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...
OK, Mark Twain's "mysterious stranger" was actually Satan's nephew, and we're certainly not deriding the devilish Steve Jobs or his wonderful company - but the theme of unwanted intrusion is apt.That is, if you consider the perspective of incumbent handset vendors and all network...
NXP Semiconductors and STMicroelectronics will combine their wireless businesses to compete in a cutthroat environment for chip makers. The two companies said in a statement they would aim to complete the move by the third quarter, subject to regulatory review and "consultations" with labor...
JUDGING BY THE HANDSET NEWS out of CTIA Wireless 2008 last week, competition in the United States is a SKU vs. SKU battle -handset-to-handset combat, if you will. In the absence of anything earth-shattering, the variety of handset news really spoke more to the...
While 'interoperability' and '9/11' have become mainstays in debates on how to improve the highly fragmented public-safety communications regime in the United States, a new survey reveals first responders do not regard terrorism their top concern or consider interoperability their greatest technological need.Moreover,...
The brave new world of handsets includes no comfort zones (watch out, Nokia!), disruptive influences run rampant, software transcends hardware and micro-segmentation is likely. These were among the conclusions drawn by analyst Stu Carlaw at an ABI Research session that covered the industry in...
CTIA Wireless 2008 is all about phones, but Qualcomm Inc. was busy Tuesday talking about laptops, portable multimedia players and just about anything else that can be connected to the Internet.The San Diego-based chipmaker said Dell Inc. will produce laptops with Gobi, Qualcomm's dual-mode...
AT&T Mobility has seen the signs -- or at least, followed the voice prompts -- and launched a branded GPS navigation service for consumers. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. already offer similar branded services to their respective subscribers. AT&T has offered GPS navigation...
If you can get Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel Corp., to extoll the virtues of your jointly developed handset during the opening day's keynote address, you're well-positioned to make hay.Thus the new Samsung Instinct - which looked similar to the iPhone - gave...
Analyst firm Berg Insight found 2.2 million passenger cars in Europe had an on-board telematics device at the end of last year. Stolen vehicle tracking is the primary telematics application, followed by automatic emergency calling, driver assistance and motor insurance telematics."After many years of...
A federal appeals court blocked the Federal Communications Commission's new enhanced 911 location accuracy rule from going into effect, possibly setting the stage for the court to overturn the agency's 2007 decision.The Rural Cellular Association and T-Mobile USA Inc. challenged on substantive and procedural...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and...
Wireless carriers have turned up the heat on the Federal Communications Commission, arguing in a lawsuit that new enhanced 911 location accuracy guidelines grossly miss the mark and that the agency's extension of a 2008 deadline is inadequate. The FCC last year clarified that...
After years of only minor price plan tweaks and occasional promotional offers, the nation's four largest carriers have ignited a new pricing war centered around unlimited voice calling minutes for $100 per month. And in a move that begs for a response, Sprint Nextel...
Once-beleaguered RadioShack Corp. - which sells wireless devices and services for AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel Corp., as well as a handful of prepaid providers - saw its stock soar more than 22% after reporting a rise in net income for the fourth quarter...
Not to be overrun by the stampede of national carriers flocking to unlimited pricing plans for voice, Sprint Nextel Corp. introduced a "Simply Everything" plan that includes, well, simply everything. Beginning tomorrow, customers can get unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, TV, music, GPS...
Once-beleaguered RadioShack Corp. - which sells wireless devices and services for AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel Corp., as well as a handful of prepaid providers - saw its stock soar more than 22% today after reporting a rise in net income for the fourth...
Alltel Wireless unveiled a location-based roaming feature that allows subscribers to use GPS applications outside their home network area.The move allows subscribers to use location-based applications in more than 45 major metropolitan areas thanks to new "network enhancements." Alltel used the opportunity to push...
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, IDC's Shiv...
In 2008, the wireless industry appears poised to continue its move to a model where access is open to qualifying third-party developers and handset manufacturers. With this shift should come continued proliferation of applications, content and services for mobile phones. Back in June 2006,...
Mobile phone design efforts over the past two years appear to have taken the handset as far as it will go, for now, if the handsets coming out of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, are any indication.The forefront of innovation today is...
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....
Sprint Nextel Corp.'s subsidiary Boost Mobile and mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. tweaked their unlimited voice, data and messaging plans.Boost Mobile introduced a new $1 per day voice plan for pay-as-you-go customers, which includes unlimited nights, unlimited mobile-to-mobile and a daytime rate of...
The Federal Communications Commission is coming under increasing pressure from the wireless industry to put on hold new enhanced 911 location accuracy guidelines, with court appeals virtually guaranteed.On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the FCC clarified that wireless service...
