Australian Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett has ruled that Apple must show Samsung its contracts with Vodafone, SingTel and Telstra if it cannot reach an agreement on Samsung’s accusations that the iPhone maker contractually forces the carriers to subsidize the iPhone. Samsung has also argued that the Apple iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS infringe on its patents, and has sought to ban sales of the devices in Australia. Apple, however, has already successfully banned Samsung’s Australia-based subsidiaries from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. “We will resist any attempts by our friends to push us into a corner,” Apple lawyer Andrew Fox said. “This is quite clearly a fishing expedition.” Earlier this month, Samsung requested the iPhone 4S source code and, according to Bloomberg, Apple provided the company with 220 pages of code, but left out one file. Samsung also has ongoing lawsuits with Apple in Japan, Germany, France and the United States.

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Shares of Research In Motion stock are popping for the second day in a row on rumors that the company may be looking for a buyer. RIM’s stock was up as much as 14% on Wednesday morning as mysteriously sourced rumors suggested U.K. carrier Vodafone is considering an acquisition. Investors see RIM quickly running out of cash — the vendor burned through more than half of its $2.9 billion in cash during the second fiscal quarter alone — and analysts still aren’t convinced management can right the ship. Some still see promise in RIM’s upcoming QNX lineup however, and the company could certainly hold tremendous value for a potential buyer. Market rumors last week suggested that RIM was pulling the plug on the BlackBerry PlayBook and its tablet efforts in general, but RIM broke character and quickly put the rumors to bed. With the company’s stock on the rise, we doubt RIM will dispel this new round of rumors even if they prove to be inaccurate.

More iPhone rumors! New listings on German wireless carrier Vodafone D2′s website add weight to the notion that Apple is planning to unveil only incremental updates at tomorrow’s event. Found by German iPhone fan site ifun, Vodafone’s Elgato Tivizen DVB-T receiver page now lists several new Apple phones as being compatible with the TV receiver. The most notable, of course, are white and black 8GB iPhone 4 models and 16GB, 32GB and 64GB iPhone 4S models, also listed in both black and white. None of these phones have been announced at this point, of course, and all will be revealed tomorrow.

[Via ifun]

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Vodafone in Australia has just put up a teaser page for what is undoubtedly the upcoming Apple iPhone 5. What else could be “this year’s biggest smartphone release,” some generic run-of-the-mill Android handset? In any case, Vodafone is giving interested customers the ability to subscribe to receive updates about the iconic handset once official information becomes available, and it even offers to “end the rumors.” Isn’t that thoughtful? Apple is expected to introduce the company’s next-generation iPhone at a press conference on October 4th with availability to follow sometime in mid-October.

As you can see from the above image, the destruction and slow reconstruction of AT&T is quite a story. With the T-Mobile merger currently being debated by Congress, potentially adding another chapter to the saga, we thought it might be a good idea to look at the genesis of AT&T Mobility as it stands today. It all started back in 2001 with AT&T Wireless…

AT&T got its start in wireless communications when it purchased the Washington-based company McCaw Cellular in 1994. With a subscriber base just north of 2 million users, AT&T had officially thrown its hat into the cellular arena. The company continued to grow and collect end-users, and in 1997 — with current Sprint CEO Dan Hesse as its chairman and CEO — AT&T became the U.S.’s largest cellular provider. In 2000, the company was jettisoned from the main AT&T brand and in 2001 it turned into a separately traded company on the New York Stock Exchange; known as AT&T Wireless.

In 2004, with customer subscriptions declining, the company began to accept bids for an acquisition. U.S.-based wireless provider Cingular — a venture of BellSouth and SBC Communications — agreed to purchase the company for $41 billion. Cingular, through the acquisition, ousted Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone, as the largest cellular provider in the States.

Fast forward to late 2005 and early 2006: SBC Communications purchases AT&T Corp. and begins to market itself under the AT&T brand; the new AT&T announces that it will acquire the phone operations of BellSouth and its stake in AT&T Wireless; and a new company is born. In 2007, after a three-year hiatus, an AT&T-branded wireless company returned with the christening of AT&T Mobility.

