mobiles

Driving

Police 'powerless' to stop phones at the wheel

Police admitted on Tuesday they were powerless to stop German drivers using their smartphones at the wheel and that the number of people doing so was going up.

consumers

Netto pioneers mobile phone payments

Customers at German discount supermarket Netto will soon be able to pay for their shopping with a mobile phone app, the company said on Friday. Over 4,000 branches are expected to offer the technology.

Telephone

Germany marks first phone call anniversary - 15 years before Bell

Move over, Alexander Graham Bell, Germany is marking the anniversary of the first phone call today – a century and a half after Johann Philipp Reis first transmitted a spoken sentence over a cable.

apple

German developer causes ruckus with $1,000 iPhone app

Armin Heinrich, a German software developer, has riled the tight-knit Apple community by developing an application for the iPhone that costs $1,000 – simply to show that the owner can afford it.