Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer of cellular phones, said it will start making its own brand-name CDMA phones in China and strengthen its presence in one of the world's largest markets.
The Finnish company said it has already begun to merge its four Chinese manufacturing joint ventures into a single Beijing-based company.
Nokia (NOK) will hold a 60 percent stake in the as-yet-unnamed company. The local stake holders will be Beijing Capital, Dongguan Nan Xin Industrial Development, Shanghai Alliance Investment and the Beijing Hangxing Machinery Manufacturing.
Nokia already makes phones compatible with GSM, the system used by 70 percent of the world's wireless users. The company supplies more than one of every three mobile phones sold worldwide, but controls just 10 percent of the CDMA market.
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You've got voice mail: A premium service from AOL aims to make dial-up Internet access more convenient for users who lack a second phone line.
AOL Voicemail, costing $5.95 a month on top of regular AOL (AOL) and phone company fees, will accept calls while the phone line is tied up or unanswered. Messages can be retrieved by phone after the Internet session has ended or online using e-mail.
The service also will alert users of an incoming call and allow them to send back a quick message such as "I'll call you back."
Unlike voice-mail systems offered by local telephone companies, the service will be integrated with e-mail, include up to seven inboxes and automatically log up to 100 calls.
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New Cisco launch: Cisco Systems has introduced the next generation of parts for its high-end switches, meant to solidify its market dominance for gear that directs data traffic on networks.
Cisco, the No. 1 maker of equipment that directs Internet traffic, said the new modules for its Catalyst 6500 switches will offer corporate and telecommunications customers faster speeds using 10-Gb Ethernet technology, more capacity, greater cost efficiency and integrated features like IP telephony and security.
Cisco (CSCO) officials emphasized all those features will come without having to upgrade to new products as the modules can be used with existing technology.
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Government encryption legislation: Cheating on income taxes or neglecting to pay sales taxes on online purchases could get you five extra years in prison if the government succeeds in restricting data-scrambling technology, encryption-rights advocates fear.
Such a measure, they worry, might also discourage human rights workers in, say, Sri Lanka from encrypting the names and addresses of their confidants, in case they fall into the wrong hands.
Draft legislation circulating in the Justice Department would extend prison sentences for scrambling data, something encryption advocates fear would achieve little in snaring terrorists -- and would only punish legitimate uses of cryptography.
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Adobe expands to DVD market: Adobe is expanding into the fast-growing DVD market with a new program designed to make it easier to customize the discs on a personal computer.
The maker of the Acrobat and Photoshop programs plans to announce its bid to profit from the DVD boom. The software, called "Encore," won't be sold until the summer. Adobe (ADBE) isn't selling a version for Apple's Macintosh (AAPL).
With a suggested retail price of $549 per copy, the Encore software isn't meant for the mass market.
The program promises to create slick DVDs for video entrepreneurs and aficionados, a group that falls into a cross section sometimes called "prosumers."
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AMD and Fujitsu Joint Venture: Advanced Micro Devices is expected to announce the formation of a new company with Japanese memory chip maker Fujitsu that would boost the microprocessor maker's stake in an existing partnership, according to a published report.
Analysts have suggested that this move is a precursor to AMD (AMD) splitting into two companies, with much of the management of its core microprocessor business based in Austin and some of the key memory business executives based at its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.
In the new joint venture, AMD, No. 2 in the industry behind Intel (INTC), is expected to own a 60 percent share to Fujitsu's() 40 percent stake in Fujitsu-AMD Semiconductor, according to the San Jose Mercury News, citing industry sources. Each company currently owns a 50 percent share in an existing partnership.
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War may delay tech rebound: The war in Iraq may delay the technology sector's rebound by slowing international business communication and prolonging investors' confidence crisis, Francis Lorentz, the head of Paris-based European Audio-Visual and Technology Institute (IDATE) said.
Lorentz said the war was a concern for an industry that after nearly three years of decline was putting its house in order and forecasting a possible return to growth next year.
But with the U.S.-led war in Iraq nearly two weeks old, worries are growing about the consequences for the technology sector if the campaign turns out to be more difficult than expected.
- AP and Reuters contributed to this report.*
