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 RCRNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We...
Apple Inc. slashed the price of its 8GB iPhone by one-third and, separately, the company launched a Wi-Fi storefront hawking full-track tunes and albums for the device.The company said it lowered the price of the 8 GB iPhone from $600 to $400, and discontinued...
Telecom carriers traditionally have been among the nation's biggest advertisers. Through the years, those advertisements have educated us about rate plans, weekend calling, in-network calling, call quality and the joys of texting. They've also introduced us to some pretty cool phones. The advertisements playing...
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...
By now you've probably read about the "teen whiz" who unlocked his Apple Inc. iPhone using software commands and a soldering iron. (George Hotz, unlocker from New Jersey, got a free car, three iPhones and a consulting contract from an admiring Terry Daidone, co-founder...
James Baldinger, a partner at Carlton Fields PA, has successfully litigated cases on behalf of Tracfone Wireless Inc. against individuals and groups that have purchased discounted Tracfone handsets, unlocked them and resold them for profit.Based on his experience with such litigation and his familiarity...
A couple weeks back content provider Exclaim unveiled its MyFaith mobile application that offers "spiritual well-being and enlightenment from six major religions and philosophies." Those lucky six include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. The application also includes a customizable avatar character styled...
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 RCRNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Nokia Corp. unveiled four handsets along with its "Ovi" Internet-based content services in what appears to be an early example of how the Finnish company will dovetail its hardware business with a future-facing Internet services business model. The handsets appear targeted at the European...
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 Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, Jupiter Research's...
Verizon Wireless needed a refreshed portfolio of converged devices that could deliver revenue-generating services into consumers' hands. Motorola Inc. needed to boost its smartphone offerings, its margins and its overall fortunes.The two parties' interests thus dovetailed over the new Q Music 9m-a version of...
Save the trees In addition to its advanced functionality, Apple's iPhone is also endowed with very detailed billing. AT&T Mobility said it was re-examining its current billing practices for the wonder device that provides customers with billing records of not just all calls made...
Has it really only been two months that the iPhone burst on wireless scene? For all the hype leading up to the launch of device, some of which we admit we aided, the wireless industry not all that different some 60 days later. Oh...
A mistake in a media report earlier this month suggesting that Nokia Corp. had sold as many as 450,000 units of its high-end N95 handset in the United States during the second quarter immediately set chins to wagging.The N95 packs advanced Web browsing, multimedia...
THE IPHONE HAS given birth to the iEcosystem. Whether that's a good thing, though, is debatable.Apple Inc.'s decision to bar third-party developers from building applications for its high-profile device has drawn scorn in the software world. But there is no shortage of Internet-based applications...
A small study by usability consultancy User Centric Inc. found that first-time users of the Apple Inc. iPhone took twice as long to compose text messages on the device as they did with their own phone, and that many users preferred the feel of...
The inexorable pressure to launch a handset-as scheduled-for maximum impact-has created a growing market for mobile device management (MDM) products, including firmware over the air, or FOTA.As network operators increasingly rush to introduce new revenue-generating services and applications, market growth from a modest field...
In case you hadn't heard, Google is going mobile. The Wall Street Journal last week trumpeted the Internet giant's efforts to build handsets in a page-one story that quickly echoed throughout the blogosphere and the trade press. London's Telegraph stoked the rumor mill a...
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...
There's good news for a beleaguered American handset giant named Motorola Inc.The company's Razr handset-beefed up on functionality and spun off in customized form in myriad colors for all four of the top-tier network operators-represented two of the top five bestselling handsets last quarter...
First, Balda AG and its partner, TPK Holdings, won Apple Inc.'s business for the touchscreen module for the latter's iPhone.Now Balda's shareholders are agitating for the company to spin off its touchscreen business to bring more visibility to that business' value, according to German...
Buried deep in the support area of its Web site, iPhone maker Apple Inc. provided instructions on how to update the handset via a cabled connection to a PC. The company titled the item "Updating and restoring iPhone software." The update is available only...
It's been a tough couple of weeks in the mobile content space.Crown Castle International Corp. fled the nascent mobile TV market last week, absorbing a $10 million hit as it shut down its Modeo business and agreeing to lease the spectrum once salted for...
Whether Jose Trujillo of Melrose Park, Ill., will find support among fellow iPhone owners-or a court of law in Cook County, Ill.-for his just-launched lawsuit against Apple Inc. and AT&T Inc. over the need to have the unit's rechargeable battery replaced eventually remains to...
