2006

HONG KONG—Altai Technologies Ltd. snapped up $10 million during its first round of financing and said it plans to use the funds to expand its engineering, sales and marketing efforts …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Visto Corp. will have no trouble paying its lawyer fees. The mobile e-mail service provider raked in another $51 million this week in a funding round led by …

NEW YORK—Dada USA Inc. launched its social networking and entertainment community for the U.S. market. The company’s Web site allows users to subscribe to a variety of services and content …

GREENSBORO, N.C.—RF Micro Devices Inc. said it plans to sell its equity interest in Jazz Semiconductor for between $24 million and $27 million in cash. The company is divesting its …

NEW YORK—Two research firms say the future looks bright for location-based services running on Global Positioning System technology. ABI Research’s latest study on the subject suggests that subscribers of GPS-enabled …

NEW YORK—Jamster International bulked up its content portfolio in North America with a deal to offer ringtones, graphics and mobile games from the Walt Disney Internet Group. Disney and its …

By Kate MacArthur CHICAGO—McDonald’s franchisees John and Karen O’Keefe watched sales flatline for most of the year at their store in Chicago’s suburban Woodfield Mall while other restaurants in the …

LONDON—Best Buy International will team with U.K. wireless retail giant Carphone Warehouse Group to open stand-alone cell phone stores in the United States. In a prepared statement, the firms said …

NEW YORK—A new mobile virtual network operator targeting Chinese-Americans officially launched today, offering cheap international calls to Asia and a Razr phone with menus in Chinese. Red Pocket Mobile soft-launched …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—With the quiet addition of its new t719 flip phone, which offers BlackBerry Connect service and an e-mail-friendly keypad, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. now supplies just over one-third of …

IRVINE, Calif.—Mobile search vendor AskMeNow said it launched a national TV advertising campaign to promote its search service. The company’s ad campaign includes 30-second spots that demonstrate the service. The …

SAN DIEGO—Digital Orchid is looking to expand its portfolio and global footprint with the acquisition of mobile game publisher Blue Tech. Blue Tech is a 2-year-old vendor based in Madrid, …

NEW YORK—Nokia Corp. announced five new GSM phones—the company insists the devices are “multimedia computers”—for the United States, but did not announce any accompanying carrier deals. Three of the devices—the …

MADRID, Spain—Mobile transaction provider mBlox said it is working with application service provider Dynetic to provide an SMS-based bidding service to eBay in Spain. The service uses mBlox’s SMS services …

ATLANTA—Air2Web said it snared $25 million in a financing round led by The Carlyle Group. The wireless software company said it will use the new funds to further its work …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Wireless Infrastructure Association, better known as PCIA, said it drew its highest attendance numbers—1,400 registrants—to its annual trade show held last week in Nashville, Tenn. The attendance tally …

SEOUL—South Korea’s Pantech & Curitel Communications Inc. will provide its portfolio of CDMA-based handsets to UTStarcom Inc. for sale in North America under a three-year agreement, the company announced. Terms …

SAN FRANCISCO—Mobile video upstart Veeker said it has acquired ThumbJive, a developer of youth-focused wireless applications. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Veeker, which has been operating in …

DUBLIN, Ireland—Those waiting anxiously for a .mobi domain needn’t wait any longer. The company behind the controversial, mobile-exclusive top-level domain opened registration today, allowing the general public to register wireless …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission officially launched its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, naming Ken Moran as its acting chief. The agency has been in the process of creating the …

SHENZHEN, China—The Bluetooth Special Interest Group isn’t going to take it anymore—at least that’s the message heard around the world as the group announced it orchestrated a successful raid in …

HERNDON, Va.—GigaBeam Corp. picked up Department of Defense orders through its system integration partner, WirelessGuys Inc., for the company’s wireless fiber links. GigaBeam touts its wireless fiber products, called WiFiber, …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—T-Mobile USA Inc. wants its users to get more from life, but the carrier looks to be getting less from Catherine Zeta-Jones. The Bellevue, Wash.-based operator plans to drop …

Less than two years ago, carriers were blaming publishers for stifling mobile gaming by churning out a surfeit of high-profile, licensed games that made for a rotten user experience. Now …

There were no last-minute bombshells when the advanced wireless services spectrum auction wrapped up last week after a few final, tedious rounds with a mere handful of bids. T-Mobile USA …