RCR Wireless News articles from December 2006

RCR Wireless News archives from December 2006

Etc.(Briefs)
December 4, 2006... U.S. movie theater chain Regal Entertainment Group said altercations related to cell-phone use during movies was one factor that prompted it to begin testing new devices that will summon ushers to deal with such disruptions. The pager-sized...

RCRNews.com.(News)
December 4, 2006... RCR Wireless News Managing Editor Dan Meyer talks about preferred roaming lists and customer service systems in this week's Worst of the Week at RCRNews.com.

Stock Watch: November 22-November 30.(Metrics)
December 4, 2006... table: Stock Watch: November 22-November 30 * 3 graphs: Market Diary * Indices * RCR Index: see print copy.

Verizon Wireless nabs YouTube wireless debut.(News)
December 4, 2006... Video-sharing phenomenon YouTube.com has selected Verizon Wireless for its first mobile distribution agreement. Verizon Vcast subscribers will be able to use their handsets to watch and share user-generated videos, beginning in early December....

InfoSpace offering free trial of location service.(News)
December 4, 2006... InfoSpace is offering customers with select handsets the chance to use its mobile local search for free for 60 days. The InfoSpace Find It Java application includes GPS-enabled local search, spoken turn-by-turn directions, help in locating...

Comcast's quadruple play focuses on TV, billing.
December 4, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL Comcast Corp. aims to find out if customers will buy wireless service from a cable company: the nation's largest cable provider is launching a trial of wireless service in partnership with Sprint Nextel Corp. in two...

Big Apple test bed for Best Buy's wireless expansion.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL Big-box retailer Best Buy has branched out with a greater emphasis on wireless, opening new stores in the New York metro area that focus exclusively on offering a wide selection of handsets from various carriers. ...

Infrastructure Awards.(Metrics)
December 4, 2006... The following infrastructure contracts were announced in November: Alcatel China: With Hebei Unicom to provide a wireless call server for the carrier's NGN network and with Anhui to provide equipment for an expansion of the carrier's...

China inching closer to 3G licensing.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE Just when it seemed like the world had stopped making predictions about when China's government would grant third-generation licenses to operators, reports surfaced in the Chinese press indicating that the government...

Ericsson, Intel team on PC-based wireless broadband.(News)
December 4, 2006... L.M. Ericsson and Intel Corp. are collaborating to boost market uptake of PC-based mobile broadband and multimedia applications and services. The companies said they will work together to integrate Ericsson's HSPA platform for mobile...

From 'Swiss Army knife' to wireless hub; Rationality may lead to future of mobile handhelds.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON Consumers' tendency to carry duplicate devices-think camera phone and digital camera, or smart phone and PDA-may contain a seed of wireless' future. That may seem like a bit of a stretch on such a simple premise....

Green day.(Opinion)
December 4, 2006... Mark it on your calendar: Nov. 27, 2006, the day a Colorado cellphone recycling outfit accomplished what high-powered lawyers could not and chiseled a chink in the armor of the mobile-phone industry's cherished business model. The Library...

FCC awards spectrum.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Federal Communications Commission officially awarded more than half of the 1,087 advanced wireless services licenses won at the agency's auction that began in early August and ended Sept. 18. The FCC said the...

Nokia, Ericsson line up to deploy T-Mobile USA's 3G network.(Metrics)
December 4, 2006... Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson won T-Mobile USA Inc.'s third-generation network buildout business as the nation's fourth-largest carrier sets out to offer its 22 million subscribers greater data throughput via W-CDMA technology. The...

IBM purchases Vallent Corp. for wireless expertise.(News)
December 4, 2006... IBM Corp. added to the rapidly consolidating market for vendors serving wireless operators by snapping up privately held Vallent Corp., a software firm that develops network performance monitoring and service management applications for...

Alvarion ditches cellular business unit to sharpen WiMAX protocol skill set.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE Alvarion Ltd. is betting its future on WiMAX, cutting loose its Cellular Mobile business unit for $15 million. The company sold its CMU business to privately held LGC Wireless Inc., a wireless networking technology...

Tellabs connects with wireless future.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE Tellabs Inc. made its bones developing and selling fixed-line network infrastructure gear to big phone companies. The company's flagship products were its cross-connects for central offices, which gathered, sorted and...

