Broadband. It is a familiar term being tossed around the wireless industry like a hot potato, but its relatively new status is making its definition, applications and implications elusive to many.At the most basic level, wireless broadband-also known as fixed wireless, Broadband Wireless Local...
British Telecom plc unveiled its mobile Internet strategy last week, setting up a new unit to offer global mobile Internet services by extending its existing Genie Internet services to Wireless Application Protocol-enabled phones.BT said it will invest $250 million in WAP technology and form...
NEW YORK-The Federal Communications Commission 700 MHz auctions in May will be "a significant industry-transforming event and near-term catalyst ... in the race toward wireless data," John Bensche, senior analyst for Lehman Brothers Inc., said.Bidding teams could well include Internet service and content providers,...
LCC International Inc. has launched a radio-frequency exposure and regulatory compliance program designed to help wireless operators and site owners comply with standards and guidelines mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Aviation Administration and other federal, state and local government agencies. The program...
While most in the wireless industry seem fairly positive that wireless Internet services are going to be the next big growth cycle of the future, few have solid ideas on exactly how that's supposed to happen.The pace of today's technology makes it possible for...
ATLANTA-The Weather Channel said its weather.com Web site will provide content and services to the oramobile.com wireless portal from OracleMobile.com, a subsidiary of Oracle Corp.
XYPoint made several enhancements to its wireless phone location services last week through partnerships with Vicinity Corp. and GeoVector.XYPoint partnered with Vicinity to provide wireless customers with location-based information services via a voice user interface blended with text messaging technology, the company said. The...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association said Thursday that it is eliminating 10 positions as it "recharges its organization to further advance wireless industry.""In 1999, PCIA had the best fiscal year in its history. To continue this success, we are setting a new strategic...
WASHINGTON-When wireless customers begin to really use their wireless phones to access the Internet, who will they use? An Internet service provider of their choice or will they be forced to use the mobile-phone company's ISP?The answer Chris Gent, chief executive officer of Vodafone...
NEW ORLEANS-Glenayre Technologies Inc. introduced a two-way wireless communications module called @ctiveLink for the Visor handheld computer from Handspring Inc., the first ReFLEX-based two-way wireless data solution for a Palm operating system device.The module is designed to snap into the Springboard expansion slot on...
RESTON, Va.-Nextel Communications Inc. announced alliances with Aether Systems, Amazon.com, eDispatch.com, Wireless Data Inc., IBM and MicroStrategy to offer wireless Internet applications unique for businesses through Nextel Online.Nextel Online will enable customers to securely access applications, services, and content provided by Nextel and third-party...
NEW ORLEANS-Lucent Technologies Inc. has been relatively quiet about its plans for the wireless Internet, but last week it announced a number of initiatives to propel itself into this arena. Lucent, Sun Microsystems and iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, a Sun-Netscape Alliance, released an end-to-end solution...
Phone.com Inc. unveiled a new Wireless Application Protocol-based system that can change software settings and roaming configurations on handsets after they have been purchased using over-the-air provisioning technology.The system, Mobile Management Server 1.0, was designed to provision WAP gateways, applications and handsets across multiple...
SAN DIEGO, Calif.-PacketVideo said Finland's Sonera Corp. will conduct field trials of its wireless multimedia services this summer.PacketVideo's MPEG-4 compliant software-based encoding, decoding and transmission-management products enable wireless carriers to deliver a variety of content and media applications-not just data-to mobile devices, according to...
America Online Inc. took its AOL Anywhere strategy further into the wireless space last week with the introduction of its AOL Mobile Messenger service, created through several strategic deals with several wireless carriers and device manufacturers.AOL's Mobile Messenger service is designed to extend access...
NEW ORLEANS-Several Wireless Application Protocol announcements were made at Wireless 2000 in New Orleans last week. RTS Wireless demonstrated its Advantage WAP Gateway e-commerce solutions Datalink.net said it joined the WAP Forum. Motorola Inc. announced the availability of its WAP gateway, compatible with WAP...
NEW YORK-The telecom/wireless sector of U.S. industry stood out last year, riding high on an overall rising tide of venture capital investments, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' "MoneyTree Survey."Taken in aggregate, venture-backed investments in domestic companies during 1999 shattered all previous records, with 4,006 firms receiving...
WASHINGTON-Senate Judiciary Committee members last week voiced serious concerns about the proposed $160 billion America Online Inc.-Time Warner Inc. merger, a deal that takes on added significance in light of new strategic partnerships between AOL and several wireless firms."he most significant danger to the...
While Microsoft Corp. and America Online Inc. were the stars of the Internet content provider show at Wireless 2000, several supporting players launched wireless portals of their own, some with scene-stealing flair.They include GiantBear.com, Strategy.com, SpyglassMobile. com, WiredCEO, Logica and Speedia.com.John Dorfman, analyst at...
There's an ancient Japanese custom in which a man wooing a woman leaves romantic haiku poems tied to flowers or branches on her front lawn every day for as long as it takes until the woman agrees to accept his advances. According to one...
HANOVER, Germany-Motorola Inc. named several new partners to its Web W/O Wires Alliance Program, including Amazon.co.uk, Digital Bridges, Sports.com and AvantGo.com, allowing users to access content from each on Motorola's line of Internet-enabled phones.
IBM Corp. and American Mobile Satellite Corp. took their existing business relationship to another level last week, allowing AMSC to better target the potentially lucrative business-to-business market IBM commands.The agreement calls for IBM to jointly market AMSC's eLink wireless messaging and e-mail forwarding service...
SEOUL, South Korea-Korean mobile telecom carriers are looking to stake out the biggest share in the fast-growing wireless Internet and data market, shifting from a voice-oriented strategy.The explosion of the Internet and mobile-phone use is driving the convergence of the two high-tech media, offering...
TOKYO-Three Japanese carrier groups are gearing up their efforts to launch IMT-2000 services-earlier than any other wireless carriers in the world. The three players are NTT DoCoMo Group, Japan Telecom (JT) Group and DDI Group.NTT DoCoMo plans to be the first carrier in the...