Cellular South prepares for Ike

In the wake of Hurricane Gustav, the Gulf Coast and communities throughout Southwest Mississippi are assessing damage and bracing for another possible onslaught from Hurricane Ike, reports Market Watch.

Although widespread power outages due to Hurricane Gustav brought down cellular and Internet service in parts of the region, Cellular South customers experienced minimal service interruptions.

This is because of a multimillion-dollar infrastructure investment and intense preparation; since Hurricane Katrina, Cellular South has invested over $15 million in equipment and system upgrades in the coastal region.

Nokia, which has had about a 40% market share in cellphones, says it expects to lose market share this quarter, partly due to a tactical decision to not meet certain aggressive pricing of some competitors, reports Investors.com.

Analysts speculate that cellphone makers Samsung and LG Electronics, both of Korea, as well as low-cost China-based handset makers ZTE, Lenovo Group and Huawei Technologies, are competing in the price-war game.

"Nokia decided it's not worth going for market share in order to protect its profit margins," says Matt Thornton, an analyst at research firm Avian Securities. "They don't want to go down that path of destruction."

Vodafone UK has started trialling a service that enables all UK mobile users to send text messages from their Facebook profile to friends, says Cellular-news.

The pilot service will be extended later this month to also include picture messages.

The Vodafone Connect to Friends service lets Facebook users send messages not only to their online Facebook friends but also to non-Facebook users and groups.