SAN DIEGO-InfoSonics Corp., a wireless handset distributor in the United States and Latin America, said Edge Wireless has approved VK Mobile's VK530 mobile phone on its network for both prepaid and postpaid service. InfoSonics is the sole distributor for VK Mobile products in Latin...
LONDON-Mobile entertainment company Player X and Vodafone Group plc announced plans to release a cell-phone companion called Space Boy in August.The character "lives" inside customers' mobile phones. Space Boy is the first in the "Mobies" series of interactive mobile-phone friends reminiscent of the tamagotchi...
Motorola Inc. emerged the clear winner of the second-quarter handset battle. The company's strike at Nokia Corp.'s dominance in the low-end phone market scored a direct hit, while it also managed to gain on Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the high-end market. "It's kind...
A comic strip I ran across last week wonderfully summed up in a brilliant, understated manner the transformational wireless dynamic in America and the world.In the first scene, a prehistoric fellow is looking down ho-hum at a dictionary on a boulder. The caption above...
SUNOL, Calif.-The MultiMediaCard Association announced a new svelte form factor aimed at the -phone market. The group's newly finalized MMCmicro specification measures 12 by 14 by 1.1 millimeters and is about one-third the size of the already tiny MMCmobile card.According to Danny Lin, MMCA...
WASHINGTON-The mobile phone industry applauded new legislation clarifying for depreciation purposes that computer-based equipment at cell sites is five-year property. CTIA, the U.S. cell-phone association, said currently there is significant uncertainty regarding tax treatment of nearly $20 billion in annual wireless equipment purchases. The...
WASHINGTON-More than one third of adults with landline telephone service say they're ready to cut the cord and use only mobile phones at home in the next two years, according to a new survey. "People seem to be excited about new communications options," said...
WASHINGTON-A group has urged homeland security officials to require cellular carriers to take advantage of embedded cell-broadcast capability in mobile phones so U.S. citizens can receive wireless alerts during emergencies. "A pilot or trial of a public warning system that is based on the...
SHANGHAI, China-Chinese mobile-phone distributor China Digital Wireless Inc. said it will become the exclusive distributor of select Nokia Corp. mobile phones for the Shanghai region.The one-year agreement is flexible in terms of the specific mobile-phone models to be distributed, to enable China Digital to...
PISCATAWAY, N.J.-Telcordia announced Virgin Mobile USA has deployed its newly added real-time charging and rating functionality for carriers. The system allows carriers to set up billing for mobile games, offer customer rewards such as two-for-one ringtone downloads, support promotions and give family members access...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Aviation Administration said its rules against the use of wireless devices while airborne will remain in place notwithstanding a proposal from the Federal Communications Commission to lift its ban on devices while in-flight. "Let me be clear. Regardless of the FCC proceeding,...
PORTLAND, Ore.-FreeRange Communications introduced an RSS news and Weblog reader for mobile phones and personal digital assistants. The FreeNews service allows users to receive feeds of Web information, including news, sports, weather, stock quotes and company news. FreeNews downloads only the latest information to...
WASHINGTON-The Walt Disney Co. defended its decision to reverse a policy to stay out of the wireless business until mobile phones are proven to have no health risks. "There certainly is a lot more information available today than back then. The FDA has...
MILPITAS, Calif.-Both LG Electronics Co. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced plans to build dual-mode devices that will be able to roam from GSM and GPRS networks to unlicensed networks like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The companies said they will use Unlicensed Mobile Access...
WASHINGTON-Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) signed into law legislation banning driver use of handheld cell phones, while a similar prohibition went into effect last week in Chicago. Connecticut joins New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia in enacting dialing-and-driving restrictions. Other...
With 1.5 billion mobile-phone users worldwide, even a niche wireless market can be massive. At least, that's what C. Neil Farnsworth is hoping. The managing partner of content rights broker Media Rights America L.L.C. inked a deal last week with Vidiator Technology Inc. to...
As the mobile-phone market continues to surpass all forecasts, there are multiple ways those phones end up in the hands of consumers. At the beginning of last year, industry observers expected handset makers to sell around 500 million phones worldwide in 2004. Instead the...
WASHINGTON-Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) signed into law legislation banning driver use of handheld cell phones, while a similar prohibition is set go into effect tomorrow in Chicago. Connecticut joins New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia in enacting dialing and...
WASHINGTON-CTIA asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider some of its guidelines for designating wireless carriers eligible for universal-service subsidies last week as rural lawmakers voiced support for universal service and Senate legislation was introduced to eliminate the 3-percent tax on talking. CTIA said...
Leap Wireless International Inc. has expanded the availability of its Travel Time roaming service to all of its Cricket markets. The roaming service allows Cricket customers to use their phones outside of their home calling areas on a prepaid basis for 59 cents per...
Motorola Inc. purchased the research-and-development operations and patent portfolio of European mobile-phone startup Sendo. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The announcement ends weeks of speculation on the fate of Sendo, which has been nearing corporate collapse. Indeed, with the news, Sendo essentially...
The Federal Communications Commission recently approved BenQ's high-end P50 smart phone for sale in the United States, an indication that the company is hoping to break into the U.S. market after its acquisition of Siemens AG's mobile phone business. Designed much like PalmOne Inc.'s...
Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java technology is 10 years old this year, a milestone the company is using to highlight Java's widespread influence throughout the electronics and computer industries. When Sun introduced the technology, the company promoted Java as the "write once, run anywhere" platform...
REDMOND, Wash.-Vodafone Group plc and MSN will launch an instant messaging service between mobile phones and PCs, the companies said Thursday. The offering will allow users to exchange messages between the PC-based MSN Messenger and the carrier's mobile IM service, and will include standard...
