Colors, materials and finishes-aka CMF-have returned to center stage as a conveyor of value, product differentiator and sales clincher. Focused efforts to use CMF to give a handset legs in the market began with face plates nearly a decade ago. And though CMF's role...
I'm at home right now, and I'm looking out the window and it's snowing like crazy.RCR Wireless News is based in Denver, so we occasionally have weather-related troubles. Our most memorable weather disaster happened a few years ago when it snowed three feet in...
WASHINGTON-The 109th Congress adjourned on a positive note for the wireless industry and the public-safety community, approving legislation that makes illegal the practice of impersonating mobile-phone subscribers to obtain their phone records, and ordering the Bush administration to award $1 billion in public-safety interoperable...
NEW YORK-CTIA unveiled a version of its Web site designed for mobile phones. The site was built by mobile content company Lift Mobile."Lift Mobile's service is helping us meet the growing demand for accessing information on wireless devices," said CTIA President and CEO Steve...
WASHINGTON-Congress before adjourning for the year passed legislation criminalizing the use of fraudulent means-such as impersonating wireless and wireline telecom subscribers-to obtain their phone records, a practice made infamous in the Hewlett-Packard Co. "pre-texting" scandal. The Senate agreed to the version of...
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 Strategy Analytics' Chris Ambrosio, M:Metrics' Seamus McAteer...
Under the banner, "Simpler and Slimmer," Consumer Reports' January 2007 issue weighed in on a handset category that has even the experts scratching their heads. At CTIA I.T. in September, a panel of leading wireless industry analysts proffered a variety of multi-faceted explanations for...
TV Guide Mobile Entertainment Inc. and mobile broadcast software company Roundbox Inc. said they signed an exclusive agreement that calls for them to develop and co-market an Electronic Service Guide for mobile television. Roundbox is providing its software to the effort while TV Guide's...
WASHINGTON-Mobile-phone companies asked U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake to refer jurisdictional questions to the Federal Communications Commission in connection with brain-cancer and headset lawsuits in Maryland federal court, a request that builds on emerging agency activism in support of the wireless industry in major...
Mark it on your calendar: Nov. 27, 2006, the day a Colorado cellphone recycling outfit accomplished what high-powered lawyers could not and chiseled a chink in the armor of the mobile-phone industry's cherished business model. The Library of Congress' decision that unlocking mobile...
Are Helio execs good at playing "Follow the Leader." During a keynote at the CTIA Wireless I.T. Show, Helio CEO Sky Dayton made a couple of pointed jabs at his fellow panelists representing fellow MVNO Virgin Mobile (old-man socks were mentioned, for example.) At...
WASHINGTON-TracFone Wireless Inc., the nation's largest prepaid wireless company, said it is considering filing a lawsuit in federal court to repeal a new Library of Congress rule that exempts mobile-phone locking software from U.S. copyright law."Although TracFone believes that the exemption to the Digital...
WASHINGTON-TracFone Wireless Inc., the nation's largest pre-paid wireless company, said it is considering filing suit in federal court to repeal a new Library of Congress rule exempting mobile phone locking software from U.S. copyright law. The ruling essentially allows an individual to unlock his...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Copyright Office recommended that mobile-phone subscribers beginning Dec. 1 can keep their handsets to use on other wireless networks when they change cellular operators, a minimum three-year ruling with huge implications for carriers and vendors. "The underlying activity sought to be performed...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission rejected Cyren Call Communications Inc.’s broadband public-safety plan only days after putting it out for public comment. The move stands as a setback for Cyren Call, but Morgan O’Brien, the company’s chairman, said it won’t stop Cyren Call from seeking...
In this election season, the wireless industry stands as an Independent. Indeed, CTIA has been run successfully over recent years by Steve Largent, a Republican, and Tom Wheeler, a staunch Democrat.Wireless crosses party lines. As such, regardless of whether Democrats regain control of Congress,...
InfoSpace Inc. reported a net loss for the third quarter and announced plans to halt investment in its direct-to-consumer content business, including its recently launched Moviso storefront. Instead, executives said, InfoSpace will refocus on bringing its success in online search into wireless. Shares of...
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....
BELLEVUE, Wash.—InfoSpace Inc. reported a net loss for the third quarter and announced plans to halt investment in its direct-to-consumer content business, including its recently launched Moviso storefront. Instead, executives said, InfoSpace will refocus on bringing its success in online search into wireless.Shares of...
WASHINGTON—AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., awaiting final federal action on their $79 billion merger and key stakeholders in the telecom reform debate on Capitol Hill, have been among the most generous donors to federal candidates and political parties in the 2006 election cycle. Indeed,...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission and the wireless industry cautioned the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not to overturn results of the advanced wireless services auction if the three-judge panel finds the agency mishandled a rulemaking intended to prevent large cellular carriers and others...
WASHINGTON-The Great American Cowboy has become the star in the marketing/advocacy game between CTIA and rural wireline carriers. The Coalition to Keep America Connected, the universal-service reform lobbying group formed by rural local exchange carriers, released a video last week featuring animated cowboys."The Sweet...
It looks like everybody and their mother is courting the public-safety market. Thanks to the wonders of digital TV, there's now a bunch of extra spectrum at 700 MHz, a valuable band due to its propagation characteristics. Congress agreed to give 24 megahertz of...
Mobile porn is slowly finding an audience among U.S. mobile users. And network operators are trying to figure out how to cash in. Adult wireless content is gaining substantial traction around the world as content providers find a market for everything from titillating mobile...
