YOU ARE AT:Archived Articles

BROWSING: Archived Articles

CEA targets wireless retailers with certification program

ARLINGTON, Va.-The Consumer Electronics Association announced it will team with training firm Corporate Dynamics Inc. to help sell its Wireless Certification Program to independent wireless retailers. "Wireless retailers, both carrier and non-carrier-owned, need reputable sources for sales training and technology information," said Mike Mohr,...

Sprint Nextel goes long with 5-year NFL sponsorship

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. reported a five-year agreement with the National Football League for the wireless carrier's Sprint-branded service to become the official wireless telecommunications service sponsor of the NFL. The agreement also provides Sprint Nextel with exclusive NFL content and original programming,...

M-Qube scores $10M in funding

BOSTON-M-Qube Inc., a mobile channel enabler, announced it secured $10 million in new financing in a round led by HarbourVest Partners L.L.C. Existing investors also participated in the funding. The financing will be used to support company growth and strategic acquisitions, said the company.

Asian carrier alliance adds Ericsson, Motorola, ZTE to roster

L.M. Ericsson, Motorola Inc. and ZTE Corp. joined Asia-Pacific's largest mobile alliance group, Bridge Mobile Alliance, increasing the membership base from eight to 11. The vendors joined the alliance through a new associate-membership scheme, which extends membership to global technology partners and breaks from...

Alltel forges first MMS agreements with Cingular, Verizon

Alltel Corp. finally joined the multimedia messaging service interoperability bandwagon, announcing deals with the nation's two largest wireless carriers. Alltel said it signed agreements allowing its subscribers to exchange picture and video messages with both Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Verizon Wireless users. The deals...

Guide to memory cards

Memory Stick-Developed by Sony Corp. and used in a range of Sony products like the PSP. Memory Stick Duo is the small version, which measures 31 x 20 x 1.6 mm. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. supports Memory Stick Duo. Secure Digital Memory Card-Created...

Content Briefs

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. subscribers can access the ringtone from a new Foo Fighters single before the song hits radio airwaves. Cingular and Sony BMG announced the availability of a ringtone from "D.O.A.," which will be released to radio stations today. Subscribers can buy the...

Memory cards get skinny

Apparently it's the mini, not the meek, that shall inherit the Earth. Everything is going small and portable, from video-game machines to music players to mobile phones. The latest to fall into this Lilliputian way of thinking is the removable memory card industry, which...

Disguising content to get through walled garden

Third-party content providers are becoming increasingly savvy in hiding wireless transactions from the network operators that deliver them, industry insiders say. A handful of direct-to-consumer content providers in the United States and abroad are disguising their wares on mobile networks as photo messages and...

Speculation grows that Palm will use Windows Mobile

Rumors continue to circulate that Palm Inc. will build a version of its Treo smart phone using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile platform, spurning its longtime support for Palm operating-system vendor PalmSource Inc. If true, the move would represent a significant event for all three...

BenQ posts profit on declining sales

TAOYUAN, Taiwan-Manufacturing giant BenQ Corp. posted $24 million in net income during the first six months of this year. The company's sales dropped, however, due to competition in its various electronics businesses. BenQ covers a variety of industries, from LCD monitors to computers. The...

Symbian boosts revenues, shipments

LONDON-Symbian Ltd. reported $48 million in revenues in its second quarter, up from the $24.6 million it posted in the same quarter last year. Sales of phones with the company's operating system tripled over the same period to 7.8 million phones in the quarter....

San Fran looks at Wi-Fi as Intel pilots city initiative

A day after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a citywide initiative to close the gap between San Francisco's wireless broadband haves and have-nots by providing free or low-cost Wi-Fi access to all San Francisco residents, Intel Corp. announced a worldwide multi-corporation initiative to...

Nokia to supply T-Mobile, 3 Ireland with HSDPA network gear

ESPOO, Finland-Nokia Corp. is set to deploy its High-Speed Downlink Packet Access solution in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom after signing a deal with T-Mobile International AG. The technology will give T-Mobile's customers data speeds up of 1 to 2 megabits per...

IPass looks to MVNO game with EV-DO offering

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.-Managed enterprise mobility solutions provider iPass Inc. added mobile virtual network operator to its list of offerings with the addition of CDMA2000 1x EV-DO capabilities to its iPassConnect universal client. The company said it has integrated nationwide 1x and EV-DO services from...

Consolidation wave continues among telecom vendors

Wireless-related mergers and acquisitions dominated the headlines last week from technology pairings to content match-ups. Here is a roundup: Qualcomm Inc. paid $57 million in cash for Elata, a privately held U.K.-based developer of content-delivery software. Qualcomm said it will integrate its BREW platform...

Tropian chip to enable smaller devices

CUPERTINO, Calif.-Founded in 1996, chip startup Tropian Inc. today released its first product, an RF transceiver for mobile phones that combines the transmissions of GSM and EDGE technologies. The company said the product will lead to smaller, more powerful and more efficient phones. "We're...

Sprint to offer full-track downloads

Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to launch a full-track music download service by the holidays, an executive from the newly merged carrier said last week. The operator looks to be the first U.S. carrier to deploy full-track offerings, which have gained steady traction among wireless...

Telecom excise tax under assault in court: Bills pending in House, Senate to repeal tax

WASHINGTON-The pesky tax on talking may finally be headed for the door-more than a century after it was established to pay for the Spanish-American War. It is not the legislative process that is finally killing it, but rather the judiciary, which consistently has ruled...

Tele2 ends wireless service in Finland

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Tele2 AB has given up on the Finnish market, where it has operated a mobile virtual network operator service since 2003, due to competitive and regulatory challenges. The carrier, which holds a third-generation license in the country, also will end its fixed telephony...

FCC proposes fining more resellers for not paying fees

WASHINGTON-Continuing its crackdown on companies that it says are delinquent in paying universal-service and other regulatory fees, the Federal Communications Commission proposed $1.5 million in fines against two companies that resell long-distance service. The FCC wants to fine OCMC Inc. nearly $1.2 million. The...

Alcatel, Datang to deliver TD-SCDMA products

PARIS-Alcatel Corp. and Datang Mobile, a telecom equipment developer, said they are ready to deliver end-to-end TD-SCDMA products after completing the industrialization phase and jointly demonstrating a live end-to-end TD-SCDMA solution in April during the TD-SCDMA International Summit in Beijing. TD-SCDMA is one of...

InPhonic authorizes $30M stock repurchase

WASHINGTON-InPhonic Inc.'s board of directors authorized a stock repurchase of up to $30 million of common stock during the next year. The company said it can make repurchases under Rule 10b5-1, which permits shares to be repurchased when the company might otherwise be precluded...