The two children on the "TV show" are named Steady and Beebop. This is likely a reference to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where Shredder's henchmen are named Bebop & Rocksteady.
The kidnapped boy was using a Hiptop2/T-Mobile Sidekick II smartphone to communicate with his father. Its predecessor, Hiptop/T-Mobile Sidekick (released in 2002), became very popular with deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers for its integrated instant messaging client, specifically AIM (AOL Instant Messaging), on-device e-mail app with push notification, large screen, thumb wheel navigation, and full QWERTY keyboard that is easily typed with thumbs.