UFONE, EMS and RIM Launch BlackBerry in Pakistan

August 31st 2007, Islamabad - UFONE, the second largest GSM operator in Pakistan, Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation and Emitac Mobile Solutions (EMS) LLC, a strategic channel partner of RIM in the region, today announced the successful completion of testing of BlackBerry® solution on UFONE’s network. Soon UFONE customers will be able to enjoy the BlackBerry offerings.

The BlackBerry solution is an ideal tool for work and life, allowing users to stay connected to customers and employees while away from the office as well as friends and family while on the go. UFONE customers can enjoy trusted and popular BlackBerry solution’s features including: wireless access to email, phone, text messaging, browser, organiser and other mobile data applications.

“The BlackBerry solution has become a must-have for business and personal communication and is popular with millions of users across the globe. UFONE has a vast base of rapidly expanding customers and this initiative will significantly help its corporate and individual customers in Pakistan” said Mubashir Naqvi, President and CEO UFONE.

“BlackBerry is a great tool for success, keeping users connected to the people and content that is important to them. It offers great personal productivity gains and flexibility. We are committed to extending the global availability of the BlackBerry solution and pleased to be launching today to UFONE customers” said Charmaine Eggberry, Vice President and Managing Director of EMEA at Research In Motion.

“BlackBerry, including smartphone, software and services, is a unique and powerful solution that enables users to stay connected whilst on the go. We are honoured to be working with a progressive operator like UFONE.” said Mr. Babar Khan, CEO of Emitac Mobile Solutions LLC.

Designed for corporate customers, the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with IBM Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange and Novell® GroupWise® and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data.

For individual, the BlackBerry® Internet Service enables users to manage up to ten supported corporate and personal email accounts including most popular ISP email accounts from a single device.

Beware everyone unlocked iPhones may hang up

Since the start of iPhone's production in June, users and business people has been trying to unlock it and trying to enable its use on networks other than the AT&T which is official network of iPhone.

Users trying to use iPhone before it officially gets available in Pakistan and India in 2008

According to the New York Times, the latest software update from Apple is turning unlocked phones into ‘iBricks’ — phones that are as useful as bricks.

On September 24, Apple warned users that unlocking the phone with a service other than AT&T’s (the official provider in the US) would damage the software. And with the new update, which adds Apple’s latest improvements, including better iTunes support, users run the risk of their iPhone becoming “permanently inoperable”.

But iPhone fans are unfazed and users are simply avoiding the update. Tech forums that were buzzing with queries about the availability of unlocked iPhones are still alive.

An Islamabad-based business man bought an unlocked iPhone for PKR 50,000 said he is successfully using iPhone with his ufone number.

But what about Apple’s claim that unlocking the iPhone damages the software? “There are a few bugs, but they don’t matter given the features I can still use,” Jain said.

Isn’t he afraid that the update will render his investment useless? “Not at all. I’ve disabled automatic updates. The phone wasn’t unlocked by Apple, so I would be stupid to install an update and risk damaging it,” he said.

Is eBay India CEO lying?

September 29 2007 Only 28 Cars and 19 Motorcycles listed on eBay India

Per this link:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/jun/24inter.htm

eBay India sells 18 cars, 65 two-wheelers every day

This has to be a flat out lie. If you look at eBay India website, www.ebay.in there are hardly any two-wheelers or cars listed.

For example, on Sept 29th, 2007, www.ebay.in listed 28 cars and 19 two-wheelers listed in their respective categories. Are the including toy cars and toy two-wheeler's in these stats?