Were the AT&T and T-Mobile merger to go through, the company would again — for the third time — become the country’s largest wireless provider through the use of its checkbook. And the vicious cycle continues.

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

The HTC Sensation is now available for pre-order from Vodafone UK, and the carrier says early birds should have the phone in their hands as soon as May 19th. We had a chance to go hands-on with the Sensation early last month and fell in love with the phone. It runs a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and packs HTC’s brand new Sense user interface, an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p HD video, 4GB of internal storage, and a stunning 4.3-inch qHD display. It’s scheduled to land on T-Mobile with HSPA+ connectivity, too, although a launch date hasn’t been announced — we’ve only heard rumors it could be available as soon as June 8th.

[Via Engadget]

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HTC is expected to release the HTC Sensation — formerly known as the Pyramid — later today, and those suspicions were all but confirmed by the anxious folks over at Vodafone. In an early morning snafu, the company outed HTC’s 4.3-inch, touchscreen beast in all its glory. So what are we looking at? Glad you asked. The Sensation will sport a qHD, SLCD display that, as we’ve already mentioned, measures 4.3-inches on the diagonal. Sitting behind that formidable window will be a dual-core, 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 4GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash, and a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. The handset will also be running the new and improved Sense user experience. You don’t have to take our word for it, there is a trio of leaked videos awaiting your scrutiny after the break.

[Via Mobile Bulgaria]

A late night burglary at a Vodafone technical facility in the UK has affected the service of “several hundred thousand” users. Via its forums, the company explained:

We had a break in last night at one of our technical facilities which resulted in damage done to some of our equipment. This means that some customers may be experiencing temporary loss of voice, sms and internet services. We are working quickly to restore these and will be back to normal as soon as we can. There has been no impact on the privacy of customers’ data.

In a subsequent FAQ post, Vodafone confirms that the vandalized site was in Basingstoke, the event occurred between 1:00AM and 2:00AM GMT, and that “specialist network equipment and IT hardware was stolen.”

The company expects its services to be fully restored by this afternoon. Any of UK readers experience this outage?

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As we near one of the biggest shows of the year for the mobile industry — Mobile World Congress in Barcelona — there always seems to be a steady stream of leaks. Maybe excited moles dig a bit deeper this time of year. In any event, German HTC fan blog HTCInside managed to procure a purported screen shot of Vodafone Germany’s internal inventory system, which clearly shows an entry for “Desire 2 HTC.” Details are pretty scarce for the time being, and by that we mean there are absolutely no details to accompany this screen shot. The Desire 2 could certainly end up being a European version of one of the exciting new HTC phones introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show last month, but it could also be something entirely new for the European market. Only time will tell — and since MWC is less than two weeks away, we won’t have to wait very long.

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The world is still holding onto hope that a white iPhone 4 will some day become a reality and if a purported screen capture of Vodafone Germany’s inventory system is to be believed, that day may soon be upon us. Verizon Wireless announced the iPhone 4 just last week and it included an image of a white iPhone on its website in the process. While the inclusion of the white iPhone was an accident and the image was subsequently taken down, the very fact that Verizon’s Web team was working with images of the white iPhone was viewed by many as a promising sign. Today, a series of images reportedly shows entries for a white iPhone in Vodafone Germany’s inventory system. The source of the pictures claims that the albino iPhone should become available soon, so perhaps white iPhone fans will actually have a few months to enjoy the phone before its successor launches this summer.

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Vodafone, one of the UK’s largest networks, has launched a smartphone security service aimed at business professionals. The aptly named service — Vodafone Smartphone Professional — will allow for companies to manage sensitive corporate data remotely without interfering with employee’s personal content. The service will provide IT administrators with an online portal to tweak, remotely wipe and encrypt data over the air. Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director for Vodafone had the following to say:

With smartphones becoming increasingly popular, securing the way data is accessed and stored on these devices is crucial. Many businesses want to allow employees to use the mobile device that they choose to do their job most effectively. With Vodafone Smartphone Professional, businesses have the peace of mind that mobile devices and data are secure.

