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!
Mobile music shifting from ringtones to full tracks
HAMPSHIRE, U.K.—The mobile music market may be on the cusp of shifting away from ringtones to over-the-air full-track music services, according to new research from Juniper Research. The shift is being driven by new technologies like third-generation networks and music-centered handsets, and increasing competition, said the company. Revenues from ringtones are expected to fall from 81 percent of the total market this year to 51 percent in 2011, while OTA full-track music will increase from its current 9 percent to 32 percent during the period. “Until now ringtones have dominated mobile music, but the balance is shifting,” said Bruce Gibson, research director at Juniper. “Full-track music has been the central offering of many 3G service launches around the world and as 3G usage gathers pace, the mobile music market is preparing to enter a new growth phase.” … Read more
Qwest launches full-track music downloads via Sprint store
DENVER—Qwest Communications International Inc. has quietly launched Sprint Nextel Corp.’s full-track music download service for Qwest wireless customers. The mobile virtual network operator is carrying the Sprint Music Store, which allows users to download songs to a mobile phone or PC for $2.50 per track. Indeed, it appears Qwest is selling the offering as the “Sprint Music Store,” rather than rebranding it as a Qwest product. Qwest’s music-download offering is supported by the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. A920 handset, which it sells for $140 with a two-year contract. Wireless music distributor Groove Mobile powers Sprint Nextel’s full-track download service. Other Groove carrier customers include Orange, T-Mobile Hungary and Telecom New Zealand Ltd. … Read more
Orbitz launches mobile travel services via browser
CHICAGO—Online travel company Orbitz launched a service allowing customers to find hotel rooms, view travel itineraries and check the status of flights from mobile phones. The off-deck offering is free aside from carrier data charges, and can be accessed from the company’s home page on a mobile browser. Orbitz, a subsidiary of Travelport Inc., is promoting the new service with television commercials featuring pitchman and former game show host Wink Martindale. … Read more
Softbank to test MediaFLO mobile TV
TOKYO—Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank announced it will study the feasibility of using Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFlo technology to offer mobile TV services. Qualcomm said SoftBank joins a growing list of carriers looking into its MediaFlo offering, a list that includes KDDI Corp. in Japan, BSkyB in the United Kingdom and Sprint Nextel Corp. in the United States. Verizon Wireless has already announced its intent to offer MediaFlo services to its subscribers at an unannounced future date. SoftBank said it established a new company called Mobile Media Planning Corp. to conduct a “technical study” of MediaFlo technology and plan a potential new service using MediaFlo. … Read more
Subway to offer mobile coupons
BOSTON—MobileLime, which focuses on using mobile phones for marketing and loyalty programs, said it is working with a dozen Subway sandwich shop franchises in Buffalo, N.Y., to offer alerts and coupons t to mobile-phone users. The program is part of MobileLime’s Mobile Alerts Club, which allows customers to opt in to a preferred program at the locations they frequent and then receive coupons, last-minute specials and information on events delivered to their cellular phone. … Read more
Elle Magazine to offer a “GlamPhone”
SAN DIEGO—Can a magazine brand help sell mobile phones and, presumably, vice versa? That question could be answered soon as the Elle Magazine partnership with Alcatel to produce the GlamPhone Elle—a dual-band GSM phone with features designed to appeal to the magazine’s readership of 4.8 million—gets rolling Sept. 1. The effort got a boost today when the two companies announced that InfoSonics Corp. would provide customization and distribution services for the handset in the United States. The unlocked phone will be sold via a GlamPhone Web site. Advertising for the phone, which sells for $180—a price that includes a one-year subscription to the magazine—suggests that purchasers can choose between “screen or preen,” i.e., the screen also acts as a mirror, presumably for touching up one’s appearance. … Read more
Vodafone satisfied with its Verizon stake
NEW YORK—Vodafone Group plc plans to keep its 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless for the foreseeable future, Verizon Communications Inc. chief executive officer Ivan Seidenberg told analysts in a conference call Tuesday. Seidenberg said he met last week with Arun Sarin, Vodafone’s CEO, to discuss their companies’ joint ownership of Verizon Wireless. “What Arun communicated to us was that Vodafone was extremely pleased with their position in the partnership,” Seidenberg said. “The operating agreement between the two of us is strong, it’s sustainable, it’s stood the test of time over the last five or six years and their view is that the creation of value that’s available to them over the next several years is far greater than any strategy that they might have to exit the partnership.” Seidenberg went on to say that Sarin told him that John Bond, Vodafone’s new chairman, felt the same way about the partnership with Verizon Communications. Seidenberg added that he and Sarin had agreed that both men would “make sure that we clarify to our respective investors that at this point in time there really isn’t much reason for people to speculate over any change in the whole arrangement between the two companies.” … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
