With these five words, a revolution began. Digital home products were floundering en masse (remember the iPaq music center?). The PC market was in the tank. Our nation was still reeling from the terrorism of 9/11 and we were ... Read More »

SpinVox provides a relatively accurate and useful service, although transcribed voicemails can take up to 10 minutes to arrive and are in some cases truncated. If you prefer to read transcriptions of voicemails via text messages - ... Read More »

The role of mobile devices is rapidly evolving – converged products like the iPhone are shaping consumer behavior and creating unprecedented expectation for video, web browsing, gaming, and GPS. As our handsets transform from ... Read More »

Building a world-class Analyst Relations (AR) program is a worthy investment that delivers positive returns companywide. AR is a way for you to strategically influence the worldwide technologists who are recommending products and ... Read More »

LTE is slated to become the next generation of wireless technology. The spectral efficiency alone, meaning the number of data bits supported on a given frequency, clinches the deal. The business case is compelling: with LTE you ... Read More »

In North America, the swift growth of mobile broadband has been instrumental in shoring up ARPU (average revenue per user) numbers, which were threatened by the commoditization of voice. With new applications and ideas coupled ... Read More »

Ease of use is our industry’s killer app. Without ease of use, our hard work and best ideas can be lost for months or years, if adopted at all. At AT&T, we are committed to delivering products that are easy, intuitive, and ... Read More »

The iPhone. The BlackBerry Storm. The Android. The Palm Pre. When we think about these phones, we think AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint, respectively. Phone exclusivity is a major headache for consumers who want ... Read More »

The elevator speech regarding the smart grid is simply that it is a communications system overlay on the existing electrical grid to make the electrical grid more controllable and much more efficient in the delivery of energy. ... Read More »

While the big news out of this year’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Span, was Verizon Wireless’ choice of LTE vendors — Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson, among others — its IMS news is just as interesting. It’s not too ... Read More »

Collecting a soggy newspaper from the end of the driveway in one’s pajamas is familiar to many of us. As newspapers and magazines pile up on the counters and in the recycling bin, we wonder if there couldn’t be an easier way. ... Read More »

The wireless industry has consolidated with regional carriers absorbed by larger national giants. Many decry that as a result, there is less incentive for these national carriers to compete (e.g., by lowering pricing) and ... Read More »

On one level, Alltel Communications L.L.C. ceased to exist after Verizon Wireless closed its $28 billion acquisition of the Little Rock, Ark., company in early January. Indeed, attention promptly turned to how some Alltel ... Read More »

Is mobile advertising broken? Or is it just early days? The jury is still out on that one. But there is no ignoring the gap between the amount of effort companies invest in mobile advertising campaigns and the actual results they ... Read More »

So according to Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, the nation’s No. 3 wireless operator is not interested in a price war and somehow thinks it can compete against its rivals on a level playing field populated by unicorns, teddy bears ... Read More »

The looming copyright battle centered on Apple Inc.’s iPhone may seem obscure, but the outcome could have wide-ranging implications for U.S. mobile users and the developers who target them. It’s also a fight Apple should walk ... Read More »

XM Radio’s move in the mobile space provides several unique features that set it apart from dozens of similar offerings, but some hiccups prevent it from being worth the price of admission. ... Read More »

There have been some press releases lately announcing the formation of a White Spaces Database Group that has voluntarily come together to identify and establish open and non-proprietary formats and protocols which may eventually ... Read More »

AT&T Mobility President Ralph De la Vega opined the benefits of an open wireless ecosystem at last week’s Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain, noting that wireless customers want it. ... Read More »

BARCEOLONA, Spain – Amid the bustle of business models and clanging of product announcements, I was surprised to enjoy a moment of clarity during Ericsson’s press conference here yesterday. ... Read More »

Ever since the huge turn out last Fall in Chicago for the Wireless History Foundation gala, I've considered how crucial the innovators and pioneers have been to the development of wireless. I've known and worked with more than my ... Read More »

Since March 2007, the good folks at RCR Wireless have been very patient with my quest to shame and otherwise motivate employers to provide cellular service for employees that make more than an occasional call related to business. ... Read More »

So the Mobile World Congress is just around the corner, and I for one can’t wait. Yes sir, those of us with CDMA phones just love heading over to Europe, where GSM rules the day and dinner is not served until 9 p.m. (Seriously?!?! ... Read More »

YouMail is free. If managing voicemail with an e-mail account is an interest, then this is a good application. ... Read More »

Billions of new dollars may become available for broadband in national stimulus spending, with wireless companies and their consumers among winning beneficiaries. ... Read More »

