Mobile phones

High-speed Bluetooth devices using ultra wideband (UWB) technology could ship as soon as next year following the decision by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) to back the UWB standard from the WiMedia Alliance. Bluetooth currently operates at a maximum speed of 2.1Mbit/s which is sufficient for a wireless link between a headset and mobile phone.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's largest handset maker Nokia on Thursday raised its forecast for global market growth thanks to strong subscriber demand, sending its shares to almost 2-year highs.

Finnish Nokia and its rivals like Motorola Inc. are looking for growth in markets like China, India, Russia and Brazil as most consumers in Europe and the United States already have mobile phones.

U.S. operators have driven down the price of mobile phone calls in recent years as they tried to win new customers or steal each other's subscribers in the fiercely competitive market, which had as many as six national operators at one point.