Nielsen Mobile to monitor Sprint Nextel music sales, ringtone market.(News)
December 4, 2006... Nielsen Mobile announced a deal with Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's No. 3 wireless carrier, to monitor the operator's weekly ringtones and full-length over-the-air song download sales data. Nielsen Mobile is a division of Nielsen...

NeuStar picks up mobile IM company.(News)
December 4, 2006... NeuStar Inc. said it acquired Followap Inc., a U.K.-based company that provides mobile instant messaging products for Europe and Asia. The deal is valued at about $139 million. Followap has a customer base of 17 mobile carriers,...

Palm lowers guidance on Treo 750 delay.(News)
December 4, 2006... Palm Inc. lowered its financial guidance for its second fiscal quarter, which ends Dec. 1, due to delays in shipping its Treo 750 in the United States. The company now expects revenues to fall between $390 million and $395 million, down...

Plaintiff pushes court on ruling in headset case.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Mobile-phone companies asked U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake to refer jurisdictional questions to the Federal Communications Commission in connection with brain-cancer and headset lawsuits in Maryland federal...

GAO report could boost resistance to AT&T/BellSouth deal.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Top mobile-phone carriers may have gained leverage to have stringent conditions imposed on AT&T Inc.'s $79 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp., with the Government Accounting Office concluding competition in the...

Alcatel-Lucent official, company unveils new logo.(News)
December 4, 2006... Alcatel and Lucent Technologies Inc. said they have closed their merger and will begin operating as a single entity. Alcatel-Lucent's stock also began trading on the Euronext Paris and New York Stock Exchange under the ALU ticker. Serge...

DHS head pledges interoperability by '08.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Public-safety interoperability, a political football since 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, has become a red-hot political hot potato. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and again when deadly storms...

Library of Congress ruling could unlock phone locking.
December 4, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA TracFone Wireless Inc., the nation's largest prepaid wireless company, said it is considering filing a lawsuit in federal court to repeal a new Library of Congress rule that exempts mobile-phone locking software from...

Handsets of value.(Opinion)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Mike Dano The holiday season is upon us, and I for one am thrilled. The holidays are usually a time of family, joy, thanksgiving and good will toward all (except Dan Meyer)-and, of course, the holidays are also a time of cheap...

Sun, Nokia, Ericsson team on integration.(News)
December 4, 2006... Sun Microsystems Inc. used the ITU Telecom World 2006 trade show in Hong Kong to launch a new industry association that says its aim is to simplify technology integration by developing and pushing requirements for standardized products among...

Verizon Wireless acquires W.V. GSM carrier.(News)
December 4, 2006... Verizon Wireless has agreed to acquire a small GSM carrier in West Virginia. The deal, which must receive regulatory approvals, is expected to close sometime in the first quarter of next year, according to Verizon Wireless spokeswoman...

Eight years after launch, MVNE telSpace ready to talk.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL The mobile virtual network operator space isn't cooling down, according to the head of mobile virtual network enabler telSpace. However, instead of following the models of Amp'd Mobile Inc. or Helio L.L.C., the newcomers...

Mobile TV attracts financing despite continued business model questions.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Consider video the wireless industry's equivalent of Powerball. But nobody's betting on the content providers. In these early days of well-heeled venture capitalists and hockey-stick projections, there is no...

Nefarious marketers keep carriers awake.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Fixed-line Internet companies and industry associations have long grappled with potential pitfalls and consumer-unfriendly tactics such as spam, click fraud and unwelcome pop-up ads from in-your-face marketers. In...

Samsung, LG roll out new phones for the holidays.(News)
December 4, 2006... The nation's handset vendors are kicking into high gear in time for the holiday shopping season-which started on "Black Friday,'' the day after Thanksgiving-with a range of new, advanced products. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's...

Nokia lowers expectations, unwraps new phones.(News)
December 4, 2006... Nokia Corp. slightly lowered its financial expectations for the coming years, news that caused investors to pause, but the company unveiled four new slim, mid- and low-tier devices Nokia hopes will boost its worldwide market share. "To...

