A sequential dip in shipments by Motorola Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications between the fourth quarter and the first quarter spelled t-r-a-c-t-i-o-n for numerous second-tier handset makers, particularly in emerging markets. The opportunity for greater volumes among those outside the elite top tier...
JUDGING BY THE HANDSET NEWS out of CTIA Wireless 2008 last week, competition in the United States is a SKU vs. SKU battle -handset-to-handset combat, if you will. In the absence of anything earth-shattering, the variety of handset news really spoke more to the...
Sprint Nextel released a slew of gadget-related news in conjunction with the CTIA Wireless show, an effort that included a Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. device that is perhaps the most overt attempt yet to dig into Apple Inc.'s iPhone.Samsung's new sleek, black Instinct device...
The notion that an ambitious Chinese handset vendor will make a bid for Motorola Inc. has received some press in the United States, perhaps aided by a touch of nationalistic horror.The Chinese government and Chinese banks already finance a big chunk of the American...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and...
Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. will sell its ailing handset business -- and wireless infrastructure assets -- to Kyocera Corp. for about $375 million, the two companies announced.Sanyo's handset unit had been among the top ten original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in the world and a...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and...
In its annual rating of wireless service, Consumer Reports christened Verizon Wireless and Alltel Corp. its top picks-and largely panned service from Sprint Nextel Corp.Based on nearly 48,000 responses from Consumer Reports' online subscribers, the magazine ranked the five largest wireless carriers' performance in...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works...
The third quarter saw consumer handset sales in the United States valued at $3.2 billion, a 47% jump over the year-ago quarter, according to new data from NPD Group. Those numbers are based on 38 million units sold to consumers.Smartphones catapulted to 11% of...
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. announced a new line-up of handsets as well as an expanded retail effort. The MVNO's new handsets include the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. m300, an $80 phone available in...
Nokia Corp. will offer a new CDMA handset in North America this fall, though details about possible carrier deals and pricing were not given. Such a phone, however, could run on Verizon Wireless' and Sprint Nextel Corp.'s CDMA networks and enables Nokia to address...
PHOENIX-With rival Nokia Corp. moving aggressively to build its worldwide lead through marketing, and the iPhone rattling the handset marketplace, struggling Motorola Inc. has begun to restructure its marketing, from its agency alignment to its internal organization.Marketing chief Casey Keller, in an interview with...
Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. announced it is in negotiations to sell its cellphone business to fellow Japanese electronics maker Kyocera Wireless Corp. If the deal is completed, it would further consolidate the world's hotly contested mobile phone business, as well as bolster Kyocera's market...
If you're wondering what shape WiMAX-enabled devices will take, you can hop a plane to South Korea and see Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s two models in action on SK Telecom's WiBro network. Samsung's M8100 is the world's first WiMAX-equipped PDA-style smartphone, a slider model...
Amid rumors of suitors for its handset manufacturing business, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has sold its mobile-phone sales and distribution unit in a deal reportedly worth up to $85 million.Japanese handset distributor Telepark Corp. confirmed that it purchased Sanyo's mobile phone sales and distribution...
YOU CAN'T HAVE A HOLIDAY PARTY without a potent punch bowl for all comers.The news from last week: Some of the latest models of 3G handsets will indeed appear in the United States in time for the retail party just getting under way.Specifically, the...
Qualcomm Inc. can exhale now, and so can a number of its key customers. Holiday sales of imported 3G phones that had been banned by a federal agency can proceed. A ban on the importation of new 3G handsets containing Qualcomm chips will be...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday 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 Jupiter Research's Julie Ask, iGR's Iain...
VIENNA, Va.-Although Sprint Nextel Corp. made headlines yesterday with news of its WiMAX branding and push-to-talk plans, the carrier also-apparently inadvertently-gave its "Technology Summit" attendees a glimpse of several as-yet-unannounced handsets. Although Sprint Nextel representatives refused to allow attendees to take pictures of the...
There's good news for a beleaguered American handset giant named Motorola Inc.The company's Razr handset-beefed up on functionality and spun off in customized form in myriad colors for all four of the top-tier network operators-represented two of the top five bestselling handsets last quarter...
In the Byzantine world of handset pricing, intrigue is the name of the game. What to read into the latest handset price gyrations? Our guess: largely price cuts to pique consumer interest during the coming dog days of summer. AT&T Mobility discounted its Nokia...
"Serenity now!" yelled the character George Costanza in one episode of the 1990s sitcom, "Seinfeld."Costanza's anguished cry underscored the unbridgeable gap between his desperate need for serenity and the angst that gripped his soul.A roughly analogous gap may yawn between the public serenity of...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works...
