for mobile devices such as personal media players, gaming devices, laptops, and DVD players.

We are also working to leverage the PicoP into vehicle displays, including automotive and aerospace head-up displays, as well as wearable full-color displays designed as fashionable eyewear. [Microvision]

PicoP is capable of producing full color, high-resolution images (848 by 480 pixels) for up to 2.5 hours. Mobile devices such as cell phones, digital cameras, portable media players or laptops can be enabled with pico projection capabilities turning photos, videos, and other content into big viewing experiences that can be shared with others.

Apple has introduced new models of its iPhone and iPod Touch devices with double the memory of previous versions.

The latest iPhone offers 16 GB of memory and costs $499. The previously released 8 GB version will still be available for $399.

The new iPod Touch comes with 32 GB of memory and will sell for $499. Apple will continue to sell the older 16 GB and 8 GB versions at $399 and $299, respectively.

Apple said that all iPhone and iPod Touch models come with updated software which includes a new maps application and the ability to watch movies from the iTunes movie rental service.

Apple, which stated in January that it sold more than 4 million iPhones since it was launched last June, stood for 28% of the U.S. smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2007 according to research firm Canalys. Research In Motion (maker of Black Berry) had the largest market share (41%) and Palm took the third place with 9% of the market.

Worldwide, Nokia is still the clear market leader with a 52.9% of all smart phones during the fourth quarter. Research In Motion was second with an 11.4% and Apple took the third place with a 6.5% of the market.