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....
When teardown firms managed to analyze the components of the iPhone, they found that Apple Inc. had taken the wireless handset industry's diversification strategy one step further.Where most handset vendors rely on one main source for certain key components-while cueing up a second source...
Gadgets beget more gadgets, leading to fun, safety and productivity for consumers and profit for all. What's not to love about that? New figures for the accessory market place its ascendance in context and underscore how handset vendors and network operators have...
Nortel Networks and Toshiba Corp. have teamed up to jointly develop mobile WiMAX base stations for the Japanese and global markets.The base stations will build on Nortel's broadband wireless technology and Toshiba's amplifier and miniaturization technology. The agreement calls for Toshiba to build the...
Nortel Networks Ltd. landed a mobile WiMAX network supply deal in Taiwan, a trial in Japan, and a chip contract in Israel.
The company-which launched its WiMAX portfolio in October at the WiMAX World trade show and was hawking its new offering as 4G mobile...
TAIPEI, Taiwan-Nortel Networks Ltd. landed a mobile WiMAX network supply deal with Chungwa Telecom in Taiwan. Nortel said a countywide WiMAX network will be built in Northeastern Taiwan in Yilan County as part of the country's Mobile-Taiwan initiative. The initiative is aimed at boosting...
The wireless industry was graced with the presence of yet another standardization initiative last week. Naturally, backers of the new movement launched their plan with all the gusto and enthusiasm of well ... every other just-launched standards development group. And so it was that...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—What do LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic), NEC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SiBeam Inc., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have in common? Obviously they are all electronics giants, but they are also collaborating to push for the...
TOKYO—KDDI Corp. is reportedly working with Toshiba Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. and Qualcomm Inc. to develop a common operating system for mobile phones to cut the cost of developing new handsets, according to a Reuters report. The four companies will also work on software...
The squeeze is on, the stakes are high and the options few. Second-tier handset makers-their exact numbers globally are unclear, but there may be more than 100 players-are scrambling to survive, let alone thrive, as the top six vendors increased their market share last...
AACHEN, Germany—A consortium of European businesses and colleges unveiled an Application Programming Interface (API) designed to allow users to access content across mobile devices. The $2.1 million project, which was underwritten by the European Commission, seeks to reduce the development time and cost of...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—InnoPath Software Inc. reported that Japanese wireless operator Vodafone K.K. selected its firmware over-the-air device management solution to deliver upgraded features and services to its subscribers. "With the growing popularity of sophisticated handsets, a total solution dedicated to fast, seamless software update delivery...
The IEEE's November Wi-Fi standards-development meeting came and went without much fanfare, but debate over how to best reach a standard is causing some fireworks. Airgo Networks Inc. said it is disappointed that there was no proposal to vote on at the meeting, and...
CHINAAlcatel Corp. deployed its Mobile Next Generation Network in China for Zhejiang Mobile, a subsidiary of China Mobile. Alcatel said its Mobile NGN was implemented by its Chinese company, Alcatel Shanghai Bell, and will help Zhejiang Mobile improve quality of service and reduce network...
Instead of racing down separate standardization paths, wireless chipmakers Broadcom Corp. and Intel Corp. have joined a consortium of Wi-Fi players to form the Enhanced Wireless Consortium, which says it aims to accelerate the IEEE's 802.11n standards-development process by promoting an industry-supported specification for...
SanDisk Corp. and Sony Corp. introduced the industry's third major removable memory card format specifically designed for space-conscious mobile phones. The companies unveiled their new Memory Stick Micro product, a removable memory card that will go up against the MMCmicro and MicroSD specifications. "The...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. announced it will use over-the-air updating technology from InnoPath Software Inc. The technology will allow CHMC to remotely update the software in its phones."As the first company to deploy FOTA update technology for device management, InnoPath's...
LONDON-European giant Vodafone Group plc said it will have 15 W-CDMA handsets available for the holiday shopping season, including six at "entry-level" price points. Ten of the devices will be exclusive to Vodafone. The carrier boasted that all of the phones will feature smaller...
Memory Stick-Developed by Sony Corp. and used in a range of Sony products like the PSP. Memory Stick Duo is the small version, which measures 31 x 20 x 1.6 mm. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. supports Memory Stick Duo. Secure Digital Memory Card-Created...
Apparently it's the mini, not the meek, that shall inherit the Earth. Everything is going small and portable, from video-game machines to music players to mobile phones. The latest to fall into this Lilliputian way of thinking is the removable memory card industry, which...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-InnoPath Software Inc., which provides over-the-air mobile device management solutions, said Toshiba Corp. will deploy the company's DeltaUpgrade Plus firmware over-the-air update solution to mange and send firmware updates to Toshiba's mobile handsets.DeltaUpgrade Plus manages firmware updates through OTA, via direct cable...
Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java technology is 10 years old this year, a milestone the company is using to highlight Java's widespread influence throughout the electronics and computer industries. When Sun introduced the technology, the company promoted Java as the "write once, run anywhere" platform...
TOKYO-Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced it will quit the European mobile-phone market due to pressures from heavyweights like Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The company said it will discontinue phone sales after it has sold all of its current models, but...
TOKYO-Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced it will quit the European mobile-phone market due to pressures from heavyweights like Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The company said it will discontinue phone sales after it has sold all of its current models, but...