When it comes to the wireless sector, I would just like to say what everybody else in the wireless ecosystem knows — the carrier is king! Now, I am not just saying this because most of our customers are carriers, but because ... Read More »

According to a Wall Street Journal report this morning, AT&T Inc. is very interested in acquiring network assets and customers Verizon Wireless has to divest as part of its acquisition of Alltel Communications L.L.C. Other ... Read More »

We hate being overwhelmed on the wireless Web. While most site-builders have come to grips with the small screen, far too many content owners continue to overwhelm our phones and our fingers by trying to jam as much stuff as ... Read More »

With the advent of the new Boost national $50 Monthly Unlimited plan, many consumers and industry watchers were hoping that the prevailing national $99.99 monthly unlimited calling price point would drop and a price war would ... Read More »

The Democratic-led Congress is about to hand President Obama victories by way of a bill to delay the DTV transition to June 12 and a gargantuan economic recovery package with billions of dollars in broadband grants and tax breaks ... Read More »

From an outsider’s point of view, it’s easy to say mobile applications should be a slam dunk for mobile operators. In most cases they get a piece of the revenue when the application is sold, and many apps also use data — if not ... Read More »

ShopSavvy proves that barcode scanning can work in the mobile environment. It’s a great and useful application that can scan a barcode and provide accurate and timely pricing, information and nearby alternatives. And bonus: Its’ ... Read More »

The concept of open wireless networks is not new. In fact, an obligation to support “reselling” was embedded in the original FCC rules that created the cellular industry. Over the years, that obligation faded away. “Openness” is ... Read More »

So there I was in the front section on the west front of the U.S. Capitol, within yelling distance of the man who would forever transform presidential campaigning and fund-raising by leveraging cellphone texting, the Internet and ... Read More »

Consumer-advocacy groups last week took on a host of players in the mobile marketing space, demanding the Federal Trade Commission look into the still-nascent space. Then, as if on cue, AT&T Mobility threw gasoline on the fire. ... Read More »

Like many of the most popular scriptural sayings, “and the lion shall lay down with the lamb” never actually appears in Scripture. What Isaiah (65:25) actually said, in describing a vision of paradise, was: “The wolf and the lamb ... Read More »

It seems not a day goes by without a new startup offering ways to circumvent the traditional wireless model of paying for a phone call. Most of these rely on some sort of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to ... Read More »

A critical question for wireless operators in the US is whether prospective customers of wide-area mobile data will treat the service as an undifferentiated service, as many do with their Internet service provider (ISP), or will ... Read More »

Airport newsstands sell porn. That’s what I think of whenever I hear skeptics talk about an over-hyped market for adult mobile content. It’s tough to imagine more difficult or awkward place to, um, consume the salacious stuff ... Read More »

The unprecedented concentration of spectrum in the hands of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility is extremely disconcerting. Permitting the nation’s largest carriers to warehouse unused spectrum in rural areas is a particular ... Read More »

We remain shocked by the dearth of multimedia entertainment options available to BlackBerry users. Despite evidence that smartphone users consume more wireless content, and BlackBerries continue to top the list of popular ... Read More »

It was a year most of us would like to forget, but one we’re certain to remember. Much changed in the past year, with the world’s financial system crumbling and markets worldwide slumping by half. Everyone from CEOs to armchair ... Read More »

I used to love my Treo handset. (Sadly I can’t remember whether I owned the 600 or the 650). I loved the stylus, I loved the games, I loved the ringtone (you know, the same ringtone every other Palm user had). But sometimes you ... Read More »

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn’t. If you ... Read More »

That crazy old Internet! Some wireless execs e-mailed letters to Santa Claus but somehow they ended up in my inbox. (OK, our managing editor Dan Meyer bribed a few elves down on their luck last time he was in Vegas). And although ... Read More »

Welcome to a special edition of our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. As 2008 draws to a close and we take stock of all the changes that have happened in the wireless industry, we can’t help but wonder how things will look a ... Read More »

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 ... Read More »

We all know the feeling: We’ve darted out the door to go see a movie or grab a bite and now something has come up or we forgot the details. How nice that in today’s world we can reach in our purse or pocket and pull out our handy- ... Read More »

Up until very recently, proprietary handset platforms, walled gardens and expensive data tariffs have served well as the foundation for operator and vendor business models. However, this “old” mobile math has become very ... Read More »

The migration to mobile messaging and data was the story of the first half of the decade. The story of the second half of the decade is the paradigm shift to open OS handsets. Granted, paradigm shift is an overused word, but the ... Read More »

