Voce's promises are now just a hollow echo of P.T. Barnum's famous dictum, "there's a sucker born every minute." "The ultimate service," the now-defunct mobile virtual network operator's Web site still assures viewers. "Voce redefines customer care." In the case of Voce, which...
Disney and ESPN Media Networks have appointed Tim Connolly to the newly created position of VP of mobile distribution.Connolly has extensive experience in the wireless industry, most recently serving as VP of sales and business development at L.M. Ericsson, where he was responsible for...
One of the most powerful tenets of retail sales is the law of retail location. Seemingly irrespective of what the actual product is, without strong retail distribution points, your product is doomed to failure. There are exceptions these days, such as music and books,...
Editor's Note: The following are the stories that had the biggest impact on the wireless industry in 2007, as chosen by the RCR Wireless News editorial staff.1. Jan. 15 issueApple Inc. introduces the iPhone.2. Feb. 19 issueAT&T Mobility announces plans to use Qualcomm Inc.'s...
Want to know how long the line is outside your favorite club on a busy Saturday night? Or the guy-to-girl ratio at a bar before you pay the cover?That's the promise of BuzzD, a new local-search/networking service from mobile pioneer Nihal Mehta. "It's the...
Following the failure of its U.S. mobile virtual network operator business, the Walt Disney Co. is now turning its attention to the east with plans to launch an MVNO service in Japan. We can just hear the Disney Mobile execs explaining things: "Hey, 'Hello...
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 RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We...
After shutting down two mobile virtual network operations in the United States, Walt Disney Co. is hoping the third time is the charm; the company is restarting its "Disney Mobile" offering, this time in Japan.The company said it will work with Japanese mobile operator...
Yet another set of mobile advertising guidelines will be released this week as the dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG) unveils a 44-page document for companies looking to target wireless users.The group, a nonprofit offshoot of mTLD Top Level Domain Ltd., hopes to foster growth of...
Despite 11th hour attempts to prevent a work stoppage, Hollywood writers went on strike today.Renewed talks between the Writers Guild of America and networks and studios failed to halt the guild's planned strike, despite the pressure of a federal mediator and a flurry of...
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. announced a new line-up of handsets as well as an expanded retail effort. The MVNO's new handsets include the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. m300, an $80 phone available in...
Tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. is trying to snap up customers who must leave lame-duck MVNO Disney Mobile, which is slated to be shut down at the end of December. Kajeet, a pay-as-you-go service with parental controls on when and how the...
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...
So the big mouse has left the wireless house.Just over a year after unveiling its mobile virtual network operator plans in a fireworks-studded event at the CTIA show in the spring of 2006, the Walt Disney Co. decided to pull the plug on its...
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.-Posh met hype and circumstance all at once at the inaugural WebbyConnect Summit here last week.While most of the buzz in the wireless and broadband industries tends to come from start-up companies shooting for the sky or pushing the envelope just for...
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 Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
MobiTV Inc. has named Charlie Nooney its next CEO. Nooney will succeed Phillip Alvelda, who helped found the company in Northern California and develop it into one of the early pioneers in mobile television.Nooney will take the reins Oct. 15.Nooney's resume reads like a...
IF 2006 WAS THE YEAR OF THE LAUNCH for mobile virtual network operators, then 2007 has so far been the Year of the Crash.The last few months have brought a screeching halt to the MVNO hype that dominated 2005 and most of 2006, when...
The Walt Disney Co. is shutting down its remaining mobile virtual network operator, Disney Mobile, as of Dec. 31. The company announced this morning that it would dismantle Disney Mobile and would explore "a new business model for its content and services that might...
A quick stroll of the show floor reveals all sorts of flashy gadgetry and eye-popping mobile applications. But the executives behind Sprint Nextel Corp.'s Xohm would rather talk about the ecosystem than about megabits per second.WiMAX is a substantial technological step forward for the...
Mobile virtual network operator Disney Mobile has been well-received by parents, but lacks scale and may see some changes to its business model, according to remarks by Walt Disney Co.'s senior executive VP and CFO Tom Stagg at a Merrill Lynch conference this week....
Ad-subsidized mobile games are a sure-fire catalyst for an industry sorely in need of a kick in the pants.Either that, or they're the quickest way to sabotage the space in its infancy.Hands-On Mobile last week became the first major mobile publisher to experiment with...
An increasing number of parents around the country can sidestep the dreaded $400 cellphone bill boosted by their child's texting mania, as more wireless companies begin to offer custom controls on children's wireless usage.AT&T Mobility announced last week that it is making parental controls...
AT&T Mobility has joined the ranks of wireless companies offering parents control over their children's wireless usage. The operator today introduced a Web-based service, Smart Limits for Wireless, to allow parents to set usage limits on talk time, text messaging, instant messaging and...
