Handsets

BEIJING—Qualcomm expects that 4 million to 8 million CDMA-based handsets will be sold in China in 2002. Worldwide, the figure is forecasted to be 85 million to 95 million. A …

SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with handset vendor Sanyo to develop new handsets based on the Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless. Qualcomm also signed …

RESTON, Va.—Nextel Communications Inc. introduced two new wireless handsets for its iDEN network designed and manufactured by Motorola Inc., the i90c and i80s. Nextel noted both handsets include Java technology, …

RALEIGH, N.C.—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and MobileAria announced a partnership to promote in-vehicle Bluetooth adoption. MobileAria said it will support and market Sony Ericsson’s handsets with MobileAria’s True Hands Free …

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TOKYO—NEC won an order for more than 1 million units of third-generation (3G) video phones from Hutchison Whampoa. NEC is going to provide the terminals based on both wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) …

TOKYO—Matsushita Communication Industrial, the largest mobile handset manufacturer in Japan, announced it will cease production of handsets at its U.K. factories in March 2002. Upon ceasing its production at its …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Entel PCS of Chile commercially launched its Mobile Wide Band service, using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) over the 1900 MHz band, on 25 October, becoming the first …

ATLANTA, United States—U.S. operator Cingular Wireless announced it will begin upgrading its current TDMA and analog network to General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) packet data and GSM voice technology. Cingular …

NEW YORK-Calling it “the most well-known secret in corporate America,” Stephen Carter, president and chief executive officer of Cingular Wireless, said the nation’s second-largest mobile operator will overlay all its …

DUBLIN, Ireland-European mobile operators realize they must work much harder to sell new subscriptions as GSM market penetration reaches saturation point, with no immediate sign of commercial third-generation (3G) applications …

NEW DELHI, India-The Thai cellular market witnessed rapid growth and intense competition during 2001. Subscriber numbers reached a landmark, crossing fixed-line subscriber numbers much earlier than expected. Tariffs are decreasing, …

TORONTO-As the handset manufacturing business gets tougher because of declining demand, more phone makers are looking at joint ventures as their economic salvation and perhaps their best strategy to catch …

Audiovox Communications Audiovox Communications introduced the Maestro, a Pocket PC that uses Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC 2002 software. The product features 32 MB of SDRAM and 32 MB of …

Carriers choose low-key number portability promotions MELBOURNE, Australia-With the advent of mobile number portability (MNP) in Australia, the forecasted marketing blitz has largely failed to materialize, despite some initial predictions …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile carrier in Japan, on 1 October launched the world’s first third-generation (3G) mobile service in the Tokyo metropolitan area, receiving mixed reviews from market analysts. …

NEW YORK-Once upon a time in the United Kingdom, cellular service was so difficult to obtain that carrier marketing was unnecessary because each customer could resell his service connection to …

Mobile satellite service is an idea and a technology that today lies buried under the apprehension and disappointment of a number of major business deals gone bad. But about 10 …

Editor’s note: In 2000, RCR Wireless News founded the Wireless Hall of Fame to honor those individuals who have made significant contributions to the wireless industry. Following is a look …

TOKYO—Toshiba and KDDI will jointly launch a field test for communications between digital consumer electronics and mobile handsets next March. About 500 households in Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—Infowave Software announced that Mentor Graphics has purchased its Infowave Wireless Business Engine and will deploy it in its European operations.Mentor Graphics will use the business engine on WAP-enabled …

HELSINKI, Finland—Vattenfall and Swedish power sector ally Birka Energi have reached a preliminary agreement to use their combined electricity systems as springboards to build new stations for third-generation (3G) networks, …

SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. says customers around the world are implementing more than 43 designs of its cdma2000 1x handsets and personal computer cards based on its MSM5105 chipset. “By working …

TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile carrier in Japan, on 1 October launched the world’s first commercial third-generation (3G) service. More than 4,000 3G handsets sold on the first day of …

BEIJING—The Japanese electronics company Kyocera and China Zhenhua (Group) Technologies signed an agreement to set up a joint venture to produce mobile-phone handsets in China’s southwestern Guizhou province. Registered capital …