With the wireless industry's nationwide players having posted third-quarter results, it appears that the market is quickly changing from a battle of the big 4 to a war between the big 2. Last week, the industry's No. 3 and No. 4 operators, Sprint Nextel...
Visual voicemail is still in its infancy - it's only available on a handful of devices from the nation's top four carriers - but as the service becomes more prevalent, smaller wireless providers may see it as a way to separate themselves from the...
Craig Harper went from trying to keep track of his daughter to launching his own company that aims to help businesses keep track of their mobile workforce and be more productive.In 2006, Harper bought his 9-year-old daughter a Disney Mobile family cellphone, which gives...
You know that dusty smell you experience when you open a book that hasn't been picked up in decades? That's the feeling I get lately when I think of Microsoft's Windows Mobile.Smartphones - and the applications that run on them - are at the...
NEWS LAST WEEK THAT MOTOROLA INC. HAD SETTLED ON Windows Mobile and Android as handset platforms in an effort to simplify, focus on innovation and manage costs underscored the unknowns involved in such choices. Because leading OSs come with "patrons and politics," with unknown...
The "OS wars," as some would have it, are alive and well - at least in the data on the various contenders' shifting market share."Symbian is still by far the most popular operating system for smartphones, with about 50% global market share," said analyst...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.Having just returned from the Rutberg Wireless Influencers conference this past week, the top question on everyone's...
Turning around Motorola Inc. will be akin to making a K-turn in a stretch limo on a frontage road. You gotta downsize to a vehicle that's easier to maneuver. Many passengers will have to get out, while new navigators are needed to ride shotgun....
Is the Google Android operating system a game changer? The answer to that question may determine the answer to one of wireless's biggest questions: Who owns the customer? From the time the first cellphone call was made, wireless carriers have had the front-line relationship...
Motorola Inc. lost $397 million on $7.5 billion in revenue across all its businesses in the third quarter and said today it would delay its plan to spinoff its handset division until sometime after 2009.And in a move to cut costs, the company said...
If this keeps up, content owners may forget the whole "on-deck vs. off-deck" argument. Instead, they'll be trying to figure out which mobile application stores' shelves they want to stock.Google Inc. is the latest player in the app-store game, launching its Android Market last...
Google Inc. wants to bring mobile Internet to the masses. That's the philosophy behind its launching Android, its mobile-operating system. Creating a mobile OS that's simple, efficient and a great user experience full of useful applications will mean more people hooked to the web...
Editor's Note: RCR Wireless News Washington Bureau Chief Jeffrey Silva asked the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to respond to e-mailed questions covering a wide range of policy matters confronting the wireless industry and the telecom/high-tech sectors generally.
McCain's...
BOSTON - A day after the release of the first cellphone powered by Google Inc.'s Android software, the founder of the startup that initially developed the software took the Mobile Internet World keynote stage to explain the reasons behind the search giant's much-hyped effort."It's...
T-Mobile USA this week launched the Google Android-powered G1 across the country. However, the device, which is built by HTC, is only available in retail locations in cities where the carrier's 3G technology has launched.; Android; G1; T-Mobile...
BOSTON - It's a busy time for T-Mobile USA Inc.The carrier is in the midst of rolling out its 3G network, it is launching the world's first Google Inc.-powered cellphone, and it is overhauling its interactions with application developers. The goal, of course, is...
From early indications, the uncertain shift to open platforms in the wireless space will not take a linear path and instead is apt to evolve in zigzag fashion due to variances in unpredictable political, technological and market forces.The answer to the question, 'What does...
MySpace jumped aboard the Android bandwagon with a free, downloadable application customized for the new platform.MySpace Android allows users to upload photos, access band profiles and tour schedules, view comments on profiles and connect with other users. Members of the popular social-networking site can...
On paper, handset vendors and their carrier patrons can be very persuasive. In the hand, new devices can be seductive. At the checkout counter, however, or on the street where reality bites, a multitude of factors suddenly crowd in like so many shark's teeth,...
Like gold bullion, Treasury bonds and the booze industry, the new mobile application stores that are beginning to surface may actually benefit from Wall Street's implosion.Like many of the rest of us, application developers are gnawing fingernails as they watch the financial meltdown and...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our coverage of 25 years in wireless. RCR Wireless News is celebrating with a package of stories detailing the advances of the past three decades. For full coverage please visit RCRWireless.com/25years.The history of mobile data teems with unrestrained hyperbole and...
The most important weapon in the war against the dumb-pipe scenario may just be the cloud.Cloud-based services - hosted applications "in the sky" and accessible through the Internet, as opposed to native apps - are suddenly all the rage in mobile. The concept is...
CHICAGO - Clearwire Corp. CEO Ben Wolff stepped onto the WiMAX World stage in front of a packed house Wednesday morning. As audience members squeezed to find chairs or stood along the back walls, Wolff made the business case for WiMAX, as well as...
It seems you're nobody in wireless if you're not building - and bragging about - your app store. Apple got the ball rolling, of course, by opening its iPhone to developers and adding an on-device storefront, and its unqualified success has sparked a flurry...
