The researchers later tested 22 popular models of cellphones and found nickel in 10 of them, mostly in the headsets and menu buttons.
All newer models of cellphones come wired to automatically receive the alerts, which means it's more of an opt-out system.
Customers supply their cell number, carrier name and model of cellphone.
It is not even a specific model of cellphone, or DVD or digital camera.
Hence, given attested 'snapshot' at a specific time of 4a, it is still appropriate to refer to that kind of cell phone as 4b, as this linguistic expression refers to a distinct model of cellphone with a published price of 2,500 dollars.
The idea, said Shai Agassi, 39, the software entrepreneur behind the new company, is to sell electric car transportation on the model of the cellphone.
And it hopes to eventually change the retail model of the cellphone market in the United States by becoming a major seller of Android phones made by various manufacturers.
But consumers still came out in droves to buy the iPhone 4S, helping the company sell more than double the number of iPhones for the quarter ending Dec. 31 than it did a year ago, a figure that was also lifted by sales of cheap, older models of Apple's cellphone.
FreeHeadset.org offers headsets compatible with hundreds of cellphone models.
G.P.S. is becoming ubiquitous in part because the technology is included in a growing number of cellphone models, Mr. Friedland said.
