2008

The carrier deck is still the most valuable real estate in mobile content, but the future of downloadable wireless goodies may just lie in third-party storefronts. And for now, at least, developers are the key to success.Apple Inc. stole headlines …

There’s nothing easy about being smallest national mobile-phone carrier. Competing day to day for customers against AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Next Corp. is brutal enough. But it’s also about keeping pace – technologically and otherwise – with the …

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.—Horvath Towers: Peppertree Capital Fund increased its equity commitment to Horvath Towers to $18 million …

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 RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs …

Verizon Wireless landed on top of another J.D. Power and Associates study. The research firm released its 2008 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study – Vol. 2, measuring call quality on seven different problem areas that affect overall carrier performance. The …

Cablevision Systems Corp. said it completed the first phase of its Optimum Wi-Fi deployment. The company’s Optimum online high-speed Internet customers in areas of Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York and on commuter rail platforms and station parking lots …

U.S. Cellular Corp. and parent company Telephone and Data Systems Inc. have their sights set on the Big Apple, stock wise. Both companies announced today intentions to switch their publicly traded shares to the New York Stock Exchange from their …

We’ve all seen coverage maps. Whether it be a section in a carrier’s brochure, a poster hung up in a mobile operator’s retail store, or even an interactive map online, coverage maps play an important role when it comes to …

National Geographic launched a division dedicated to boosting its mobile content business.The iconic brand said it hopes to boost revenues by increasingly licensing its library of content to handset manufacturers, aggregators, developers and carriers. National Geographic also unveiled plans to …

Carriers are beginning to use carrot-and-stick strategies to bring their third-party content partners to heel. And both the carrot and the stick are made of cash.Sprint Nextel Corp. earlier this year became the first U.S. carrier to formally tie revenue …

Sprint Nextel Corp. added Photobucket to its photo-messaging service, allowing users to send pictures to the popular online site with just two clicks.The option was added to “Post to Service,” a feature that allows Sprint Nextel users to send photos …

September, it’s a month that starts with a three-day weekend, marks the end of summer and puts kids across the country back in school. There’s a lot to be done and a lot to be purchased when going back to …

AT&T Mobility has dodged another network bullet. The carrier’s East Coast customers woke up today to find themselves without access to Internet services. AT&T Mobility spokesman Mark Siegel said the issue was addressed and fixed by mid-day. “It was a …

The controversy over the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to cap subsidies flowing to wireless carriers for building rural networks has been elevated to a new level, with rural cellular operators asking a federal appeals court to review the agency’s action. …

Americans love the $50 clamshell, but a small, growing number of wealthy people are paying astronomical prices for feature phones that often sport a cachet-laden brand name or are slathered in gems. That trend – pursued by the top-tier handset …

AOL L.L.C.’s Platform-A debuted a mobile platform and network specifically for serving ads to Apple Inc.’s iPhone.The new offering, which is available through AOL’s Third Screen Media subsidiary, delivers targeted, iPhone-optimized ads through sites within Third Screen’s mobile network, Advertising.com’s …

JUST AS THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION APPEARS READY to settle the great white-spaces debate – one predominantly framed to date by a powerful broadcast lobby fearing costly disruption to digital signals from unlicensed devices and by equally muscular high-tech titans …

Virgin Mobile USA Inc. has tapped buzzd to power an ad-supported, location-based entertainment offering from its home deck.A New York-based startup, buzzd couples location-sensitive city guides with social-networking features allowing users to broadcast and share content from their phones. The …

Nokia Corp.’s ambitious new mobile music service is just weeks away from making its debut. But the Finnish phone maker has plenty of work left to do before Comes With Music comes to market.The offering – which essentially packages one …

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were touted as a potential springboard for mobile video, an event that could help push the application beyond early adopters and gadget geeks and into the mainstream.So how’d it do? Nobody knows. Or, 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 wish to …

Herschel Shosteck, a cellphone analyst from the industry’s earliest days more than two decades ago, passed away Aug. 26 after a long illness.“I will miss his brilliance, his humor, his exuberance, and most of all his friendship,” said Jane Zweig, …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Other–R.W. Baird lowered its estimates on OmniVision Technologies following weak results and guidance. New estimates are $1 rather than $1.44 for …

Alcatel-Lucent named Ben Verwaayen to replace outgoing CEO Patricia Russo as head of the multinational infrastructure provider. Alcatel-Lucent announced Russo’s departure from the company about a month ago, during its second quarter results conference call. During those results, Alcatel-Lucent made …

RCR Wireless News is planning to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first cellular phone call in its Oct. 13 edition. As such, we want your memories of the last 25 years of wireless. Through the years, the RCR Wireless …