China Mobile Ltd. (CHL), the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, is pinning its hopes on new third-generation services such as mobile television and mobile readers to drive growth amid increasing competition and falling voice revenue.

Chairman Wang Jianzhou said Thursday the company plans to launch mobile-reader services next year and is working with Datang Telecom Technology Co., Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and Hanwang Technology Co. on electronic reading devices.

It is also planning to launch a trial service for mobile TV on third-generation handsets by the end of this year.

Mr. Wang said the company is targeting several million subscribers to its mobile-TV service in the first year and tens of millions of users in the second year.

The new services should help China Mobile achieve profit growth, he said.

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Verizon (VZ) began advertising its 3G coverage against AT&T’s (T) in a series of ads poking fun at Apple’s (AAPL) “there’s an app for that” iPhone commercials, presenting coverage maps of its own 3G CDMA/EVDO network in red against much more limited 3G service coverage maps for AT&T’s 3G network presented in blue.

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Verizon Wireless’s (VZ) “There’s a Map For That” ads are already a fading memory for those eyeing the newer Droid campaign, but AT&T (T) hasn’t forgotten them.

The telecommunications provider sued Verizon Wireless Tuesday, calling the advertisements “misleading.” Verizon Wireless called the lawsuit without merit, telling The Journal that the ads “clearly explain that non-3G coverage is available elsewhere.”

Here’s how AT&T describes the campaign, from its complaint:

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Nokia Corp. (NOK) unveiled its first cell phone developed with China’s homegrown third-generation mobile technology Tuesday, saying it would aim to “democratize” the smart phone market by aiming to sell lower-priced handsets at higher volumes.

The phone and others like it in the company pipeline could help Nokia, which has struggled globally to keep pace with Apple Inc. (AAPL) in the fast-growing, higher-margin market for premium smart phones since Apple’s iPhone was released in 2007, to close some of the gap by capitalizing on its strength in developing markets. But its look–a slider-style with a mirror-like screen, isn’t much different than what consumers have seen before.

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India will launch auctions on Jan. 14 to allot radio bandwidth for third-generation, or 3G, telecommunications services.

The government will hold a separate bandwidth auction for broadband wireless access, a document on the Department of Telecommunications Web site said Saturday.

The telecom department said it will auction about four blocks of radio bandwidth in most of the nation’s 22 telecom service areas.

It will offer three blocks each in the Uttar Pradesh (West) and Himachal Pradesh service areas, and two blocks each in the Delhi and Gujarat service areas.

The government is validating the frequency available across all circles for the auction, the department said. “Final details of the frequencies to be auctioned will be notified in the notice [that invites applications for bidding],” the note said.

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I see a trend.

Back in July, I wrote a post based on a Bernstein Research report which considered the question of whether the Apple (AAPL) iPhone has been a blessing or a curse for AT&T (T), citing among other factors the strain the data-happy iPhone users are placing on the company’s 3G network. The theme cropped up again earlier this week, in a Heard on the Street column in the Wall Street Journal, which asserted that AT&T is not getting much out of its position as the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier.

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Very interesting tidbit today from Macworld U.K., which found a China Unicom (CHU) Web page with information on the Apple (AAPL) iPhone. Macworld notes that the information, which is in Chinese, is apparently part of a list of smartphones that could theoretically be supported by the 3G network China Unicom is building. The Macworld story notes that the page appears only on the Web site for the company’s Shanghai branch, and did not say specifically that the iPhone would be offered by China Unicom. MacRumors.com used Google (GOOG) to translate the page, which appears to mostly be a list of iPhone specs.

Does it mean China Unicom will sell iPhones once they complete their 3G network? Unclear. But interesting, nonetheless.

AAPL today is up 82 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $108.48.

Update: Speculation on Apple cutting a deal with China Unicom has been floating around for a while now, and perhaps for good reason. In a note published last month, Riedel Research, which focuses on emerging markets, noted that China Unicom will launch their WCDMA 3G network on May 17. In an interview this afternoon, Reidel proprietor David Riedel notes that a high-level delegation from China Unicom was in Cupertino this month to meet with Apple execs.

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After a grueling eight-city coast-to-coast test of the 3G networks run by AT&T (T), Sprint (S) and Verizon (VZ), we’ve come up with some clear-cut test results. Think you know who has the best network? Think again.

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U.S. and European handset demand was “lackluster” in August, creating pressure on pricing, Pacific Crest’s James Faucette asserted in a research note this morning.

Faucette says says handset sell-through is up sequentially from July, but below expectations for the beginning of the back-to-school season. He adds that “price pressures on handsets continue to mount.” He notes that the mix of Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3G sales during August has shifted “decidedly” toward the $199, 8GB model. He says that will increase the difficulty of selling other smartphones “in the usual $250 to $300 range.”

