Handsets

TOKYO-FunMail Inc. will start Beta testing its wireless animated instant messaging service on Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode system. The service is designed to allow i-mode users to send …

Like the harmony of opposites, caution and adventure characterize the journey to the wide-scale rollout of GPRS. Vendors are playing starry-eyed idealists while operators are avoiding a possible precipice on …

PHOENIX-Verizon Wireless launched digital service in Yuma, Ariz., offering consumers enhanced features including caller ID, wireless Internet access, extended battery life for their handsets and enhanced protection against cloning fraud. …

WASHINGTON-SouthernLinc, the iDEN division of the Southern Co., will be going up against Nextel Communications Inc. and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association if it follows through on comments urging …

NEW YORK-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. completed its acquisition of PrimeCo PCS’s wireless system in the Houston market covering a population of about 5.6 million people and serving 180,000 subscribers. AT&T …

Everyone knew it was coming. Everyone who cared to listen that is. Concerted legal action alleging use of mobile phones has caused brain tumors is to be launched in the …

NEW DELHI, India-Several leading GSM operators in the Asian region have announced plans for migration to 2.5-generation (2.5G) services during 2001. Many of them hope to roll out commercial General …

Only a year ago, prospects for the GSM standard in Latin America seemed dim. At that time, Chile’s Entel PCS and Venezuela’s rural operator Infonet were the only operators offering …

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia-Motorola and Russia’s RadioTel launched a TETRA trial network in the second-biggest Russian city of St. Petersburg last year, planning to turn the technology into a federal standard …

DENVER, United States-With AT&T Wireless Services’ announcement it will overlay its existing TDMA-based network with a GSM network supporting General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), the pressure is on other TDMA …

PDA technology Blue Impact Blue Impact, a partner of CellPoint, introduced a combined GSM/global positioning system (GPS) module for the Handspring Visor called Tellmen. The Tellmen module is compatible with …

PRAGUE, Czech Republic-During the 11 years since the fall of communism in Central Europe, the region’s countries have rapidly embraced mobile telephony, including the ubiquitous GSM networks now blanketing the …

DENVER, United States-Like the harmony of opposites, caution and adventure characterize the journey to the wide-scale rollout of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Vendors are playing starry-eyed idealists, while operators …

HONG KONG-“Third-generation services are here,” proclaimed the advertisements from Qualcomm at International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom Asia 2000. “The wait is over.” Korea’s SK Telecom was the first operator to …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo has been gearing up its global strategy, concluding one investment agreement after another. Since December 1999, it has invested in carriers in Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Britain. …

MELBOURNE, Australia-The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) will hold the keenly awaited auction of third-generation (3G) spectrum in the 2 GHz radio-frequency band in early March. The new 3G mobile services …

OXFORD, United Kingdom-Despite the promotional efforts of developers and mobile operators, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was roundly condemned by industry observers as being “unfit for purpose” during most of …

With a population hungry for services, Latin America is challenging telecom and Internet companies to tap their imaginative resources to provide the devices, killer applications, high-speed networks and customized content, …

BEIJING-China’s mobile communications market made big strides forward during 2000. The number of GSM subscribers leapt to more than 70 million, with a penetration rate of 5.5 percent. China Unicom …

While consumers in the United States will be pushed by government regulations into adopting location-based services, consumers in Western Europe and Japan are pulling for these types of services to …

Multiplier Industries Multiplier Industries Corp. released its new line of rechargeable replacement batteries for Motorola radios. The line, which features polycarbonate plastic material with greater impact strength, includes the 1,400 …

As the debate rages on in Britain over the possible health effects cellular phones may have on children, a recent survey from London-based NOP Research Group showed that one in …

At its annual PalmSource conference for developers, Palm Inc. further embraced the ongoing wireless enablement of its devices by incorporating a broad array of wireless-related hardware and software innovations designed …

Logistics services provider CellStar Corp. has agreed to sell Motorola’s wireless phones and accessories to carriers and dealers in the United States on terms that could rake in revenues in …

Motorola Inc. and Oracle Corp. teamed last week to create a UNIX-based e-business platform designed for carriers, Internet service providers, enterprise customers and application vendors. The deal is the second …