Research In Motion revealed a new tablet device and associated operating system at its developer conference yesterday. The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will arrive in the USA early next year (and in other markets from Q2 2011), while the BlackBerry Tablet OS software development kit is planned for release in the next few weeks.

Mark Bridge writes:

RIM and Sony Ericsson each reveal a new product within 24 hours. One has a 7-inch screen and a big announcement at the company's developer conference. The other, with a 1.3-inch micro-display, has a lower-key launch. Yet it's the similarities that have attracted my attention.

Fixed and mobile broadband technology company Allot Communications says mobile data bandwidth usage increased by 68% during the first half of 2010. Video streaming consumed 35% of all mobile bandwidth, making it the largest-consuming application. Thanks in part to the continuing popularity of YouTube, it's also the single largest-growing application type, showing a 92% increase. YouTube alone accounted for 13% of mobile data bandwidth.

India's Supreme Court has set 25th October as the next hearing for Vodafone's tax appeal. Vodafone could owe the Indian government more than 120 billion rupees (around £1.7 billion) following a court ruling earlier this month, although the company insists nothing is due. The case centres on Vodafone's 2007 purchase of Hutchison's Indian business, which saw Netherlands-based Vodafone International acquiring a stake in Hong Kong-based Hutchison; the stake was owned by a company in the Cayman Islands. Mumbai's High Court says Capital Gains Tax is payable and should have been collected by Vodafone.

Three UK has launched 0.facebook.com, the 'lightweight' mobile version of the social networking site. The service was announced at Mobile World Congress this year and went live in May, although it wasn't supported by any UK networks. Now Three says it'll offer its customers free mobile browsing on the new 'Facebook Zero' site for at least the next 12 months.