With a name like "Rapture," the Motorola VU30 for Verizon Wireless sets itself up as an agent of bliss that can transport one to higher places. But here on earth, this is Motorola's latest addition to Verizon's cadre of multimedia phones that double as music players.

Combining a sleek, clamshell design with a high-speed, 3G connection, the phone offers a slew of multimedia options, including access to more than 5 million songs on Verizon's VCAST Music with Rhapsody. The phone's centerpiece is a touch-sensitive external display, which enables quick access to the music player and 2.0-megapixel camera. The Rapture also shoots video and records audio, which can be sent out in a multimedia message within seconds of recording.

For storing multimedia and songs, the Rapture holds up to 8GB of micro SD removable memory. Users can sync tunes or playlists to a computer PC using a USB cable (sold separately) with no restrictions on making copies. And when listening to music, users can jam wirelessly, because the Rapture supports compatible Bluetooth-enabled stereo headsets, as well as a standard earplug with 2.5mm headset jack.

Through VCAST, the Rapture delivers a constant stream on-demand video for an additional monthly fee on its vivid 2.2-inch 262K-color TFT screen. While the phone entertains, it also keeps users on track. The phone comes preloaded with Verizon's VZ Navigator, providing turn-by-turn directions as well as information about local businesses, ATM locations, and other places of interest.

Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Wednesday he is taking a medical leave until the end of June - just a week after the cancer survivor tried to assure investors and employees his recent weight loss was caused by an easily treatable hormone deficiency.

Apple's stock plunged 7 percent.

Jobs, 53, said in a letter last week that he would remain at Apple's helm despite the hormone problem, and that he had already begun a "relatively simple and straightforward" treatment. But in an e-mail to employees Wednesday, Jobs backtracked.

"During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," he wrote.

Apple's shares have surged and crashed over the last year in step with rumors or news about the CEO's health and his gaunt appearance. While the top executive's health is an issue for investors in any company, at Apple the level of concern reaches fever pitch because Jobs has a hand in everything from ideas for new products to the way they're marketed. Investors fear that without Jobs, Apple will not be able to sustain its growth of the last decade, which has seen Apple branch out from its Mac computers into the iPod and the iPhone.

Last week, Jobs said his disclosure of his hormone problem was "more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say" about his health. It came on the eve of Macworld, the biggest Apple trade show of the year, and Jobs said he wanted everyone to relax and enjoy the show.

Even so, the limited amount of medical information in that announcement did little to soothe Wall Street's nerves, and in interviews last week analysts predicted that the health watch would continue.

Apple's history of keeping information about Jobs' health under wraps is only fueling the speculation. The company waited until after Jobs underwent surgery in 2004 to treat a very rare form of pancreatic cancer - an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor - before alerting investors. That type of cancer is easily cured if diagnosed early, unlike the deadlier and more common adenocarcinoma.

And last summer, Apple insisted Jobs' weight loss was due to a common bug, even as The New York Times cited anonymous sources who said Jobs had undergone "a surgical procedure" to address the problem.

Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, will take over Jobs' responsibilities while he is on leave, though Jobs said he plans to remain involved in major strategic decisions while he is out.

It was a pretty exciting year for the mobile phone industry in 2008. Beginning in early part of 2008 when Apple's 2nd Gen iPhone, the iPhone 3G was released, almost every major manufacturers called up their technicians and asked them to come up with the iPhone killer. Their battle cry was - come up with the equal if not better alternative to the iPhone which is sweeping the mobile phone market. And so aside from the iPhone we've witnessed how the industry went gaga in anticipation of mobile phones such as the Blackberry Bold, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, Samsung Omnia, and of course the much awaited Google-powered HTC-manufactured mobile phone - the G1. As our special feature to usher in the new year for the mobile phone market, here's a recap of these top five cell phones that rocked the mobile phone market in 2008.

The last mobile phone that Motorola launched during the recently concluded CES 2009 was perhaps the company's answer to the growing touchscreen-enabled mobile phone market - the MOTOSURF A3100. This mobile device boasts of a touch-enabled home screen on featuring applications that can be accessed using a tip of the finger, stylus or the usual omni-directional trackball. This homescreen can also be customized to feature live feeds on weather, personal and work-email, messaging, calendar event and news.

The MOTOSURF A3100 is being touted as Motorola's social smartphone giving users' fast and easy access to various social networking and mobile functionality such as video conferencing, Facebook activities, GPS navigation among other useful features of the A3100.

Slated for a Q1 release, the MOTOSURF A3100 will initially be available in Asia and Latin America and will have key features such as Windows Mobile 6.1 OS to give you access to personal and corporate email, documents and PC-like mobile Internet browsing, 3G/HSDAP, HSUP and Wi-Fi connectivity, windows media player, and video streaming with YouTube.

Looking closer at the MOTOSURF A3100 would give us specs including a 2.8-inch QVGA touch panel screen, 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus, VGA secondary camera for video calls, 256 MB internal flash memory, 128 MB RAM, support for microSD card up to 32GB, Qualcomm MSM 7210A chipset, USB 2.0 HS, Stereo Bluetooth with A2DP, support MPEG-4, H.263/H.264 and WMV playback, 3GP and MP4. The MOTOSURF is runs on GSM Quad-Band EDGE/GPRS, 12/12 WCDMA and HSDPA 7.2 850/1900/2100 Triband modes. It gives out up to 6.8 hours GSM standby time and up to 12 days talk time.

For a Limited Time, Customers Can Save Big on Instinct with a Price Drop to Just $99.99 with a Two-Year Contract.

Within a few days after its release, Instinct became the fastest-selling EVDO handset in Sprint history. Instinct accounted for more than one-fifth of all Sprint handsets being sold during the first two weeks of availability and continued to sell at a record pace through the 2008 holiday season. Instinct users consume data at a rate of approximately five times more than any other Sprint device, especially music and other downloads, text messaging and GPS navigation.

"Instinct has been a great success for us from both a sales and innovation perspective," said Kevin Packingham, Sprint SVP of Product Development. "We are thrilled with our customer's response to this dynamic, well-integrated and easy-to-use wireless phone. Bringing the price under $100 will make it even more accessible to customers who want the best of Sprint's 3G network on a powerful touchscreen device."

Much of the success of Instinct can be attributed to its industry-leading features including Visual Voicemail, allowing users to listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a simple tap of the screen. Additional features include advanced stereo Bluetooth(R) 2.0, SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text, a true HTML Web experience, picture caller ID, a 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder, haptic feedback and expandable microSD memory of up to 8GB.

Instinct users recently gained access to corporate calendar functionality on Instinct at no additional charge. Sprint Mobile Email Work, which already provided access to corporate email and contacts, allows Instinct users to view and update their work calendar, create and delete appointments and more, right on their phone from Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003 or 2007 accounts, or IBM Lotus Domino accounts.

Instinct was named "Best in Show" in the third annual Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Award competition in April at CTIA Wireless 2008. Instinct was also honored as "Most Innovative Product at CTIA Wireless 2008" by the editors of LAPTOP, a leading mobile technology magazine. CNET also recognized Instinct as the "Best Cell Phone" in its annual Cream of the Crop CTIA 2008 awards. Several nationally recognized news organizations, including CNET, named Instinct one of the best wireless phones of 2008.