Verizon Wireless SAID it captured 2.3 million net new customers in the fourth quarter, numbers that show it continues to dominate other national carriers with its retail performance.Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which reported last month, brought in more net customers-2.4 million customer additions-during the fourth...
FOR THOSE WHO WATCH Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P., sifting for signs that the Japanese-Swedish partnership will accelerate efforts to gain market share, last week's news on the vendor's plans in India was tantalizing.The Sony Ericsson-generated news release provided few specifics on the deal...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. customers who have push-to-talk phones now have the ability to use the service on an a la carte basis for 15 cents per minute. The carrier said nine of its PTT handsets can immediately begin accessing the new service, which includes...
The late chess grandmaster Edward Schuyler Jackson used to regale anyone who would listen with stories, stories with a point. One featured a Wall Street tycoon berating a young business school graduate trying to make an impression. Impatient with the neophyte's earnest display of...
Big opportunities come with big risks, particularly in chasing the future of the cellphone business.One opportunity, pursued by the market's two giants and their challengers, is to deliver ultra low-cost handsets into the hands of low-income subscribers in developing markets. The upside to this...
BenQ Corp.'s mobile communications business, apparently now limited to its home turf in Taiwan and other Asian markets, has selected Kineto Wireless Inc.'s UMA technology for a pair of upcoming dual-mode handsets. The Taiwanese handset maker intends to launch an open OS smartphone and...
Disney Mobile has chopped the price of two handsets for a limited time, and is promoting a limited-edition "Steamboat Willie" phone aimed squarely at Disneyophiles. The "Steamboat Willie" phone comes complete with collector packaging and a collector pin.The mobile virtual network operator is offering...
LG Electronics Co. Ltd, whose handset division last year slipped from No. 4 to No. 5 in global rankings, posted drops in revenue and operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2006. Handset shipments in the final quarter rose slightly.Drops in revenue at LG's...
Big opportunities come with big risks, particularly in chasing the future of the mobile handset business.One opportunity, pursued by the market's two giants and their challengers, is to deliver ultra low-cost handsets into the hands of low-income subscribers in developing markets. The upside to...
It's obvious, it's not new and it's at the forefront of the latest major, consumer-oriented innovation. Phone keys dedicated to a single functionality, such as mobile TV, may see increased use in the near-term to ensure that consumers have a simple, unambiguous path to...
High average royalty rates for W-CDMA technology are one among several elements dragging on the uptake of 3G handsets and service, according to a study by ABI Research. These high royalty rates are particularly irksome to the more lucrative handset replacement cycle in mature...
THE MOBILE HANDSET BUSINESS plays out in a dynamic and sometimes cruel landscape. Opportunities abound, yet conditions can be harsh. Giants may rule, or be humbled by ambition and prevailing winds. Nimble competitors with practical prowess can seize the day. A bewildering array of...
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. posted big gains in handset volumes, revenue and income for the fourth quarter of last year and the whole of 2006, a feat that may be sending a seasonal chill up executive spines at Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and...
It's easy to see the carriers' logic in dropping the online price of handsets in the holiday season: fire sales attract consumers in droves. Mentioning "free" to an American consumer is like waving a red cape at a snorting bull. At other...
Shiny gadgets, big and small, drive the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In that sense, the show levels the playing field for a few halcyon days in early January in the desert. Mobile handset vendors, for instance, present their wares amid fierce competition...
The nascent mobile TV market received a jolt last week as Verizon Wireless released more details of its forthcoming Vcast Mobile TV service, while potential competitor Modeo L.L.C. launched a trial of its service in New York City. Of course, those announcements were nearly...
Handset prices at the major carriers continue to gyrate, week-by-week, suggesting that carriers-like retailers changing their window displays-are perennially in search of the right combination of brand, features and price to lure in new subscribers or retain current subs with an upgrade. Yet some...
Apple Computer Inc. finally unveiled the iPhone.As expected, Apple CEO Steve Jobs showcased the highly-anticipated device during his keynote speech at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. will support the handset, which runs Mac OS X and serves as...
Sprint Nextel Corp. has chosen the Chicago and Washington, D.C., metro areas for the first deployment of its WiMAX network, with a rollout that it expected to cover at least 100 million people by the end of 2008. The initial WiMAX markets are supposed...
As expected, Verizon Wireless announced in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas details of its planned mobile TV service, which will run on Qualcomm Inc.'s MediaFLO mobile TV network. Verizon Wireless did not disclose what it will charge for the service,...
In the hard light of early January, the shape of the year unfolding ahead remains somewhat amorphous. What to watch for in the handset space, the wireless industry's most tangible interface with consumers? An informal survey of leading analysts, not surprisingly, takes a multifaceted...
It's official-the fourth quarter was financially rough for Motorola Inc., as a handful of financial analysts had warned in mid-December. The disappointing results came despite a prodigious leap in the company's unit sales over the year-ago quarter.The company's stock price tumbled in response to...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to launch a live, one-way video sharing service that will work during a voice call. The carrier said it plans to demonstrate the offering at the AT&T Inc. booth next week at the CES in Las Vegas.Cingular said the service...
Changes in online handset prices keep raising questions for observers: Is the post-holiday retail model one of continued discounting to milk any lingering consumer desires to shop and spend money? Or, does the arrival of a new year offer a chance to regroup and,...
