In 2009, the wireless industry is apt to suffer many of the same consequences exacted upon others by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression: layoffs (likely giving way to stepped-up outsourcing), reduced capital spending, lower revenues and slimmer profit margins, tight credit,...
Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless each appear to be easing their stance on sharing subscribers' location information with partners, efforts that put weight behind their bluster about openness.Sprint Nextel announced it will open its location platform to location aggregators WaveMarket Inc. and uLocate...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. 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 what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...
Official Washington is big on labels, quick to pigeonhole this elected official or that presidential appointee based on party affiliation, past government actions and off-the-record scuttlebutt. It is a convenient baseline utilized by lobbyists, journalists, political operatives and others to establish battle lines and...
Regional carrier Cellular One released an unlimited monthly wireless plan priced at $80, undercutting similar offerings from its nationwide competitors.The carrier's new "All of America" plan includes nationwide unlimited voice and text with no roaming or long-distance charges. Because Cellular One is a GSM...
Nokia Corp. said last week that holiday-related handset sales will likely fall short of the company's last estimate, issued in mid-November. Three weeks ago, Nokia had forecast 330 million units, a slight drop from the year-ago quarter. Even with its much-vaunted visibility into...
Various metrics for how the handset market is faring at this juncture are swirling like the snow in a paperweight designed to be shaken for pleasant effect. But this swirl of metrics is anything but pleasant. And how and when they settle could well...
If you thought HTC Corp.'s Touch Diamond felt and looked better than its predecessors, that was the company's intent. Today HTC said it would acquire the boutique, San Francisco-based design house One & Company Design Inc., which assisted in designing the Touch Diamond.The value...
The swirl of events last month and their possible implications for the domestic handset industry are several-fold, analyst said last week. First, despite an outlook tempered by drastic economic headlines, the wireless market in the United States may not be the "meltdown" many are...
By the time you read this, Black Friday will be in the record books. But it will be weeks, perhaps, until the wireless industry knows whether consumers embraced their inner spender on the hottest shopping day of the year, or held back.A variety of...
Editor's Note: The following lists ranks the 10 most popular handsets in the United States for the month of October. Rankings were provided by AvianResearch L.L.C.
The firm derives its ranking via its Monthly Retail Store Survey, which is based on responses from 100 service...
Carriers are putting the finishing touches on their portfolios this week as the traditionally hottest shopping day of the year draws close. That's Black Friday, this Friday.The new Samsung Omnia touchscreen smartphone will land at Verizon Wireless on Wednesday at $250, after a $70...
So the fourth quarter showdown is finally here. And it seems that this year, it will truly be a battle royale.Think about it: This is the year of touchscreens and smartphones. It's the year of unlimited calling and data plans. It's the year of...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. 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 what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...
The growing consumer embrace of smartphones - and the willingness to pay for heavily subsidized gadgets and data plans that promise fun and functionality - faces uncharted territory this holiday season. But plans for this quarter were hatched a year or more ago, as...
Attention to the "user experience" has become a fervid mantra since the iPhone reached market last year and in one recent case, a specialty firm has been involved in assisting a large client to bridge a gap for an even larger firm. Translated, that...
Big-box retailer Circuit City said last week it will close 155 of its stores, including 143 locations that house a Verizon Wireless store-within-a-store location. ; circuit city; verizon; Big-box retailer Circuit City said last week it will close...
Apple Inc.'s 3G iPhone was the top-selling handset in the United States in the third quarter, according to new data from NPD Group.
The long reign of Motorola Inc.'s Razr handset - three straight years, or 12 consecutive quarters - is over. The Razr,...
With the wireless industry's nationwide players having posted third-quarter results, it appears that the market is quickly changing from a battle of the big 4 to a war between the big 2. Last week, the industry's No. 3 and No. 4 operators, Sprint Nextel...
The third quarter was a rough one for T-Mobile USA Inc. The carrier posted the lowest number postpaid net additions - 293,000 - since its inception in 2001, according to Kate Price of Technology Business Research Inc."Some high-value, postpaid subscribers were likely drawn to...
NEWS LAST WEEK THAT MOTOROLA INC. HAD SETTLED ON Windows Mobile and Android as handset platforms in an effort to simplify, focus on innovation and manage costs underscored the unknowns involved in such choices. Because leading OSs come with "patrons and politics," with unknown...
LG Electronics Co. said today it will work more closely with Microsoft Corp. on converged devices, likely smartphones the Korean vendor is pursuing. The two parties announced the signing of a "memo of understanding" for "strategic collaboration in mobile convergence" on the occasion of...
Uncharted territory.
It's a phrase bandied about in many quarters since mid-September, when Wall Street's facade began to crumble. But it's particularly relevant to the wireless industry as it heads into the year's strongest quarter for handset sales and contract renewals.
Make that "traditionally"...
Everyone loves a good horse race. But with macro-economic conditions reverberating throughout the wireless industry - handset vendors' aggregate volume growth in the third quarter appeared to be stagnating - the situation calls into question the health of the horses.No major competitors are likely...