So we’re in the middle of the race to 4G, and I for one am giddy with excitement. This race pits underdog Sprint Nextel against rival CDMA patron Verizon Wireless. Sprint Nextel definitely has the lead, thanks to its WiMAX plans ... Read More »

My e-mail inbox is teeming with pitches offering self-serving “predictions” for 2009 that read more like best-case scenarios for those hoping to cash in on mobile. But here’s a forecast of my own: 2009 will be the year record ... Read More »

U.S. telecom and high-tech sectors, though suffering through the a job-killing economic crisis that apparently hasn’t yet bottomed out, are nonetheless audaciously hopeful — downright giddy even — about the future. What gives? ... Read More »

While it was good to see some retailers reporting stronger than expected sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the reality is that these two shopping “holidays” are a U.S. phenomenon. ... Read More »

Nitpickers will find some legitimate reasons to turn their noses up at PhoneFlix, but when it comes to the most obvious and important use cases, PhoneFlix delivers. A keeper for Netflix subscribers who carry the G1. ... Read More »

You could see it coming. Once President Bush signed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill into law, most certainly it was not going to end there. With clouds of economic turmoil darkening by the day, the auto industry jetted ... Read More »

The macroeconomic weakness and increased uncertainty has spurred enterprises to reduce capital budgets and increasingly pressured IT managers to reevaluate their services and cut spending where appropriate. Despite these factors, ... Read More »

I just got back from a long weekend in a place that is defying the economic downturn, where there is a housing shortage because of all of the people flocking to the area, where the local restaurant has to close early because ... Read More »

(Insert witty column here.) So … I guess there’s some funny, interesting stuff going on somewhere, but I’m certainly not sober or awake enough to figure out what it is. So, since I really am that lazy, let’s just skip to some ... Read More »

This may come as a shock, but it appears that the established mobile-gaming community has been going about this thing all wrong. Take a quick stroll through the games department on any carrier deck. (I’ll wait here until you get ... Read More »

On Nov. 4, the Federal Communications Commission issued a decision that few have thus far given very much notice, but which is noteworthy for two reasons. ... Read More »

As troubles mount in the print news industry, many publications have been putting extra emphasis on their digital products, including their Web sites. However, it seems these efforts largely haven’t transferred into the mobile ... Read More »

Cable operators are market leaders for pay TV and broadband services, and have done very well stealing fixed voice lines from traditional telephone carriers. Yet they are woefully behind when it comes to wireless service. Cable ... Read More »

Funny how an economic crisis rivaling (but hopefully not surpassing) the Great Depression tends to concentrate the minds of policymakers otherwise given to pugnacious political ideologies left to right. Survival has a way of ... Read More »

Amazon’s MP3 app is a slick way to browse and sample digital music at prices that are on par or sometimes cheaper than current models. Only a lack of being able to download tracks using a cellular connection keeps the app from ... Read More »

So the fourth quarter showdown is finally here. And it seems that this year, it will truly be a battle royale. ... Read More »

Conventional wisdom suggests that the spectral efficiency of a wireless technology has a meaningful impact on an operator’s network economics. The argument first reared its head with the heated debate between the two competing 2G ... Read More »

Try searching the Internet for “WAP is dead” and you will see 328,000 matches. Scroll through a few pages of the search results and among the recent links only a week old, you will also see articles, blog posts and rants dating ... Read More »

We here at RCR Wireless News understand the need for quick answers when trying to plan ahead. In the busy lives of Americans today, it’s usually the last thing on anyone’s mind when it comes to the current temperature outside and ... Read More »

One of my favorite television shows of the ’90s was Mystery Science Theater 3000, also known as MST3K. The basics of the show were that a man and his two robot friends were being forced to watch terrible B-movies and they would ... Read More »

This year may well mark “a turning point in the mobile gaming industry,” as Gameloft insisted last week. But for most wireless-game makers, there will be plenty more storm before the calm. ... Read More »

Sixteen months ago, George Washington University convened Web strategists from leading Presidential campaigns and social networking sites to discuss how technology was revolutionizing political campaigning. Enthusiasm, expertise ... Read More »

It’s no sin (well, not a big one, anyway) for a mobile content company to cash in on stuff that will soon be available free. Rock On Altitude won’t rock your world — and it’s the kind of thing that can be had at countless ... Read More »

Nov. 4, 2008, will go down as a historic day both for the country as well as for the wireless industry. The impact of the presidential election is probably self-evident and better explained by those with more knowledge on the ... Read More »

