Once considered the red-headed stepchild of wireless, prepaid services are finally gaining mainstream appeal helped by the need for carriers to target broader demographics and consumer desires for more ways to control their spending. Over the past several weeks a number of operators have...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...
FOR NOW, AT LEAST, Verizon Wireless has stepped away from plans to tack on a drastic 3-cent fee to each vendor-generated message on its network. But there's little doubt that some significant changes are in store for nearly every player on the business-to-consumer text...
Mozilla released an early mobile version of its Firefox browser in an effort to get feedback from developers and wireless Web users.The Mountain View, Calif.-based developer unveiled Fennec, a "zooming" browser that features bookmarks, a smart URL bar, popup blocker and tabbed browsing. The...
Two weeks after swallowing the rest of the Crazy Frog, News Corp. is reorganizing its mobile business.Rupert Murdoch's media giant this week will unveil Fox Mobile Group, a three-pronged operation created to leverage its immense portfolio, content-creation capabilities and distribution channels. The company also...
Simon & Schuster unveiled a deal to make more than 500 of its titles available through the Macmillan Publishing Solutions' MPS Mobile.The effort launched with books such as the best-seller "The Secret" as well as titles from the "Star Trek" line; additional offerings will...
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...
A Redmond, Wash.-based newcomer, MobUI said it raised an unspecified amount in a round of funding led by GlobalNET Mobile Solutions, a Latin American wireless services provider. The startup - which was founded by former Action Engine employees - used part of the funds...
PUBLIC-INTEREST GROUPS ACCUSED WIRELESS CARRIERS of conjuring up misleading excuses to avoid federal regulation of short-code text messaging, pointing to content restrictions in industry documents that they say underscore the need for anti-discriminatory safeguards."Wireless carriers admit that they engage in content-based discrimination," Public Knowledge,...
In a move that sets a new and potentially major precedent in the text messaging services market, content and messaging companies are going to have to cough up some dough if they want to deliver their goodies to Verizon Wireless customers.The nation's No. 2...
Vindigo appears to have turned out the lights, but the closure of the Japanese-owned firm may have more to do with cultural differences than the fact that mobile content is a tumultuous space.A pioneer in the early days of mobile content, Vindigo was acquired...
VeriSign Inc. finally left the mobile content space, unloading its stake in Jamba to News Corp. for $200 million.A pioneer in the early days of ringtones and other mobile goodies, Jamba was picked up by VeriSign for $273 million in June 2004. But the...
Microsoft's Windows browser earns a lot of criticism from web developers. Even Internet Explorer 8, currently in beta, is a long way behind Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera when it comes to standards compliance.
ESPOO, FINLAND If being first mover meant anything, Anssi Vanjoki and his colleagues at Nokia (NOK) would already rule the mobile Web. Way back in 1996, the Finnish company launched a prototype phone with a "dangerometer," which used software and satellite technology to match...
"Oh no, where's my phone?" That has to be one of the scariest questions these days. And we've all done it; left our cellphone in a taxi-cab, on the counter at Starbucks or even had our phone-harboring purses stolen right from under our noses.Ten...
If this keeps up, "Can you hear me now?" may just become, "Have you gotten this text yet?" And network operators are scrambling to make sure the answer is yes.The average U.S. mobile user now sends and receives more test messages than they do...
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...
Nokia Corp. once again raised the stakes in its consumer play, acquiring mobile messaging company OZ Communications for an undisclosed amount.A Montreal-based outfit that claims 220 employees, OZ gained a foothold in the early days of mobile instant messaging and has expanded to social-networking...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is set to ax the download of songs from its Sprint Music Store to desktop computers beginning Oct. 15.The service's home page includes a link titled "PC Downloads Update," that includes the following explanation: "Beginning October 15, 2008, Sprint Music Store...
Yahoo's group for mobile phones has new leadership--David Ko--and its work is the centerpiece of the Connected Life division's 2009 profitability plan.
The typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more text messages than phone calls. In a finding that might benefit mobile marketing, Nielsen Mobile found that during the second quarter of this year, domestic wireless subscribers sent or received an average of 357 text...
