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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Here comes the Apple iPhone
As expected, Apple CEO Steve Jobs showcased the highly-anticipated device during his keynote speech at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. will support the handset, which runs Mac OS X and serves as an iPod, mobile phone and “Internet communications device.” The phone features a 3.5-inch color touchscreen and two-megapixel camera. Users can access a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard to compose e-mails and messages. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device-our fingers-and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary interface since the mouse,” Jobs said.Analysts and tech enthusiasts have long speculated about Apple’s entry into the mobile arena, salivating at the thought of an iPod-style phone. Apple’s ubiquitous digital music player has drawn raves for its design and user interface, and the iPod line dominates the digital music player market. But while three of the four tier one carriers offer full-track music services, consumers have yet to embrace a music-friendly phone. Cingular’s previous iTunes-capable phone, the Motorola Inc. Rokr, was widely panned following its 2005 launch; LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Chocolate, which is supported by Verizon Wireless, has also received lukewarm reviews. … Read more
Wireless and the future of a merged Cingular
Wireless is expected to be the heart of the newly merged AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., bundling multiple services with cellular and allowing advertisers to reach multiple media platforms through one company. And that wireless heart will be the nation’s largest carrier, Cingular Wireless L.L.C., under the AT&T brand. The change effectively makes the U.S. telecom industry a duopoly, noted Mercator Capital in a research note. The new AT&T will be in a unique position to provide quadruple play services of voice, video, Internet access and wireless, said Michael Myshrall, managing director of Mercator’s communications technology practice. But when the new company talks about wireless, he said, “I don’t think it means wireless so much as it means mobility. It’s all about having access to the content and applications that you can have at home, when you’re away from home.” With the potential to give customers bundled packages and services such as remote digital video recording capabilities, and a unified communications interface for multiple devices, Myshrall said, “wireless is just the delivery mechanism that they’re going to use” for advanced services. The change is also supposed to help cellular giant Cingular become more nimble, with a single parent company instead of two. According to AT&T spokesman Brad Mays, the merger will “allow for easier and faster integration of wireless and wireline networks and services, with both Cingular’s wireless and AT&T’s wireline networks moving to IP-based technologies.” … Read more
Warming up to mobile marketing
The major U.S. carriers are rushing to cash in on the mobile marketing craze by selling ad space on their WAP decks. But consumers aren’t thrilled about using the third screen as a billboard. Sprint Nextel Corp. was the first tier-one operator to jump into the advertising waters, announcing a few months ago that it will partner with Enpocket to place marketing messages on the home page and for its wireless Web service and other navigation pages. Verizon Wireless followed Sprint Nextel’s lead last month, saying it will allow banner ads on a variety of its on-deck content sites. Verizon Wireless will tread carefully, spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said, and has yet to announce any deals with advertisers. And Cingular Wireless L.L.C. last week signaled its willingness to step into the arena, discreetly saying it was exploring advertising options. Marketing messages are nothing new in the world of WAP, of course. Wireless Web surfers have long been exposed to ads from carmakers, insurance firms and a host of others as they search for mobile content or information. Those ads have been placed by content providers, however, and viewed only by users visiting such sites. Analysts have little doubt about the potential of the mobile advertising market. Ovum Research said the U.S. space tripled in the last year alone, jumping from $45 million in wireless ad spending in 2005 to $150 million last year. EMarketer, which defines mobile advertising spending differently, predicts the market will explode from $420 million last year (including mobile-related Internet advertising) to $900 million in 2007. … Read more
Amp’d looks beyond MVNO model
Amp’d Mobile Inc. is racking up deals to offer its unique content and user interface abroad, and reap the benefits of revenue sharing without the effort and expense of expanding its mobile virtual network operator business. Two international partnerships are slated to go live in March. “We see ourselves as a global, mobile entertainment company who has an MVNO business here in the U.S.,” said Bill Stone, president of Amp’d Mobile. Now, he said, the company is “taking the secret sauce of Amp’d Live … and beginning to export this around the world.” The first deal announced was with Canadian carrier Telus Corp., which has 4.6 million wireless subscribers and wanted a way to better serve the youth market in Canada. Stone de-scribed that partnership as a “hybrid model,” where Telus will take care of back-office operations and Amp’d will handle marketing, events and providing content that appeals to the demographic. The service will be marketed as “Amp’d powered by Telus” and Amp’d will receive a revenue share based on what customers generate. “They’re really looking to Amp’d to compete for them in the marketplace for content and data subscribers,” Stone said, against competitors such as Fido and Virgin Mobile. In Japan, however, Amp’d is partnering with carrier KDDI Corp. with an integrated portal model. Amp’d content will be available on about 20 million KDDI handsets immediately, Stone said, and the company will receive a share of the revenue generated by users’ consumption of content. … Read more
Nokia to supply WiMAX for Sprint Nextel
Six months after unveiling plans to build a WiMAX network in the United States, Sprint Nextel Corp. announced Nokia Corp. will be a key infrastructure and device provider for that upgrade. Other than naming it a “major supplier” to Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX efforts, the agreement doesn’t detail the scope of Nokia’s involvement. However, Sprint Nextel has said previously that it expects to spend around $1 billion on WiMAX in 2007 and between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in ’08. In October, at the WiMAX World Conference & Exposition, the carrier told RCR Wireless News that its WiMAX network will be 10 times cheaper in delivering wireless data services compared with traditional cellular-based data services. … Read more
Micro-USB comes to cell phones
The USB Implementers Forum has announced the completion of the Micro-USB specification, a new and improved technology expected to replace many of the Mini-series plugs and receivers currently used in mobile phones and other wireless devices. The specification was developed with the shrinking and slimming of portable devices in mind and is expected to help drive the continued adoption of USB in mobile phones.
USB ports are used to synch phones with computers, and also to charge cellphone batteries. “As portable devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and digital cameras get smaller and more compact, manufacturers recognized the need for a new USB connector specification to suit the design of these new products,” said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman and president of the USB-IF. “USB-IF developed the Micro-USB specification to adapt to sleek new design needs.” … Read more
Sprint’s WiMAX strategy
Sprint Nextel Corp. has chosen the Chicago and Washington, D.C., metro areas for the first deployment of its WiMAX network, with a rollout that it expected to cover at least 100 million people by the end of 2008. The initial WiMAX markets are supposed to be online by the end of this year; additional markets will be selected based on market-readiness estimates, the carrier said. Sprint Nextel also is building out its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A network, and surpassed its goal of covering 40 million potential customers by the end of 2006; its Rev A coverage reaches more than 60 million pops. Nokia Corp. will provide the network equipment for the WiMAX network, and Motorola Inc. will be developing chip sets for devices. According to Sprint Nextel, Samsung Corp. will develop chip sets and has also committed to producing half a dozen WiMAX-capable devices, including “ultra mobile” PCs and personal media players. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
