Perhaps Santa Claus understands the Byzantine machinations of handset pricing at the major carriers, but with his work done for the year, Santa's contract calls for silence. Thus one is left to ponder the pricing gymnastics of, say, the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. A900m...
Trying to please everyone is a good gambit when launching a handset business with global ambitions. Somewhere along the way, however, one has to shift gears.Managing sustainable growth and profitability in the handset market can demand investment in original designs, support for a manageable...
Wirefly, the online retailer, is offering mobile handsets at prices that defy gravity.Tis the season, apparently, for free or low-cost offers on the market's leading handsets to erode the last bastions of resistance to signing up for wireless service.The Motorola Inc. Krzr, for instance,...
Hewlett-Packard Co. announced it will purchase Bitfone Corp. in a move the company said is part of its plan to grow its mobile enterprise business. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.Bitfone develops mobile device management software, technology that allows carriers, handset vendors...
A slow start for Motorola Inc.'s new product line and generally weak demand in the North American handset market this holiday season may impact Motorola's fourth-quarter results, according to Cowen analyst Matthew Hoffman. The financial analyst said channel checks show that Motorola's market in...
LG Electronics Inc.-the South Korean home appliance giant and parent of LG Telecom-has replaced its top corporate officer and the head of its telecom unit in an effort to reignite its fortunes in mobile handsets and flat-panel displays, according to media reports.A former corporate...
The oft-repeated statement-"thin is in"-like many obvious axioms, tends to mask nuance. What exactly is this quality that appears to rule the current landscape for fashion phones? Ask a variety of industry sources for perspective on "thin"-a somewhat elusive, qualitative attribute-and, not surprisingly, the...
This was supposed to be the year of the music phone, but as the holiday season approaches the home stretch, on-the-go music lovers are still hoping to find dedicated MP3 players in their stockings.U.S. sales of portable digital music players is expected to slow...
Nortel Networks Ltd. landed a mobile WiMAX network supply deal in Taiwan, a trial in Japan, and a chip contract in Israel.
The company-which launched its WiMAX portfolio in October at the WiMAX World trade show and was hawking its new offering as 4G mobile...
Sanyo Corp. has put its best foot forward at Sprint Nextel Corp. with a top-of-its-line multimedia phone, the M1, at a crucial time for Sanyo and amid a strong, overall portfolio expansion at Sprint Nextel. The M1 launch comes freighted with context-Sanyo's global handset...
'Tis the season to be jolly, especially if you're a consumer checking out online deals from independent retailers. For instance, Wirefly, the online retail face of InPhonic Inc., is offering handsets at prices that defy gravity. The Motorola Inc. Krzr, for instance, only hit...
SEATTLE-In October, new phone buyers most often selected the LG VX8300-a straightforward silver clamshell handset at Verizon Wireless for $50 with Vcast music-download abilities, picture messaging and Bluetooth connectivity-over Motorola Razr models at Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless L.L.C., according to data from M:Metrics.This...
YONKERS, N.Y.-Crappy New Year to all. Or, at least, to some. Consumer Reports has taken a look at mobile carriers and handsets in the United States in its January 2007 issue and, apart from a few companies that may do cartwheels after receiving the...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. reported plans to acquire RF Micro Devices Inc.'s Bluetooth-related assets for $39 million in cash. Qualcomm said that the acquisition, which focuses on Greensboro, N.C.-based RF Micro Device's Bluetooth-related intellectual property and team in San Diego, would enhance its ability to...
Comcast Corp. aims to find out if customers will buy wireless service from a cable company: the nation's largest cable provider is launching a trial of wireless service in partnership with Sprint Nextel Corp. in two markets: Boston and Portland, Ore.The launches are the...
A lot of ink is expended on the competitive machinations of the top five global handset vendors-for good reason. This year, together, they will account for perhaps 80 percent of the nearly 1 billion handset shipments around the world. Big research-and-development budgets that support...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-The nation's handset vendors are kicking into high gear in time for the holiday shopping season-which started on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving-with a range of new, advanced products. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's third-largest phone maker by volume, announced...
French chipmaker Sequans Communications further established its standing in the WiMAX ecosystem, announcing an investment from Motorola Inc. along with an agreement with Alcatel Inc. to supply the vendor with WiMAX chips for customer premise equipment in India and other emerging markets. Though Sequans...
BOSTON-Comcast Corp. launched wireless service in partnership with Sprint Nextel Corp. in two markets: Boston and Portland, Ore. Comcast's Mobile Access service is "a new arrangement from Comcast and Sprint that will make it easier for you to access all your home and entertainment...
BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-As chocolate-lovers know, their favored confection appears in many colors. And Verizon Wireless and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. appear to be banking on the near-universal appeal of the sweet and holiday color schemes to sell their new Chocolate handsets, appearing Friday at...
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-Disney Mobile has added a slim, silver clamshell phone from Pantech Corp. as its third handset choice for subscribers. The Bluetooth-enabled DM-P205 has a VGA camera, color interior and exterior screens and web browsing capability. It sells for $100 with a two-year...
COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y.—Janam Technologies L.L.C. said it licensed Access Systems Americas Inc.’s Palm OS Garnet platform until 2011. Janam Technologies provides rugged mobile computers, and the agreement allows Janam to develop and sell application-specific mobile computers based on the Palm OS Garnet platform....
Disney Mobile is trying to lure customers to sign up for its service during the holiday season by lowering the cost of its handsets and offering a month of service for free, according to promotions on the mobile virtual network operator’s Web site.Disney Mobile...
As a consensus of forecasts converge on the magical billion mark for handset shipments this year-although with some dissenters-attention has focused on several dynamics at play. The upshot? Watch the market for replacement handsets in emerging markets, the mobile handset industry's new driver.Most forecasters...
