retail

   ROSEMONT, Ill.—Motorola Inc. launched its thinnest handset yet, the Motofone, which the company said is aimed at users in emerging markets. The handset is 9 millimeters thick and features …

EDINBURG, Va.—Regional telecommunications operator Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. got a big boost from its wireless operations in the second quarter, with the company’s wireless segment doubling its net income compared with …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.—Verizon Wireless reeled in 1.8 million net new customers last quarter, all of which the company says were retail customers—and the second-largest national carrier now claims that “based …

The battle between Leap Wireless International Inc.’s Cricket Communications subsidiary and No. 4 wireless operator T-Mobile USA Inc. over markets in Texas has escalated into a lawsuit and potentially could …

Mobile-phone penetration rates are surpassing 90 percent in markets around the world, reaching the saturation point in Hong Kong, South Korea and Western Europe. Meanwhile, handset manufacturers continue to gain …

SEATTLE—Starbucks Coffee Co. is the latest mega-brand to go mobile, launching a scavenger-hunt promotional campaign for wireless users. The coffee giant launched a Web site, starbuckssummer.com, that allows customers to …

SEATTLE—Starbucks Coffee Co. is the latest mega-brand to go mobile, launching a scavenger-hunt promotional campaign for wireless users. The coffee giant launched a Web site, starbuckssummer.com, that allows customers to …

FORT WORTH, Texas—RadioShack Corp.’s turbulent summer continued as Chief Financial Officer David Barnes said he will leave the retail chain to take a job with Western Union Holdings Inc. No …

Obopay inked its first carrier agreement last week, announcing a deal to provide wireless payment services for mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. But most operators aren’t exactly embracing …

Business forecasts are integral to industry, wireless or otherwise. Vendors crunch them, analysts parse them, investors fret over them, bloggers disparage them and reporters write about them. Early in the …

Score a hit in the global marketplace with a sleek handset that spawns imitators and you can crown yourself a design innovator and refer to your designs as “iconic.” This …

Time to play “Guess the mobile virtual network operator.” Your clues: U.S.-based, postpaid but requires no contract and relies on Internet sales and telephone sales for distribution. The MVNO is …

LONDON—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. announced that its earnings for the second quarter—$181 million—nearly doubled its earnings from the year-ago quarter, while revenue increased more than 40 percent and handset …

SHANGHAI, China—Motorola Inc. is hoping to expand its efforts in the burgeoning Chinese wireless market with a new flagship store in Shanghai. The handset manufacturer said the new outlet is …

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos—Caribbean mobile operator Digicel Group plc said it plans to launch new mobile services in its Turks & Caicos market. New services include per-second billing, international roaming …

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. has officially rolled out wireless service in Louisville and Lexington, Ky. The markets were launched as part of a joint venture with Alaska Native Broadband …

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to sell Motorola Inc.’s new low-cost handset to its GoPhone prepaid customers for $40. The move reflects the handset vendor’s strategy for grabbing a slice …

After entering the mobile virtual network operator space with naked ambition, a $500 Sanyo Corp. handset (the “MVP”) and a take-the-world-by-storm marketing spend, Walt Disney Co.-owned Mobile ESPN L.L.C. has …

FORT WORTH, Texas—Shares of RadioShack Corp. lurched after company named former KMart Holding Corp. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. executive Julian Day as its new chairman and chief executive officer. …

   OVERLAND PARK—Sprint Nextel Corp. has begun selling a co-branded, slim clamshell phone with an internal antenna from Sanyo Corp., according to the carrier’s Web site. The phone appears to …

T-Mobile USA Inc. again is trying to crack down on independent dealers that sell service from multiple carriers and mobile virtual network operators, allegedly threatening to pull T-Mobile USA products …

There was no parade. Not even a press release to accompany Intel Corp.’s unveiling of its new Rosedale 2 WiMAX chip for both fixed and mobile broadband access during the …

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Those pesky, detail-oriented analysts and emotional stock traders sent ripples through the market yesterday and today as news circulated that RF Micro Devices Inc.’s two largest customers—Nokia Corp. and …

ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. says it hopes to attract rural, high-speed-Internet-access-deprived customers as it expands its wireless broadband service into Melbourne, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, Miss., Charleston, S.C. and Albany, Ga. Set …

ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. chose Alcatel Inc.’s Evolium mobile WiMAX technology portfolio for testing in its lab next quarter, saying it plans to “assess the viability of offering a simple and seamless …