The service will include the customary 500MB data allowance and will cost you £20-a-month in addition to a £50 in activation fee. A small price to pay for your peace of mind, right?

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Are you still reeling from last week’s Windows Phone 7 press event? Ballmer and Co. announced a staggering 10 handsets (and counting) right out of the gate, sporting their latest mobile OS. HTC, Samsung, Dell, LG among others, have pledged their alliance and announced handsets that will grace the world’s stage over the coming months. We have simplified things for our discerning readers, hit the jump for BGR’s definitive guide to Windows Phone 7 hardware.

HTC

HTC HD7

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 4.3″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 576 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 8 GB in Europe and 16GB in Asia
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, dual LED
• 720 video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• HTC Hub
• Input method: Touch screen only
• Unique Feature: Boasts the largest screen real estate amongst the WP7 handsets
• Carriers and Availability: The HTC HD7 will launch in the U.S. on the 8th of November on T-Mobile. For UK customers, the phone is currently available on O2

HTC Surround

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 3.8″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 576 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 16 GB on-board
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• HTC Hub
• Input method: Touch screen only
• Unique Feature: Slide-out integrated stereo speakers, Dolby Mobile and SRS surround sound
• Carriers and Availability: HTC Surround will be available on AT&T in the U.S., and Telus in Canada by the end of 2010

HTC 7 Mozart

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 3.7″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 576 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 8 GB on-board
• 8 MP camera, Auto-focus, Xenon flash
• 720p HD video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• HTC Hub
• Input method: Touch screen only
• Unique Feature: Best Camera in it’s class, brushed aluminium unibody construction, SRS ‘WOW HD’ sound and boasts a Xenon flash
• Carriers and Availability: Currently available to order on Orange UK

HTC 7 Trophy

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 3.8″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 576 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 8 GB on-board
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• HTC Hub
• Input method: Touch screen only
• Unique Feature: No-frills HTC WP7 handset
• Carriers and Availability: Coming soon to Orange, Vodafone and O2 in the UK

HTC 7 Pro

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 3.6″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 448 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 8 GB on-board
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• HTC Hub
• Input method: Touch screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Unique Feature: The only HTC WP7 phone to sport a physical QWERTY keyboard
• Carriers and Availability: First half of 2011 on Sprint

Samsung

Samsung Focus

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 4.0″ Super AMOLED, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 512 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 8 GB microSD, not hot swappable without a hard reset
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording (23fps)
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• Input method: Touch screen only
• Unique Feature: Vibrant screen, added camera functionality and front facing camera
• Carriers and Availability: U.S. exclusive, launching on November 8th on AT&T

Samsung Omnia 7

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 4.0″ Super AMOLED, 480×800 resolution
• 512 MB ROM, 512 MB RAM
• Internal Storage: 8 GB microSD, not hot swappable without a hard reset
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording (25fps)
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• Input method: Touch screen only
• Unique Feature: Vibrant screen, added camera functionality and front facing camera
• Carriers and Availability: Currently available on Orange and 3 in the UK

Dell

Dell Venue Pro

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU
• 4.1″ WVGA AMOLED, 480×800 resolution
• Internal Storage: 8 GB microSD, not hot swappable without a hard reset
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• Input method: Touch screen and hardware keyboard
• Unique Feature: Scratch-resistant screen (Corning Gorilla Glass), physical QWERTY keyboard
• Carriers and Availability: Available end of 2010 on T-Mobile U.S.

