Urban, youth-oriented MVNO Helio L.L.C. is racking up "record growth," the company said yesterday in announcing that founder Sky Dayton will leave the CEO post to become chairman. Dayton replaces current chairman Jinwoo So, president of global business at SK Telecom. Helio is a...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is continuing its battle to right a listing ship. The nation's No. 3 carrier announced it would cut 4,000 jobs and close 8% of its stores after losing 683,000 postpaid subscribers and 202,000 prepaid users during the fourth quarter of last...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is continuing its battle to right a listing ship. The nation's No. 3 carrier announced it would cut 4,000 jobs and close 8% of its stores after losing 683,000 postpaid subscribers and 202,000 prepaid users during the fourth quarter of last...
Below are RCR Wireless News' 10 biggest stories of the year. These are the stories that rocked the industry in 2007, and set the groundwork for the future of wireless.
1. iCANDY
iPhone looks tempting, but users have to wait until June to see if it...
MVNO Helio L.L.C. continues to roll out devices in the face of financial challenges, offering a new Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. slider handset sporting haptic feedback on exterior keys.The Mysto is available for $149 with contract to subscribers of "Helio powered by SK Telecom,"...
Hello!And welcome to a special edition of our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. As 2007 draws to a close and we take stock of all the changes that have happened in the wireless industry, we can't help but wonder how things will look...
So EarthLink announced it was seeking "strategic alternatives" for its municipal Wi- Fi business. That issue, along with its fledgling Helio mobile virtual network operator joint venture with SK Telecom, has diminished the company's value in the eye of its shareholders.While the "strategic alternative"...
CinemaElectric Inc. is quickly finding its groove in the mobile video space. With more than half of its content produced in-house, the company has inked deals with 90 carriers in more than 50 countries to bring its programming to the third screen.Last week CinemaElectric...
EarthLink Inc. posted a third-quarter loss driven by restructuring costs and its investment in mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C., but promised that it was in the midst of a turnaround.EarthLink's loss for the quarter was $79.4 million on revenues of nearly $300 million....
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new 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...
Wireless carriers are heading into the all-important holiday selling season, flashing new handsets designed to dazzle consumers and riding sales trends which have been building over the past year.The Apple Inc. iPhone craze has, as expected, prompted interest in touch-screen technology-and competitors are taking...
Helio L.L.C., which has made a point of maintaining its handset pricing, is offering a limited-time, online-only promotion with at least $50 off each of the three currently available handsets. The discounts include $50 off the dual-slider Pantech Corp. Ocean handset, reducing its price...
Mobile advertising recently got a boost from two announcements: the launch of advertising-subsidized mobile access to MySpace.com, and the advent of a U.K. mobile virtual network operator offering free wireless calls in exchange for viewing ads.Both developments offer new avenues for brands seeking to...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. isn't losing track of its core market. The MVNO announced a new deal with KushTV to bring the multiplatform network's original made-for-mobile episodic series to Helio's content-loving subscribers. "KushTV has earned a reputation for bringing great episodic series...
IF 2006 WAS THE YEAR OF THE LAUNCH for mobile virtual network operators, then 2007 has so far been the Year of the Crash.The last few months have brought a screeching halt to the MVNO hype that dominated 2005 and most of 2006, when...
Wireless users will soon have yet another way to access the popular MySpace.com social networking site: an ad-supported mobile Web site from Fox Interactive Media.The announcement coincides with the launch of several other ad-supported mobile Fox sites, including IGM, FoxSports.com, AskMen and movie review...
The next big thing in mobile virtual network operators may not look much like the MVNOs that have been launching-and sometimes crashing-in the past couple of years. With the hype around the space settling into caution, observers see a new kind of MVNO-like partnership...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. has received a fresh commitment of funds from South Korean co-parent SK Telecom, to the tune of $270 million. The funding does not include a matching commitment from Helio's other owner, EarthLink Inc.EarthLink said it is in discussions...
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...
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...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. cut about 5% of its workforce, mostly in its field sales team, the company confirmed following media reports of the move.The cuts amount to around 100 positions, and Helio spokesman Rick Heineman described them as being part of...
Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News will run through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks. Check below for news about carriers, handset...
EarthLink Inc. has fired 900 employees and closed offices in Orlando, Fla.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and San Francisco. The company said it will also substantially reduce its presence in Pasadena, Calif., and Atlanta. Billed as a "corporate restructuring," the company expects to pay...
Leap Wireless International Inc., Verizon Wireless and Qwest Communications International Inc. are on deck this week with new phones. The announcements come as several carriers also cut prices on a variety of devices, including T-Mobile USA Inc. halving the online price of its recently...