Enterprise spending on WLAN equipment has outpaced the growth rate of both the Layer 2+3 Ethernet switching and the IP telephony markets for the past five consecutive years. We believe this trend will continue through 2012 ... Read More »

We expect our purchases to work as promised — and work right away. When it doesn’t happen, it’s frustrating and disappointing at best, and potentially a customer-losing experience at it’s worst. ... Read More »

So election night has come and gone, and the biggest and most important race in the country remains undecided. Yes, the Minnesota Senate battle between Norm Coleman and Al Franken (Stuart Smalley) rages on, and all of America ... Read More »

You know that dusty smell you experience when you open a book that hasn’t been picked up in decades? That’s the feeling I get lately when I think of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. ... Read More »

Having just returned from the Rutberg Wireless Influencers conference this past week, the top question on everyone’s mind was, “what impact will the economic crisis have on your business?” And while there is no question that ... Read More »

Google Maps for Mobile yet again raises the bar for location-based services in general and cellphone mapping in particular. ... Read More »

Data usage is an important component for future revenue growth as it becomes an ever greater percentage of ARPU (average revenue per user) and is currently the fastest growing source of revenue for carriers — a fact that has ... Read More »

These are interesting times for WiMAX. One might even say the moment of truth has arrived. Indeed, Nov. 4 is also decision day for WiMAX in the United States. If a high-powered Sprint Nextel Corp.-Clearwire Corp. union cannot ... Read More »

Is the Google Android operating system a game changer? The answer to that question may determine the answer to one of wireless’s biggest questions: Who owns the customer? ... Read More »

AT&T Mobility is once again caught in a spat over its claims of network coverage, but maybe the company should be concentrating its efforts on lucrative data services. ... Read More »

The news from the heartland of America is that rural wireless carriers are as technologically savvy as their urban cousins, and in many ways more agile. ... Read More »

Unlike rivals that have recently launched updated versions of their push-to-talk offerings, AT&T Mobility continues to soldier on with its Kodiak Networks-powered PTT service, which relies on the carrier’s circuit-switched voice ... Read More »

He is one of the most respected, accomplished and well-liked public servants ever to grace the Federal Communications Commission. Now, mobile phone carriers, TV network moguls and others want his head. Julius Knapp, chief of the ... Read More »

It is time to get real about the communications needs of the men and women who assure the public’s safety. Our challenges have expanded, but our vision has not. We continue to fixate on 20th century technology as the solution to ... Read More »

I hate to admit it, but during these troubling economic times I have succumbed to the cool, refreshing Kool-Aid the wireless industry is serving. And I gotta tell you, it tastes good. ... Read More »

We’ve all felt that gut-wrenching feeling of, ‘Oh, where is my phone?’ Everyone has lost or will eventually misplace their cellphone. Despite the fact that we spend hundreds of dollars on these devices and may feel lost without ... Read More »

The last few years have seen significant growth in the U.S. teen market, a market that MultiMedia Intelligence defines as the age group of 12- to 17-year-old individuals. In 2007, the market grew 12% to surpass 16 million ... Read More »

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has set a highly ambitious agenda for the Nov. 4 open meeting. And the December meeting potentially could pack as much punch, seeing that time is running short for the FCC ... Read More »

I like to think I’ve become hardened to the hype in the wireless industry. I don’t fawn over glitzy new phones, and I try to evaluate new products and services with a cynical, calculating eye. And this is why I’m somewhat ... Read More »

We’re strong believers that simpler = better when it comes to mobile applications. Which is why we’re so drawn to Beyond411. ... Read More »

Like gold bullion, Treasury bonds and the booze industry, the new mobile application stores that are beginning to surface may actually benefit from Wall Street’s implosion. ... Read More »

A quote, “Under the tree in ‘83,” that I wrote in 1993 as RCR Wireless News celebrated the first decade of the cellular industry triggered a flood of memories as we put together stories for the 25th anniversary. ... Read More »

When Nextel started to roll out their iDEN network back in 1995 we got handsets (remember those bricks?) through my employer to evaluate the technology. Mostly they were used in business hours but I used to borrow one from an ... Read More »

The mobile ecosystem is expanding. We are quickly moving from an era of proprietary development confined to the “walled gardens” of particular services and devices being developed for the networks of particular mobile operators, ... Read More »

Happy belated birthday to you, GSM. Last month, GSM technology celebrated its 21st birthday — quite remarkable considering that the average life cycle in the technology world is only about five years. With W-CDMA now the largest ... Read More »

Much has been written and speculated about what telecom-tech policy might look like under an Obama or a McCain administration. But more likely it will be the volatile economy in the near term that dictates terms for wireless ... Read More »