BROWSING: IMS

It’s all about the network

While the big news out of this year's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Span, was Verizon Wireless' choice of LTE vendors - Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson, among others - its IMS news is just as interesting. It's not too much of a stretch...

@MWC: Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson win big in Verizon Wireless LTE buildout: Nokia Siemens Networks, Starent also awarded wireless network contracts

BARCELONA, Spain - Verizon Wireless fleshed out its LTE plans by naming its network suppliers and setting a commercial launch date of 2010. The company, which plans to initially use its 700 MHz spectrum for the buildout, did not say what the effort would...

Worst of the Week: What I want to see at Mobile World Congress

Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....

Presence struggles to find itself in the enterprise: Movius to unveil ‘Automated Presence’ apps at MWC

When it comes to mobile in the enterprise, presence is the buzzword. Just like it was three years ago.Presence - a vaguely defined term referring to the ability to determine the availability and whereabouts of others - was a key feature in the early...

Smartphones a bright spot for chips: GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G help in down year

No one can miss the dark clouds streaming overhead, but analysts say that without the expected growth in smartphone sales, those clouds might blot out the sun altogether. Handset sales, of course, drive chip sales, and most analysts have been revising their forecasts downward...

Bluetooth adoption set for continued expansion: Research firm finds stereo applications set for growth

Bluetooth technology has largely replaced wired headsets and is now making inroads in new markets, according to a report from IMS Research.The emergence of the A2DP profile, which allows stereo sound to be transmitted over Bluetooth connections, has created several new opportunities for Bluetooth...

Stereo Bluetooth headsets to languish behind mono versions

Consumers have embraced Bluetooth-enabled mono headsets for mobile phones, but getting them to accept stereo Bluetooth headsets is another story.A new study from IMS Research predicts sales of mono Bluetooth headsets will increase by 10 to 20 million per year and could quickly reach...

IMS, NGN forums team for ‘any to any’ communications

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Forum and the Next Generation Networks (NGN) Forum announced plans to merge their respective activities in an effort to better target "multimedia, mobility and fixed services over broadband cable, wireless, wireline and fiber networks," according to the group."This partnership...

Mobile capex to grow to $163.5B in five years, ABI predicts

Mobile capital expenditures exceeded $131 billion last year and will grow to $163.5 billion in 2013, driven by increasing traffic and preparations for fourth-generation networks, according to a new study from ABI Research.The unstable U.S. economy will cause mobile capex in North America to...

There’s money to be made in micropayments: Technologies are in place, but business models still need work

Hardware, software, high-speed networks, uptake . it seems all the pieces are in place for mobile commerce to take off. Well, all the pieces except maybe a viable business model or two.That was the takeaway from last week's Mobile Financial Services Summit in Denver,...

Report: Mobile banking set for growth

A new report from IMS Research says the time is right for banking, money transfers and online payments to move to a mobile environment.The combination of better coverage and higher uptake of feature phones and smartphones, along with greater penetration and service availability is...

IMS continues struggle for adoption: Complex architecture befuddles carriers and customers

The blueprints for the much-hyped IP Multimedia Subsystems architecture have been drawn, plans have been made, dreams have hatched; nearly everything needed to be done has been done; everything but the implementation. This seems odd, especially when a few years ago, carriers spent a...

Sprint Nextel, Verizon execs duel on NXTcomm08 stage

LAS VEGAS - On day two of the NXTcomm08 event here, wireless seemed to jump out of the backseat and into the limelight. Executives Denny Strigl, current president and COO of Verizon Communications Inc. and former CEO of Verizon Wireless, and Dan Hesse, CEO...

Stephenson boasts of 1 billion devices connected to AT&T’s networks: IPhone hangs over keynote

LAS VEGAS - The growing importance of wireless in the general telecom space was evident during this morning's keynote session at the NXTcomm08 trade show here, as AT&T Inc. chief Randall Stephenson referred to the recently introduced Apple Inc. 3G iPhone numerous times in...

62B mobile banking transactions in 2012

IMS Research predicts users of contactless mobile payments, mobile banking and over the air transactions will reach nearly 900 million by 2012.Those subscribers will complete 62 billion transactions in 2012, said the research firm's latest report.IMS Research noted that mobile penetration in several developing...

Analyst Angle: Pushing the button

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly 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 NPD Group's Ross Rubin, Enderle Group's...

Forecasts vary for handset volume growth: Latest predictions tend to be conservative

Add another voice to the growing chorus of conservative growth forecasts for global handset sales this year. IMS Research last week forecast less than 6% growth, near the low-end of recent estimates by various parties and in contrast to the 10% growth forecast by...

Like Houdini, next-gen displays escape from box: Pico-projectors may transcend handsets’ tiny screens

While much discussion has rightly focused on touchscreen-based display technology - and, of course, the "experience" it enables as an input/output mechanism - there's always something coming down the pike. In this case, that something may well be digital projectors, either standalone modules or...

Analyst Angle: Where are all the trade show buzzwords now?

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly 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 NPD Group's Ross Rubin, Enderle Group's...

WiMAX industry waits for the other shoe to drop: Vendors keep mobile dream alive with fixed/nomadic deployments

Here are several things you need to know this week about mobile WiMAX: First, mobile WiMAX is seen by analysts as a larger but riskier global opportunity for vendors, compared to fixed/nomadic WiMAX, which offers a smaller, less-risky and immediate opportunity. Second, rumors and...

Carriers need to spend money to make money: Why carriers need to spend to grow revenues and maintain margins

Gartner Inc. research indicates there are a number of reasons why carriers will continue to spend on network infrastructure in the next five to 10 years.Wireless data boomCarriers in North America have strong growth prospects but future long-term growth is going to be driven...

ZTE USA begins long march with regional carrier

ZTE USA, the American face of the Chinese handset and network vendor, will begin supplying co-branded CDMA handsets to MetroPCS Communications Corp., which offers service to 3.7 million subscribers in major metro areas. The deal is ZTE's second to provide devices to an American...

Early impressions of Euro-iPhone launch mixed: Apple brand, price and iPod Touch factors cited

For spectators at the iPhone circus, two basic questions seem prevalent. Will Apple Inc. sustain the brisk sales of its signature handset at AT&T Mobility here in the United States?And, in the circus' high-wire act, how will the iPhone fare overseas, as it rolls...

Americas, MEA to drive W-CDMA device growth

More than 1 billion W-CDMA handsets are expected to ship between 2006 and 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 22%, according to a report from IMS Research."The growth is fuelled by both the GSM and CDMA markets," said Bill Morelli, the report's...