Refresh Mobile snares Forum Nokia award.(News)
December 4, 2006... Refresh Mobile took top honors as "Developer of the Year'' in the 2006 Forum Nokia Pro Awards. Nokia Corp.'s global developer program cited Refresh Mobile's Mobizines application, which the company said lets mobile subscribers read their...

Late News.
December 4, 2006... TV Guide, Roundbox to make mobile TV guide TV Guide Mobile Entertainment Inc. and mobile broadcast software company Roundbox Inc. said they signed an exclusive agreement that calls for them to develop and co-market an Electronic Service...

NOKIA'S WORLD: Data is the future.
December 4, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON To understand Nokia Corp.'s outlook, one must leave the United States behind. This is somewhat akin to jumping from one fish bowl to another. The view from inside the U.S. fish bowl provides only a fun-house reflection...

Carriers urged to pursue mobile music.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Carriers worried about becoming a "dumb pipe'' should jump headlong into the digital music waters, according to entertainment executive Kedar Massenburg. Network operators have "the opportunity to become the record...

Hedgehogging.(Briefs)
December 4, 2006... hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube Are Helio execs good at playing "Follow the Leader.'' During a keynote at the CTIA Wireless I.T. Show, Helio CEO Sky Dayton...

Road tripping and PRL updating.(Opinion)
December 4, 2006... Byline: Dan Meyer Unlike many people who head home for the holidays, I took the opportunity over the Thanksgiving weekend to hit the road and get away from the usual family-oriented frivolity that inevitably turns into another edition of...

VeriSign shells out $52M for InCode.(News)
December 4, 2006... VeriSign Inc. will spend $52 million to acquire technology consulting firm inCode Wireless. InCode has 14 offices in 10 countries and provides strategy consulting services to wireless and fixed-line operators as well as cable TV providers...

Enterprise security: it's all about the executive suite.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON Within the mobile industry, security vendors' warnings are gaining traction as headlines blare the latest loss of corporate or government data-a sure way to destroy an organization's credibility, not to mention the...

Got Ningbo Bird? Small handset vendors stay nimble in competitive market.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON A lot of ink is expended on the competitive machinations of the top five global handset vendors-for good reason. This year, together, they will account for perhaps 80 percent of the nearly 1 billion handset shipments...

Technology wars still flourishing.(Special Report)
December 4, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE As the world's more mature wireless markets shift to third-generation networks and beyond, it seems as if backers of CDMA technology and those who are pushing 3G flavors of GSM are racing each other to hype their...

Yahoo mixes up mobile social networking with 'Mixd' launch.(News)
December 4, 2006... Byline: MIKE DANO Yahoo Inc. became the latest-and perhaps the largest-player in the nascent but rapidly growing mobile social networking playground with a new service that allows users to set up group events through text messaging. ...

Cingular unearths Pearl for $200.(News)
December 4, 2006... Cingular Wireless L.L.C. joined smaller rival T-Mobile USA Inc. in offering Research In Motion Ltd.'s latest BlackBerry, the consumer-focused Pearl. Cingular is selling the gadget for $200 with a two-year agreement. "The BlackBerry Pearl...

Consumer Reports takes on tough assignment: smart phones.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON Under the banner, "Simpler and Slimmer,'' Consumer Reports' January 2007 issue weighed in on a handset category that has even the experts scratching their heads. At CTIA I.T. in September, a panel of leading...

Sanyo M1 at Sprint Nextel: top-line model has rivals.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON Sanyo Corp. has put its best foot forward at Sprint Nextel Corp. with a top-of-its-line multimedia phone, the M1, at a crucial time for Sanyo and amid a strong, overall portfolio expansion at Sprint Nextel. The M1...

CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Rev. C a mouthful? Try UMB.(News)
December 11, 2006... The CDMA Development Group has added a new acronym to the already-crowded wireless lexicon. The CDG has christened the technology formerly known as CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO Revision C with a much more memorable brand name: Ultra Mobile...

Leap preparing for further expansion, pondering affiliates.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL Leap Wireless International Inc. is poised to make a large push into East Coast and Gulf Coast markets with the spectrum it acquired in the most recent federal spectrum auction. The carrier is also considering an...

