Panasonic VIERA P905iTV mobile TV cellphone video demo

After last week’s price war, all breath was suitably baited this week for Sprint’s answer to the multiple $99.99 “unlimited talk” plans its rivals offered. And despite disappointed suspicions that the beleaguered CDMA carrier would throw caution to the wind with a $60 offering, in actual fact their Simply Everything plan - which includes talk, messaging, data, internet access, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS and PTT for $99.99 a month - has neatly slotted in as perhaps the best available in the US right now. Little comfort for investors, though; the same day Sprint announced almost $30bn in losses this quarter, and froze dividends.

Helio also had some financial shakiness, with analysts only taking a measured view of their mounting debts ($560m over three years) because of their record 264-percent revenue growth. Ironically, over in the GSM camp things are looking far more rosy; T-Mobile finally announced their full 2007 performance including a healthy $4.4bn service revenue.

Apple seized headlines early in the week with an invitation to a special iPhone SDK event on March 6th - PHONE Magazine will be there live blogging all the announcements, so set your alarm to 10am PST and join us then! - amid rumors that while Exchange support would be introduced, the long-awaited software development toolkit has been further delayed. Current suspicions point to a beta release this coming week but a delay of the full package until the WWDC this Summer. There’s also talk of just how resolute Apple’s grip on aftermarket apps will be; after initial fears that they would insist on validating each program themselves, releasing them solely through iTunes, it now looks as though free software will go unchecked while they extract a tithe from paid software.

Meanwhile, the iPhone got a firmware update to 1.1.4 (comprising simly bug-fixes) launched in its fifth market, Ireland, with carrier O2 offering the worst set of tariffs to-date. Out of everything, the absence of unlimited EDGE could make Ireland the most expensive place to own the iconic cellphone.

As for other handsets, PHONE Magazine brought you an exclusive video of the NTT DoCoMo handset everybody was talking about - Panasonic’s mobile TV-capable VIERA P905iTV - while Garmin’s nuvifone got the company into some hot litigious water thanks to a trademark suit from PBX specialists Nuvio.

Finally, our Week in Review wouldn’t be complete without the latest in the ongoing Motorola saga; this time, the ailing US manufacturer saw its expectation rating slashed by analysts Oppenheimer from “outperform” to just “perform”, taking with it 4-percent of their stock value. How long before the company tries to appeal to the patriotic vote, do you think? “Buy US, kids - buy Motorola!”

Summary of Israeli High-Tech Company Capital Raising Q2 / H1 2007

IVC Reports: Capital Raised by Israeli High-Tech Companies In H1/07 Reaches $842 Million – Up 10% From H1/06 12% of Capital Invested is Directed to Seed Companies

TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The following are the findings of the Quarterly Survey conducted by the IVC Research Center, which for more than eight years has been at the forefront of venture capital and private equity research in Israel.

In the second quarter of 2007, 118 Israeli high-tech companies raised $436 million from venture investors – both local and foreign. The amount was up 7 percent from $406 million raised by 121 companies in the previous quarter, and 8 percent ahead of the $404 million raised by 109 companies in the second quarter of 2006. In the first half of 2007, capital raised was $842 million, up 10 percent from H1 2006 levels.

Israeli VC Investment Activity

In the second quarter of 2007, Israeli VCs invested $193 million in Israeli companies, an increase of 13 percent from the previous quarter and 25 percent above Q2 2006 levels. In the first half of 2007, Israeli VCs invested $364 million in Israeli companies, an increase of 10 percent from H1 2006.

“H1 figures indicate 2007 may set a five-year record with high-tech investments reaching $1.7 billion,” said Zeev Holtzman, Chairman of IVC Research Center and Giza Venture Capital. “Despite the global competition in technology-focused investments – mainly from Asian markets

– Israeli high-tech industry continues to appeal to foreign investors and to benefit from the steady growth of worldwide markets." Holtzman also added that "Israeli VC funds, relying on this positive climate, are expected to raise new funds over the coming months which, in turn, will increase their investments in high-tech companies."

IVC Research Center is Israel’s leading research center providing business leaders with an unmatched wealth of data on Israeli venture capital, private equity and high-tech industries. Among IVC products and publications are the Israel Venture Capital Journal (IVCJ), IVC Yearbook and online database containing over 5,000 Israeli high-tech companies, venture capital funds, investment companies, as well as news updates.