Qualcomm, best known for its chip production, has created a subsidiary business that'll focus on mobile technology. Qualcomm Services Labs will "explore new ideas, technologies and service models that can have an immediate impact in the marketplace" by looking at five main areas: communication, information/entertainment, discovery, life automation and 'digital to physical'.

Motorola has recently acquired software developer 280 North, although neither organisation appears to be saying much at the moment. 280 North describes itself as “dedicated to advancing the state of the art on the web”; it’s created a browser-based presentation application called 280 Slides and has also released its app-building framework Cappuccino as an open source project.

Cellmania, which described itself as “the leading provider of wireless search, provisioning and billing solutions to wireless operators”, has been bought by Research In Motion.

It appears likely that Cellmania’s expertise will be used for BlackBerry App World, the RIM application store.

In this week's edition of The Fonecast we take our regular look at mobile industry news from the last seven days, including two Ofcom stories, two Intel stories, two network problems, three sets of financial results and nine arrests.

Samsung has revealed details of its forthcoming tablet computer in an online video. The Samsung Galaxy Tab will apparently have a 7-inch screen, a built-in camera that supports video calling and will run Android 2.2. It's expected to offer HD movie playback and, like the Galaxy S smartphone, will include Swype software for text entry. A formal launch is expected at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on 2nd September.