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As sales of Apple 3G iPhones continue to grow, there are also increasing reports of trouble with 3G reception on the devices.

Certainly, demand is robust. Lehman’s Ben Reitzes today writes in a research note that “checks indicate” Apple (AAPL) iPhone demand in the fiscal fourth quarter ending September could top his current estimate of 3.8 million units. And he adds that this “bodes well for cash flow,” and for “an enhanced halo effect for Macs.”

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Not that you’d notice it from yesterday’s stock action, but Citigroup analyst Jim Suva thinks BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIMM) is setting itself up for a strong second half of the year with the introduction over the next several weeks of its 3G version of the BlackBerry, the “Bold.”

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This weekend in San Francisco, the second annual iPhoneDevCamp 2 is underway. Whereas the first confab focused primarily on Web applications, this one has a definite native application flavor, thanks in large part to the fact that the iPhone software development kit (SDK) is out of beta and now available for developers.

When the iPhone was released in June, many developers were disappointed by the absence of an SDK for writing third-party applications on day one.

At D5, Steve Jobs explained to Walt Mossberg that Apple (AAPL) first needed to iron out some security issues before they would open up the device to outside developers:

We would like to solve this problem and if you could just be a little more patient with us, we’ll do it.”

–Steve Jobs at D5 on the availability of an iPhone SDK

Fast-forward to the first quarter of 2008, when Apple made good on its promise by releasing an early version of the iPhone SDK. The fruits of the patient developers’ labor was evident at the launch of the iTunes App Store, where 500 free or commercial applications were available to download onto the new iPhone 3G or the original iPhones running iPhone OS 2.0.

No longer were iPhone users confined to using Web applications running in Mobile Safari or resorting to jailbreaking their devices to use third-party programs.

The App Store made it dead simple for every iPhone user to duel their friends with PhoneSaber or satisfy their Dance Dance Revolution/Guitar Hero/Rock Band craving with Tap Tap Revenge, a game which recently celebrated its one millionth download.

At iPhoneDevCamp this year, there’s a greater and more palpable sense of excitement in the air than last year, and it’s reminding me of the time when I was writing applications for another Apple handheld product: the Newton.

While the green device from Apple was not a commercial success–it was surpassed in sales and popularity by the less-capable, yet smaller and more convenient Palm Pilot–the Newton nevertheless pioneered many features we now see perfected in the iPhone.

Fourteen years ago, the Newton could fax, send email and receive pages; the iPhone is a communications powerhouse with 3G/EDGE/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.

Newton’s handwriting recognition was dramatically improved with Newton OS 2.0 in 1995; the iPhone has fantastic Chinese and Japanese character recognition.

Finally, the Newton promised a day when users everywhere had their own personal digital assistants in their pockets; today, millions of people have chosen their phone to be an iPhone.

Despite leading the Newton protest at Apple Computer in 1998, I admit that Jobs was right to cancel the Newton. He made the correct decision to focus the company’s efforts on Mac OS, and it’s paid off.

The iPhone, after all, is running a version of the same operating system powering today’s Macs. The release of the initial iPhone raised the bar significantly for mobile users tired of using the same-old devices from Palm, Microsoft, and Symbian.

At iPhoneDevCamp 2, the bar is rising even higher for native third-party applications. If you were excited about the first 1,000 apps, wait till you see what comes out this weekend!

Below are photos from Friday’s welcome reception at iPhoneDevCamp 2. For more information, visit the iPhoneDevCamp 2 web site.

iPhoneDevCamp2 Friday Night Photos

Order these photos from SmugMug

AT&T is admitting that if it discovers users of its wireless broadband 3G service are making use of P2P apps, it will cut them off completely, and claims that it makes this clear in the terms of service. It hasn’t happened yet, but this bit of data will supposedly be used by a dissenting FCC commissioner this week to show that Comcast’s traffic shaping is pretty tame compared to other “rules” out there on network usage (ignoring the very different nature of the networks in question, of course).

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When Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off of the iPhone 18 months ago, the wireless establishment offered a smug response. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a Nokia executive sniffed that Apple’s new gadget merely validated his company’s strategy, and voiced his surprise to journalists that the iPhone didn’t use the latest 3G networks for fast data connections. “Overall, it’s very exciting for us,” he said, implying the mighty Nokia had nothing to worry about.

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Research In Motion (RIMM) shares are lower this morning heading into the company’s announcement after the close of results for its fiscal first quarter ended May. The Street consensus is for revenue of $2.27 billion and profits of 85 cents a share.

Meanwhile, RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky asserts in a research note this morning that AT&T (T) appears likely to launch the new 3G Blackberry Bold in mid-August, two or three weeks later than expected, “as it continues to stabilize the device” on its 3G HSPA network. He reports that the launch with Rogers in Canada is on track for July, with other carriers expected to offer the phone later in August.

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