Gossip

Nobody more surprised by Motorola than ... Motorola!

Our Sniffer was fascinated by the Frog phone system designs which Motorola has revealed to a surprised world. They look so much like IXI Mobile designs, and yet they aren't. So the Hunky Mouse phoned the Hunky Mole inside Motorola.

"Interesting, your personal mobile gateway project leaking out like that," said our sleuth.

The response was aghast: "Oh, no, they haven't pre-announced it, have they? It's not due to be revealed for weeks!"

Astonished (the Frog designs are due to be shown at the New Orleans CTIA show next week) our mouse assured him it was going to be official.

"No, no, not at all. Not for ages. And what's a Frog?" asked the puzzled Chicago mole.

Intrigued, the Hunky Mouse rang A Source inside IXI Mobile. "Can you tell me, this announcement from Motorola, is it you people?"

A very hesitant and embarrassed series of "um" and "erm" and "uh ... " followed - culminating in a couple of "dunnos."

Could it possibly be the case that Motorola has a left hand working with Frog, and a right hand working with IXI, and the Frog knoweth not what the IXI doeth?