According to sources, the company is expecting to make a grand announcement at its Macworld Expo in January 2008 to the effect that Jobs’ halfway mark in iPhone sales has been achieved. It’s not official yet – I’m sure the figures will be counted and recounted before the official number is announced. Sales have been apparently been going through the roof and the iPhone has, like Apple’s own iPod, become yet another technological phenomenon. Stay tuned, and have a Merry Christmas.

The HTC Touch Dual is finally out in the market, following closely the launch of its predecessor, the HTC Touch. The phone comes with 3.5G wireless/HSDPA connectivity, sliding keypad and touchFLO. This feature, seen earlier in the Touch, enables finger-touch scrolling, panning and photo zooming, and also gives easy access to the music player.

The HTC Touch Dual features a Qualcomm MSM7200 chip running at 400MHz with Windows Mobile software that allows users to stay connected with people and access information and entertainment by a single, personalized device. The phone also comes equipped with a 2MP camera, a second camera for video calls, worldwide connectivity (HSDPA, 3G, and GPRS/EDGE/GSM), Direct Push Outlook e-mail, Live HTC Home featuring time and weather display, quick launcher, and one-touch ring tone settings.

On the one hand it has stuff like Symbian 60 and a 5MP camera like the N95, but it has more of the appearance of the N81, along with the N-Gage gaming platform. But the N96 brings more to the table too. There’s 16GB of internal memory in this puppy, which is double what the N95 8GB offers. What’s more, the display is a glorious 2.8-incher, they’ve tossed in DVB-H for digital TV, a kickstand for desktop viewing, and funky backlit touch buttons that morph to suit the current needs. Music brings up the usual rewind and fast-forward, whereas N-Gage brings up gaming controls. Expect the Nokia N96 to launch with an asking price of about $800, but it probably won’t have support for US 3G.

Thankfully, part of the back plate acts as a lens cover too. Other features on the Sony Ericsson C902 mobile phone include a music player with Mega Bass, TrackID, FM radio, music tones, Access NetFront browser, and RSS feed support. Expected launch date for this phone is sometime in the middle of this year. No word on pricing.

Diverse, innovative and market-leading handsets and technologies, including a brand new Ultra Edition II range and the first European demo of Mobile WiMAX, further strengthen Samsung’s position as a design-led, forward-thinking company that heavily invests in research and development to advance the market and fuel consumer demand for innovative new technologies. Samsung’s design-driven, premium multimedia handsets are epitomized in its Ultra Edition II and Ultra Special ranges, which will be available during the first half of this year.

Whilst its involvement in Europe’s first mobile WiMAX demonstration, due to be showcased by Samsung and partners, illustrates Samsung’s dedication to mobile technology leadership and investment in market-leading standards. Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Network Business, said: “It is always exciting to be part of such an important industry event, particularly because it is my first time attending as the President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Business.

Our strategic focus on premium line-ups will be further enhanced this year by the introduction of our new Ultra Edition II and Ultra Special ranges. In addition, the realization of Samsung’s vision for future mobile technology is clearly supported with our Mobile WiMAX demonstration, putting converged, mobile device at the hub of all communications. In 2007, you will see a continued commitment from myself and Samsung to listen to and respond to the needs of our customers even more closely and ensure we are producing devices that further enhance lifestyles, whether at work or at play.”

The Samsung SPH-B5800 provides users with traffic information updated every five minutes, as well as information about famous local restaurants and travel guides via terrestrial DMB channels. Existing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are limited to guiding drivers on a specific route using an embedded map, but Samsung’s B5800 shows current traffic conditions as “cleared”, “sluggish” or “congested,” and guides drivers with the optimal route to their destinations. Users can also compare routes that reflect traffic conditions.

Moreover, unlike GPS in the past, there is no longer a need to access servers: Traffic information received via terrestrial broadcasting can be used to determine routes. The B5800 supports a feature that allows users to view all channel lists while viewing DMB programs and thus, enables users to easily browse and find desired programs. Users can also enjoy User Created Contents (UCC) via ‘Photo Movie Maker’, which saves picture slides as videos, and can send and receive text messages while playing a MP3. It also includes a 2-mega-pixel camera, a 330,000 word electronic dictionary, ‘My Pet’ function, file viewer, and audio book.

It reflects the recent trend in telecommunications industry of touch screen user interface and, for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface, it also implements a QWERTY keypad and VibeTonz technology, which allows them to feel the buttons, accompanied by responsive vibrations. A “Drag and drop” method of touch screen was adopted for easier menu navigation along with music play list control for an expanded multimedia experience. Volume, play lists, brightness of screens as well as other menu control can be controlled utilizing the touch screen. As speed is becoming crucial for data are able to view content on a stunning 2.78″ color display.

The device features first class entertainment with a top-of-the-line 5 mega-pixel camera with auto focus and Bluetooth. With 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, it makes it easier to watch videos, listen to songs, share high-quality photos, or catch up on email on the move.” The introduction of our Ultra Smart F700 reflects the needs of today’s consumers by including features such as touch screen, enhanced connectivity to mobile internet, and access to an array of multimedia content,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business. “The Ultra Smart F700 is a good example of communications, Samsung has included the latest trends in mobile to the Ultra Smart F700.

The Ultra Smart reflects the latest speed of 7.2 Mbps under the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network. Once the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network completely deployed, F700 users can download an mp3 song (about 4MB each) in 4.4 seconds. A full HTML browser along with the QWERTY keypad enables easy access to the Internet for e-mail and data services.

And for the first time the rhetoric of companies like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, who have boasted of putting a multimedia computer in your pocket, no longer seems far fetched.” Converged devices are always with you and always connected,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia chief executive at last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Last year Nokia sold almost 200m camera phones and about 146m music phones, making it the world’s biggest seller of digital cameras and MP3 players.

In the coming year the firm predicts it will sell 35 million GPS-enabled phones as personal navigation becomes the latest feature to be assimilated into the mobile phone. Form and functionNigel Clifford, chief executive of Symbian, said: “All of those single use devices - MP3 players, digital camera, GPS - are collapsing onto the phone.” We are going past the point where this was a phone with a few other things,” he said. Symbian’s operating system shipped on 188 million phones last year and a third of those came with GPlS. “We see mobile phones evolving into multi-functional devices that now support consumer electronics, multimedia entertainment and mobile professional enterprise applications; all converging,” said Luis Pineda, from mobile phone chip firm Qualcomm.

But the MVNO with Sprint shut down after only 18 months, with Disney finding it more profitable to sell its content through other service providers. Japan, a nation of 127 million people, has more than 100 million mobile phones in operation — which translates into a major challenge for service providers to achieve growth. A Walt Disney Japan official said the firm was confident of success here as Disney already had a strong following in Japan, where Tokyo Disneyland receives tens of millions of visitors every year.