If you've ever tossed a strand of spaghetti against a refrigerator to see if it sticks-and, therefore, is fully cooked-then you have a sense of what handset vendors and carriers go through each fall. The analogy is inexact because the issue isn't whether that...
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. announced a new line-up of handsets as well as an expanded retail effort. The MVNO's new handsets include the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. m300, an $80 phone available in...
What's Google Inc. up to in mobile? You might as well ask what Rupert Murdoch is doing in media.Because the answer is, just about everything.The Internet colossus first dipped its toe in the mobile waters in 2000 with a search service for Web-enabled phones,...
LG Electronics Co. Ltd. faces fierce competition in the United States, despite the handset maker's devotion to serving the carriers' needs, according to the vendor's latest financial results. The proportion of the handset maker's global shipments destined for the U.S. dropped in the third...
Verizon Wireless is covering its bases. The nation's second-largest carrier unveiled four new phones today, including a touchscreen-with-QWERTY keypad model from LG Electronics Co. Ltd., without mentioning prices. You'll have to wait for prices until the phones launch sometime before Thanksgiving. The LG touchscreen...
TODAY BEGINS THE FOURTH QUARTER-the crazy, blow-out-the-pipes holiday season for most retailers, including those in the wireless industry. Financial numbers for the past three months are due soon.The numbers, of course, may answer some questions about how well companies delivered the goods in the...
Here's one of those pop quizzes you dread:Quickly, what do PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Nike Inc., Heinz, Procter & Gamble, Nintendo, Pizza Hut, Mars Inc. and Sara Lee Corp. have to do with wireless?Answer: marketing executives with long experience at these mega-brands are now serving...
If you're wondering what shape WiMAX-enabled devices will take, you can hop a plane to South Korea and see Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s two models in action on SK Telecom's WiBro network. Samsung's M8100 is the world's first WiMAX-equipped PDA-style smartphone, a slider model...
In a move that signals the intensifying competition among handset vendors in the United States market, Samsung Telecommunications America today named a chief marketing officer, Bill Ogle, to a newly created position. Ogle's background-he comes from Pizza Hut, where he served as CMO-reflects the...
Verizon Wireless said today that in the 12 months since it launched the LG Chocolate in the United States it has sold more than 3.4 million units-an obvious comparison to the one million units-per-quarter performance of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which sells at rival carrier...
YOU CAN'T HAVE A HOLIDAY PARTY without a potent punch bowl for all comers.The news from last week: Some of the latest models of 3G handsets will indeed appear in the United States in time for the retail party just getting under way.Specifically, the...
Verizon Wireless launched the LG VX8350, the heir apparent to the VX8300, the second-hottest selling handset in the United States, according to Strategy Analytics data.The phone trailed only Motorola Inc.'s Razr in terms of popularity. In keeping with LG Electronics Co. Ltd.'s stated strategy...
Qualcomm Inc. can exhale now, and so can a number of its key customers. Holiday sales of imported 3G phones that had been banned by a federal agency can proceed. A ban on the importation of new 3G handsets containing Qualcomm chips will be...
LAS VEGAS-Less than two months into a broadcast mobile TV service trial, HiWire L.L.C. has wrapped the first phase of its study and is now preparing to increase its scope by 800% before month's end.T-Mobile USA Inc., which has signed on with the Aloha...
LG Electronics Co. has seen its rivals steal a march in recent quarters, dropping the South Korean vendor to the No. 5 slot globally, though it remains neck-and-neck for the No. 2 spot in the United States.The Korean vendor has not had the success...
An aggressive pricing strategy to reduce inventory enabled Motorola Inc. to perform significantly better in global sales to end users in the second quarter than in the oft-cited, unit-shipment metric, according to data from Gartner.The upshot: Motorola, based on sales to end users, remained...
Mobile virtual network operator Working Assets Wireless announced it will begin offering a solar-powered cellphone charger for free for a limited time. The company said the offering is part of its effort to help subscribers "connect to progressive causes.""If we want to reverse the...
LG Electronics Co. Ltd. is on the hunt for an ad agency to handle its global corporate brand campaign. Among those invited to participate in the account review are the North American incumbent, WPP Group's Y&R, Publicis Groupe's Publicis and sibling shop Saatchi &...
The W-CDMA baseband chip business is morphing in real time, as various market pressures push and pull the players to partner, diversify their customer base or pursue less-demanding technologies.Data from Forward Concepts (see chart) shows that last year Texas Instruments Inc. was the global...
LG Electronics Co. scored a pair of carrier wins last week spanning the range of wireless offerings. One of the deals was with the industry's largest player and long-time LG partner AT&T Mobility, while the other was with mobile virtual network operator and first-time...
Nokia Corp. fired yet another salvo at Qualcomm Inc., filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission alleging Qualcomm is infringing on five of its patents. The news serves to widen the gulf between the two companies as each seeks to gain leverage...
VIENNA, Va.-Although Sprint Nextel Corp. made headlines yesterday with news of its WiMAX branding and push-to-talk plans, the carrier also-apparently inadvertently-gave its "Technology Summit" attendees a glimpse of several as-yet-unannounced handsets. Although Sprint Nextel representatives refused to allow attendees to take pictures of the...
Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. added to its handset vendor list by announcing plans to add LG Electronics Co.'s "Aloha" handset to its lineup later this month. The handset, which is set to retail for $35 , marks the first deal between the two companies...
Network operators increasingly will partner with small handset vendors to offer low-margin, ultra-low-cost handsets, particularly in emerging markets where new subscriber growth remains strong, according to ABI Research. Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc. currently dominate the sub-$50 handset space, in part due to their...
