Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder and former CEO, has died at the age of 56 after a long and highly public battle with cancer.

‘We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,’ read a statement by Apple’s board of directors on October 5.

The homepage of Apple’s website switched to a full-page image of Jobs with the text, ‘Steve Jobs 1955-2011.’

Clicking on the image revealed the additional text: ‘Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.

‘Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.

‘Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.’

Jobs had stepped down as CEO in August after conceding that his illness would require his full attention, and thus that he would no longer be able to lead the company effectively.

Kuwait cellco Wataniya Telecom, which is 51 per cent owned by Qatar Telecom, may seek a dual stock market listing in Qatar by the end of this year, its chief executive has said.

"(The) Qatar listing is still on the cards, but has taken a bit of time because of issues between the exchanges. They have asked for more information," Scott Gegenheimer told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference. "It’s planned before the year-end."

The remainder of the company is listed in Kuwait.

Wataniya Telecom has operations in Kuwait, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria and the Palestinian territories.

In March 2007, Qtel paid US$3.7 billion for 51 per cent of Wataniya from Kuwait Projects Company Holding KSC (KIPCO) and other related parties.

A new MVNO has launched in the UK, targeted exclusively at the African migrant community, claiming to be the first player to launch prepaid mobile credit transfer over SMS between the UK and Africa. The service effectively allows African callers to reverse charge calls to the UK.

Vizz Africa will provide a dedicated mobile SIM card to allow the African community living, working and travelling to the UK, to communicate with their friends and relatives in Africa at discounted rates.

The company claims to have agreements with all of the African operators, and the service allows users to transfer prepaid mobile credits to individuals back in Africa safely.

Pat Nabhan, CEO of parent company QiComm said the firm has plans to launch international mobile money transfer services in addition to airtime credit transfer, but that a number of banking regulatory hurdles remain to be negotiated.

Qtel today announced the launch of its LTE programme, which it claims will deliver the fastest and largest 4G network in Qatar.

The project will deploy nearly 900 base stations across the country, with implementation beginning immediately.

The programme will provide ongoing improvements to mobile broadband Internet services for customers in 4G coverage areas, and offer potential download speeds of up to 150 Mbps on mobile devices.

Qtel successfully completed a nationwide trial of LTE technology over the summer, and is in discussion with some of the leading companies in this area to support the technology roll-out.

During the roll-out, 4G coverage will be provided as an option in a growing number of areas in Qatar, starting with highly populated urban areas such as Doha and expanding across the country. Qtel says it will work with a number of leading vendors to ensure that devices capable of using 4G technology are available.

Qualcomm held its annual innovation event last month, where much of the emphasis was placed on the growing connectivity of traditional and non-traditional communications devices, and the interfaces to interact with them. Demonstrations included wireless health applications, augmented reality and gesture-based technology, underlying Qualcomm’s growing portfolio of next generation mobile services. Comm. reports from Istanbul

Jacobs says Qualcomm is spending a lot of time looking at how to get its chipsets into other devices and machines beyond [traditional] mobile devices

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