On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Tamagotchi creators Bandai have plans to turn iDevices (iPhone or iPod Touch) into robotic pets with Smartpet-- a clunky yet cute robot dog with an iPhone for a brain.

Controlling the robot is a free app, making the Smartpet to react to touchscreen gestures, voice commands or movements in front of the Facetime camera. The "pet" can learn various tricks, as well as make facial expressions, sing and even dance with other Smartpets via Bluetooth.

And when the games are over the Smartpet also doubles as an alarm clock and a handsfree set.

It will be available in either black or white in Japan from April 24. Sadly enough, we have no word on international availability yet.

Watch Smartpet iPhone Robot Pet

According to Digital Tech Consulting (DTC) the global satellite TV market should enjoy strong growth in 2012, with direct-to-home (DTH) service subscribers reaching over 212M by the end of the year before growing to 268M by 2016.

Driving satellite TV success is the growth in emerging markets, particularly where infrastructure is lacking and alternate services (such as IPTV) are less developed. Growth is less strong in developed markets like W. Europe, where the majority of TV viewers already have pay TV subscriptions and new TV household growth is relatively slow (due to low birthrates).

The Middle East represents something of a wild card-- with one of the youngest populations in the world, DTC says the region is potentially fertile ground for further satellite TV growth. However the "Arab Spring" revolutions may bring either economic liberalisation (a boon to pay TV competition) or further disorder (drying up foreign investment and lowering economic growth).

Yet another quarrel is going on between smartphone vendors-- Apple is fighting against Motorola, RIM and Nokia over the SIM card standard the smartphones of tomorrow will using.

Apple proposes nano-SIM, which is thinner and smaller than current micro-SIMs by around 30%. It is also an Apple development, and thus makes other vendors worry Apple will be owning the patents to the technology... So much so Motorola and RIM are backing an alternate design developed by Nokia.

However "most" European operators are reportedly backing the Apple design.

The Financial Times reports both sides of the SIM arguments have tabled proposals to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)-- and the committee is set to vote on the nano-SIM matter later this week.

The SIM ETSI choses is of critical importance to future devices. For instance, the FT says nano-SIM might need a protective "drawer," while Nokia boasts its proposal has "significant technical advantages".

Dixons Travel opens two airport stores at East Midlands and Gatwick North, each with new formats suiting specific airport store requirements.

The Gatwick North store (in the main concourse) is the first Dixons pop-up store-- a 50 sq m "Add" store supplementing the existing Dixons Travel outlet. Designed with a warm colour palette (to attract female customers, Dixons says), it sells aspirational devices such as headphones, tablets and SLR cameras.

The retailer says the Add store is "already seeing sales up over 30%."

Meanwhile at East Midlands Dixons has a 40 sq m concept store in a high traffic walkway with a wall to wall display and 2 play-tables. It sells headphones (Dr Dre, Sennheiser and Bose), iDevices, tablets, cameras and travel accessories.

Go Dixons Travel Opens New UK Stores