Qualcomm pursues consumer electronics with Bluetooth acquisition.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: PHIL CARSON Qualcomm Inc. plans to profit from in-house Bluetooth intellectual property to drive down the cost, power consumption and footprint of chip-based functionality in mobile handsets and consumer electronic devices, the...

Nortel's WiMAX solution scores contracts across globe.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE 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...

Sprint Nextel expects churn to improve by second-half '07.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL Sprint Nextel Corp. expects to see substantial improvement in its churn performance in the second half of next year, and the focus on its core operations means that its previous fascination with rolling up its affiliates...

CellAntenna continues cell jamming crusade.(News)
December 11, 2006... A small Florida company that sells equipment that can be used to jam cell phone reception is continuing in its quest to allow wider use of the technology, despite having its lawsuit over the issue thrown out of federal district court. The...

Verizon Wireless, Alltel and T-Mobile lauded by CR.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL Verizon Wireless earned another round of kudos from Consumer Reports' annual survey of wireless carriers, but Alltel Corp. outpaced other carriers in two new markets included in this year's results. The survey...

Clearwire uses FCC delay to improve position.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA While major stakeholders and lawmakers haggle over how the Federal Communications Commission should proceed on the stalled $79 billion AT&T Inc.-BellSouth deal, Clearwire Corp. is cleverly taking advantage of the...

Bummed out Christmas.(Opinion)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Jeffrey Silva Unfortunately, it has become commonplace to read press reports about drivers on cell phones whose priorities are terribly-sometimes fatally-misplaced. Everybody knows it's a big, big problem, owing quite simply to...

Danish research finds no connection between tumors, handsets.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A newly released Danish-American epidemiology study concludes cell phones do not pose a health risk to consumers. The finding is bound to further fuel controversy in a scientific community divided over the issue, and...

TracFone sues to kill handset-unlocking rule.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Prepaid wireless king TracFone Wireless Inc. filed a lawsuit in Florida to repeal a new Library of Congress rule exempting mobile-phone locking software from U.S. copyright law. The suit, filed Dec. 5 in federal...

FCC extends construction deadline for 2.3 GHz spectrum holders.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The wireless broadband industry embraced the Federal Communications Commission's extension of construction deadlines for 2.3 GHz licensees, but remains angry over the agency's response thus far to terrestrial...

Clearwire to set up network in Grand Rapids; City foregoes Wi-Fi for WiMAX.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE Wireless broadband service provider Clearwire Corp. racked up a deal to build its first municipal WiMAX network in Grand Rapids, Mich., after the city council unanimously approved the company's bid to connect the city's...

Shopping spree; Qualcomm adds to IPR stable with Airgo buy.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE First OFDMA and now MIMO. Qualcomm Inc.'s acquisition of Airgo Networks and its Multiple-Input, Multiple-Out technology, as well as the company's previous purchase of Flarion Technologies Inc., position Qualcomm to play...

Late News.
December 11, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Feder rules McDowell can participate in AT&T-BellSouth merger The Federal Communications Commission's general counsel late Friday authorized Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell to participate in the stalled...

TDS snares U.S. Cellular's CFO amid financial restatements.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL U.S. Cellular Corp.'s chief financial officer will become the CFO of the carrier's parent company, Telephone and Data Systems Inc. Kenneth Meyers will replace TDS' current CFO, Sandra Helton, who is resigning...

Freedom Wireless names five in new patent lawsuit.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL Freedom Wireless Inc. sued two wireless carriers and three service providers for allegedly violating the company's patents on providing prepaid wireless services. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Alltel Corp. are named...

RCA honors industry.(News)
December 11, 2006... Radio Club of America held its annual banquet Nov. 17 at the New York Athletic Club, New York. Karim Khoja (bottom, left) with RCA Fellow Don Bishop. Khoja, the chief executive officer of Roshan, a cellular carrier in Afghanistan,...

The gift of mobile.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: KELLY HILL 'Tis the season for gifting and Christmas lists a mile long. But what to do if someone's list includes a Tetris download for their cell phone, or a new ringer from Chingy? Some wireless carriers and mobile virtual...

