OXFORD, United Kingdom-Independent mobile dealers feel threatened in many countries in Europe.Those that have not been swallowed up by the national retail chains or taken over by a cellular network operator increasingly feel isolated and poorly served. Many now believe events surrounding the introduction...
SEATTLE-Go to any trade show where mobile phone operators congregate, and you will hear grumbling about how AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s Digital One Rate pricing plan has wreaked havoc on business plans. The play for the high-end business user seems to be falling in...
Unwired Planet Inc. announced it reached an agreement with Siemens Information and Communication Networks Group of Munich, Germany, to integrate its Wireless Access Protocol compatible software into Siemens AG's Global System for Mobile communications infrastructure.Specifically, Unwired Planet has licensed its UP.Link Server Suite to...
Research companies predicting wireless handset market share have ruffled a few industry feathers.Qualcomm last week issued a statement disputing Dataquest research that had Qualcomm's market share dropping from 17.4 percent in 1997 to 8.2 percent for the first three months of this year."Although Qualcomm...
NEW YORK-Denmark-based Bosch Telecom Inc., which introduced the World 718 phone in June, has decided to close its Dallas office for U.S. sales and marketing, although it will continue selling the handsets here.The World 718 phone can operate on Global System for Mobile Communications...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Bell Atlantic Mobile announced it has seen a 100-percent increase in its digital customer service activations in the three months since it launched the DigitalChoice SingleRate pricing plans.The plans, which feature monthly access pricing starting at $40, have proven popular with consumers, with...
L.M. Ericsson's offer to compromise on third-generation technology may not change the International Telecommunication Union's action on Dec. 31. The ITU is likely to halt any work on Code Division Multiple Access-based proposals unless intellectual-property-right issues are resolved by the end of the year.Sweden-based...
CanadaResearch in Motion Ltd. announced it received a $1.3 million contract to supply its original equipment manufactured wireless modems to GMSI Inc.'s fleet management and communications systems. GMSI's systems are sold to taxi, trucking and transit companies and are used to transmit data between...
NEW YORK-The rapidly growing prepaid wireless sector offers carriers a means to reduce customer acquisition costs and capture market segments otherwise out of reach.Nevertheless, prepaid has its problems and its critics. Proponents of prepaid, however, argue solutions are readily available to smooth the bumps."The...
Some analysts are expecting Code Division Multiple Access infrastructure spending to taper off in 1999 as cdmaOne infrastructure deployments in China remain questionable."I think China is the lynch pin for CDMA infrastructure going into next year and to a certain extent greater Asia," said...
With the Nov. 1 commercial activation of Iridium L.L.C.'s satellite-based global mobile phone network, the mobile satellite services industry proved it is technologically possible to extend cellular communications to virtually any point on the planet.With this validation behind it, the industry faces another, equally...
The Internet landscape was altered dra-matically last week when America Online Inc. announced it will acquire Netscape Communications Corp. in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $4.2 billion.At the same time, AOL also announced it entered into a strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems Inc. to...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. is testing a new pricing plan in Texas aimed at the consumer considering a second phone line in the home.The trial offer in Plano allows customers to choose from two digital pricing plans-one for $40 and the other for $60...
Nearly a year in the making, Geoworks Corp. has introduced a long-awaited software solution that allows carriers to add enhanced data services to otherwise voice-only phones.Called Premion Interface+, the application platform combines a customizable graphical user interface with both the Wireless Application Protocol and...
Horizon Personal Communications Inc. launched its personal communications services network in seven basic trading areas in Ohio and West Virginia, under an affiliate agreement with Sprint Spectrum L.P. Horizon, which is an affiliate of The Chilicothe Telephone Co., has a management agreement with Sprint...
ORLANDO, Fla.-Despite the reluctance of some carriers to report fraud figures and the inability of many to distinguish fraud from bad debt, a popular consensus is that fraud against wireless telecom providers appears to be declining, at least for now."If we think we can...
This holiday season will see an unprecedented number of mobile phone competitors in the market, but carriers still seem unwilling to compete with break-neck pricing as they aim to keep average revenue per user at high levels.It's a "digital Christmas" this year, said Miles...
This year's holiday season promises to be an interesting one for wireless carriers and vendors offering their products to online buyers.Jupiter Communications, a new media research firm, predicts holiday shoppers will spend $2.3 billion online this season, up from $1.1 billion in 1997. According...
Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group introduced a new platform for Global System for Mobile communications handsets.The platform, which is slightly larger than a business card, can provide standby times of up to 500 hours, said the company. The product can operate in any of...
SEATTLE-Qualcomm Inc. and Microsoft Corp. made good on their promise to converge the computing and wireless industries when they announced the formation of WirelessKnowledge L.L.C. last week, a joint venture many say will revolutionize the wireless data industry.WirelessKnowledge aims to provide an airlink-independent end-to-end...
United KingdomCellPoint Systems AB and its partner Wasp International of South Africa demonstrated a Global System for Mobile communications phone positioning system at the 2nd International Conference on Mobile, Location & Transport Telematics in London. AU System-which is owned by L.M. Ericsson, Telia AB,...
NEW YORK-Nickel cadmium batteries, long the mainstay of rechargeable power sources for wireless phones, are fading fast into handset history.Today, nickel metal hydride batteries are emerging at the top of the charts, but this ranking may not last too long. Lithium ion technology, a...
While Iridium L.L.C. continues work to improve the technical prowess of its low-earth-orbit satellite-based global phone service, the company also must turn its attention to its global sales and marketing effort.In the first week following the system's commercial activation, several of Iridium L.L.C.'s international...
NEW YORK-Conventional wisdom may hold that scale is superior when it comes to carriers and miniaturization is most desirable when it comes to handsets. However, neither attribute necessarily implies long-term profitability, said David A. Freedman, managing director of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., New...
