WASHINGTON—Online mobile phone retailer InPhonic Inc. announced a $100 million debt financing agreement with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. InPhonic, which operates the Wirefly.com storefront, said it will use the capital to repay debt under its existing operating line of credit, fund share repurchases and...
LONDON—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced plans to purchase UIQ Technology AB, a subsidiary of Symbian Ltd. UIQ, based in Sweden, licenses its user interface and application development platform to mobile phone vendors worldwide, including Sony Ericsson. The two companies have worked together on UIQ...
SAN FRANCISCO—Wireless video company Veeker is encouraging young users to record and submit content with their phones during tomorrow’s elections. The firm is teaming with YouthNoise.com, a nonpartisan Web site, to allow users to share wireless video clips recorded on mobile phones at poling...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission rejected Cyren Call Communications Inc.’s broadband public-safety plan only days after putting it out for public comment. The move stands as a setback for Cyren Call, but Morgan O’Brien, the company’s chairman, said it won’t stop Cyren Call from seeking...
Trying to form a sense of the sprawling chip market for mobile phones is akin to getting a tape measure around an elephant's waist. With dozens of players and product types, the chip industry that enables the fantastic functions of today's mobile phones is...
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...
A mobile phone runs on the chips inside it, if an over-generalization may be permitted for simplicity's sake. And the basic functions of a basic phone rely on four types of chips: the power amplifier, the RF transceiver, the analog baseband and the digital...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Google Inc. is offering a download that is designed to make mobile access to its free Gmail service faster, and Sprint Nextel Corp. is making the download available from its mobile Web home page. The download is free, other than data charges...
WARREN, N.J.—Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. announced two new services that incorporate audio and messaging. "Txt Tones" will allow users to link musical tones to text messages instead of rings. The three- to five-second sound clips can be used as an alert that a text...
The development of firmware-over-the-air, or FOTA, lies at the intersection of several related trends in mobile devices and their management. The sector is growing and, already, several players claim market leadership. As handsets are packed with features, they are packed with software-bugs and updates...
WASHINGTON-Consumer groups and wireless carriers last week said AT&T Inc.'s proposed conditions to its $79 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. are inadequate, creating uncertainty over whether the Federal Communications Commission can pull off a planned Nov. 3 vote on the deal. "AT&T's concessions are...
WASHINGTON-U.S. law enforcement and homeland security officials gave their blessing to Japan-based NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s proposed $72 million purchase of Guam Cellular & Paging Inc. and Guam Wireless Telephone Co. L.L.C., after the parties agreed to certain conditions. While it pales in comparison to...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
LONDON—Consumers worldwide have been slow to purchase 3G phones and slower to avail themselves of the technological edge that 3G makes possible, market analyst firm TNS said in a new report. Americans, despite a reputation as slow to adopt advanced services, seem focused on...
WASHINGTON—U.S. law enforcement and homeland security officials have given their blessing to Japan-based NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s proposed $72 million purchase of Guam Cellular & Paging Inc. and Guam Wireless Telephone Co. L.L.C., after parties agreed to certain conditions. The Department of Justice, FBI and...
The math is simple: mobile devices are requiring more power at a rate greater than improvements in current battery output and longevity can provide it. There's nothing earth-shattering about the essential proposition, of course-mention the topic of battery life in handsets and colleagues eagerly...
PLAINFIELD, Ind.—Brightpoint Inc. inked a deal to sell phones and services from Verizon Wireless to small- and medium-sized businesses. The mobile phone distributor said it will use its network of resellers to offer VZOffice voice and data products as well as Verizon Wireless’ CDMA2000...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
FRANKFURT, Germany—The official in charge of a 90-day effort to save aspects of the Munich-based BenQ-Siemens handset business has announced that 1,900 of the firm’s 3,000 workers must be laid off. Insolvency Administrator Martin Prager is hoping the remaining workers could thrive as a...
SINGAPORE—The GSM Association said 12 operators joined its "3G for All" campaign, which aims to make third-generation wireless service available to the mass market. Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Globe Telecom, Hutchison 3G, KTF, MTN, Orange, Smart, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, T-Mobile and Vodafone Group plc...
SAN DIEGO—PacketVideo Corp. hopes to increase its European presence with the acquisition of Berlin-based software developer TwonkyVision GmbH. Terms of the deal were not announced.PacketVideo produces multimedia software for mobile phones and counts the world’s 10 largest manufacturers among its customers. Key to the...
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—The mobile music market in Asia/Pacific will top the $9 billion mark by 2010, according to new figures from In-Stat. The market for ringtones, ring-back tones and full-track downloads in the region reached $3.3 billion last year, the market research firm said. The...
WASHINGTON-A major fallout of Congress' failure to pass telecom-reform legislation this year is the continued imposition of new state and local cell-phone taxes, like the one on track to begin Jan. 1 in South Sioux City, Neb. Though only a small town in a...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission postponed until Friday a vote on AT&T Inc.’s $69 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp., but harsh criticism by the agency’s two Democrats, consumer groups and a key House lawmaker over the Justice Department’s no-strings-attached approval of the deal could force...
