Vodafone Re-launches 15 Dollar Phone for Developing Countries

Vodafone is tapping emerging markets and developing markets with two self-branded handsets in the range of USD $15-$20. In the first phase, the phones will be launched in India and six markets in Africa, including The Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania. In India, it is expected that device availability will reach 60% of the population.

deCarta Location-enables Opera Browsers

Location-enabled services have shown dramatic growth in the past twelve months. As GPS is integrated into more handsets, many mobile services use location to provide valuable context for the user experience, whether seeing information on a map, finding places nearby or getting directions. Mobile-browser provider Opera Software has partnered with California-based deCarta to bring maps, local search and travel routes to Opera browsers. Under the agreement, Opera can refer its users to access maps, local search and travel routes quickly, localised for their region.

MSI Intros SUSE Moblin Powered Netbook

MSI has become the first original equipment manufacturer to sell a fully-supported Intel Atom processor-based netbook running Moblin-based technology to consumers. MSI and Novell has announced the upcoming availability of SUSE® Moblin – a mashup of Moblin and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop -- preloaded on the MSI U135 netbook, thus addressing the growing demand for lightweight, mobile netbook devices.

Moblin v2.1 Project Release for Netbooks and Nettops Released

Moblin v2.1 for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops release includes significant feature additions and improvements including enhanced browser functionality and plug-in support, UI enhancements, support for 3G data connections, Bluetooth* device management, input method support for localized languages, integrated application installer for the Moblin Garage, performance and stability improvements, and additional overall help and documentation.

Use Intel Alpha SDK to Write Netbook Applications and Earn Money

Intel has announced a new opportunity for developers to earn money by writing netbook applications via the Intel® Atom Developer Program community, and selling their applications through future application stores. Developers were told to look for a software development kit (SDK) to help them develop applications and components for netbooks.

Intel Atom Processor Developer Program for Mobile Devices to Spur New Wave of Applications

To encourage the creation of innovative applications for Intel® Atom™ processor-based products, Intel Corporation has launched the Intel® Atom™ Developer Program for independent software vendors (ISVs) and developers.

Eclipse Gets a Silverlight Link

The wait is finally over for developers who want to write Microsoft Silverlight applications using Eclipse. Microsoft has announced a release candidate for an open source development toolset for the Eclipse development environment -- which itself is available in free and commercial versions -- that enables programmers to build applications that use Silverlight front-ends without having to rely on Visual Studio or Expression Studio.

Micro Focus Expands Modernization Solutions Portfolio

Micro Focus has announced the availability of Liant 12, the newest version of its application development product suite. The release includes upgrades to Micro Focus development products including RM/COBOL, Xcentrisity and the RM/COBOL data tool Relativity. According to Micro Focus, Liant 12 includes numerous refinements that improve existing functionality and performance, including larger capacity and increased efficiency for RM/COBOL identifiers and improved compatibility with Windows.

Motorola, Nokia and Genuitec Lead Eclipse Pulsar Initiative

The Eclipse Foundation today announced Pulsar, a new industry initiative to define and create a standard mobile application development tools platform. The initiative is led by Motorola, Nokia and Genuitec. Participating members also include IBM, RIM and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.

Voting Opens for India's Premier Software Development Awards

The second edition of India's first and premier awards, the Great Indian Developer Awards, for the software developer ecosystem will recognize organizations and products that are contributing to the evangelism, productivity and innovation excellence of the Indian developer ecosystem.

Mozilla Rolls Out Third Beta of Firefox 3.1

Mozilla Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 has been released. This milestone is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. This milestone includes improvements to private browsing mode, and better performance and stability with a new Tracemonkey engine.