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Sony Ericsson has introduced its first Windows Mobile phone, a full-featured multimedia handset designed to take on Apple’s iPhone. The company took the wraps off its 5.1-ounce Xperia X1 and said it would begin marketing the phone in the second half of the year. (Yahoo!/Newsfactor.com 2/12)

Even as Bebo is rumoured to be in sale talks, it has today signed a deal to to allow its 40 million plus members to produce and share content on their mobile phones, reports TechCrunch UK. Bebo’s new client application for handsets is provided by Intercasting, which has the Anthem product for social sites. Yesterday Bebo said it had signed a distribution deal with T-mobile in the UK ,where it also has an existing partnership with operator Orange. In Ireland, Bebo is currently partnered with O2. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/13/bebo-extends-its-mobile-reach-as-sale-talks-buzz  2/13)

Yahoo! expects to launch its new oneConnect integrated cell phone service in the spring, the company announced, saying it will combine seamless e-mail, instant messaging and social networks with an open architecture. “The key driving force in opening up the platform is putting content into the device. No company can create these ecosystems alone. We have to be open,” Executive Vice President Marco Boerries said. (MSNBC/Associated Press 2/12)

RIM has blamed a software upgrade designed to speed up users’ e-mail handling for the three-hour blackout of its BlackBerry service Monday. The company had given a similar reason for the April 2007 outage that shut down service for 10 hours. (The New York Times 2/13)

AOL by midyear hopes to launch an open platform to enable third-party developers to create mobile applications. Programmers using the AOL Open Mobile Platform will have the option of incorporating AOL tools and services, including its ad platform, into their applications, according to this article. (InfoWorld/IDG News Service 2/12)

The iPhone will soon be able to support Adobe’s Flash format, according to Gearlive.com, opening it up to a world of online video content. So far only low quality H.264-formatted video has been viewable.

Nokia, one of the world’s largest mobile handset makers, is making a play to become one of the largest mobile advertising networks. Nokia is expanding its Nokia Media Network, which places ads on publishers’ mobile Web pages, with new publishers including Hearst, Reuters and Discovery. (http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628406  2/12)

Nokia has allied with Google to integrate the search firm’s technology with the mobile-phone manufacturer’s own search services. (International Herald Tribune/Associated Press 2/12)