Carriers are beginning to use carrot-and-stick strategies to bring their third-party content partners to heel. And both the carrot and the stick are made of cash.Sprint Nextel Corp. earlier this year became the first U.S. carrier to formally tie revenue shares to business practices,...
Sprint Nextel Corp. hopes to clean up the direct-to-consumer content business by hitting wayward partners where it hurts.The carrier last month told off-deck content aggregators that it will be "strictly enforcing" new revenue-share penalties for vendors who violate Mobile Marketing Association guidelines. Partners who...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier--Lehman Brothers lowered its price target on Verizon to $48 from $50 and lowered its current-year EPS estimate on the company to $2.66 from $2.74....
Amdocs Ltd. last week expanded its offering for off-deck content providers as it launched a new business unit designed deliver advertising, commerce and entertainment products across platforms.The St. Louis-based firm released additional modules for its Qpass Off-Portal Suite, a carrier-targeted software offering designed to...
Mobile banking and payments are gathering steam in the U.S., but the space is also drawing significant interest abroad. Within recent weeks, a series of international companies have made banking-related announcements, including:-- Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which offers banking services in Europe, the...
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,...
Infrastructure giant L.M. Ericsson announced it will pay around $417 million for German billing company LHS AG, a move that could pit Ericsson directly against telecom billing heavyweights like Amdocs Ltd. and Convergys Corp."Operators are quickly moving towards convergent charging and billing solutions to...
Harbinger Capital Partners is hoping to buy Openwave Systems Inc. at closeout prices. And as the Alltel Corp. deal demonstrates, Harbinger isn't the only private firm looking for a bargain in wireless.The investment firm is looking to buy more than 40 million Openwave shares...
Motricity Inc. once again added to its bank account, pocketing $50 million in equity funding from controversial investor Carl Icahn. Whether the cash will be enough to see the company through the troubled wireless entertainment waters is uncertain, as the mobile content space increasingly...
Vignette is partnering with a couple of well-known mobile partners on a framework designed to manage and deliver content to both PCs and mobile phones.The Austin, Texas-based developer this week plans to unveil its Digital Services Hub, a multichannel offering that optimizes content across...
ST. LOUIS-Alltel Corp. announced extended its content-billing deal with Amdocs Inc.Terms of the multi-year contract were not disclosed. Amdocs' Qpass Digital Commerce platform allows Alltel subscribers to browse and purchase content such as ringtones, messaging and games. Amdocs purchased Qpass last year for $250...
Amp'd Mobile has tapped Amdocs' Qpass digital commerce platform to handle its off-deck content business.The mobile virtual network operator said it will use Amdocs' centralized digital commerce platform to support third-party offerings such as text messaging, chat, voting, personalization content and other applications. The...
ST. LOUIS-MetroPCS Communications Inc. has tapped Amdocs Ltd.'s Qpass digital commerce platform to deliver mobile content. The carrier said it will use the technology to offer chat and voting services as well as ringtones and graphics. Qpass' platform will also support MetroPCS' customer-care efforts...
Valista Ltd. is vying for more space on the mobile payments playground with a hosted, WAP-based offering for carriers in the United States and Europe. The Dublin, Ireland-based developer this week plans to unveil a new platform designed to serve as a bridge between...
Consolidation in the mobile content space remains white-hot, with Motricity Inc. the most recent player to tap the booming off-deck market with the acquisition of GoldPocket Wireless Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Motricity has gained substantial traction with its Fuel software, which...
Amdocs Ltd. continued its spending spree last week, agreeing to shell out $375 million to acquire operations support provider Cramer Systems Group Ltd. Cramer, a privately held, London-based outfit, produces network resource management software for mobile and fixed-line telecommunications companies. The firm boasts more...
ST. LOUIS—Amdocs Ltd. continued its spending spree, agreeing to shell out $375 million to acquire operations support systems provider Cramer Systems Group Ltd. Amdocs, which specializes in billing and customer relationship management services, said the all-cash deal will dilute its earnings by 4 cents...
Tira Wireless is expanding its porting services and stepping onto the crowded playing field of mobile content management. The company this week plans to unveil the latest version of is flagship product Jump, a software offering designed to port-or customize-applications across the spectrum of...
SAN FRANCISCO—Wireless game-maker Hands-On Mobile Inc. has created a new division in an effort to tap the booming mobile marketing space. The publisher, formerly known as Mforma, is joining a field that seems to get more crowded by the day. Wireless storefront operators and...
You can call it off-deck, off-portal or off-network, but the stampede of companies looking to sell content directly to consumers is unquestionably on. Off-deck activity has long dominated the wireless market in Europe, where a lack of garden walls has encouraged subscribers to use...
ST. LOUIS—Amdocs is looking to tap the booming market for off-deck mobile content with a new Web-based offering targeting media companies looking to build direct-to-consumer Internet storefronts. The product, dubbed OpenMarket Exchange, is designed to support digital purchases and minimize revenue leakage from third-party...
MBlox is rumored to be looking to expand both its global footprint and its business plan with a $175 million acquisition of content provider LaNetro Zed. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based mobile data and billing services provider declined to discuss the buyout, but industry sources say...
SEATTLE—Qpass is hoping to tap the user-generated content market with the launch of a self-service mobile storefront. The offering, dubbed TheContentMarket.com, is designed to enable amateur content providers to build fully functioning storefronts on their own Web sites. Site owners can create free accounts,...
Within the past two years, the number of national carriers in the U.S. has gone from six to four. Between Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Sprint Corp.'s acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc., the companies that need to have their...
