2007

Conventional wisdom has American shoppers descending like locusts on brick-and-mortar retail stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving-presumably working off the turkey-and-gravy by lightening their wallets-then returning to work on Monday, where they resume spending online.AT&T Mobility appeared to make the …

Firethorn Holdings L.L.C. has been a driving force behind many of the major mobile banking announcements within the past year. Recent news that chip maker Qualcomm Inc. would acquire the company has been taken as both a validation of the …

Alltel’s ‘Best Holiday’Alltel is running a series of animated holiday television advertisements that feature Chad, the Alltel Wireless salesman, as he squares off against the four “Sales Guys” who are trying to ruin Christmas for good boys and girls. In …

Verizon Wireless’s plans to take a wrecking ball to its garden walls got plenty of attention. What the move means for developers, though, is far from clear.The most closed mobile operator in the United States vowed to publish technical standards …

The mobile-phone industry suddenly finds itself on opposite sides of Bush administration wiretapping efforts, as the White House attempts to overcome congressional opposition to immunizing telecom companies from post-9/11 eavesdropping suits and wireless carriers battle the Department of Justice over …

Verizon Wireless’ announcements that it would open its network to certified devices and apps-and further, that it has selected LTE for its fourth-generation technology-kept us pretty busy last week, to say the least.The open-access provision, allowing certified devices and apps …

There’s an interesting legal argument whose resolution by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could impact small-business bidding rules, last year’s wireless auction and perhaps even the upcoming 700 MHz auction. Or it could be much ado about nothing.The …

The mobile phone industry urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling in which a California state law trumped the Federal Arbitration Act.The high court, which agreed to review the case, Preston v. Ferrer, in late September, …

A world of overlapping fourth-generation wireless technologies is still years in the offing even by the most optimistic observers, yet there’s already a growing market for companies looking to prepare for the next frontier in mobile.Long Term Evolution, WiMAX and …

News broke last week that Verizon Wireless would pursue Long Term Evolution technology as its next-generation play, which hurts Qualcomm Inc.’s prospects. Qualcomm is proffering CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Rev. C, or Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB), as its next-gen technology.Yet, earlier in …

Word has it that German mobile virtual network operator Debitel is offering to rebate almost $900 to people who want to buy an unlocked iPhone (retail price about $1,500) in an attempt to try to take away T-Mobile’s current exclusivity …

It seems the entire mobile gaming industry is scampering to churn out pick-up-and-play, made-for-mobile titles that emphasize simplicity and downplay rich graphics and other sophisticated features.Vollee Inc. is headed the other direction.The San Mateo, Calif.-based firm is hawking a kind …

Some sense that fortune has finally broken in its favor has Qualcomm Inc. glad for “small victories,” though the company acknowledges it has a heaping plate of legal challenges ahead.Last month, a federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., ruled that …

A recent report from ABI Research says mobile line of business services revenues could reach nearly $5 billion by 2012.The firm noted enterprise data is typically available to employees only on company premises via computers connected to a company intranet. …

Carriers should be careful when developing a plan to deploy femtocells, according to a new report from Analysis.The firm said widespread deployment of the indoor base stations could begin as early as next year, but that large-scale rollout of femtocells …

Verizon Wireless’ two major announcements this week laid out not only a vision of open access for devices and applications on its current network, but augmented that vision with the carrier’s technology choice for its next-generation network. “We see 4G …

Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News runs through the major events of the week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks, months and years. Check below …

Handset distributor Brightpoint Inc. shuffled around some members of its executive team, promoting some veterans within the company to more prominent roles. The moves come as the company continues to integrate operations with Dangaard Telecom, a European handset distributor it …

Swapping out a chief executive sends a message of change. In the case of Motorola Inc.’s CEO Ed Zander’s long-anticipated departure, announced today, the message-new leadership-will require updates. Investors and market watchers clearly want to know what’s next.Motorola’s core business …

LG Electronics Co. Ltd. is creating a chief marketing officer position and the job will go to Dermot Boden, who starts work at the company’s headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, in December. Boden, an Irishman, is already working in Asia, …

Google Inc. is in! The Internet search engine giant said it will participate-alone-in the 700 MHz auction set to begin Jan. 24.“We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are,” said Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of …

The third quarter of 2007 saw few changes to the relative positions of the ten largest wireless carriers, but pending acquisitions soon will continue the industry’s march toward consolidation. AT&T Mobility had a particularly strong quarter due to a boost …

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 RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs …

The European Commission has taken another major step toward formally adopting DVB-H as a European-wide standard for mobile television services. The commission intends to finalize the adoption by February.The commission initially presented a strategy to accelerate the rollout of services …

Glu Mobile Inc. will step up its efforts in China with the acquisition of fellow mobile game publisher Beijing Zhangzhong MIG Information Technology Co. Ltd. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company will pay $14.7 million in cash and as much as …