After MCI WorldCom Inc. made news with its plans to acquire paging carrier SkyTel Communications Inc., the first question on everyone's mind was, "Why?"In a recently released update, Strategy Analytics said it believes "the acquisition ... represents an attempt by MCI WorldCom to appease...
Another U.S. mobile phone carrier has announced definitive plans to commercially launch Internet access during the fourth quarter.Code Division Multiple Access operator Sprint PCS said it has signed an agreement with Yahoo! Inc. to deliver Web content and services to Sprint PCS customers in...
UNITED KINGDOMICO Global Communications Ltd. said it has commenced a rights offering that will permit shareholders to purchase up to approximately 207.6 million ordinary shares of ICO at $5 per share. Shareholders of record on June 3 will be granted one nontransferable right for...
Microsoft Corp. gave some legitimacy to the wireless Internet access arena last week with its $600 million investment in Nextel Communications Inc. and an agreement that gives Nextel customers access to customized Internet-based services via the Microsoft Network portal.Analysts predict a number of wireless...
ATLANTA-BellSouth Mobility Inc. announced it will offer General Magic Inc.'s Portico voice recognition-based virtual personal assistant to its customers through a four-month limited deployment, beginning in the Atlanta market.The Atlanta deployment essentially is a market trial, during which BellSouth will evaluate the service and...
NEW YORK-All eyes are on Omnipoint Corp., which one investment banker has likened to a poster child for personal communications services.What will be the final chapter in Omnipoint's search for a strategic partner, and how soon will it be written? How might this conclusion...
SAN DIEGO-Canada's Bell Mobility announced it will begin formally testing the Revolv service from Wireless Knowledge L.L.C., the joint venture created by Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm Inc.The announcement makes Bell Mobility the first carrier to begin testing Revolv, the first service offering from Wireless...
The buzz phrase of the wireless data industry this year is Internet portal, and AvantGo Inc. hopes to capitalize on this attention by introducing a free interactive Internet service called AvantGo.com.The service compiles a set of popular Internet sites where users may go for...
MONTEREY, Calif.-Ending months of speculation and veiled tension, Microsoft Corp. last week officially announced it joined the Wireless Application Protocol Forum, a move many see as effectively ending a microbrowser war in the making.The announcement spurred a collective sigh of relief among industry players...
American Mobile Satellite Corp. introduced a service called eLink, a two-way wireless messaging application with integrated personal information manager functions.Using a modified version of the RIM 950 pager from Research In Motion Ltd., the eLink service will use AMSC's Ardis wireless packet data network.Other...
Sirius CommunicationsSirius Communications NV introduced the DataSat Code Division Multiple Access development system. It offers an alternative to today's very small aperture terminal systems. It works with all existing satellite bands, and TV satellite receiver antennas may be used to receive the signals. The...
FORT WORTH, Texas-Uniden Multimedia Corp. began shipping for commercial and retail sale a new portable wireless communications Cellular Digital Packet Data modem, the Uniden Data 2000.The Data 2000 is a battery-powered Type II Personal Computer Memory Card International Association PC card that works with...
TOKYO-As part of its effort to become a comprehensive multimedia service provider rather than just a cellular telephone operator, NTT Mobile Communications Network (NTT DoCoMo) has joined up with the world's leading software companies to use their leading-edge enabling technologies.Japan's cellular telephone market, which...
Nortele-mobility servicesNortel Networks introduced a portfolio of subscriber services, called e-mobility services, that provide rapid, flexible deployment of leading-edge voice and data capabilities optimized for the Internet Protocol environment. The services include Wireless Prepaid, Group Conferencing, Smart Mobile Access, Wireless Voice-Activated Dialing, Mobile Messaging...
IntellicellIntellicell Corp. announced Mike Hedge and Michael King, both previously with CellStar Corp., are heading up Intellicell's sales and marketing group. Hedge will be responsible for the implementation of an overall strategic growth plan to increase revenues and King will focus on developing a...
Bell Atlantic Mobile announced a new flat-rate price plan for wireless Internet access based on its AirBridge Internet Access service. For $25 a month, customers receive unlimited e-mail access and full Internet access for $40 a month. Novatel Wireless Inc. announced a new smaller,...
NEW YORK-Despite the current slowdown in Asian, Latin American and Russian markets, the United States has taken a commanding lead in industries most important to the global economy during the next several decades: communications equipment, computer hardware and software, biotechnology and health care, retailing and...
Unwired Planet Inc. last week filed a registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of common stock in June, and also announced the first commercial launch of its technology by a Global System for Mobile communications operator.Although it...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Puma Technology said it teamed with DoCoMo/NTT Mobile Communications Network to provide cellular phone users in Japan wireless Internet access to corporate groupware application information through Puma's Intellisync Anywhere software and DoCoMo's i-mode cellular phone service.The i-mode service provides users a mobile...
Dynamic Mobile Data SystemsDynamic Mobile Data Systems Inc. announced its Mobile Server product is commercially available. Mobile Server is a set of wireless drivers and controls for Microsoft NT servers and wireless devices that the company said extends beyond-firewall corporate data and applications to...
While it would be woefully premature to call 1999 "the year of wireless data," few would disagree the industry has come a long way in the last year.In 1998, several new devices were introduced that met the form factor and price requirements needed for...
3Com Corp. and Microsoft Corp. announced they plan to develop co-branded home networking products that initially will include traditional ethernet and home-phone-line networking kits, with radio-frequency and power-line kits to follow. Using a single Internet connection, two or more family members can simultaneously surf...
NEW YORK-RadiSys closed March 1 on a $28 million purchase of IBM Corp.'s Arctic business, the first of up to 10 acquisitions the Hillsboro, Ore., company plans during the next three years, primarily to bolster its presence in telecommunications."Our first interest is telecommunications-base stations,...
Are today's high-tech firms so different from companies of the Industrial Age as to make classic antitrust analysis archaic and no longer applicable?Top antitrust minds, like Federal Trade Commission Chairman Robert Pitofsky, are wrestling with this very question as government trustbusters take on Microsoft,...
