PALO ALTO, Calif.-Social networking provider FriendFinder.com said it launched a new payment system that allows its members to be billed for the company's services via their cellular carrier. "We are turning on a (premium short message service) billing system that enables members to buy...
PALO ALTO, Calif.—Social networking provider FriendFinder.com said it launched a new payment system that allows its members to be billed for the company’s services via their cellular carrier. "We are turning on a (premium short message service) billing system that enables members to buy...
Nokia Corp. is buying its way onto the mobile music playground, agreeing to acquire distributor Loudeye Corp. for $60 million. But the key to success in mobile music still lies in the devices. The world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones said last week it...
HAMPSHIRE, U.K.-The mobile music market may be on the cusp of shifting away from ringtones to over-the-air full-track music services, according to research from Juniper Research. The shift is being driven by new technologies like third-generation networks and music-centered handsets, and increasing competition, said...
Just when you thought mobile music personalization applications couldn't get any more disruptive, along come background tones. The latest-but surely not last-step in the evolution of such offerings, background tones play during entire conversations between mobile users. Subscribers can choose to assign songs for...
Welcome to Hedgehogging. As you know from your own jobs, something is always happening in the wireless space. Some of it makes us stop what we're doing to clap, boo or question these developments. This week's column is a roundup of some of the...
HAMPSHIRE, U.K.—The mobile music market may be on the cusp of shifting away from ringtones to over-the-air full-track music services, according to new research from Juniper Research. The shift is being driven by new technologies like third-generation networks and music-centered handsets, and increasing competition,...
Tira Wireless is expanding its porting services and stepping onto the crowded playing field of mobile content management. The company this week plans to unveil the latest version of is flagship product Jump, a software offering designed to port-or customize-applications across the spectrum of...
ALBRIGHTON, United Kingdom—Mobile software developer ROK Media Ltd. said it has acquired U.K.-based content developer Fonedream. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.ROK’s offerings include a "place-shifting" device that allows users to watch their home TV broadcasts over mobile devices. The company said it...
You can call it off-deck, off-portal or off-network, but the stampede of companies looking to sell content directly to consumers is unquestionably on. Off-deck activity has long dominated the wireless market in Europe, where a lack of garden walls has encouraged subscribers to use...
LOS ANGELES-Paramount Pictures is using mobile phones to try to lure subscribers to its new film "Nacho Libre." The studio is teaming with digital marketing company Cellfish Media L.L.C. to market the new Jack Black comedy through a mobile search service from go2. Go2...
NEW YORK-The Recording Industry Association of America formally launched a Master Ringtone Sales Award, updating its 47-year-old Gold and Platinum program to recognize the growing popularity of ringtones on cellular phones. In the inaugural group, RIAA awarded 84 Gold, 40 Platinum and four Multi-Platinum...
BELLEVUE, Wash.—The Bluetooth Special Interest Group launched what it’s calling the "Bluetooth Experience Icon Program," which the group said will help inform consumers about various Bluetooth technologies. The Bluetooth SIG said the icons will tell consumers and retailers which products use which Bluetooth "profiles."...
Alltel Corp. selected Oz Communications Inc.'s mobile instant messaging solution to power its new Axcess Instant Messaging service. The BREW-based solution gives Alltel customers access to AOL's instant messaging service and Yahoo Inc.'s Messenger service in a mobile format that closely mirrors the PC...
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Sprint Nextel Corp. planned to deliver a live country music concert last night with video and audio available to customers on their cell phones. Artists including Josh Turner, Billy Currington, Julie Roberts and Gary Nichols were scheduled to perform a concert at Nashville’s...
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 to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
DETROIT—Rapper Eminem settled a lawsuit with a Colorado-based content provider accused of illegally selling ringtones of the hip-hop star’s tunes. Michigan-based Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated said they struck an agreement with Cellus USA Inc., one of five direct-to-consumer content companies targeted by...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. will offer the Pantech Group's "Slim Series" of phones, beginning with the tiny C300 for its prepaid GoPhone customers, giving the South Korean handset maker another prominent place in the coveted U.S. handset market. The Pantech C300 is a small flip...
SAN DIEGO-It's all about the money. And why not? That's a healthy reason for hundreds of people to fly into San Diego and cloister themselves inside a luxury hotel, as the nearby sea beckoned. When Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm Inc.'s chief executive officer, noted in...
Amp'd Mobile Inc. has rounded out its service offering with a prepaid play that began selling last week, touting its new pay-as-you-go service as "the first and only pay-as-you-go 3G wireless phone service." Amp'd Mobile's prepaid offering charge customers 10 cents per minute for...
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Amp’d Mobile Inc. has begun offering a prepaid service that charges 10 cents per minute for voice calling, $1 per day for unlimited push-to-talk service, plus access to a variety of the content services that are at the heart of the mobile...
WASHINGTON—Wireless industry trade association CTIA is hoping to spur direct-to-consumer revenues by expanding the industry’s short code program. The industry group, along with short-code administrator NeuStar Inc., announced open registration for six-digit short codes, which allow mobile users to access content or services by...
ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. will offer the Pantech Group’s "Slim Series" of phones, beginning with the tiny C300 for its prepaid GoPhone customers, giving the South Korean handset maker another prominent place in the coveted U.S. handset market. The Pantech C300 is a small flip...
"News of my death has been greatly exaggerated," Mark Twain is said to have written in 1897, when he remained hale and hearty. Qualcomm Inc. has taken a page from Twain and added a biblical twist, as it hails its new incarnation of BREW...
