Although Sprint Nextel Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings came with significant bad news, two analysts think better times are ahead for the nation's No. 3 wireless provider. Sprint Nextel churned more than 1 million customers during the quarter - 1.1 million postpaid users and 314,000 prepaid...
Sun Microsystems Inc. is hoping to bridge the gap between smartphones and feature phones with a new platform targeting mid- and lower-end devices.The Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer unveiled the mobile version of JavaFX, an offering designed to run atop Java ME (Mobile Edition) as...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. eked out a slim lead in market share over Motorola Inc. in the United States last year, in part due to the latter's fading fortunes, according to new numbers from IDC.Where Samsung showed 15.5% year-on-year growth between 2007 and 2008,...
A developer of wireless enterprise solutions claims it has combined the advantages of paging and mobile phones into one service that can be accessed with a smartphone.Onset Technology is targeting the healthcare field with the latest enhancement of its METAmessage Advanced Paging Solution. The...
Smartphones are no longer the exclusive domain of high-powered executives and road warriors. But what that means for the mobile e-mail space - which seems perennially on the verge of reaching a tipping point - has yet to be determined.Handset manufacturers and application developers...
Dear Editor,If Dan Hesse has accomplished anything at all in his tenure as CEO of Sprint, he has managed to spark many conversations about Sprint's pricing, technology, marketing, and brand approach.The most recent announcement concerning the layoff of 8,000 workers, as a cost-cutting effort,...
The fourth-quarter slugfest between Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry Storm, HTC Corp's G1 and Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G - all heavily subsidized and marketed exclusives - reflected several major currents running through the consumer-based wireless industry. Carriers need to drive data usage to pay...
Apple Inc.'s threat to sue competitors over multi-touch capabilities that violate its patents, a warning made during the company's earnings call last month, may not be wise or even have a solid foundation, according to a leading telecom analyst. "Initiating multi-touch infringement litigation may...
Businesses in nearly every industry seem to be adopting a bunker mentality and shedding workers in an effort to weather an increasingly brutal economic storm. But wireless software developers are more bullish than ever on their industry.Evans Data last week released a report indicating...
Apple Inc. is not immune to the economic downturn, as it reported a massive slowdown in iPhone 3G sales in its earnings call this afternoon, after markets had closed.The first fiscal quarter of 2009, which ended Dec. 27, 2008, saw Apple selling 4.4 million...
No one can miss the dark clouds streaming overhead, but analysts say that without the expected growth in smartphone sales, those clouds might blot out the sun altogether. Handset sales, of course, drive chip sales, and most analysts have been revising their forecasts downward...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.A critical question for wireless operators in the US is whether prospective customers of wide-area...
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 to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong...
Just one week after reassuring investors, customers and fans that he is fundamentally healthy but undergoing treatment for a hormone imbalance, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs announced this afternoon that he would take a medical leave of absence until June. Jobs cited the "distraction"...
LAS VEGAS-Following a one-on-one meeting with Palm Inc. executives today and a chance to play with the company's new Pre device, I found the new operating system to be pretty well baked. For instance, the accelerometer worked very quickly to rotate pictures, much faster...
I used to love my Treo handset. (Sadly I can't remember whether I owned the 600 or the 650). I loved the stylus, I loved the games, I loved the ringtone (you know, the same ringtone every other Palm user had). But sometimes you...
Palm Inc. pulled off a high-wire act this afternoon, publicly resurrecting the company's fortunes in front of a live audience at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Proof?
A packed ballroom at the Venetian Las Vegas Hotel ooh'd and aah'd at a flawless...
Nokia Corp. said today it would stop producing its mobile Internet tablet designed for a U.S.-based WiMAX network, raising questions on the phone maker's view of that nascent market. The N810 WiMAX Edition MID was Nokia's only product for WiMAX, which is slowly rolling...
The first half of 2009 may see alarmingly slow handset sales worldwide and, even if the back half of the year improves markedly, all sources point to negative growth for the coming year. Forecasts for the magnitude of the anticipated slowdown, however, vary widely...
In 2009, the wireless industry is apt to suffer many of the same consequences exacted upon others by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression: layoffs (likely giving way to stepped-up outsourcing), reduced capital spending, lower revenues and slimmer profit margins, tight credit,...
Elevation Partners, the VC firm that invested $325 million last year to revive Palm, left $100 million under the tree for the handset pioneer.But that tree is bedecked with candycanes in the shape of question marks. The cash infusion announced Monday comes just two...
Palm Inc. said yesterday that it is operating in an "extremely tough climate" with "continued challenges in coming months" as it prepares to launch a next-generation platform dubbed Nova along with new handsets.Palm is widely expected to present its new OS and, possibly, devices...
Palm is suddenly making some impressive moves. Unfortunately for the handset maker's shareholders, it's making them about a year too late.The Silicon Valley-based manufacturer this week took the wraps off a striking new application storefront that already boasts 5,000 offerings - 10 times the...
Palm Inc. joined the application-store bandwagon, launching a downloadable storefront with 5,000-plus offerings for more than two dozen Palm devices.The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based outfit opened the Software Store (available at http://software.palm.com/appstore), showcasing high-profile applications (Facebook, Pac-Man, Tetris) as well as lesser-known products. The store is...
