Alltel Wireless launched its Voice2TXT service, which allows customers receive their voicemails in SMS format. The carrier announced in September that it had signed a deal with technology provider SpinVox to provide the voice-to-SMS conversion capability. Today marks the commercial launch of the service,...
Consumers ranked wireless carriers as providing a less useful and enjoyable customer experience than retailers and credit-card companies, but better than TV service providers and medical insurance providers, according to a recent survey of nearly 5,000 consumers by Forrester Research.Among companies in nine industries,...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, iGR's Iain...
One little press release can change everything (including this column).Verizon Wireless' announcement today that starting next year it will begin allowing any device and any application to work on its network is groundbreaking-and smart.Verizon Wireless has a tradition of innovation, and this may...
WITH THE EMERGENCE OF NEW PLAYERS in mobile from the information technology space and the dominating importance of applications to drive revenue in wireless, the battle over who controls the customer is expected to heat up, analysts say.Reuben Chaudhury, director of Oliver Wyman's communications,...
This week marks the beginning of the holiday season, of course, when most of us focus less on business and more on the reasons we work so hard. So in the spirit of the upcoming long weekend-and thanks to a predictably lethargic news cycle-a...
VeriSign Inc. outlined plans to streamline its operations and sell or close as many as 12 divisions including some-or perhaps all-of its mobile operations.The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said it will divest "a number of businesses in the company's portfolio, such as communications, billing...
After a trial involving 5,000 users, regional wireless carrier Revol has decided to go forward with a full launch of a mobile advertising service that the company said has achieved engagement rates of close to 50%. The company will begin marketing the service, Revol...
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-The music industry is redefining itself amid significant changes, particularly with regards to the record labels' role in a world where recording artists are able to connect with fans with little technological or marketing know-how."The labels are clearly at an inflection point," John...
SAN FRANCISCO-Direct-to-consumer is going directly, well, nowhere.Approaching mobile users directly has long been seen as the path to riches for outfits too small-or too edgy-for placement on carrier decks. But the U.S. market for off-deck mobile content is shackled by inadequate billing systems, onerous...
The direct-to-consumer mobile content space is being shackled by inadequate billing systems and an overall lack of traffic, content providers and mobile software developers said Monday.The market for off-deck mobile content was once seen as a kind of equalizer for publishers and brands too...
With more than 15% of wireless carriers' revenue coming from data services, operators are eyeing the next leap in usage. Executives from the big-five carriers were all on hand yesterday for a panel discussion on the state of mobile content, spelling out their strengths,...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Jupiter Research's Julie Ask, iGR's Iain...
TWO KEY SENATE MEMBERS last week unveiled a sweeping wireless consumer protection bill, setting the stage for a fierce battle between lawmakers and the mobile-phone industry that's likely to play out well into the 2008 election season.The legislation goes further than setting federal standards...
Two key Senate members today unveiled a sweeping wireless consumer protection bill, setting the stage for a fierce battle between lawmakers and the mobile-phone industry that's likely to play out well into the 2008 election season.The coming legislation goes further than setting federal standards...
Nokia Corp. is hoping to build a doorway directly to mobile consumers. Again.But whether carriers will tolerate the move is far from clear.The manufacturer-cum-mobile-media company last week outlined a surprisingly broad cross-platform play, introducing Ovi-which means "door" in the Finnish company's native tongue-at its...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. cut about 5% of its workforce, mostly in its field sales team, the company confirmed following media reports of the move.The cuts amount to around 100 positions, and Helio spokesman Rick Heineman described them as being part of...
Save the trees In addition to its advanced functionality, Apple's iPhone is also endowed with very detailed billing. AT&T Mobility said it was re-examining its current billing practices for the wonder device that provides customers with billing records of not just all calls made...
Digital security company Gemalto is teaming with NXP Semiconductors to push contactless payments toward commercial viability.The companies last week said they'd work together to define standards for SIM-based Near Field Communications products and ensure interoperability with MIFARE, a contactless smartcard technology for mass-transit authorities....
VIENNA, Va.-Barry West believes so strongly in it that he's got it as the personalized license plate on his sports car: Xohm. It's the commercial brand for Sprint Nextel Corp.'s WiMAX effort and, as West explains, "Xohm is about a new business model."Adds West:...
CLEARWIRE CORP. IS GEARING UP to put pen to paper on a deal that will bring Amp'd Mobile Inc's. 50-plus member content team on board to lead a new content offering under the Clearwire brand.The move likely would give Clearwire a major boost in...
Amp'd Mobile Inc. went dark last week, after filing for bankruptcy and being unable to raise sufficient funds to carry it through reorganization.The company joins Mobile ESPN in the annals of failed mobile virtual network operators, and its customers were stuck with shiny paperweights...
Canadian telecom provider Telus Corp. reported Q2revenues were up 4% year-over-year due to growth in wireless and data, but that its earnings for the second quarter were impacted by the advent of wireless number portability in Canada as well as the bankruptcy of Amp'd...
As a service shut-off deadline looms, Amp'd Mobile Inc. customers now have an out: Prexar Mobile, a small mobile virtual network operator managed by a nationwide CLEC, signed a deal to acquire Amp'd Mobile's customers. Prexar is hoping the boost to its business will...
