3GSM's "3G For All" campaign lives on in the hearts and minds of companies around the globe that are looking to capitalize on developing nations' nascent 3G networks, and this little gem is a pretty good start. Purple Labs, a purveyor of mobile Linux software stacks, has teamed up with NXP Semiconductors to announce the "Purple Magic" reference design, a flip phone that features 3G data, video calling, media playback, Bluetooth, and a Java virtual machine for a purely theoretical retail price of under $100. Though there's no telling who'll pick up the platform -- or when, for that matter -- it's good to see that companies have their eyes on the prize and have the technology and know-how to get high speed devices pumped out for pretty dirt cheap. Look for the Purple Magic to make its public debut at MWC later this month.

[Via MobileTechNews]

We seriously have no idea what Qualcomm was thinking here, but it turns out that those two so-called "Snapdragon prototypes" being shown at CES this year... wait for it... don't use the Snapdragon platform. Now, that would've been just fine with us had Qualcomm made it clear that they were built using its existing chipsets, but they didn't. Here's the best part: Qualcomm actually contacted us with a minor correction on our original story (they wanted us to point out that their ARM-based cores are highly customized) without bothering to mention that our "Snapdragon-powered" statement was not accurate. Anyway, it turns out that the Anchorage and Fairbanks prototypes are merely meant to demonstrate "examples of what Snapdragon-enabled devices will feature," which begs the question: if the current MSM series chipsets are capable of the same functionality, aren't those probably the wrong features to be demonstrating? That behavior walks a fine line between poorly executed PR and outright deception, Qualcomm, and we'd ask that you not let it happen again.

[Thanks, Sascha]