NEW YORK-InPhonic, still in its corporate infancy, has skipped over baby steps and is making major strides as an outsourced, behind-the-scenes distributor of private-labeled wireless and mobile-commerce services.In mid-September, the Washington, D.C.-based company announced a one-year agreement, valued at an estimated $20 million, to...
WASHINGTON-In addition to new litigation alleging that mobile phones cause brain cancer, the wireless industry also faces possible Supreme Court litigation over government exposure standards and a class-action lawsuit in New Orleans that claims manufacturers failed to take steps to minimize consumer exposure to...
SEOUL, South Korea-The South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication has extended the deadline for third-generation mobile licenses until the end of October, one month later than its original deadline.The postponement is due to a dispute over technology standards, Reuters reported.The country's three expected...
NEW YORK-Industry giants and unknown start-ups are heading into the home stretch of the race to make fuel cells commercially viable and available by 2002 as the next generation of power for wireless devices.Whether they run on methanol, the main ingredient in windshield-wiper fluid,...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint PCS will begin selling its personal communications services phones, including the Samsung SCH-8500 and Motorola V2267, through more than 800 Target stores nationwide."By partnering with Target, we're extending the nationwide coverage, connectivity, clarity and value of Sprint PCS products and services...
ORLANDO, Fla.-Triton Network Systems Inc. formed a sales and marketing agreement with Samsung Corp. to market Triton Network Systems' Invisible Fiber broadband wireless products in South Korea.Triton's architecture will allow Samsung to deploy the products in consecutive point networks, running at data speeds up...
Handset subsidies are falling as digital mobile phones gain huge volumes, but as carriers begin targeting new segments and a new cycle of data-enabled handsets come to market, analysts wonder how low carriers can keep subsidies.The days of 1-cent handsets tied in with contracts...
Audible clarity is not a strong suit for most cellular phones. Whether caused by poor reception, inadequate volume levels on a handset or noisy natural surroundings, cell-phone conversations can turn into yelling matches worthy of daytime talk shows.Israeli-based Waves Ltd. thinks its recently introduced...
WASHINGTON-Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, has begun preparing for the likelihood that many mobile-phone carriers will not meet upcoming deadlines governing location-based 911 wireless emergency service rules.Meanwhile, Sugrue and his staff are mired in other prickly 911 policy issues dealing...
Analysts these days are seeing rays of hope for Nokia Mobile Phone's dismal market share in the CDMA handset business.The world's largest mobile-phone manufacturer dominates the global Time Division Multiple Access and Global System for Mobile communications handset markets, but its market share in...
Microsoft Corp. and Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. announced an agreement to jointly create a new line of mobile phones based on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system.Specifically, Samsung will create Global System for Mobile communications and Code Division Multiple Access phones with Microsoft's Mobile Internet...
HONG KONG-The CDMA Development Group last week announced support for Qualcomm Inc.'s High Data Rate technology as a third-generation technology, but agreed to leave room open for other competing technologies such as Motorola Inc.'s and Nokia Corp.'s 1xtreme technology.The CDG has submitted the proposal...
SEOUL, South Korea-Korean operator SK Telecom said it will launch commercial cdma2000 1X service in the fourth-quarter, using equipment from Samsung Electronics.Samsung and SK Telecom said the 1X system can be linked with a video-on-demand server to provide movies, music videos and Internet services...
Qualcomm Inc. garnered more support for its High Data Rate solution, announcing Samsung Electronics Ltd.'s support for the technology and technical trials with Japanese operator Nippon Idou Tsushin Corp. (IDO)HDR technology is a likely solution for many Code Division Multiple Access operators migrating to...
Nokia Corp. captured almost 28 percent of the world wireless handset market, shipping more than 25 million units, according to a recent Dataquest report. More than 90 million wireless handset units were shipped during the first quarter of 2000.According to those numbers, total handset...
While the Wireless Application Protocol has provided a common standard for microbrowser technology, several firms are looking to offer their own flavor of the wireless Internet experience, and not all are convinced WAP will remain the popular standard it is today. Pixo Inc. is...
Verizon Wireless, now the country's largest operator, said it will begin field trials of cdma2000 1XRTT technology with Lucent Technologies Inc. in June, and follow with a rollout of the technology next year.Verizon is the second U.S. Code Division Multiple Access operator to announce...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected shortly to rule on Motorola Inc.'s 911 call processing-telematics waiver request, a filing that attracted industry support and sharp criticism from consumer and public-safety groups.Motorola last month asked the FCC for permission to build an additional 30,000 handsets...
Sprint PCS last week announced its first voice call over 1XRTT technology, a third-generation solution for Code Division Multiple Access technology operators.The call is the first phase of a test between Sprint PCS, Samsung Telecommunications America Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. to evaluate 1X technology...
SAN FRANCISCO-Some of the biggest names in the telecommunications industry announced the formation of the OFDM Forum at the Broadband Wireless Forum in San Francisco.Principal members of the forum, including L.M. Ericsson, Nokia Corp., Phillips Semiconductors, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Wi-LAN and CalTrans, were supported by...
BEIJING-China Unicom and Qualcomm signed a landmark agreement in February, paving the way for Chinese manufacturers to get CDMA production licenses. Unicom wants to build a 10 million-line CDMA network this year and is evaluating 12 bidders to supply the equipment.But barely a week...
The focus on the mobile industry has been enormous during the last year. Device vendors, service providers, application developers, infrastructure vendors and content providers have all been jostling to position themselves in the new value chain. Like the PC industry, control over the technology...
BOSTON-Continued consolidation, emerging location-based services, mobile-commerce applications, as well as new marriages between communication, entertainment and Internet players, will be the defining market trends during the next five years, according to Strategy Analytics' latest report, "U.S. Cellular Market Forecast.""1999 was another banner year for...
Although some rumblings continue over Geoworks Corp.'s licensing program for Wireless Application Protocol technology, WAP-related announcements continued making news at last week's GSM World Congress in Cannes.Phone.com Inc. announced it formed a WAP interoperability testing lab, a software upgrade preview center and the latest...