Atrua catches $9M for finger-print scanning.(News)
December 11, 2006... Mobile software developer Atrua Technologies Inc. snared $9 million in its fourth round of funding. BlueRun Ventures led the round, and Atrua welcomed new backers including Chian's Hua Hong Group and Korea's Mosen Company Ltd. Existing...

Finding magic, money with VC; Homework matters.
December 11, 2006... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Wireless entrepreneurs looking to scrape up venture capital would do well to recall a college radio hit from a few years ago: it's all about chemistry. There's been no shortage of investment cash in wireless...

Pay-per-call hopes to lessen online marketing fraud.(News)
December 11, 2006... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Mobile marketers are looking to avoid the "pay-per-click'' problems that continue to plague online advertising. And many of them are hoping simple phone calls provide the solution. Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other...

Music services still dance around wireless play.(Focus)
December 11, 2006... Byline: COLIN GIBBS This was supposed to be the year of the music phone, but as the holiday season approaches the home stretch, on-the-go music lovers are still hoping to find dedicated MP3 players in their stockings. U.S. sales of...

Mobile TV channel heats up; Modeo loses president; MediaFLO touts progress.
December 11, 2006... Byline: JONI MORSE Crown Castle International Corp.'s plan to launch its Modeo mobile TV networks in major U.S. markets took an apparent blow as Modeo's President Michael Schueppert stepped down without any explanation from Crown Castle or...

Generating support for cell broadcast; Little influence.
December 11, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The wireless industry is quietly reassessing long-held resistance to a cell-broadcast technology that's getting a serious look by the Department of Homeland Security and increasingly embraced in Europe, Asia and the...

Handset moves.(Opinion)
December 11, 2006... Byline: Tracy Ford It's an increasingly awkward dance between U.S. wireless carriers and handset manufacturers as phone makers begin to assert their independence from operators. Handsets don't work without the network and networks are...

Hedgehogging.(Briefs)
December 11, 2006... hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube There's always something happening in the wireless industry that makes the RCR Wireless News editorial staff stop working on...

Study: More consumers checking e-mail from mobile devices.(Metrics)
December 11, 2006... U.S. wireless subscribers are increasingly using their phones to send and receive e-mail, according to new figures from The NPD Group. The market research firm said 6 percent of mobile consumers used personal e-mail on their phones in...

Wireless History; 8 years ago this month...(Metrics)
December 11, 2006... PageMart Wireless Inc. started two-way paging service nationwide after an aggressive $310 million buildout of its ReFLEX 25-based narrowband personal communications services network.

Etc.
December 11, 2006... Mobile production service provider Mobile Streams said it signed an exclusive worldwide mobile content deal with the famous Mexican wrestler El Hijo Del Santo. He and his late father, El Santo, have appeared in a variety of movies as well as in...

Correction.
December 11, 2006... The image included with the Late News item on TV Guide Mobile and Roundbox in the Dec. 4 issue was incorrect. The image below is correct.

Stock Watch: November 30-December 7.(Metrics)
December 11, 2006... table: Stock Watch: November 30-December 7 * 3 graphs: Market Diary * Indices * RCR Index: see print copy

In next week's issue.(News)
December 11, 2006... RCR Wireless News will reveal the editorial staff's choice for RCR Person of the Year. Who do you think affected the wireless industry the most in 2006?

RCRNews.com.(News)
December 11, 2006... RCRNews.com is new and improved, with more easy-to-navigate areas to help you find the latest news in a number of wireless segments. Visit RCRNews.com to check it out.

Failed copper miner turns to wireless.(News)
December 18, 2006... New Wave Mobile Inc. snared a $500,000 investment to fund the launch of a platform the company said will support wireless sales of lottery tickets. New Wave said it expects its acquisition of WagerPhone, a mobile gaming technology company,...

O'Brien continues to push the needle; Private-public profitability?(News)
December 18, 2006... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Editor's Note: Each year, the RCR Wireless News editorial staff chooses the person we think has impacted the wireless industry the most during the past 12 months. This year's choice is industry veteran and Cyren Call...

Leap adds Portland, closes on Carolina.(News)
December 18, 2006... Leap Wireless International Inc. said it launched its Cricket-branded service in Portland, Ore., via its Cricket LCW joint venture. Cricket LCW is a collaboration between Leap and WLPCS Management formed in July. Leap also completed...