Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly 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, NPD Group's...
The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to begin crafting federal guidelines on early termination fees, with Chairman Kevin Martin offering a blueprint on how a national regime might look.At the same time, it remains unclear whether Martin will pursue the far more controversial step...
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - A panel of five mobile entertainment CEOs took the stage this week at OnHollywood 2008 to make the case for their varying business models and address what Frank Barbieri, CEO of Transpera, called a shift from transaction-based content such as downloads...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is set to roll out new rate plans beginning June 15 that the carrier said simplify the selection process for customers and provide a cheaper alternative on family plans compared with its larger rivals. The new plans also appear to do...
Qualcomm Inc. is downplaying a Supreme Court decision that restricts the ability of a patent holder to continue to collect royalties after an invention is sold or licensed, despite urging the high court not to rule as it did and making dire predictions about...
The woes besetting Motorola Inc.'s consumer handset division have been the stuff of headlines for the past year. The company has said it remains committed to creating two independently traded businesses that would send the handset division off on its own, while keeping its...
One key message to enterprises that mobilize their work force, according to analyst Iain Gillott at iGR:"If you think networks are fast today, there's more coming - what are you going to do with it?"The challenge to make use of higher network speeds and...
Hours after media reports indicated a deal was close, Verizon Wireless announced an agreement to acquire Alltel Communications L.L.C.for $5.9 billion in cash and assume $22.2 billion in debt, for a total package price of $28.1 billion. If approved, the deal would create the...
A dispute has erupted over whether a federal appeals court should delay ruling on the wireless industry's challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's backup power rule until Bush administration budget officials complete their review of controversial guidelines designed to respond to communications failures from...
T-Mobile USA Inc. ratcheted up the heat in the unlimited calling wars by throwing out a new offer for families that allows customers to add additional lines for $50 per month.The plan allows for two lines of service with unlimited calling as well as...
High-stakes battles over early termination fees are playing out in official Washington and California at a time when carriers face pressure to make good on commitments to open their networks and embrace consumer-friendly practices, a confluence of forces that appears to be chipping away...
Just when municipal Wi-Fi seems all but dead in one place, it crops up full steam ahead in another.Oklahoma City says it just turned on the largest city owned and operated municipal Wi-Fi mesh network in the world. The wireless mesh network covers 555...
Global sales of handsets in the first quarter jumped 13.6% from the year-ago quarter, reaching 294 million units, according to a recent report from Gartner. Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Co. accounted for most of that surge, with LG propelling...
Coupon clipping is going mobile. Juniper Research estimates almost 3 billion mobile coupons will be issued to mobile users by 2011. And those coupons will yield about $7 billion of discounts redeemed, said the firm. Several factors are driving the mobile coupon market, including...
The buzz is inescapable. Next week, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs is expected to announce the next iteration of the company's iPhone at Apple's annual developer conference.In the run-up to the purported announcement, several issues have been bandied about by the global media, which...
TD-SCDMA WORKS. That's the view of one analyst who participated in trials in Baoding, China, as long ago as December 2006.A very modest supply of subsidized handsets and data cards by domestic and foreign vendors should hit the market this summer for early adopters,...
Perhaps no segment in mobile data remains as untapped as wireless e-mail.Research In Motion Ltd. continues to dominate the market for high-powered users, resulting in millions of CrackBerry addicts hunched over their flashy devices who don't mind paying a premium - or charging their...
The Razr cut both ways. In the past two years, as its Razr-driven joyride skidded into a ditch, Motorola Inc.'s massive advantage in its home market has dwindled to a narrow gap. The relentless hunger and proliferating portfolios of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and...
Femtocells - sounds like a science fiction term for robotic feminine cells - but it's just another buzzword for a new technology and product that promises so much in the future, yet has delivered mostly in practical terms thus far.For the moment, the technology...
Samsung has diversified its suppliers of UMTS baseband chips to include Infineon Technologies AG, leaving the world's second-largest handset vendor less dependent on Qualcomm Inc., Samsung confirmed."This is no surprise," said Will Strauss, principal at Forward Concepts, which tracks the mobile chip market. "Samsung...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks look for columns from Tom Huseby of SeaPoint Ventures, Mark Desautels of...
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Following numerous delays due to technical problems, Nokia Corp.'s N-Gage gaming platform has been live for six weeks now, and the company said it's pleased with the initial response to the service as it builds up its catalog of available titles.Kay...
CORPORATIONS' IT "SPEND" THIS YEAR is markedly less than last year, yet mid-year changes have yet to surface, according to several sources. An annual survey of CIOs conducted by Gartner each fall projected flat to less than 3% growth in corporate IT spending for...
Verizon Wireless continues to please its business customers, both big and small. According to the J. D Power and Associates 2008 Business Wireless Satisfaction Study, released today, the carrier ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction for wireless data service, effectively meeting customer expectations and...
