The competitive landscape for the world's top five mobile-phone vendors at mid-year has come into clearer focus with second-quarter earnings already reported or expected this week. The plot has thickened perhaps, while not varying much from earlier episodes of this long-running, global industry serial....
With several mobile virtual network operators targeting ethnic or immigrant markets, low-cost international calling is one of the key potential differentiators in a marketplace that demands differentiation. It's a space where MobileSphere saw an opportunity, and in the year or so since it began...
Score a hit in the global marketplace with a sleek handset that spawns imitators and you can crown yourself a design innovator and refer to your designs as "iconic." This is particularly true if, previously, you'd been groping for ideas and, now, sales and...
Time to play "Guess the mobile virtual network operator." Your clues: U.S.-based, postpaid but requires no contract and relies on Internet sales and telephone sales for distribution. The MVNO is hosted by a national carrier and has nearly doubled its customer base within the...
The data on mobile devices and data is clear and simple: smart-phone users consume more data because their devices are optimized for games, video, music and e-mail. Even the most popular handsets-for instance, the seemingly ubiquitous Motorola Inc. Razr-don't come close to driving similar...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-MinuteWatcher L.L.C. is accusing T-Mobile USA Inc. of blocking access to its MinuteWatcher service, which is designed to help carrier customers track their wireless usage. According to MinuteWatcher, the company has been unable to contact T-Mobile USA's servers since June 19. MinuteWatcher offers...
For the second time this year, Lucent Technologies Inc. warned of lower sales prior to releasing quarterly results. The company said it expects to post third-quarter earnings of $2.04 billion, compared with $2.04 billion last quarter and $2.34 billion in the year-ago quarter. Pat...
WASHINGTON-The Association of Public Television Stations and the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency said they have completed the second phase of a pilot program to design a national digital platform to distribute emergency alerts to cell phones, personal computers and other...
NEW YORK-Verizon Wireless said it will launch a live music service with concert footage from the band Live, pop-rocker Gavin DeGraw and emerging artist Cheyenne Kimball. The new offering, dubbed Vcast Performances, will include downloadable clips from club and theater shows, Verizon-sponsored tours and...
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Leap Wireless International Inc. has been growing by leaps and bounds-raising the question of whether the company's rapid market rollouts will bring a repeat of the implosion that the carrier faced when it pushed...
Although much attention has been focused on the network transitions and upgrades of national carriers, many regional operators around the country also are deciding how to implement new technologies and whether to spend money to upgrade infrastructure. Those technology decisions are typically driven by...
WASHINGTON-The House passed legislation to ban Internet gambling domestically and abroad. The legislation, based on a 1961 law that prohibits gambling over telephone lines, expands the ban to the Internet, wireless and other new technologies. "I am extremely pleased by the passage of this...
Tira Wireless is expanding its porting services and stepping onto the crowded playing field of mobile content management. The company this week plans to unveil the latest version of is flagship product Jump, a software offering designed to port-or customize-applications across the spectrum of...
Content providers around the world scrambled last week as China Mobile Communications Corp. disclosed plans to strengthen policies for third-party content subscriptions. The nation's largest operator unveiled a series of changes including offering one-month free trials, increasing the number of text-message reminders to users...
WASHINGTON-Next month's advanced wireless services auction, anticipated for years due to the infusion of an additional 90 megahertz of spectrum into the U.S. wireless industry, may come to be remembered by who didn't show for the big dance. In the no-surprise category, Cingular Wireless...
TCS sues WiderThan, Mobile 365 over patentsTeleCommunication Systems Inc. said it filed a lawsuit against Mobile 356 Inc. and WiderThan Americas Inc. claiming the companies infringed on its patents.The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.TCS alleges...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission fined LocateCell.com $97,500 for repeatedly failing to respond to subpoenas to provide information in connection with the commission's investigation of data brokers that deceptively gain access to consumers' phone records from cellular carriers. It is the FCC's first fine against...
IPSWICH, Mass.-The Consumer Respect Group, which examines how companies treat online customers, has found that the telecom industry-particularly traditional landline and wireless companies-does a better-than-average job of interacting with customers through the Internet. The study looked at indicators such as site usability, companies' willingness...
LOS ANGELES-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. has teamed with HBO to offer made-for-mobile episodes of the cable operator's hit show "Entourage." The 4-minute episodes are designed to complement the TV series and will center on "Entourage" character Johnny Drama. The wireless clips will feature the same...
BRUSSELS-The European Union has announced plans to cap the international roaming rates that carrier charge one another, which could end up cutting those prices by as much as 70 percent. "The commission wants to ensure that prices paid by consumers for roaming services within...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. has modified how its customers reach an automated service line and how their identities are verified following concerns raised by customers about their privacy on a Web site. According to Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Jennifer Walsh, subscribers who called customer...
Motient Corp. scored a solid win against Highland Capital Management L.P. and its president, James Dondero, with news that Motient stockholders voted to elect all of the company's six nominees to the board of directors at its annual stockholder's meeting. "Today's vote is a...
SAN ANTONIO, Texas-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. launched its UMTS/HSDPA mobile broadband network in the hometown of parent company AT&T Inc. The wireless carrier announced that it has added San Antonio to the list of metropolitan areas where its high-speed wireless data service is available. According...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday upheld the Federal Communications Commission's 2004 decision to reconfigure the 800 MHz band to fix interference caused by then-Nextel Communications Inc. to public-safety radio systems in the same frequency range.Mobile Relay Associates...
