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...
The hype cycle offers fertile ground for startups. Consider modu, a private company based in Israel, which today provided that familiar, heady mix of grandiose claims, intriguing technology, long launch window and big-name backers that often ignites press speculation.Less than a week before the...
Just how big a problem is prepaid mobile-phone trafficking in the United States? All signs point to a potentially huge black market of international scope.AT&T Mobility, the nation's largest mobile-phone carrier, alleges in a suit filed in Texas federal court that its GoPhones are...
Apple Inc. has ensured that its customers have enough memory on their iPhone and iPod to store and consume more digital media from ... presumably, Apple's iTunes or its new movie rental service.The company said Tuesday it would sell 16 gigabyte-capacity iPhones for $500,...
Voce's promises are now just a hollow echo of P.T. Barnum's famous dictum, "there's a sucker born every minute." "The ultimate service," the now-defunct mobile virtual network operator's Web site still assures viewers. "Voce redefines customer care." In the case of Voce, which...
If you spend any time speaking with national carriers or multinational device vendors, you know that they exist only to meet consumer demand. It's all about the consumer, etc.A plausible and ubiquitous talking point, to be sure. Of course, how the carrier and device...
The answer to that old "WAP or app" debate? It might be, both.Ever since the early days of WAP - which, yes, was often crap - media companies and advertisers have struggled with how to approach users on their phones. While wireless Web sites...
Call it "the anatomy of an industry dustup" or, if you're feeling dramatic, call in Sherlock Holmes.After all, over the past week or so, the issue has been dubbed "the case of the missing iPhones."Well, are they missing? And, if so, where did they...
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 RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
T-Mobile USA Inc. continues to rank highest among the five largest wireless carriers in customer service performance, according to the latest study by J.D. Power and Associates. The No. 4 provider has been at the top of the field for the past seven consecutive...
The following list includes venture capital and other investments into wireless companies announced during the past week. The value of the investment is included when available.--Ad Infuse: Softbank Capital led a $12 million round of funding into mobile advertising company Ad Infuse. Existing investors...
Palm Inc. will close all but one of its retail stores over the next five weeks, in keeping with its effort to cut costs and focus on its next-generation smartphone platform, according to the company.Palm has eight branded stores in California and 26 "stores...
New wireless subscribers came to AT&T Mobility in record droves during the fourth quarter; the carrier added 2.7 million net new customers to the rolls -- an all-time record high among U.S. wireless carriers. The growth was well ahead of even the most optimistic...
AT&T Inc. is giving its 10 million broadband subscribers free access to its nationwide Wi-Fi network, the company announced. Previously, most subscribers were required to pay an additional $60 per year for access to the company's 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots at retail stories, restaurants and...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is continuing its battle to right a listing ship. The nation's No. 3 carrier announced it would cut 4,000 jobs and close 8% of its stores after losing 683,000 postpaid subscribers and 202,000 prepaid users during the fourth quarter of last...
AT&T Mobility is now selling the consumer-oriented iPhone by Apple Inc. as a productivity tool for business. The move may be in tandem with an anticipated introduction of Lotus Notes e-mail from IBM for the iPhone, to be announced at Lotusphere 2008 in Orlando...
One of the most powerful tenets of retail sales is the law of retail location. Seemingly irrespective of what the actual product is, without strong retail distribution points, your product is doomed to failure. There are exceptions these days, such as music and books,...
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. In the coming weeks look for columns from Current Analysis' Peter Jarich and more.In...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is continuing its battle to right a listing ship. The nation's No. 3 carrier announced it would cut 4,000 jobs and close 8% of its stores after losing 683,000 postpaid subscribers and 202,000 prepaid users during the fourth quarter of last...
Podcasts and video ads have dropped off in the mobile advertising space, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 brand marketers and agencies.The "Wave Eight" survey, conducted by market research firm Advertiser Perceptions, asked marketers representing consumer package goods, automotives, retail and...
Motricity continued to streamline its business, spinning off its retail electronic book business to eBook seller Fictionwise Inc. for an undisclosed amount.The eReader business was a division of PowerByHand, a Tennessee startup that merged with North Carolina's PinPoint Networks four years ago to form...
An informal survey of four analysts on the mobile devices on display at the International Consumer Electronics show this week in Las Vegas quickly took different directions with a common theme. Mobile, handheld devices on offer were "evolutionary," not "revolutionary" and that ratcheted up...
Verizon Wireless unveiled a converged business device, packing the sexily named SMT5800 with features that make advertising copy a nuanced task."Part compact phone, part messaging device" begins the carrier's description, before the list of features makes categories difficult -- standard keypad, slide-out QWERTY, with...
Those looking for Motorola Inc. to unleash a post-Razr platform to fuel the company's turnaround are still searching at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. The company itself had raised expectations by promoting its launch event prior to the show and...
