This was supposed to be the year of the music phone, but as the holiday season approaches the home stretch, on-the-go music lovers are still hoping to find dedicated MP3 players in their stockings.U.S. sales of portable digital music players is expected to slow...
Sanyo Corp. has put its best foot forward at Sprint Nextel Corp. with a top-of-its-line multimedia phone, the M1, at a crucial time for Sanyo and amid a strong, overall portfolio expansion at Sprint Nextel. The M1 launch comes freighted with context-Sanyo's global handset...
Qualcomm Inc. plans to profit from in-house Bluetooth intellectual property to drive down the cost, power consumption and footprint of chip-based functionality in mobile handsets and consumer electronic devices, the company said last week in the wake of its acquisition of much of RF...
SEATTLE-In October, new phone buyers most often selected the LG VX8300-a straightforward silver clamshell handset at Verizon Wireless for $50 with Vcast music-download abilities, picture messaging and Bluetooth connectivity-over Motorola Razr models at Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless L.L.C., according to data from M:Metrics.This...
YONKERS, N.Y.-Crappy New Year to all. Or, at least, to some. Consumer Reports has taken a look at mobile carriers and handsets in the United States in its January 2007 issue and, apart from a few companies that may do cartwheels after receiving the...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. reported plans to acquire RF Micro Devices Inc.'s Bluetooth-related assets for $39 million in cash. Qualcomm said that the acquisition, which focuses on Greensboro, N.C.-based RF Micro Device's Bluetooth-related intellectual property and team in San Diego, would enhance its ability to...
UPDATED December 7, 2006OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. introduced the latter's M1 handset, a high-end multimedia phone with lots of onboard memory and a two-megapixel camera, for $200 with a two-year contract. The phone may provide the gotta-have-it crowd with...
Consumers' tendency to carry duplicate devices-think camera phone and digital camera, or smart phone and PDA-may contain a seed of wireless' future. That may seem like a bit of a stretch on such a simple premise. Take the implications, however, and work backwards. Enjoy...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-The nation's handset vendors are kicking into high gear in time for the holiday shopping season-which started on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving-with a range of new, advanced products. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's third-largest phone maker by volume, announced...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. added an HSDPA-enabled smart phone known as the 8525 Pocket PC to its line-up, which it is selling for $250 with a mail-in rebate and two-year contract. The 8525 is the first HSDPA-enabled smart phone in Cingular’s portfolio. The 8525 appears...
Motorola Inc. reiterated its concern over a proliferation of counterfeit accessories, particularly Bluetooth headsets, purported to be made by Motorola and reaching consumers in the United States. Motorola warned that the counterfeits are cheap fakes, won't perform as advertised and cannot be serviced by...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said Continental Airlines Inc. can offer free Wi-Fi access at Boston-Logan International Airport, ruling the Massachusetts Port Authority's attempt to shut down the airline's wireless Internet service is pre-empted by federal regulations governing over-the-air reception devices (OTARD). Though the dispute...
ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. are betting on faster download speeds and music functionality with the launch of the "Synch" handset, an HSDPA phone with music and multimedia capabilities. The Cingular exclusive device will be available "soon" for $50 with a...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission said Continental Airlines Inc. can offer free Wi-Fi access at Boston-Logan International Airport, ruling the Massachusetts Port Authority’s attempt to shut down the airliner’s wireless Internet service is pre-empted by federal regulations governing over-the-air reception devices (OTARD). Though the dispute...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Motorola Inc. has reiterated its concern over a proliferation of counterfeit accessories, particularly Bluetooth headsets, purported to be made by Motorola and reaching consumers in the United States and, likely, worldwide. Motorola warned that the counterfeits are cheap fakes and won’t perform as...
A California man is suing Motorola Inc., alleging the cellular phone maker knew its wireless Bluetooth headsets could cause "serious hearing loss" and failed to warn customer of the potential dangers. The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed earlier this month in U.S....
By Brandon GlennCHICAGO—A California man is suing Motorola Inc., alleging the cellular phone maker knew its wireless Bluetooth headsets could cause "serious hearing loss" and failed to warn customer of the potential dangers.The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed earlier this month in...
DALLAS—The holiday retail season kicked into high gear as T-Mobile USA Inc., Virgin Mobile and others introduced a bevy of new handsets. First up was Bang & Olufsen, best known for high-end consumer electronics, which launched a mobile handset developed with Samsung Electronics Co....
Editor's Note: Welcome 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’ Peter Jarich, M:Metrics’ Seamus McAteer...
Seattle-based software developer Airbiquity recently cemented its relationship with Continental Automotive Systems' telematics unit, which develops and markets embedded telematics and hands-free communications systems using Bluetooth technology. The heart of Airbiquity's offerings is its in-band modem technology that transmits telematics data like crash notifications...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Smart phone users, a small but growing segment of the mobile public, are now dealing with what may become a standard part of the wireless experience: software upgrades. For instance, owners of Palm Inc.’s Treo 650 were just notified that updater 1.05a is...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....