This week started with the rumor that Sony Ericsson will be announcing its Hikaru Walkman phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, offering 8GB of internal storage and 8-megapixel camera with auto-focus. The latest rumor also suggests that the official announcement of Nokia E75 also will be held Mobile World Congress on the 16th.

This is the first BlackBerry rumors of the New Year: BlackBerry 9300 ‘Gemini’, a possible successor of the 8900 and can be considered a “3G BlackBerry Curve.”  It of course rocks quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA.

A US optimized version of the Nokia E63 hits the stores. The E63 comes with 3G connectivity, WiFi, a 2 megapixel camera, and a standard 3.5 mm audio jack and available for USD 279 with no mobile service contract required.

Sony Ericsson announced the new C903 Cyber-shot Phone, a phone with built in A-GPS, 5 megapixel camera, dedicated camera keys, a 2.4-inch display screen and support TV-Out connection.  T-Mobile US launched BlackBerry Curve 8900 and will cost you $199.99 after mail-in rebate and a two-year contract, but you can purchase the phone without contract for $499.99.

Palm CEO Ed Colligan says they will just focus on developing webOS and Windows Mobile devices. The bad news is there will be no more PalmOS devices released, except the Centro getting released on other carriers.

The Fennec (”Firefox Mobile”) team has released a “milestone” version of their Windows Mobile browser, especially for the HTC Touch Pro (since it’s just designed for 300 dpi at VGA resolution at the moment).

Samsung has delayed the release of its first Android phone until the second half of this year, Guardian reported.  There will be no “made in Korea” Android phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Acer, currently the world’s third largest computer maker, is now becoming another new player in the smartphone industry. Two of Acer’s upcoming smartphones, tipped for launch at their MWC announcement next week,  have leaked: DX650 and X960.

Garmin and Asus today announced two nuvifones, M20 and G60 and will will show off them at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. Garmin-Asus is a co-branded partnership with Garmin and Asus parent ASUSTek Computer.

Opera Software will show off its latest mobile browser called Opera Turbo at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 16-19, 2009. Opera Turbo offers full support for dynamic Web technologies such as Ajax and Flash.