LG

LG Optimus 7 (E900)

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8650 CPU
• 3.8″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• Internal Storage: 16 GB
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording (24fps)
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• Input method: Touch screen
• Unique Feature: Wireless media transfer to DLNA DMR enabled devices
• Carriers and Availability: Coming to Telus (Canada) end of 2010, and currently available on Vodafone-UK

LG Quantum

• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8650 CPU
• 3.5″ WVGA LCD, 480×800 resolution
• Internal Storage: 16 GB
• 5 MP camera, Auto-focus, LED flash
• 720p HD video recording
• Sensors: G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, light sensor
• Connectivity: 3G 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP support)
• Input method: Touch screen and physical QWERTY keyboard
• Unique Feature: Wireless media transfer to DLNA DMR enabled devices, and QWERTY keyboard
• Carriers and Availability: Coming to AT&T on the 8th of November

Are you planning on ditching your iDevice/BlackBerry/Android for a Windows Phone 7? If so, let us know which one you’re leaning toward — there are a lot of options!

Image credit: George Joseph

You can go ahead and pity / envy UK mobile subscribers. If it wasn’t hard enough already, Vodafone has just thrown two more premium handsets into the fray to choose from. If you hit up Vodafone’s official UK website, you can now start placing orders for the gargantuan HTC Desire HD or the solidly-built Nokia N8. The HTC Desire HD is the European equivalent of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G (minus the 4G) found state-side. The phone sports a 4.3-inch WVGA display, runs Froyo out of the box and is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. If this handset tickles your fancy, you can pick it up at most Vodafone retail outlets, or optionally online. According to Tech Radar, Vodafone have confirmed the following pricing and plan details:

The HTC Desire HD is available free on £35, 24 month price plans and customers buying the device online will get 900 minutes (compared to 600 offline) unlimited texts and 750MB (500MB offline) of mobile data,” the company added. Buying online will also give you 5MB of European roaming data in your bundle

If HTC is not your cup of tea, the Nokia N8, might be of interest. The N8 is the first Symbian^3 handset to hit the market. The phone has garnered mixed reviews (ours is coming soon), but has gone down well with the Nokia purists. The phone is free when signing up for a £30-a-month two year service agreement. The Nokia N8 is available in lime green exclusively to Vodafone subscribers; we’re still not sure if that’s a good thing.

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T-Mobile UK has jumped the gun and revealed pricing for the, BlackBerry OS 6-toting Bold 9780. The  Bold 9780 is the successor to the aging, but wildly popular Bold 9700. According to Electricpig, the new BlackBerry will be available before Christmas. The handset will be available for £0 ($0, if you convert) if you sign 2 years of your life away for a £30/month. Reasonable, no? However, we still don’t have any info on tariff details.

The three other major carriers in Blighty – O2, Orange and 3, have remained tight-lipped on availability. With the festive shopping season around the corner, you can expect all the major carriers to jump on-board

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Today, Microsoft announced that all five major UK wireless carriers — Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Three, and Vodafone — will be carrying handsets that run the Windows Phone 7 operating system. “It is wonderful now to have all of the UK’s network operators supporting the launch of Windows Phone 7,” said Alex Reeve, Microsoft UK’s director of the Mobile Business Group. We know plenty about the “who,” what we really want to know is the “when.”

ALL UK MOBILE NETWORK OPERATORS BACK WINDOWS® PHONE 7

LONDON, UK: 22 SEPTEMBER 2010: Today, Microsoft has announced that all
five of the mobile network operators in the UK – Orange, O2, Vodafone,
T-Mobile and Three – will be ranging phones running Windows® Phone 7
when it launches later this year. In addition, Windows Phone 7 will be
ranged by the leading UK retailers The Carphone Warehouse and Phones
4u.

Windows Phone 7 is a different kind of phone, designed to bring
together the things people care about most. Featuring an innovative
and beautiful user interface and integrated experiences, it simplifies
what you do every day. Plus, for the first time ever, Microsoft will
bring together the Xbox LIVE® games and the Zune® music and video
experience exclusively to Windows Phone.

Alex Reeve, Director, Mobile Business Group, Microsoft UK, said:
“Following our announcement at Mobile World Congress that Orange will
be our lead partner, it is wonderful now to have all of the UK’s
network operators supporting the launch of Windows Phone 7. This means
we can provide network choice and also a range of phones across
networks for customers to choose from, all with the power of Windows
Phone 7. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with these major
industry players.”

For more information and see a demonstration of the phone, please
visit www.windowsphone7.com