Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are backing an effort to provide full-track mobile music downloads to Chinese subscribers.The companies announced a strategic investment in Access China Media Solutions, a joint venture between U.S.-based digital content delivery company Melodeo Inc. and Access...
Verizon Wireless subscribers spend more on mobile data than customers of any other U.S. carrier, according to new data from IDC.The market research firm found Verizon Wireless users spent an average of $7.27 per month on data services in the third quarter of 2006,...
LG Electronics Co. Ltd, whose handset division last year slipped from No. 4 to No. 5 in global rankings, posted drops in revenue and operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2006. Handset shipments in the final quarter rose slightly.Drops in revenue at LG's...
Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world's leading network suppliers, warned that its fourth-quarter revenues will come in below expectations, news that sent investors scurrying away from the company's shares. Alcatel-Lucent's stock fell more than 8 percent after the company's warning to around $13 per share.Alcatel-Lucent,...
Texas Instruments Inc. reported modest gains in the fourth quarter-revenue up 4 percent, profit up 2 percent over the year-ago quarter-but it will cut 500 jobs as it prepares to hunker down for a period of weak chip demand by the mobile phone industry....
WASHINGTON-A British mobile phone radiation expert and the country's health agency reportedly plan to study the long-term health effects of mobile phone use.Dr. Lawrie Challis, a physics professor and chairman of the independent Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research program, told The Times of London...
Openwave Systems Inc.'s proxy battle continued after the company failed to reach a settlement with its second-largest shareholder.The wireless software developer said Harbinger Capital Partners rejected an offer that included a three-year board appointment for a Harbinger nominee in exchange for the shareholder dropping...
SilverBirch Inc. is jumping into the mobile marketing arena with the acquisition of mobile marketing firm Jambo Mobile Solutions Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Both companies are based in Toronto.Jambo's proprietary Ignition technology powers mobile marketing services for customers including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Dell, Pfizer...
Mobidia Inc., a Canadian mobile service management company, has received a fresh infusion of $3.2 million from DBC Venture Capital, bringing the company's total funding to around $6 million.Mobidia said its "wave" products give wireless carriers and content providers the ability to change quality...
Music publisher EMI Entertainment World Inc. has slapped InfoSpace Inc. with a $100 million lawsuit, claiming the buffeted mobile content company has been underpaying royalties and selling ringtones without proper licensing rights.The suit, filed Jan. 12 in U.S. District Court in New York, accuses...
Alltel Corp. wireless customers who just can't get enough of personalizing their wireless phones now have a new option: ringback tones. The carrier introduced a ringback tone service, and will charge $1 per month for the offering. The fee includes one complimentary ringback tone;...
Big opportunities come with big risks, particularly in chasing the future of the mobile handset business.One opportunity, pursued by the market's two giants and their challengers, is to deliver ultra low-cost handsets into the hands of low-income subscribers in developing markets. The upside to...
It's obvious, it's not new and it's at the forefront of the latest major, consumer-oriented innovation. Phone keys dedicated to a single functionality, such as mobile TV, may see increased use in the near-term to ensure that consumers have a simple, unambiguous path to...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-The potential for mobile WiMAX is as big as the Internet itself, if you trust the true believers gathered last week in San Jose, Calif., for the Wireless Communications Alliance International's 13th annual symposium. Mobile WiMAX technology will create a new category...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-The business opportunities enabled by WiMAX and other broadband wireless technologies are as abundant as those being touted for the mobile-minded consumer. After all, it promises nothing short of increased productivity-hence increased profits-and upward mobility in the marketplace.Businesses are pushing increased productivity...
Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.Awesome factoid of the week: A consumer survey last week from comScore showed that 37 percent of wireless customers didn't have or were unsure if they had...
I have bought into the WiMAX hype. I'm a true believer.When Nortel, Motorola, Alvarion and other WiMAX vendors gush over all the great things WiMAX will do-level the playing field for carriers, speed up data rates and, most importantly, lower prices for consumers-I get...
An odd thing is going on in Washington policymaking circles. Folks are beginning to talk again about the budget, specifically about erasing the deficit and how the situation could woefully worsen if lawmakers stay the course.President Bush, who entered office with a sizable budget...
Mobile video is still very much in its infancy, but Third Screen Media claims it is reaching consumers by delivering a click-to-play wireless TV commercial.The Boston-based mobile marketing company this week will tout its first click-to-video effort, a WAP-based campaign on behalf of the...
BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-Verizon Wireless plans to join its compatriots in raising the price of per-message texting, bumping the rate for sending and receiving messages from 10 cents apiece to 15 cents.Sprint Nextel Corp. made similar changes to its messaging rates last year, followed shortly...
WASHINGTON-Mobile-phone carriers' tax lawsuit against Kentucky is back on track, giving center stage to a federal pre-emption argument that's also at the heart of industry efforts to prevent states from meddling in line-item billing and early termination fees.Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel...
WASHINGTON-The Bush administration's top two telecom officials said wireless issues will have high priority this year, with policymakers anxious to see wireless networks evolve into a competitive alternative to the telephone-cable TV broadband duopoly and to examine avenues for making more efficient use of...
High average royalty rates for W-CDMA technology are one among several elements dragging on the uptake of 3G handsets and service, according to a study by ABI Research. These high royalty rates are particularly irksome to the more lucrative handset replacement cycle in mature...
NTT DoCoMo Inc. is incorporating features that appeal to the senses in its latest handset offering. One of the carrier's phones features a touch screen that allow users to input data by using a stylus or their finger. Another phone by Sony Ericsson emits...
