PREDICTIONS ARE SO LAST YEAR.Instead, let's talk "expectations" - a term that seems to promise a more realistic look ahead at the new year. And there are questions worth asking that dog the conventional wisdom.To keep it tangible, consider issues related to mobile handsets...
Cartoon Network New Media sounds like a fun place to work. Take Ross Cox's word for it. The network's senior director of entertainment products said it often feels like he's working at a toy store. That analogy came through when RCR Wireless News had...
Full data on how various handsets and carriers fared during the holiday shopping season awaits collection and analysis. Various firms will report their definitive views in late January, early February.Based on Compete Inc.'s measure of online shopping in November, as the quarter revved up,...
While we won't know for a couple of weeks how specific wireless carriers did during the holiday season, it is safe to assume as a whole they did pretty well. It was rare to pass a carrier-branded wireless store and not see hordes of...
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...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Nokia Corp.'s strategy hasn't wavered much in the past few years and the message for 2008 is essentially more of the same. While at one end of the spectrum, the Finnish company is eyeing more feature-rich devices and applications that connect peoples'...
That sucking sound you hear is the wireless industry on the mat, gasping for air.Enter the dragon, Steve Jobs, RCR Wireless News' Person of the Year.In the United States alone, in six months, Apple Inc. sold more than 1.4 million iPhones, which rapidly gained...
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...
Google Inc. just keeps making things better for Apple Inc. iPhone users who want their Google fix. The search juggernaut has launched a new Web-based iPhone interface optimized for Google's Picasa photo service.iPhone users who go to the Picasa Web site will be treated...
Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News runs through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks, months and years. Check below for news about...
Mobile Complete launched an application that gives Web surfers the opportunity to try out various handsets before buying them. The interactive, consumer-focused Web program, called "TryPhone," builds off the company's DeviceAnywhere suite of products, which gives application developers and others a way to test...
For Apple Inc., it's all about control and making money. Factor that into your reading of the tea leaves on the news that Apple has quietly raised the limit on iPhone purchases from two back to five.The blogosphere has cogitated on the news for...
Google Inc. and the upcoming 700 MHz auction seem to have sparked an "open" movement among U.S. carriers. Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility have been preaching their new "open" message from the public pulpit, and the mainstream press has embraced the carriers' new mantras,...
AT&T Mobility isn't wasting any time promoting its products and services in the former Dobson Communications Corp. territories it just acquired. The carrier said that the first phase of its integration of Dobson-a $2.8 billion purchase that closed in mid-November-will start Sunday, as more...
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 RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
If some early returns from Land Rover and 20th Century Fox are to be believed, Apple Inc.'s iPhone will raise the stakes for marketers that go mobile.To be sure, the iPhone, with more than 1 million sold since its launch and working only on...
A German court has given T-Mobile the go-ahead to lock its German iPhones and require purchasers to buy a two-year contract, nixing a court challenge from rival Vodafone Group plc, according to media reports.In a public relations gesture, T-Mobile said it would unlock the...
In its annual rating of wireless service, Consumer Reports christened Verizon Wireless and Alltel Corp. its top picks-and largely panned service from Sprint Nextel Corp.Based on nearly 48,000 responses from Consumer Reports' online subscribers, the magazine ranked the five largest wireless carriers' performance in...
VERIZON WIRELESS' DECLARATION LAST WEEK that "any application, any device" will run on its network next year was clearly an overstatement, though executives acknowledged later that itsCDMA network allows only CDMA-based devices. The juxtaposition of overstatement and subsequent qualification in a way reflected many...
THE $4.6 BILLION QUESTION has been answered. Google Inc. is in. The Internet search engine giant said it will participate-alone-in the 700 MHz auction set to begin Jan. 24."We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," said Eric Schmidt, chairman...
Conventional wisdom has American shoppers descending like locusts on brick-and-mortar retail stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving-presumably working off the turkey-and-gravy by lightening their wallets-then returning to work on Monday, where they resume spending online.AT&T Mobility appeared to make the most of "Cyber Monday,"...
Verizon Wireless' announcements that it would open its network to certified devices and apps-and further, that it has selected LTE for its fourth-generation technology-kept us pretty busy last week, to say the least.The open-access provision, allowing certified devices and apps to work on the...
Word has it that German mobile virtual network operator Debitel is offering to rebate almost $900 to people who want to buy an unlocked iPhone (retail price about $1,500) in an attempt to try to take away T-Mobile's current exclusivity in offering the device....
The French finally got their chance to embrace another American export last night. Move over McDonalds and EuroDisney. Orange, the iPhone's exclusive French carrier (owned by France Telecom), offered a typically complex French equation for those who wanted the device: the device costs $589...
