2008

Editor’s note: The following are headlines of the 20 stories highlighting the biggest events in the wireless industry in 2008 as chosen by the RCR Wireless News editorial staff. Vote for what you think were the biggest (multiple choices are …

Gerald P. (Jerry) Vaughan, 64, a retired veteran of the Federal Communications Commission who helped launch the first spectrum auctions, died Dec. 6 at his summer home in Pennsylvania of an apparent heart attack.The FCC said Vaughan worked at the …

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). …

The following list includes venture capital and other investments into wireless companies announced during the past week. The value of the investment is included when available.—Mavenir: An undisclosed new investor led a $17.5 million third round of funding into Mavenir …

Research In Motion Ltd. gave an upbeat report on holiday sales yesterday and said that the current quarter would set a company record for device shipments.RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said in a statement that BlackBerry products were selling faster than …

AT&T Mobility is in no hurry to transition to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. In response to accelerated next-generation rollout schedules by Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility spokesman Mark Siegel said the carrier has plenty of room …

Two senior members of the House telecom subcommittee urged the Federal Communications Commission to vote internally on Chairman Kevin Martin’s free wireless broadband auction plan, an initiative previously scheduled for agency action today at a meeting subsequently cancelled in response …

Sprint Nextel Corp. maintained its position at the top of Pali Research’s customer care survey during the third quarter. Sprint Nextel is not a common recipient of such news (aside from CEO Dan Hesse’s nod as an RCR Wireless News …

T-Mobile USA Inc. has eliminated its handset upgrade fee. As of yesterday, the carrier will no longer charge the $18 fee for customers to sign a new contract and buy a new device.Further, the carrier pointed out that the move …

Hello! And 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 …

The weeks following the release of the Research In Motion’s first touch screen BlackBerry , the Storm, on November 21 , were unfortunately filled with complaints from users, reviewers and critics alike regarding the extremely poor quality operating system that …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Handset and infrastructure vendors–RBC Capital Markets upgraded Alcatel-Lucent to sector perform from underperform. R.W. Baird lowered its estimates on the company …

Chinese networking vendor Huawei Technologies has slammed as “ludicrous and inaccurate” claims that it had links to the Chinese military and government that could cause security problems for the National Broadband Network.

Adding a bit more confirmation to what is widely presumed, a few Wal-Malt stores have jumped the gun and are starting to advertise availability of Apple’s iPhone 3G ahead of an official roll-out planned for later this month.

Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless each appear to be easing their stance on sharing subscribers’ location information with partners, efforts that put weight behind their bluster about openness.Sprint Nextel announced it will open its location platform to location aggregators …

Boston-based go2Media is expanding beyond local listings with a new portal for local, personalized entertainment information.; go2Music; Boston-based go2Media is expanding beyond local listings with a new portal for local, personalized entertainment information // By use of this code snippet, …

Motorola Inc. said today it would freeze pension plans and some salaries and suspend company contributions to employees’ 401(k) plans. The company’s co-CEOs said they would take a 25% cut in base salary. The company gave no dollar figure for …

Looking to cater to business travelers, iPass this week launched its iPassConnect offering targeted at users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch. The company said users can get access to 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the world.“We have created a …

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced its first “Sprint 4G” device, a CDMA/WiMAX modem that will go for $150 with a two-year service contract. And at least one reviewer appeared impressed.“We were blown away with the results,” wrote Gary Krakow of TheStreet.com.Further, …

The popularity of 802.11n is attracting more businesses to wireless LAN equipment and helping suppliers cope with the tough economic climate, industry analysts say.

Cash is king this Christmas as consumers turn away from the modern December ritual of a massive credit-card-fuelled shopping spree.

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 application storefront that already boasts 5,000 offerings …

San Francisco’s Paymo launched a mobile-payment service in 39 markets around the world, joining an ever-increasing number of startups looking to deliver a mobile wallet.Paymo is targeting digital transactions and micropayments – roughly defined as transactions of $10 or less …

Palm Inc. joined the application-store bandwagon, launching a downloadable storefront with 5,000-plus offerings for more than two dozen Palm devices.The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based outfit opened the Software Store (available at http://software.palm.com/appstore), showcasing high-profile applications (Facebook, Pac-Man, Tetris) as well as lesser-known …

A new carrier is set to enter the competitive no-contract, unlimited calling market, this time with some help from the Chinese. Smart PCS is stepping into the fray with service in parts of northwest Georgia and Tennessee. Similar to offerings …