Editor's Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.--HBO announced it...
You may not have noticed last week's news that Verizon Wireless is being sued by the parents of a 14-year-old girl who claims she was sexually assaulted by a man she met through a mobile social-networking service. But the case is likely a little...
Could the wireless industry have new legal exposure as a result of the caustic combination of Web-enabled phones, the Internet and sexual predators?A lawsuit filed in federal court against Verizon Wireless could become a test case on that very question.The parents of a minor...
You know that contest where a person stands in a glass booth and tries to grab dollar bills as they fly around? That's sort of like the mobile social networking space. Except there are dozens of players. And nobody knows how much money is...
Blake Krikorian is CEO of Sling Media, purveyor of the SlingBox, which allows users to stream content from their home television to either a laptop or mobile device.Q: Mobile television and video services have continued to grow in scale and quality over the past...
CARRIER DECKS AND AGGREGATOR STOREFRONTS are so last year. Because application developers are quickly discovering that the hottest places to showcase their wares are the top social networking sites.Facebook last year opened its platform to third-party developers, spurring a flood of applications that users...
AOL L.L.C. last week became the latest Internet player to bet big on social networking, agreeing to plunk down a whopping $850 million for Bebo.com. But turning Bebo's impressive online and mobile traffic into dollars could be a challenge.While MySpace and Facebook have drawn...
AOL is the latest Internet giant to buy its way onto the online and mobile social networking field.The Time Warner Inc. subsidiary said it will shell out $850 million to acquire Bebo, a U.K.-based outfit that boasts more than 40 million users worldwide. Bebo...
Editor's Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.--Google Inc. has...
LinkedIn unveiled a Web-based mobile application that allows mobile members to search user profiles, research mutual contacts and receive updates about connections. LinkedIn is an online networking site designed for businesspeople.The beta site, m.linkedin.com, is available to LinkedIn's 19 million users in English, Chinese,...
Don't be fooled by the flow of VC funding or the fact that Google Inc. and MySpace are in on it. The truth is, mobile social networking is not as cool as its fixed Internet brethren. An obsession with user-generated content, coupled with the...
Like L'Oreal, Sony and Toyota before it, T-Mobile USA Inc. is back for second helpings of user-generated ad spots from the contributors at Current.com.The mobile-network operator posted its program Jan. 7 on Current.com to help promote its two Sidekick handset products, the LX and...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
This "openness" thing is contagious.Yahoo Inc. is the latest to court third-party developers, announcing its intention to "enable and lead a mobile ecosystem" to spur the creation of mobile applications. The company unveiled a developer platform and said it will support "mobile-optimized applications" such...
The pieces continue to fall in and out of place in the ever-evolving wireless world, but it now appears the many changes - from the subtle to the spectacular emergence of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Google Inc. and open access - have unwittingly joined in...
VantagePoint Venture partners has reportedly pulled its $20 million investment in mobile content firm 3Guppies Inc.-a rare move for a venture-capital firm-thereby apparently forcing 3Guppies to shut down its operations.Calls to 3Guppies were met with a prerecorded message indicating that the company is closed...
It appears wireless Web surfers are more interested in accessing news and mobile content than finding the nearest pizza parlor.AOL last week unveiled the most common searches from its wireless portal, revealing some surprisingly popular search terms. While MySpace (No. 2) and games (No....
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced a deal with Fox Interactive Media that will give the carrier's subscribers free access to MySpace Mobile from the carrier's portal.Beginning early next year, Sprint Nextel will become the first carrier to allow users to link directly to the popular...
While the increasing convergence of communications and entertainment on wireless Internet platforms is creating new business opportunities for value-chain stakeholders, it also is raising novel policy issues for mobile-phone operators.It is not so much that policymakers are attempting to stick cellular carriers with laws...
Performing artists are increasingly looking to mobile to prop up flagging recorded music revenues. And record labels are increasingly being left out of the loop. Digital offerings such as ringtones and online, full-track downloads have failed to offset "freefalling CD sales," according to a...
Bango unveiled a link that allows users to send online content to their mobile phones.The Bango Button was created for blogs and social networking sites as a way to bridge the gap between computers and mobile phones. A user can place the icon on...
Editor's Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry. --Peer-to-peer...
Mobile advertising recently got a boost from two announcements: the launch of advertising-subsidized mobile access to MySpace.com, and the advent of a U.K. mobile virtual network operator offering free wireless calls in exchange for viewing ads.Both developments offer new avenues for brands seeking to...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. isn't losing track of its core market. The MVNO announced a new deal with KushTV to bring the multiplatform network's original made-for-mobile episodic series to Helio's content-loving subscribers. "KushTV has earned a reputation for bringing great episodic series...
