Mobile TV has captured the industry's imagination. Wireless users can already watch music videos, check out sports clips and--with the right hardware--view full-length Hollywood blockbusters on their phones. And technology companies are betting enormous sums on the application, spending hundreds of millions of dollars...
HELSINKI, Finland--New warnings from a Nokia Corp. parts supplier could foreshadow trouble with the handset vendor's third- and fourth-quarter sales. Elcoteq, which makes components for Nokia phones, warned that its third-quarter net sales will be below those of last year, and that its operating...
SEATTLE--The United Kingdom is on the cutting edge of mobile music, with 3 percent of British wireless consumers using their mobile phones as a music player, according to new figures from M:Metrics. The measurement firm found that British subscribers are leading five Western markets...
WASHINGTON--The Federal Communications Commission and major mobile-phone carriers asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider last month's decision vacating agency truth-in-billing regulations that pre-empt states from regulating line items on subscribers' monthly bills. "The panel opinion improperly rejected the FCC's pre-emption...
WASHINGTON—The Senate approved legislation allowing mobile phone carriers to participate in a modernized emergency alert system, vastly improving chances for final passage of the measure in the waning weeks of Congress. The legislation is championed by Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who earlier this week...
HELSINKI, Finland—New warnings from a Nokia Corp. parts supplier could foreshadow trouble with the handset vendor’s third and fourth quarter sales. Elcoteq, which makes components for Nokia phones, warned that its third-quarter net sales will be below those of last year, and that its...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission and major mobile phone carriers asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider last month’s decision vacating the agency’s truth-in-billing regulations. The regulations pre-empted states from regulating line items on subscribers’ monthly bills. "The panel opinion improperly rejected...
WASHINGTON—The Senate unanimously approved an amendment to integrate mobile phones and other wireless devices into the emergency alert system, but passage of the port security bill to which it is attached suddenly has become uncertain because of election-year differences between Republicans and Democrats. The...
WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin agreed to delay a decision on new emergency alert system rules expected to apply for the first time to mobile phone and other communications services. But Martin was silent when confronted by criticism about the agency’s apparent intention...
PLAINFIELD, Ind.—Wireless device distributor Brightpoint Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Wireless Fulfillment Services LLC, has agreed to buy all of Texas-based Trio Industries Inc.’s outstanding shares. Trio distributes data products from original equipment manufacturers.Brightpoint’s president, J. Mark Howell, pointed out, "TrioTek is a leading...
LOS ANGELES—News Corp. and VeriSign announced plans to form a mobile entertainment joint venture in which News Corp. will have a controlling interest in VeriSign’s Jamba subsidiary. News Corp. said it plans to pay $188 million for the ability to combine Jamba with Fox...
NEW YORK—Consumers may be interested in watching video on their cellular phones, but few are willing to pay for it. According to a Jupiter Research report, "Video on Cell Phones," 11 percent of mobile phones will be video capable this year, and 25 percent...
WASHINGTON—U.S. law enforcement officials are expected to continue scrutinizing large purchases of prepaid cell phones and possible links to terrorist activity on American soil, despite failing to make such a connection to a wireless buying behavior that may be far more widespread than initially...
San Francisco—Italy not only won the recent FIFA World Cup Soccer tournament, but were also the most voracious consumers of mobile content from the event, according to a report from Telephia. The report, which was part of Telephia's third-quarter European Subscriber and Device Report,...
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said Alltel Corp. agreed to sell wireless assets in several rural Minnesota markets as a condition to antitrust approval of its $1 billion purchase of regional operator Midwest Wireless. "The department's action ensures that wireless telephone consumers will continue to obtain...
NEW YORK—Consumers may be interested in watching video on their cellular phones, but few are willing to pay for it. So says JupiterResearch in its latest report called "Video on Cell Phones."According to the report, 11 percent of mobile phones will be video capable...
MENLO PARK, Calif.—Voice-recognition software developer Promptu said it closed an $11.6 million round of funding. Steelpoint Capital Partners led the round, and other current investors also participated. Promptu, which was founded as AgileTV in 2000, has gained significant traction by working with cable operators...
WASHINGTON—U.S. officials in Michigan said their probe of large prepaid cell phone purchases will not end as a result of a federal magistrate’s decision to throw out conspiracy and money laundering charges against three Texas men. The men originally faced terrorism charges, which were...
TOKYO-KDDI Corp. said it plans to invest $1.73 billion over the next three years to upgrade its network to CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A technology. Japan's second-largest carrier said the upgrade should boost network speeds roughly tenfold, allowing downloads up to 3.6 megabits per...
292 is the magic number for Finland's Lassi Etelatalo, who threw a Nokia cell phone 292 feet to win the World Mobile Phone Throwing Championships. The event's organizers said about 100 people participated in the 7th annual contest, which was held in Finland. The...
WASHINGTON-Government spectrum managers are being challenged like no time before in efforts to clear the way for next-generation mobile phone and wireless broadband services-as well as rectify serious interference problems-through messy licensee relocation and frequency re-banding processes. Indeed, relocation and re-banding glitches have tended...
BUENA PARK, Calif.-Yamaha Corp. of America released an application designed to allow musicians to use their mobile phones to tune instruments. The offering, dubbed "The Musician's Companion," features a pitch pipe, metronome and library of more than 1,000 guitar chord fingerings. The application is...
PLAINFIELD, Ind.-Brightpoint Inc. handled roughly 42 million mobile phones last year and may handle 60 million or more this year. But whatever you do, don't call the company a distributor. "If anything, we are a customized logistics company," Senior Vice President Anurag Gupta protested...
WASHINGTON—The California State Assembly passed legislation prohibiting driver use of handheld cell phones in the nation’s most populous state, likely paving the way for the bill’s passage by the legislature later today or tomorrow. The measure, authored by Sen. Joe Simitian (D) and pursued...
