Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from this week in history. Enjoy the ride!
Fanboys exhale: no 3G iPhone yet
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs today unveiled a modest suite of new software applications for the iPhone during his much-anticipated keynote address at Macworld 2008 in San Francisco, perhaps disappointing those who sought news of a 3G upgrade for the device. … Read More
FCC to probe carrier text messaging discrimination
The Federal Communications Commission launched a rulemaking to determine whether mobile phone text messages and short codes are covered by non-discrimination provisions of the telecom act. Public interest and consumer groups asked the FCC in December to rule that the law forbids mobile-phone carriers from blocking the assignment of short codes used by organizations for text messaging to constituents. … Read More
214 qualified to bid in 700 MHz auction
The Federal Communications Commission said 214 applicants qualified to bid in the 700 MHz auction set to begin Jan. 24. Internet search engine giant Google Inc. joins a mix of leading mobile-phone carriers, cable and satellite TV operators and rural telephone companies in competition expected to generate up to $15 billion for the U.S. Treasury without necessarily leading to the creation of national public-safety broadband network. … Read More
Nokia slims down for efficiency
Citing “long-term competitiveness,” Nokia Corp. said today it would close a handset factory in Bochum, Germany, and sell automotive and research-and-development sites in the same locale. Nokia will move its handset production from Bochum to more “cost-competitive” sites in Europe, according to the company. The move will lead to the loss of about 2,300 jobs, according to Nokia. That represents about 2% of the company’s global workforce, according to media reports. … Read More
Mobile ads coming, but patience required
Market research firms seem to be falling over themselves in an effort to cram the most zeroes into their projections for mobile advertising revenues. But for traditional advertisers – you know, the ones with really big budgets – 2008 will be much more about watching and learning than about spending. … Read More
The CES handset scene: 150-inch televisions cast long shadows, handset news didn’t ‘pop’
An informal survey of four analysts on the mobile devices on display at the International Consumer Electronics show this week in Las Vegas quickly took different directions with a common theme. Mobile, handheld devices on offer were “evolutionary,” not “revolutionary” and that ratcheted up expectations for the next few months, the analysts said. The lack of compelling handset news out of the show was not entirely unexpected, nor any reason for hand-wringing, they said. … Read More
Frontline’s demise leaves D Block, public safety plans in limbo: Google, AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel seen as beneficiaries
Frontline Wireless L.L.C.’s freakish free-fall has begun to raise questions about whether the upcoming 700 MHz auction will produce a bidder willing to spend billions of dollars on spectrum and construction of a national public safety-commercial broadband network. … Read More
Sprint Nextel zooming with Xohm: Carrier inks slew of WiMAX deals
Sprint Nextel Corp. made several announcements this week that lend a sense of momentum to the carrier’s plans to deploy its WiMAX service, dubbed Xohm, on schedule. Since the collapse last year of a Sprint Nextel deal with Clearwire Corp. to mesh their WiMAX efforts, and a change of CEOs at Sprint Nextel, the carrier’s plans have been under internal review and the subject of external speculation. … Read More
CES: Gates introduces the ‘next digital decade’
Bill Gates may not be slowing down on the professional and charitable projects that he holds near and dear, but it’s clear he’s having fun in his final months as chairman of Microsoft Corp. Gates took plenty of light-hearted jabs at himself yesterday during his eleventh and final keynote address here at the Consumer Electronics Show. … Read More
Power Struggle: Industry challenges FCC’s emergency backup power rule
The Federal Communications Commission is facing a gathering legal storm over its emergency back-up power rule, with the mobile-phone industry asking a federal appeals court to put its legal challenge on a fast track and Sprint Nextel Corp. seeking to stay the effective date of new guidelines that could cost cellphone and tower companies hundreds of millions of dollars. … Read More
