The Week in Review

Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News runs through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks, months and years. Check below for news about carriers, handset makers, content companies, infrastructure vendors and more.
Carriers
–Sprint Nextel jumped into the nascent femtocell market with the Sprint Airave built by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The offering essentially allows users to install a small CDMA base station in their home or office, and push the resulting traffic through their personal Internet connection. Thus, the product represents a notable shift in the delivery and management of wireless services, and stands as a challenge to the rest of the nation’s carriers.
–Leap blasted MetroPCS’ offer to merge, describing the proposal as “completely inadequate in a number of critical areas.” Leap’s fiery rhetoric on the topic could cast a cloud over future proceedings between the two companies, and may stymie the deal to the extent that Leap and MetroPCS participate separately in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, which is scheduled to start early next year.
–T-mobile USA announced a deal to buy rural wireless carrier SunCom for $2.4 billion, yet another signal that the U.S. wireless marketplace may mature into a handful of mega-carriers.
Handsets
–Apple announced several European carrier partners to sell the iPhone, including Orange in France, T-Mobile in Germany and O2 in the United Kingdom. Now those in the industry will be watching to see where in the world Apple will roll out the iPhone next. However, the larger iPhone question remains unanswered: Will the gadget make a lasting impact, both domestically and abroad?
Content
–Google took its AdSense program mobile, allowing publishers with mobile-friendly Web sites to accept ads on their Web pages. The news ratchets up the level of competition in the mobile advertising space, which lately has been the scene of a range of new product introductions, funding announcements and mergers and acquisitions. As Internet behemoth Google rolls into the mobile ad space full-bore, the question on spectators’ lips will be whether incumbents and other wireless pure-plays will be able to stand against the onslaught.
Infrastructure
–Verizon Wireless and Vodafone said they are working toward deploying LTE technology as their 4G network upgrade, news that serves to solidify the relationship between VZW parents Vodafone and Verizon Communications as well as cast doubt on the ultimate future of the CDMA evolution path. Infrastructure vendors and others will be keen to see if Verizon Wireless’ stance will be mimicked by other CDMA providers.
COMING IN MONDAY’S ISSUE OF RCR WIRELESS NEWS
–The ringtone business model is under attack from startups offering free or subsidized ringtones. Colin Gibbs reports.
–T-Mobile USA’s acquisition of SunCom whittles down the number of rural carriers in the space. Can they survive? Read Kelly Hill’s report.
–Devices and Strategy: We take a detailed look at the Nokia 6555.