Complaints over dropped calls and choppy Web connections on Apple's iPhone 3G have sparked a wave of debate in the blogosphere over the root cause of the problems. Two well-placed sources tell BusinessWeek.com the glitches are related to a chip inside Apple's music-playing cell phone.

Battered telecom-equipment group Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) delivered a fresh set of disappointing numbers Feb. 8, posting a $3.74 billion fourth-quarter loss and canceling its 2007 dividend after taking a writedown of more than $3 billion on its U.S. wireless business.

For a device that's been on the market all of four months, the iPhone certainly has had more than its share of impact.

Nokia's agreement to buy Chicago-based Navteq for $8.1 billion -- the handset maker's biggest acquisition to date -- shows just how determined the Finnish company is to dominate the evolving business of mobile search.

The news from Alcatel-Lucent just keeps getting worse. Shares in the Paris telecom equipment maker slid as much as 14% in Paris trading on Sept. 13 after the company issued its third profit warning of the year. By midday, Alcatel-Lucent was off more than 8% in New York.