Three things you need to know about the handset market in the United States last quarter, courtesy of Strategy Analytics: 1) Overall unit sales reached nearly 42 million, up 5.3% over the year-ago quarter, which the market analysis firm said stemmed from "healthy" replacement...
Mobile music has been a one-hit wonder. But the big follow-up to the lucrative ringtone market may not be ringback tones, full-track downloads or any other single application. It may be advertising.Ringtone revenues in the United States will shrink in 2008, falling to $510...
Just in time for the 2008 Olympics set to kick off in China later this week the nation's two largest carriers expanded their international data plans.AT&T Mobility introduced two new plans, one for smartphone users and one for PC card users. The new smartphone...
Verizon Wireless is set to open up existing text message bundles and benefits to prepaid customers. Starting July 14th prepaid customers can get unlimited text, picture and video messaging to Verizon Wireless customers, plus get an additional 250 text, picture and video messages to...
A lower price isn't the only change accompanying the release of Apple Inc.'s 3G iPhone. Activating the device will also differ this year. When released last summer, customers were required to perform a self-activation of the device at home via their iTunes account. This...
Editor's Note: RCR Wireless News has teamed up with the Yankee Group to conduct a series of market surveys of RCR Wireless News' subscribers to gauge their thoughts on technology issues impacting the wireless ecosystem.Those of you who respond to the survey will get...
Sprint Nextel Corp. has launched an expensive, frontal assault on rivals in a bid for a hit handset that will resuscitate its fortunes. While it remains early in the game - the Instinct handset has been on the market for 11 days - the...
T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it will raise its texting rates to 20 cents a message. The change will go into effect August 29 for those without text bundles or for those who exceed their allotted number of messages.T-Mobile USA said it will not change...
Brightpoint Inc. said today it would distribute handsets for Verizon Wireless' indirect channel of authorized agents and national retailers. Bob Laikin, chairman and CEO of Brightpoint, declined to discuss the value of the deal, citing a confidentiality agreement with Verizon. But he said that...
Perhaps no U.S. carrier has pushed the mobile data envelope like Sprint Nextel. But maybe the operator pushed a little too early.Sprint launched its first streaming video offering more than five years ago - five years! - and within months had trotted out two...
Editor's Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what's hot in wireless.The wireless retail space has been in a state of flux over the past several years with carriers trying...
First, let me say I think Wi-Fi is the best thing since sliced bread. Really, I do. That being said, a number of announcements last week made me scratch my head as different companies try to attack the wireless broadband space. Come along for...
WHAT'S THAT SAYING? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me?After their previous union was aborted last year, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. decided last week to try to merge their WiMAX businesses again, this time under the Clearwire...
A new star is rising in mobile television and it's all premised on the fact that people don't want to pay for video on their cellphones. A few standout companies have blazed a path to free mobile content for consumers, but few, if any...
Qwest Communications International Inc. is jumping wireless ship from its current mobile virtual network operator relationship with Sprint Nextel Corp. to reselling Verizon Wireless services. The move, expected to begin this summer, will see the end of the Qwest brand in wireless as the...
SPRINT NEXTEL CORP. HAS WATCHED its self-imposed deadline for a commercial WiMAX network launch slip by as backhaul and billing systems appear to be causing greater headaches than originally expected.The carrier planned to commercially launch its Xohm network in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.,...
Could the stars be aligning to support a new push for bundled services? According to a report released last week by Compete Inc., 43% of consumers surveyed said they would be willing to purchase wireless services from their telecom providers, adding the fourth leg...
Competitive pressures are leading American companies to adopt mobility for the obvious reasons: increasing productivity, decreasing costs and distinguishing themselves among their competitors.The top three carriers in the United States - AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. - are attempting to secure...
T-Mobile USA Inc. announced a $10-per-month unlimited calling plan for its growing fixed-line effort.The operator launched Talk Forever Home Phone, an Internet service with unlimited local and domestic long-distance calls. The offering is available in Dallas and Seattle to T-Mobile USA wireless users with...
T-Mobile USA Inc. has been hit with a class action suit over alleged charges for text messages received by consumers who do not want the feature.The suit, recently filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, claims T-Mobile USA charges for text messages regardless...
AT&T Mobility quietly overhauled its data plans this week, whittling its messaging and data bundles and launching a handful of new offerings, according to research firm Current Analysis Inc.The carrier dropped more than a half-dozen offerings including PDA Global, Smartphone Connect and BlackBerry/PDA Personal...
America has fallen in love with text messaging. More than 28.8 billion text messages are sent per month, according to figures from CTIA. And nearly everyone knows someone who knows someone who sends 15,000 texts a month. (Usually that someone is a teenage girl).Obviously...
Editor's Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what's hot in wireless. Verizon Wireless' new Evolution stores emphasize interactivity and give customers a chance to test out applications on dozens...
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...
