THE HEADY MIX of mobility, computing and the Internet now sweeping the mobile industry is akin to getting gassed with nitrous oxide at the dentist. Suddenly, preposterous notions seem plausible, even amusing. Yet, in this pervasive fog, it's difficult to discount the possibilities.Enter the...
Palm Inc. posted a solid quarter, showing gains in its Treo smartphone sales, and its stock rose slightly on the news to $18.01 per share. However, the company declined to comment on rumors of a potential merger or sale that, according to some media...
CTIA announced that Research In Motion Ltd.'s Mike Lazaridis will replace Motorola's Ed Zander as one of the kickoff keynoters at the association's trade show next week. Lazaridis, RIM's president and co-CEO, will join executives from AT&T Inc. and Microsoft Corp. during the keynote...
Mobile virtual network operator Amp'd Mobile Inc. announced it will begin selling Motorola Inc.'s Q smartphone starting next month. And the device has the Amp'd approach to wireless entertainment written all over it-the Amp'd Q marks the first time a U.S. wireless provider will...
Nokia Corp. sold more than half the 71 million smartphones purchased last year and Motorola Inc. followed, with less than 9 percent of the market, according to a new study by ABI Research. Nokia racked up sales of 40 million smartphones out of the...
March in Florida typically conjures up images of half-naked college kids partying 24/7 on the beach, or for the more modest long lines and mouse ears. But, for the wireless industry this year it means show time. After a five-year hiatus, wireless trade association...
A year after the companies first announced their plans for the offering, Verizon Wireless and TiVo said the TiVo Mobile application for BREW-capable cellphones is now available to Verizon Wireless subscribers. The application is selling for $2 per month, and allows TiVo owners to...
When Skype, the PC-based Voice over Internet Protocol provider, petitioned the Federal Communications Commission last month to allow consumers to load third-party, IP-based software onto their mobile phones, the company was thinking big. Getting a proprietary VoIP client onto mainstream feature phones could put...
Shares of SmartVideo Technologies Inc. tanked after the company said it was seeking an infusion of cash.SmartVideo, which operates under the brand uVuMobile, is hoping to find "additional capital to fund the roll-out of new products and applications" for its Mobilecasting offering, which was...
Online mobile phone retailer Wirefly, a site operated by InPhonic Inc., released a report on the sharp growth in smartphone sales of late. The company said smartphone sales have increased 70 percent in less than six months from the third quarter of 2006 to...
Sierra Wireless Inc. announced that it will acquire M2M vendor AirLink Communications Inc. for $10 million in cash and 1.3 million in shares. Under the agreement, AirLink shareholders will end up with around 4.8 percent of the combined company.The deal is notable as it...
Treo maker Palm Inc. is considering strategic options ranging from acquisitions to a full-out sale of the company, according to media reports. The news comes as the market for cellphones and smartphones continues to tighten for smaller players.Palm hired investment-banking firm Morgan Stanley to...
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 M:Metrics' Seamus McAteer, Ovum's Roger Entner...
Alltel Corp. recently introduced a new line of postpaid plans for smartphones that include unlimited data use and its MyCircle offering. The Smart Choice Packs start at $70 per month for individuals and $90 per month for families. Except for the $70 plan, all...
Slim, shiny, clever devices dazzle and delight-impressions that all the major handset makers are capable of producing in a mobile phone. As carriers manage their handset portfolios, they see in those devices the means to capture the imagination of consumers and draw them into...
Sprint Nextel Corp. this past week made increased efforts to work its online retail handset angle. The carrier added at least four new handsets in the entry- and low-tiers, cut prices on smartphones and toyed with pricing on its iDEN handsets.Between Feb. 12 and...
Sprint Nextel Corp. this past week made increased efforts to work its online retail handset angle. The carrier added at least four new handsets in the entry- and low-tiers, cut prices on smartphones and toyed with pricing on its iDEN handsets.Between Feb. 12 and...
At the 3GSM World Congress, as at other major industry confabs, there are gadgets galore. And then there are the market-based strategies and financial plans behind them. Attempting to translate one into the other-reading the gadgets' features for clues to a vendor's strategies or...
For anyone who has yet to be convinced, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. used the 3GSM World Congress to show off what it can do with a high-end mobile phone, launching (or re-launching) a half-dozen models. Now, if only worldwide markets in the replacement cycle...
Hewlett-Packard Co. a new smartphone, dubbed the HP iPAQ, at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The iPAQ is designed for HP's business customers and features Windows Mobile 6, push e-mail, VoIP capabilities, multimedia and the ability to respond to e-mails by voice.The...
As with many legal settlements, the terms are undisclosed and it's back to business as usual, but probably with subtle changes. Research In Motion Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. apparently announced yesterday-how or to whom remains unclear, as both companies' Web sites reflect...
Aided by elements such as its reputation, anticipation-fueled rumors and tight secrecy, Apple Inc.'s iPhone announcement in early January acted much like a Rorschach test, illuminating points of view and exposing insecurities.Above all, the as-yet unfinished device drew such a wide range and number...
Google Inc. introduced a new version of its Maps application for Windows Mobile-based smartphones. The application is available for download on Google's Web site. Users must download the application using a desktop computer and then transfer the application to their smartphone using Microsoft Corp.'s...
Palm Inc. said it would no longer make the LifeDrive PDA it launched less than two years ago, a move that highlights two trends in the increasingly shrinking market for personal digital assistants.The addition of cellular communications to PDA-like devices and the advent of...
