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-- Sony Ericsson releases SDK for Flash-Java technology: Four months ago, Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Ericsson ( NSDQ: ERIC ) Developer World announced Project Capuchin, which allows developers to use features from both Flash Light and Java to build an application. Today, Sony Ericsson is releasing a software developer kit (SDK), which includes a set of APIs, a packaging tool and tutorials. All of these programs are free and available at www.sonyericsson.com/developer . -- PlayPhone launches TV channel to sell mobile content: Mobile Entertainment company PlayPhone said today that it will launch a TV channel through joint venture with Top Up TV , a company providing TV services for Digital Terrestrial Television. The channel is called Playphone Hits and will be used to show off the mobile content offered by Playphone's Splash Mobile service. Programming will include music videos and competitions, but there will always be a Playphone presence on the screen, which will offer ringtones, games, celeb videos, news and gossip and other content. Viewers will be able to text to interact, or visit the Splash Web site at http://uk.splashmobile.com . The channel will Sept. 6. -- Business app market: U.S. businesses will spend up to $11.6 billion on mobile applications by 2012, according to new research from Compass Intelligence . This year U.S. businesses are expected to spend an estimated $4.9 billion on mobile applications. The apps include mobile productivity, contact management, GPS/Navigation, Email, security, file sharing, collaboration and tools. The report names both Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) and Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) as leading vendors in promoting this trend. -- HipCricket is segment leader: Frost & Sullivan named HipCricket as the winner of the 2008 Market Penetration Leadership Award for its ability to deliver mobile marketing campaigns for radio and TV, specifically targeted at the Hispanic-American market. -- Qik On Windows Mobile: Qik, the live-streaming mobile service...

-- O2 Details Pay-As-You-Go iPhone 3G Price And Release Date: O2 plans to begin selling the iPhone 3G without contract on a post-paid subscriber basis on Sept. 16, Stuff.tv reports . The 8GB version will sell for $623 and the 8GB version will go for $713 – both of which include free Wi-Fi and unlimited 3G browsing for the first year, a deal that can be extended for $18 a month thereafter. One caveat: visual voicemail isn't included on under the Pay As You Go arrangement. -- AT&T ( NYSE: T ) Gets Exclusive Content From Nelly's Latest Album: Weeks before Nelly's "Brass Knuckles" album drops Sept. 16, AT&T will deliver exclusive content from the album on mobile, U-verse TV and the blue room online. The offering, which goes live tomorrow, will include ringtones, a live webcast and on-demand content for television and mobile phones. Wireless subscribers will get early access to exclusive ringtones from the album and four full-track downloads from the album on Napster ( NSDQ: NAPS ) Mobile and Napster To Go. ( Release ). -- Phonevalley Expands Into Russia: Mobile advertising firm Phonevalley has launched operations in Russia, Wireless Week reports . Russia's economic boom and growing consumerism led the company's decision to expand into the country. Phonevalley was acquired by Publicis Groupe last year and has offices scattered throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe. Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .

GetJar , which distributes free mobile applications to consumers on the Internet and over the phone, said it is branching out its business by building application storefronts for wireless carriers. A few months ago, that would have been unheard of because carriers typically want to own the relationship with their subscribers. But with the success of Apple's ( NSDQ: AAPL ) App store, which Steve Jobs said made $30 million in its first four weeks, copycats are really starting to take off. For example, earlier this month, I reported that T-Mobile will create an open storefront this Fall that would allow developers to sell their applications freely to their subscribers, and yesterday Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) announced the Android Market, a store for Android phones when they become available later this year. Of course, there's other app stores too, including Handango, which sells apps to smartphone users. When I met up with Bill Scott, GetJar Network's VP of sales and business development in Seattle this week, he said GetJar is seeing the same trend and is starting to work with carriers to distribute free apps on their decks. The numbers are convincing. So far, GetJar claims that consumers have downloaded 300 million applications in total from its site, with a monthly average of about 13 million downloads worldwide and more than 500,000 in the U.S. It distributes everything from Google Maps and Yahoo's ( NSDQ: YHOO ) Go to nifty, but also less useful items, such as Disco Light, which makes your phone flash, and Battery Drainer, which makes your phone flash and beep until it's dead. Adult entertainment is also fair game. The company initially had no intentions of being an app store, but Founder Ilja Laurs of Lithuania stumbled into it. As a game developer, he always had a hard time getting his games tested. One day he posted it on a Web site, asking people to download it for free and report any bugs (That also explains the company's name...Jar is the suffix...

