President Bush's compassionate conservatism-a GOP version of centrist Democratic Third Way politics that former President Clinton practiced for eight years-has given the new Oval Office occupant a political framework to reach across the aisle in promoting his agenda.Indeed, the White House has been a...
WASHINGTON-Norman Mineta, confirmed last week by the Senate to head the Department of Transportation, said driver distraction is among the highway safety issues that will take top priority in the Bush administration."First of all, guaranteeing the safety of the traveling public is the No....
WASHINGTON-While the mobile-phone industry insists steady progress has been made in the five years since the Federal Communications Commission was asked-but held back-from mandating hearing-aid compatibility for mobile phones, the hearing-impaired community is now unwilling to accept anything less than government intervention.The Cellular Telecommunications...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and Symbian Ltd. are teaming up to develop a color-screen mobile phone and personal organizer ahead of Microsoft Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal.Nokia plans to launch the product, the 9210 Communicator phone, with Symbian's operating system, in either March...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry last week suffered two stunning legal setbacks in health-related litigation, capped by the decision of wealthy Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos to take control of an $800 million mobile phone-cancer lawsuit in Maryland.It was an unprecedented week that left the industry in...
Twenty million mobile phones in use in the United Kingdom early last December. Soaring to almost 25 million after all the Christmas presents had been opened. What an industry! Mobile communications manufacturers and operators certainly have reason to celebrate the dawn of the new...
MELBOURNE, Australia-In a part of the world that still relies on word of mouth as a means to keep in touch, cellular communications-both digital and analog-is continuing to spread through the Pacific Islands as greater numbers of people in the region adjust to using...
Most mobile companies are looking to make the Internet wireless, giving their customers a chance to search for information on their favorite stock or movie wherever they are. Spyonit, a subsidiary of 724 Solutions Inc., is taking mobile media one step further, offering its...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to consider appeals of mobile phone and tower radiation safety guidelines adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1996.Four parties had challenged a decision last year by a federal appeals court in New York, which upheld the...
NEW YORK-Eatoni Ergonomics Inc. has staked its business case on the proposition that typing should be nearly as easy as talking if wireless data usage is to reach its full potential.Howard Gutowitz, formerly a code breaker for Los Alamos National Laboratories, said he has...
The ominous shadow of an economic slowdown is creeping into the wireless industry as vendors reel under unfulfilled earnings forecast, poor sales performance, downgrades and investor anxiety, capping off the gold-rush mentality of the past half-decade which took shareholders, analysts and Wall Street executives...
PARIS-Mitsubishi's European telecommunications brand Trium released its new GSM/GPRS phone-enabled pocket PC, Mondo, which the company said will be its flagship product this year.Mondo features a high-powered 166 MHz Intel processor and a variety of Microsoft Corp. software products. It will initially be available...
MEXICO CITY-U.K.-based Vodafone Group purchased a 34.5-percent stake in Iusacell, Mexico's second-largest mobile operator, in an effort to expand into the Latin American wireless market, according to international press reports. The US$973.4 million purchase was made from Grupo Peralta, the firm that introduced Mexico...
LAS VEGAS-Socket Communications Inc. introduced a new version of its Digital Phone Card, which the company said supports Internet-ready mobile phones for Nextel Communications Inc.'s network.Socket, which made its introduction during the 2001 International Consumer Electronics Show, said the card would be available in...
BOULDER, Colo.-Cellport Systems introduced its Cellport 3000 Universal Hands-Free System for mobile phones in vehicles, which the company said will accommodate different manufacturers and different models of phones.The new system also features an intelligent battery charging feature and an external antenna connection.The company made...
FRANKFURT, Germany-Siemens AG expanded its presence into the crowded U.S. wireless handset market, signing a marketing deal with mobile-phone operator Cingular Wireless that allows Cingular to market Siemens' S40 GSM handset in the United States beginning in March."We welcome the collaboration with Cingular Wireless...
NEW YORK-To avoid falling into "microcap hell," companies play a "gorilla game" of amassing size, but going public may not be the best way to get there, said Eric Gebaide, a principal of Broadview, Fort Lee, N.J.Major technology market indexes are skewed because of...
WASHINGTON-SouthernLinc, the iDEN division of the Southern Co., will be going up against Nextel Communications Inc. and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association if it follows through on comments urging the Federal Communications Commission to mandate automatic roaming between carriers with like technologies."Given the...
WASHINGTON-Commerce Secretary-designate Donald Evans said he will stress spectrum management in the next administration and told Senate Commerce Committee members he realizes the international implications of third-generation mobile-phone development in the United States."We need to put a lot more emphasis on management of the...
Everyone knew it was coming. Everyone who cared to listen that is. Concerted legal action alleging use of mobile phones has caused brain tumors is to be launched in the United States. No surprise there. Everyone knew such litigation has been under preparation for...
PDA technologyBlue ImpactBlue Impact, a partner of CellPoint, introduced a combined GSM/global positioning system (GPS) module for the Handspring Visor called Tellmen. The Tellmen module is compatible with CellPoint's location platform and services, allowing the Visor to access all CellPoint location services offered by...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Despite the positive noises coming from the industry body for paging and messaging service providers in Europe, falling subscriber numbers and service provider rationalization indicate paging might be about to fulfill the prophesies of doom first voiced when cellular penetration began to grow...
SEOUL, South Korea-South Korea awarded much-coveted third-generation (3G) mobile service licenses to SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile carrier, and state-run Korea Telecom on 15 December. The race, however, is not over, analysts said.The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), which handled the licensing...
