T-Mobile stopped selling the iconic Sidekick device in a move that killed the brand, while Sprint talked LTE and smartphone plans … 6 years ago this week
Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Sidekick kicks the can
T-Mobile USA Inc. closed a chapter on its Sidekick franchise last Friday as the industry’s No. 4 carrier stopped selling the iconic device, though it said it will continue to support product services and support. The carrier hinted that while the current lineup of Sharp Corp.-built and Danger/Microsoft Corp.-powered devices has seen its last days, it could be developing a succeeding lineup in the coming months. “As T-Mobile looks to further innovate and raise the bar for the next generation of the T-Mobile Sidekick, as of July 2, the Sidekick LX and Sidekick 2008 will no longer be available through T-Mobile, including retail stores, care, telesales and online,” noted T-Mobile USA spokesman Peter Dobrow in a statement. “While we work on the next chapter of our storied Sidekick franchise, T-Mobile will continue to provide our loyal Sidekick customers with product service and support. Stay tuned for exciting updates in the months ahead, which we expect will provide customers with a new and fresh experience.” … Read More
Sprint Nextel exec dishes on smart phones, LTE plans, traffic and the cloud
Sprint Nextel Corp. has been transitioning and remaking itself for at least two years now. During that time, much more has changed in the mobile industry than stayed the same. Many of the situations that the carrier faces today are not unique to any one carrier. Data traffic is surging as smart phones become increasingly popular for consumer and enterprise customers alike. Here at the 5th Global CDMA Operation and Development Forum put together by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Kevin Packingham, SVP of product and technology development at Sprint Nextel, talked about these latest trends and explained where they are playing a key role in how the business continues to remake itself today. … Read More
Nokia finally dumps Symbian for MeeGo at high end
It was hardly heart stopping news to discover Finnish phone maker Nokia had decided to dump its antiquated Symbian operating system for future high-end smartphones in favour of its sleeker, Linux-based MeeGo mobile OS. The first phones to get the MeeGo treatment will be the new Nokia N-series, with the N8 being the very last of its kind to sport the now nearly defunct Symbian before its shoved over to cheaper Nokia devices. MeeGo, the love child of an Intel/Nokia partnership fusing Nokia’s Maemo platform with Intel’s Moblin Linux-based software was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona back in February. … Read More
Kin is dead
Less than 2 months after being launched at Verizon Wireless and three months after its unveiling at a San Francisco bar at 10 in the morning, Microsoft Corp. has shut down its Kin initiative. Published reports indicated that the computer software giant ditched the Kin plan and has instead folded the Kin team into the company’s highly-anticipated Windows Phone 7 platform that it unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain. Rumors spreading around the Internet indicated that the Kin was basically a dud having sold less than 10,000 units since its launch at Verizon Wireless on May 6. For comparison, Apple Inc. recently announced it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices during its first three days of availability. … Read More
Nokia sells off wireless modem business
In an attempt to shed some flab, Finnish phone maker Nokia is selling off its wireless modem business unit to Japan’s Renesas Electronic for $200 million. Unable to keep up with the likes of China’s Huawei and ZTE, whose wireless modem prices have been giving Nokia something of a beating in the past year or so, the firm has decided to cut its losses and sell the entire unit on the cheap. … Read More
iPhone to Verizon Wireless rumors are fun
Stop me if you have heard this one before: Apple Inc. is set to break free of its AT&T Mobility bonds and begin offering the iPhone through Verizon Wireless. Sounds familiar? Sure it does as varying forms of that prediction have been bouncing around the industry since the first wireless licenses were granted back in the 1980s, or so it seems. The latest “push” for this came from a Bloomberg News report late yesterday citing those elusive “two people familiar with the plans” (as opposed to those “not familiar” with the situation). The report – based on the knowledge of two people so you know it has to be legit … this time – said Verizon Wireless will begin selling a version of the iPhone beginning “next year.” The move will end the domestic exclusivity deal Apple has had with AT&T Mobility since the first iPhone launched in 2007. … Read More
Apple sells a lot of iPhone 4s, AT&T Mobility braces for impact
Driven by an insatiable consumer demand for anything “i” related, and apparently overlooking some slight design flaws, Apple Inc. said it managed to sell more than 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices through its first three days of availability, becoming the “most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” according to heady quote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The numbers were more than half the number of iPad’s Apple managed to sell during that device’s first 80 days of availability. There was no word yet on the number of iPhone 4’s devices sold in the U.S. through exclusive carrier partner AT&T Mobility, though Piper Jaffray noted in a report that more than three-fourths of those sold in the U.S. were upgrades and thus would not bolster the carrier’s net customer addition results. … Read More
Spectrum is scare, but towers are just as important
As more services collide on mobile networks, the business models that support the entire wireless ecosystem are being strained like never before. Services and business models are all colliding while the development of a new ecosystem from the likes of Google Inc., and Apple Inc. is bringing about an inflection point like never before for the wireless space, said Phillip Marshall, principal and chief research officer at Tolaga Systems Inc. During his keynote at the LA Broadband Summit last week, Marshall noted that each player is looking at these new challenges through their own lens. … Read More
Presidential memorandum orders 500 megahertz of spectrum for broadband
President Barak Obama issued a memorandum to free up 500 megahertz of spectrum in the next 10 years, directing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to free up federal and nonfederal spectrum. The details of the president’s four-point plan to bring more spectrum to commercial use are similar to his National Broadband Plan. “As demand for mobile services skyrockets, so too will the need for additional spectrum frequencies to facilitate this transformation. Without a strategy for freeing up more spectrum for wireless technology, the United States will fall behind in technological innovation and 21st-century jobs as cutting edge applications and technologies that depend on broadband wireless platforms are invented in countries with more advanced wireless infrastructure,” according to a fact sheet detailing the memorandum. … Read More
Sprint Nextel unveils another WiMAX device, market expansion with Clearwire
Sprint Nextel Corp. and partner Clearwire Corp. continued their full-court WiMAX press this morning announcing a trio of new markets where service is available as well as a new device set to launch later this year. Both companies said they are now offering WiMAX service in Salt Lake City; St. Louis; and Richmond, Va., pushing their total market coverage to around 40 markets. The Sprint Nextel offering is marketed under its “4G” brand, while the Clearwire service is marketed under its “Clear” brand. … Read More
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