The Week in Review

Welcome to our new Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News will run through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks. Check below for news about carriers, handset makers, content companies, infrastructure vendors and more.
Carriers
–The big news item of the week was Amp’d Mobile Inc.’s Saturday filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company promised to continue operations while seeking debtor-in-possession financing. In additional filings Monday, the MVNO outlined its financial troubles, which included 80,000 deadbeat customers-or about half the company’s customer base-and threats by Verizon Wireless to shut off service. As Amp’d flounders, the question now is how the rest of the nation’s MVNOs will fare in the coming months. The issue is especially troubling for Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C., which has plans for a $100 million IPO.
—AT&T Mobility added data options to its prepaid plans. The move may reflect AT&T’s intent to offer a prepaid iPhone, although both AT&T and Apple Inc. have been mum on the topic.
—Alltel Corp. announced an EV-DO roaming deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. for PC cards. The move, one of Alltel’s first announcements following its acquisition by private equity firms, could indicate Alltel’s intent to ratchet up competition against the nation’s top-four carriers.
Handsets
–Aside from Amp’d Mobile’s bankruptcy, the other big news item of the week was the International Trade Commission’s ban on Qualcomm Inc.’s chips. Although the ruling caused quite a stir among Qualcomm proponents, the issue likely will drag on for months; Qualcomm said it will appeal the ruling and seek a presidential veto. Further, many see a total ban as a remote possibility since a Qualcomm-Broadcom licensing deal would put an end to the situation.
–iPhone buzz reached a fevered pitch ahead of the device’s June 29th launch. For its part, Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corp. unveiled a Windows Mobile-powered touchscreen device very similar to the iPhone. The new handset is one of a number of iPhone-style gadgets announced in recent months.
Content
–The catch-phrase of the week was mobile marketing, as the Mobile Marketing Forum’s New York event generated a number of news items. Among the more interesting: Coca-Cola’s entrance into the social mobile networking playground with its “Sprite Yard” effort, and Nielsen Co.’s announcement that it will begin tracking how many people access the mobile Internet, mobile video and other content.
Infrastructure
—L.M. Ericsson nabbed billing company LHS for $417 million with an eye toward competing against the likes of Amdocs Ltd. and Convergys Corp.
Other
–In a shameless bit of self-promotion, RCR Wireless News announced it is holding an open house at its Web site. For the month of June, RCR Wireless News is offering FREE access to our exclusive online content, content that is usually only available to our paid subscribers. Click here to get started.