Computing industry giant Microsoft Corp. and the world's largest handset vendor Nokia Corp. announced a deal to deliver an "enterprise-grade solution for mobile productivity" centered on integrating Microsoft's Office Mobile software to Nokia Symbian-powered smartphones. The agreement calls for the two companies to collaborate...
Like cartoon coyotes that draw themselves to full height before an exaggerated pounce on prey, handset vendors have offered little this year - but portended much - before an expected lunge at the market.Major vendors, particularly smartphone purveyors, have largely passed up the first...
When in past years Symbian Ltd. nervously eyed the nascent promise of mobile Linux, Symbian evangelists noted sharply that the rival, open-source platform would require considerable sweat equity or costly out-sourcing to ready it for market.That claim turned out to be true to an...
In an ongoing effort to cut costs, Nokia Corp. today invited 1,000 workers worldwide to voluntarily resign. The Finnish handset maker, which had about 128,000 employees at the end of 2008, said that between March 1 and May 31 all employees except "direct labor"...
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is backing the home team - namely, Nokia Corp.'s Symbian platform - with a hefty $630 million investment.The long-term bank of the European Union announced a five-year loan to "part-finance" software research and research-and-development projects through 2011 in...
After years of treading water and failing to live up to outlandish hype, mobile games finally may be starting to make progress. And it's the Apple's iPhone - and, to a lesser extent, other multimedia-friendly smartphones - that's moving the needle. Which is why...
MySpace said it is overhauling its mobile site in an effort to grow its base of 20 million wireless users.The popular social networking destination will launch an updated version of its wireless site later this week, adding new user interface elements for multimedia-friendly devices...
BARCELONA, Spain - AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega used his Mobile World Congress keynote speech here to plead industry leaders for a common set of applications and application programming interfaces. De la Vega's comments were notable in that AT&T is the exclusive...
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 RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Sun Microsystems Inc. is hoping to bridge the gap between smartphones and feature phones with a new platform targeting mid- and lower-end devices.The Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer unveiled the mobile version of JavaFX, an offering designed to run atop Java ME (Mobile Edition) as...
The LiMo Foundation continues to make strides as it announced updates to its open platform, notched six new operators to deliver handsets and added two new directors to its board.NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone said they are committed to...
A developer of wireless enterprise solutions claims it has combined the advantages of paging and mobile phones into one service that can be accessed with a smartphone.Onset Technology is targeting the healthcare field with the latest enhancement of its METAmessage Advanced Paging Solution. The...
Google Inc. is jumping headfirst into the location-aware social networking space.The Internet titan unveiled Latitude, a Google Maps feature that allows users to share their location information and check the whereabouts of friends who opt to divulge that information. The offering is integrated with...
The short-term forecast for the handset market calls for pain and belt-tightening, no matter which market analysis you favor. And those analyses range from pretty harsh to very harsh. "We expect the first quarter of 2009 to be the absolute volume bottom in the...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.The concept of open wireless networks is not new. In fact, an obligation to support "reselling" was...
A handful of forces appear to be shaping a year to come that is likely to include numerous device launches featuring the fledgling Android operating system. Whether that will spell success for the license-free, Linux-based, open source OS is far from assured, though at...
Swedish smartphone user interface vendor UIQ has filed for bankruptcy, according to media reports.Indeed, the move was foreshadowed in June when UIQ announced it would layoff 200 of its 375 employees and seek new lines of business. However, it seems the company's efforts did...
Palm is suddenly making some impressive moves. Unfortunately for the handset maker's shareholders, it's making them about a year too late.The Silicon Valley-based manufacturer this week took the wraps off a striking new application storefront that already boasts 5,000 offerings - 10 times the...
Palm Inc. joined the application-store bandwagon, launching a downloadable storefront with 5,000-plus offerings for more than two dozen Palm devices.The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based outfit opened the Software Store (available at http://software.palm.com/appstore), showcasing high-profile applications (Facebook, Pac-Man, Tetris) as well as lesser-known products. The store is...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.Up until very recently, proprietary handset platforms, walled gardens and expensive data tariffs have served well as...
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.The migration to mobile messaging and data was the story of the first half of...
Handango Inc. announced an expansion of its distribution deal with Best Buy Co. Inc. that will see the big-box retailer selling smartphone applications through its in-store Mobile Genie system.Best Buy Mobile customers will be offered a catalog of business and enterprise applications for BlackBerry,...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile indU.S.try to give their insights into the marketplace.While it was good to see some retailers reporting stronger than expected sales for Black Friday and...
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has joined the Open Handset Alliance in support of Google Inc.'s Android platform, the handset vendor said today.ARM, the British semiconductor designer, also announced its membership in the OHA today. Sony Ericsson will produce a handset running the license-free,...
