AT&T Mobility is providing Web-hungry users with free Internet. The catch? They must already be an AT&T customer.Qualifying AT&T Mobility LaptopConnect customers who subscribe to the carrier's $60-per-month DataConnect plan can now access more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots powered by parent company AT&T...
Like a series of dominos, several of the largest regional carriers fell to consolidation pressures within the past year. The announcements came within a few months of one another: AT&T Inc. would buy Dobson Communications Corp., Verizon Wireless snapped up Rural Cellular Corp., and...
Perhaps no other player has invested as much in the speech-recognition market as Nuance Communications Inc. The Burlington, Mass.-based company has spent more than $1 billion in the past two years as it acquired competing firms and broadened its portfolio. We talked to Steve...
Starbucks Corp. is trading its T-Mobile USA Inc. HotSpot service for AT&T Inc.'s Wi-Fi network in more than 7,000 company-owned coffee outlets. Companies said Wi-Fi services from AT&T will be rolled-out to U.S. Starbucks locations beginning this spring on a market-by-market basis.While the municipal...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks look...
This week marks the beginning of the holiday season, of course, when most of us focus less on business and more on the reasons we work so hard. So in the spirit of the upcoming long weekend-and thanks to a predictably lethargic news cycle-a...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly 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 Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, Jupiter Research's...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly 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 Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, Jupiter Research's...
The first glimmer of quantifiable iPhone impacts is in, courtesy of NPD Group.The news is not-so-good for Palm Inc. and carriers T-Mobile USA Inc. and Alltel Corp. Research In Motion Ltd., however, appears to have nothing to fear.The top-tier carriers report third-quarter earnings beginning...
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 Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, iGR's Iain...
In-Stat last week touted a new study with the observation that "Competition in mobile video could threaten mobile operators."Duh.But the fact that In-Stat's conclusion is self-evident doesn't minimize the risk mobile network operators increasingly face in the broader digital entertainment arena. Carriers are on...
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 RCRNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We...
THE IPHONE HAS given birth to the iEcosystem. Whether that's a good thing, though, is debatable.Apple Inc.'s decision to bar third-party developers from building applications for its high-profile device has drawn scorn in the software world. But there is no shortage of Internet-based applications...
Perhaps no scenario has been more closely tied to mobile marketing than the story about customers walking by a Starbucks only to be pinged on their cellphones with an SMS coupon for 20% off a Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino. Over the years, this scenario has...
Madrid, Spain-based "social router" company FON announced it has given away 7,000 routers in its Fonbucks campaign designed to encourage people living next to a Starbucks Coffee Co. location to provide free or inexpensive Wi-Fi services. FON said it ended up giving away 5,000...
Google Inc. is jumping onto the crowded m-commerce field with a wireless version of its Checkout service.Google Checkout, which launched a year ago, is a PayPal-type offering that allows users to make purchases online from partners including Toys "R" Us, RadioShack Corp., Dick's Sporting...
Mozilla Corp. is looking to Joey to help untangle the wireless Web.The Mountain View, Calif.-based developer is toying with a service that allows users of its Firefox browser to store content on a remote server. Firefox users can save pages on the server, which...
Nothing gets people's attention like the possibility of a prize dangled in front of them.Indeed, the Sony Ericsson Open and Starbucks have partnered for just such an event. The two have joined forces on a new promotion that will offer tennis fans in Florida...
AT&T Inc. has substantially expanded its network of Wi-Fi hot spots, adding 13,000 new locations around the world for more than 48,000 total. That figure surpasses the roughly 45,000 Wi-Fi hot spots of T-Mobile USA Inc., which has traditionally been a leader in the...
Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.--All the talk about Alltel being acquired is not settling well with some of the RCR Wireless News staff. The thought that anything might interfere with the...
Madrid, Spain-based "social router" company Fon is hoping to drum up some interest in its unique Wi-Fi business by going head-to-head with Starbucks and thousands of other coffee shops that sell wireless Internet access within their stores. Fon is offering free La Fonera Wi-Fi...
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 Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
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 Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong...
U.S. network operators are losing their grip on subscribers who stroll off their decks to buy ringtones, access adult content or simply surf the wireless Web. When it comes to knowing where users are, though, carriers still hold the cards.Call it the Starbucks scenario:...
