iSuppli, of all companies -- you know, the teardown people -- is reporting that Nokia has stopped using outside contractors altogether for manufacturing its hardware. Nokia has always had a good deal of in-house manufacturing capability, but certain products -- including its upcoming MID, allegedly -- have been contracted out to ODMs like Foxconn and its contemporaries, so this calls a whole slew of initiatives into question. Notably, many of its recent CDMA devices are made outside of Nokia proper, so we've got to wonder -- does this mean they'll be taking up the slack internally, or is CDMA once again on the outs for these guys? See iSuppli's full press release after the break.

[Image via Unwired View]

We tend to think Sony Ericsson and partner HTC pretty much nailed the X1 -- at least to the extent a WinMo 6.1 phone can be "nailed" -- but for whatever reason, it looks like the company might be looking elsewhere to continue development of its Microsoft-based lineup. DigiTimes (which, granted, doesn't have a spotless record when it comes to this sort of stuff) is quoting a Chinese paper in saying that SE is cheating on HTC with Mobinnova to produce its second XPERIA model, and what's more, they're suggesting that Sony Ericsson's entire business partnership with HTC will draw to a close when the final X1 rolls off the assembly line. We're seriously unsure why they'd go their separate ways after creating one of the most beautiful phones of the year, but hey, business is business.

[Via the::unwired]

We'll be totally honest -- we pretty much blew Ruslan Kogan off when he proclaimed that he was about to push out a $199 Android phone by the year's end. And truthfully, the guy still hasn't totally delivered, but you won't find us kvetching about more Googlephones, regardless of MSRP. The Agora (AU$299; US$192) and Agora Pro (AU$399; US$256) are available for pre-order as we speak, though neither one is scheduled to ship out until the end of January. For those unfamiliar with Kogan, it's an online-only enterprise that has wares built specifically to its dimensions in China, and so far as we can tell, it's as legit as they come. As for specs, the Agora packs a 2.5-inch touchscreen (320 x 240), 3G networking, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot; the Pro adds in GPS, 2-megapixel camera and WiFi. So, with unsubsidized prices this low, are you willing to take a chance?

[Via iTWire]

And so, it begins. A young, entrepreneurial Australian apparently thinks he has the chops to assemble an Android-powered handset in just over a month, and better still, he expects to sell it for just $199. Reportedly, this whiz-kid (25-year old Ruslan Kogan) offers up a variety of "Kogan-branded" kit that he has built directly for him in China, and presumably, he's hoping to do the same with a Google-fied cellie. Wondering what it'll look like? "Similar to the iPhone," meaning a touchscreen-based device with WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. In his words: "It's a matter of loading the Android system on to the phone, configuring it, making sure it works very well and then the manufacturing of the few thousands phones that we need to launch it is just a matter of a day or two." Yeah dude, piece of cake.

[Thanks, Nick]

Sofinnova's purchase of Sagem means that the Sagem brand will disappear completely from handsets by the end of the year, Mobile Phone Helpdesk is reporting. Don't worry, though, you rabid Sagem fans: the manufacturer will still be alive and well, albeit in a decidedly less high-profile form as a dedicated ODM. Making phones for other brands is a biz Sagem's already well acquainted with through its partnership with Sony Ericsson and others, so it should be an easy transition. In the meanwhile, Sagem-branded phones currently planned for release before the end of the year should still "partly come to market," so get those collectors' editions while you still can.

The company that once designed the Treo for Palm (and countless other amazing white-label devices) is apparently back in the ODM game. That's right, if you were wondering how the hell Sony Ericsson pulled the XPERIA X1 rabbit out of its hat, look no further than HTC. While we don't think they did any of the special software, we heard it through the grapevine that the X1 is all HTC-built, which kind of explains a lot if you ask us.

We thought that HTC's bold venture into the direct-to-consumer space pretty much spelled doom for its once-burgeoning ODM business, but apparently not. We don't know if these guys are just exceptionally good at what they do, exceptionally cheap, exceptionally convincing, or some combination of the above, because a report out of Taiwan's Commercial Times claims that Palm, i-mate, and MWG -- all companies who've moved their manufacturing contracts solidly away from HTC in recent years -- have come back into the fold, ultimately bumping HTC's contracting business to account for more than 10 percent of its total business in the first quarter. We're skeptical that these three brands (all of whom compete with HTC at retail) would suddenly decide to throw up the white flag at roughly the same time, but considering the kinds of things that happen when other ODMs come into the picture, a little HTC TLC could be just what the doctor ordered.

[Via IntoMobile]

Despite a seemingly successful (and continuing) run with Quanta on 2.5G goodies, E-TEN has announced that it's working with ODM Arima on its 3G lineup. The first device to bear the fruit of Arima's labor will apparently be the glofiish X800 with HSDPA, VGA display, and Windows Mobile 6 -- so we've gotta say, the new kid on E-TEN's block is doing alright for itself. The company says that it plans to introduce four new smartphones by the end of the year, though it's unclear at this point exactly how many will get WCDMA under their hoods (our vote: all of them).

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

We haven't really had any reader reports of 700ps being particularly difficult to find, but Inventec, which produces the 700p for Palm, is claiming they'll be unable to start "volume production" of the device until September due to software problems. Yeah, we don't really know what to make of this, either -- if volume production hasn't started yet, what do you call the kind of production that's been going on so far? And do we really need a higher production rate at this point? Either way, the kinks won't be affecting Palm's other breadwinner right now, the 700w, on account of HTC owning its manufacture.

We have no idea who these guys are, where they came from, or if they're even real, but the buzz is a new Chinese ODM by the name of Tech Faith Wireless (TWF) is about to storm HTC's castle with a sweet lineup of Windows Mobile devices. The specs seem a little pie in the sky (at best), with most rocking quad band GSM, HSDPA, 2.4 and 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreens, MicroSD, 512MB flash, 512MB RAM, GPS, USB On-The-Go, 2 megapixel cameras, optional WiFi, and optional MicroDrives (in their larger PDA devices). We're not saying it can't be done, but they're going to have some convincing to do that they, and their products, are the real deal, not to mention the uphill battle they're going to have getting these things on the market and taking on the 800 pound ODM gorilla. Tons more -- and we mean way too many -- shots after the break.

[Via MobilitySite]