Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Cingular finally starts selling those sweet, sweet ringback tones
ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. finally joined the ringback tone bandwagon, launching ringback music and voice clips from Warner Music Group artists. The carrier unveiled a catalog of 20-second ringback tones that can be used in place of the traditional “ring” a caller hears while waiting for a call to be answered. Cingular is promoting the service with a four-week marketing campaign around its “Say My Name” service, which offers voice greetings from noted artists for users with common names. With the announcement, Cingular becomes the final Tier 1 operator to deploy ringback tones. Cingular’s offering, marketed as “Answer Tones,” requires a $1 monthly subscription fee; each Answer Tone costs $2 … Read more
Use an app for navigation, whaaaaat?
SKOKIE, Ill.-Rand McNally and Motorola Inc. are teaming up in an effort to get drivers to rely on their cell phones for navigation instead of in-car GPS systems or those old-fashioned, hard-to-fold road maps. The two companies said that they will work together to produce a GPS-based navigation service for wireless phones by integrating Motorola’s ViaMoto navigation software into a Rand McNally-branded mobile application. The download, the companies said, would “offer a convenient and affordable alternative to expensive car navigation systems.” … Read more
Amp’d Mobile starts offering prepaid; still doomed
Amp’d Mobile Inc. has rounded out its service offering with a prepaid play that began selling last week, touting its new pay-as-you-go service as “the first and only pay-as-you-go 3G wireless phone service.” Amp’d Mobile’s prepaid offering charge customers 10 cents per minute for voice calling, $1 per day for unlimited push-to-talk service, plus access to a variety of the content services that are at the heart of the mobile virtual network operator’s service.The $1 per-day price for unlimited PTT sets it up for direct competition with Boost Mobile L.L.C., Sprint Nextel Corp.’s lifestyle-focused MVNO that runs on the carrier’s iDEN network. Boost has the initial upper hand in that its installed customer base numbers in the millions and that the PTT service is interoperable with the more than 17 million Sprint Nextel iDEN customers. Amp’d Mobile will charge 10 cents per text message and 25 cents per multimedia message, although picture and video messaging are described on the MVNO’s Web site as “coming soon”-which means August, according to Michael McAnallen, director of systems and services for Amp’d Mobile. … Read more
Sprint makes room for (also doomed) Mobile ESPN MVNO in its stores
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. will sell Mobile ESPN L.L.C. service in hundreds of its retail stores, a move that adds weight to the sports-focused MVNO’s distribution network. According to the two companies, Sprint Nextel had originally committed to provide Mobile ESPN space in at least 500 of its stores by July. However, the companies announced today the deal is done, fully two months ahead of schedule. The companies said the services, which not coincidentally run on Sprint Nextel’s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network, are now available in 575 retail locations. … Read more
The enterprise market could really use more MVNOs, though
Consumer-side mobile virtual network operators that still want to get in on the game could be out of luck, but there are opportunities ahead on the business side and in serving the machine-to-machine space. John Caddell, vice president and general manager of mobile virtual network enabler MVNGo, said that there are about 63 MVNOs that are “planned, rumored or active” in the United States. Most of those MVNOs are focused on the consumer space, with plays targeting children (Firefly Mobile) and tech-savvy youth (Amp’d Mobile Inc., Helio L.L.C.) to sports fanatics (Mobile ESPN L.L.C.) and the ultra-wealthy (Voce L.L.C.). Today about 13 million mobile-phone users get cellular service through MVNOs-less than 10 percent of the market, according to research from the Yankee Group, which hosted an online webinar on the MVNO space last week. The industry analyst firm expects that number to more than double by 2010 to about 29 million subscribers. Sprint Nextel Corp. has the largest share of MVNO customers at about 38 percent, followed by Cingular Wireless L.L.C. with 36 percent (driven mostly by Tracfone Wireless Inc.) and Verizon Wireless. … Read more
Mobile gambling expected to win big by 2011
HAMPSHIRE, U.K.—Wireless subscribers will place $23 billion in bets annually on their phones by 2011, according to new figures from Juniper Research. The firm said a combination of 3G services, sophisticated handsets and loosening restrictions will help mobile gambling to explode 11-fold during the next five years. Wireless lotteries will drive the market, Juniper forecasts, generating 41 percent of total mobile wagering. … Read more
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