BROWSING: Google

So this is what they mean by "One show, two personalities."Wednesday's keynote coupled the buttoned-down executive style of Research In Motion Ltd. with the hip, edgy verve of Facebook. Dustin Moskovitz, who co-founded the popular social networking site, unveiled a new application that delivers...

After more than two years, a plan to blanket San Francisco with seamless wireless Internet access at no cost to consumers is back where it started. All that stands in the wake of the failed citywide Wi-Fi effort now is a mountain of paperwork.At...

With ringtone revenues in decline and full-track downloads struggling to find an audience, carriers and third-party vendors are working furiously to breathe life into a withering mobile music industry.Ringtones for years have been the most popular type of content on (or off) carrier decks,...

What's plaguing the mobile gaming market? Pretty much the same headaches that have been there for years.Mobile gaming continues to struggle to move beyond what publishers have dubbed the "golden nickel"-the 5% or so of mobile users who pay to download and play games...

Litigation surrounding rules for the Jan. 24-scheduled 700 MHz auction has taken a sudden turn. Verizon Wireless filed to withdraw its appeal of the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz open-access rule, only to have cellphone association CTIA immediately fill the void by challenging the...

Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. 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...

Big things tend to start out small, or so the saying goes.So it was that Voice over Internet Protocol provider Skype Ltd. came out of nowhere in February to petition the Federal Communications Commission to extend to the mobile-phone industry a landmark third-party connectivity...

What's Google Inc. up to in mobile? You might as well ask what Rupert Murdoch is doing in media.Because the answer is, just about everything.The Internet colossus first dipped its toe in the mobile waters in 2000 with a search service for Web-enabled phones,...

A true sign that wireless has finally made it-that is if the more than 1 billion cellphones in use around the world was not enough proof for you. The New York Racing Association signed a three-year deal with Sona Mobile Holdings to provide a...

Mobile users are increasingly turning to Google Inc., but on-the-go searches remain dwarfed by PC queries, the Internet giant said in an earnings call yesterday.Google, which saw its quarterly net income soar 46% from the same period last year, saw increased traffic during...

Digital mapping companies such as Navteq Corp. and Tele Atlas N.V. "now occupy the most important position in the global GPS navigation supply chain," according to a new report from iSuppli Corp.The ever-increasing value of mapping intellectual property holders was underscored earlier this month...

Microsoft Corp. officially joined the voice-operated search field, unveiling a free directory-assistance service for mobile and fixed-line users.The software giant launched Live Search 411, an offering that delivers local listings as well as weather updates, movie show times and airline information. Users with Internet-enabled...

Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. 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...

AT&T Mobility left nothing to chance in its quest for 700 MHz spectrum. The nation's No. 1 carrier agreed last week to shell out $2.5 billion in cash for 700 MHz licenses from Aloha Partners L.P. in advance of the upcoming Federal Communications Commission's...

The Weather Channel launched a new weather application optimized for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod touch. Indeed, being that the iPhone doesn't support third-party downloads, the new offering is less an application and more of a Web site optimized to work in the unique...

Google Inc. continued its head-long charge into mobile with the acquisition of Finnish start-up Jaiku. Jaiku, like rival Twitter and a handful of other "microblogging" companies, allows users to post short messages about what they're doing from PCs or mobile phones. The year-old Finnish...

The Federal Communications Commission said it will conduct further testing on the viability of Wi-Fi and other low-power wireless applications in unoccupied TV broadcast spectrum known as white spaces.The agency's action appears to benefit high-tech companies that urged additional testing after the FCC found...

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...

Nokia Corp. stepped up its spending spree last week, agreeing to acquire digital mapping company Navteq in a blockbuster, $8.1 billion deal.The Finnish firm-which in the last year or so has out-shopped Paris Hilton-plans to spend $78 per share for Navteq, a 22-year-old, Chicago-based...

THE MOBILE-PHONE INDUSTRY FINDS ITSELF ADRIFT in a sea of uncertainty as the 2008 election year approaches, with litigation, legislation and other factors casting a collective cloud over spectrum auctions critical to rollout of next-generation wireless services and the existing regulatory regime.Competition for new...

Editor's Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what's hot in wireless.Seattle-based Car Toys operates stores in four states, selling mobile devices and service from three of the four national...

DENVER-Companies looking to draw traffic to their mobile Web sites should follow two simple rules: Be careful, and be patient.That was the advice from speakers at last week's Search Marketing Expo in Denver, where executives from longtime mobile players such as Yahoo Inc. and...

Nokia Corp. said it will acquire digital mapping company Navteq in a blockbuster $8.1 billion deal.The Finnish company plans to spend $78 per share for Navteq, a 22-year-old, Chicago-based outfit. The offer marks a 3-cent premium over Navteq's Friday closing price, and a 34%...

DEMOCRATS WARNED FCC CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN not to cripple the open-access stipulation on the 700 MHz spectrum up for auction early next year, following the agency chief's failed attempts to revise the rule through a procedural maneuver shortly after Verizon Wireless lobbied on the...