In-Stat last week touted a new study with the observation that "Competition in mobile video could threaten mobile operators."Duh.But the fact that In-Stat's conclusion is self-evident doesn't minimize the risk mobile network operators increasingly face in the broader digital entertainment arena. Carriers are on...
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...
LAS VEGAS-Less than two months into a broadcast mobile TV service trial, HiWire L.L.C. has wrapped the first phase of its study and is now preparing to increase its scope by 800% before month's end.T-Mobile USA Inc., which has signed on with the Aloha...
Despite the Federal Communications Commission's publicly stated desire to avoid anti-competitive behavior in the 700 MHz auction and its embrace of blind bidding as a safeguard against such activity, there are growing concerns that the combination of hefty reserve prices on key spectrum blocks,...
In a typical reaction, analyst Iain Gillott of iGR good-naturedly called last week's price cut on Apple Inc.'s iPhone the "iShaft."Of course, that was before Apple quickly offered its fanboys a $100 credit to assuage the latter's sense of betrayal.Legions had purchased the device...
Carriers in the United Kingdom are hoping to get users to PayForIt with their phones.The operators launched a standardized payment scheme designed to provide a consistent user interface regardless of carrier for mobile transactions of roughly $20 or less. Users are identified via the...
Google Inc. is hoping to patent a text-based system for mobile payments.The Internet giant filed an application with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to patent "a computer-implemented method of effectuating a payment" that is initiated when a mobile shopper sends a text message...
MUNICIPAL WI-FI TOOK SOME MAJOR HITS last week. Once considered by many cities and towns to be the roadmap to offer high-speed Internet access for all, wide-spread use of the unlicensed technology is now less certain. In a week that saw Google Inc. boasting...
These appear to be dark days for municipal Wi-Fi. The oncepromising way to bring wireless broadband to the masses has hit that hard wall separating hype from reality.Chicago just added itself to a growing list of cities with second thoughts about deploying a publicly...
What a tome: 312 pages, including appendices. Why, already the number of printed copies of the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz decision would keep Dunder-Mifflin afloat a little longer.But what would you expect? The Martin FCC-eagerly egged on by Cyren Call, Frontline Wireless, Google...
Who says you can't buy influence? Or at least attempt to.During the first six months of this year, the communications-electronics sector spent big money attempting to curry favor from elected officials on topics ranging from trade disputes to the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction.According...
Google Inc. offered a glimpse into the operations of its free, municipal Wi-Fi effort, which the company launched earlier this year in its home base of Mountain View, Calif. Google reported that the network now covers 12 square miles and counts 15,000 unique users...
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' Avi Greengart, Jupiter Research's...
Google Inc. Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt left the door open to bidding on wireless licenses when the 700 MHz auction begins in mid-January, but the Web search-engine giant and others are not apt to make final plans until after the Federal Communications Commission...
Are cellphone carriers becoming the New York Yankees of then wireless world? Or is it worse?● A federal judge last week said it was ridiculous that AT&T Mobility (then Cingular) had a clause in its customer contracts that said customers cannot sue the carrier...
THE IPHONE HAS given birth to the iEcosystem. Whether that's a good thing, though, is debatable.Apple Inc.'s decision to bar third-party developers from building applications for its high-profile device has drawn scorn in the software world. But there is no shortage of Internet-based applications...
VIENNA, Va.-Barry West believes so strongly in it that he's got it as the personalized license plate on his sports car: Xohm. It's the commercial brand for Sprint Nextel Corp.'s WiMAX effort and, as West explains, "Xohm is about a new business model."Adds West:...
M2Z Networks Inc. said it will take the Federal Communications Commission to court to force the agency to consider its request for 25 megahertz of vacant spectrum.The Silicon Valley-based outfit applied for the spectrum more than a year ago, vowing to deliver free broadband...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. continued to expand its handset portfolio with the "Fin" from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a thin clamshell priced at $175, based on a current discount. According to Helio, the Fin is the thinnest folding phone in the United...
The speech-to-text playground just got a little more crowded.TravellingWave, a Seattle-based startup, came out of stealth mode touting "breakthrough technology" that transcribes voice into text on mobile devices. The company said it raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A financing round from several...
High-tech giants seeking a new avenue for wireless Internet access suffered at least a temporary setback as a result of government tests that found prototype, Wi-Fi-like devices had trouble detecting TV signals and caused interference to broadcasters and wireless microphones. The tests studied operations...
Editor's Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what's hot in wireless.Despite the travails of Amp'd Mobile Inc., not all news is dour in the mobile virtual network operator space....
In case you hadn't heard, Google is going mobile. The Wall Street Journal last week trumpeted the Internet giant's efforts to build handsets in a page-one story that quickly echoed throughout the blogosphere and the trade press. London's Telegraph stoked the rumor mill a...
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 Jupiter Research's Julie Ask, iGR's Iain...
