Samsung being sued twice

Samsung is under attack from two different directions. Memory chip maker Spansion is taking legal action against Samsung, claiming that Samsung's memory chips violate Spansion's patents. This doesn't just affect Samsung products but also devices from other manufacturers, including music players, mobile phones and digital cameras. Meanwhile Kodak is suing Samsung and LG over patents that it says are being violated by camera phones. [Sources: Cellular-News.com; WashingtonPost.com]

Customers happy to pay extra for decent cameras on mobiles

Research company Strategy Analytics says consumers in the USA and Western Europe are most willing to pay extra for a camera on their mobile phone. Over 60% of all respondents said they'd be willing to pay extra for a quality camera on their mobile. Other popular options included a video camera, music player and removable memory cards. Customers aged 35 and older were less willing to pay extra than younger consumers. [Press release]

New Mobile News podcast now online

Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell discuss the latest mobile industry news in this week's edition of the Mobile News podcast. There's also a feature about the new Nokia 'Comes With Music' service and a preview of the 8-megapixel LG KC910 camera phone. You can download or listen at TheFonecast.com and on the Mobile News website... and you'll find us on iTunes and via RSS too.

Adobe launches Photoshop service for cameraphones

Adobe has announced Photoshop.com Mobile, which will offer online photo storage and sharing to US customers with a compatible Windows Mobile handset. 5GB of storage is free, with additional storage chargeable. Uploaded photos are synchronised with Photoshop Elements 7 (although the software isn't essential to use the service). [Sources: Flashdevices.net; Photoshop.com Mobile]

Sony Ericsson launches mobile phone camera competition

Sony Ericsson has launched its third World View photography competition, which is open to anyone with a camera phone. The competition, which has a first prize of a £10,000 trip, ends on 31st October 2008.

Sony Ericsson raises the megapixel bar

Sony Ericsson has announced an 8.1 megapixel camera - the C905 - which is expected to be in the shops by the end of the year. [Press release]

Camera-based mobile motion detector coming to UK

American company GestureTek says it will bring its 'EyeMobile' camera-based motion control to mobile phones in the UK. The company, which is part-owned by O2's parent Telefonica, uses the cameras in mobile phones to detect movements and convert them to commands on the phone. [Source: BWCS.com]