Last week, I caught up with Jeff Holden , the CEO of Pelago , which is developing Whrrl , an application for mobile phones that lets people share opinions about events and restaurants and organize meet-ups with friends. Pelago has the distinction of being the first investment of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer's iFund, which is dedicated to funding iPhone applications. It subsequently also raised funds from T-Mobile's investment arm, among others. But Holden, who is a former Amazon exec, is distinctive in his own right. From his office in downtown Seattle, where he was wearing cargo shorts and a polo shirt on a rainy day, he covers ground quickly, and makes whopping predictions. One is that Amazon ( NSDQ: AMZN ) will become a hardware company and the second is something he's banking on—that Apple's ( NSDQ: AAPL ) iPhone will evolve from a niche device to one that gains double-digit market share. When it comes to explaining his company's vision, he references scenes from sci-fi movies and uses made-up words and phrases, like "foot-streaming" and the "digital augmentation of the physical world." He addressed the challenges they faced with the first iPhone app, the new version; integration into Facebook and Twitter, and the carriers Whrrl will launch with soon. Holden summarizes his excitement by drawing parallels between Pelago and Amazon: "Whrrl makes people's lives a lot better. Amazon made their lives a lot better, too. I get charged about that." Here's a summary of our conversation: -- The iPhone app: The Whrrl application launched In July with the App store, but received hundreds of complaints on its landing page for not using GPS and not being able to zoom to find restaurants. Holden said it still was downloaded more than 100,000 times over the first few days, and that iPhone users have been more active and engaged than users on the Blackberry platforms. A new iPhone version launched in the last week solves...

Now that the 2008 Summer Olympics have come to a close, the mobile industry is looking for the next big news event that could drive traffic and create long-term users for the new medium in the U.S. And based on just a handful of events and announcements that have occurred within hours of the huge fireworks display at the closing ceremonies in Beijing, they have their hearts set on the U.S. presidential election. Based on early findings, it could be a good pair. The Pew Internet And American Life Project found that a record-breaking 46 percent of Americans have used the internet, email or text messaging to get news about the campaign. Here are some other indications that make the case: -- Barack Obama announces his running mate via text : As many of you may know, Obama said he'd announce his VP by sending a text message to his loyal followings. It did not end up working out exactly according to plan, with both traditional media outlets, like the LA Times and The NY Times breaking the news first that Joe Biden was going to be his running mate, but it was close. Read more about it in Matt Kapko's post . -- MediaFLO launches news channels : MediaFLO, which provides broadcast content to some phones on both AT&T ( NYSE: T ) and Verizon Wireless' ( NYSE: VZ ) networks, said it will be adding three new news channels in time for the elections and democratic and republican national conventions. The three additions are: CNBC, MSNBC and Fox News. We have more details here . -- Google launches mobile election site : Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) said on its blog today that it has launched a a site at m.google.com/elections to allow people to stay up-to-date on the elections from their phone. At the site, users will have access to mobile search results from keywords "obama" and "mcCain" so you don't have to type in the info each time. There will also be results from mobile news, YouTube and Maps. -- Buzzwire launches DMC coverage : Buzzwire said it...

-- 3G Lawsuit: A lawsuit has been filed against Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ), alleging that the iPhone 3G is defective. The plaintiff hopes the suit will become a class-action complaint, reports ArsTechnica . The story goes that Alabama resident Jessica Alena Smith filed the complaint this week, calling out the iPhone 3G's performance issues, "despite the claims made by Apple's aggressive marketing campaign." The plaintiff had problems with the iPhone's data connection, which seemed to only connected to the 3G network 25 percent of the time. She had problems with dropped calls, too. -- Yahoo ( NSDQ: YHOO ) Search for iPhone: A Yahoo developer writes on his blog this week that he has just finished the full Yahoo search for the iPhone's Safari browser. It includes SearchMonkey, Search Assist, shortcuts, and other features. The post details who was involved and how it even meant a developer spending his time in Paris, head-down in front of a computer. If you don't already know, Search Assist is the nifty technology that completes your queries before you've finished typing them; SearchMonkey modules will follow you from your desktop browser to your iPhone (but you have to be logged in to your account); and there's movie times, weather, local results, breaking news, Flickr photos, and other stuff. If you don't have an iPhone, they provided screenshots here . -- Russian Availability: Apple has agreed to let Mobile TeleSystems, Russia's largest mobile phone operator, sell iPhones in Russia and retail sales will begin in October, a source told Reuters . There's no word on how much the devices will cost, or if there will be any special circumstances. A spokeswoman for MTS declined to comment. Apple also declined to comment. -- New iPhone Apps: Several new apps said they were launching in the Apple App store, including San Francisco-based Stitcher , which creates a personalized news and talk radio application. The download is free, and...