OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Google Inc. is offering a download that is designed to make mobile access to its free Gmail service faster, and Sprint Nextel Corp. is making the download available from its mobile Web home page. The download is free, other than data charges...
EMERYVILLE, Calif.—MobiTV Inc. padded its already-thick wallet, raking in $30 million in a third round of funding and adding two new investors. Adobe Systems Inc. and Hearst Corp. became backers of the company with the latest round, which pushed MobiTV’s total investment funding to...
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 RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Ordinary people like Luke Johnson sit at the intersection of social networking and the cell phone. Searching for something new that he could do involving video-sharing site YouTube.com, Johnson woke up one night with an idea: Why not post his cell-phone number on the...
BELLEVUE, Wash.—InfoSpace Inc. reported a net loss for the third quarter and announced plans to halt investment in its direct-to-consumer content business, including its recently launched Moviso storefront. Instead, executives said, InfoSpace will refocus on bringing its success in online search into wireless.Shares of...
IRVINE, Calif.—Boost Mobile L.L.C. is bringing its pay-as-you-go service to rural areas, after traditionally concentrating on urban strongholds. Boost, which is a division of Sprint Nextel Corp. and runs on the carrier’s iDEN network, will begin to offer service in areas that were served...
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Motorola Inc. has reiterated its concern over a proliferation of counterfeit accessories, particularly Bluetooth headsets, purported to be made by Motorola and reaching consumers in the United States and, likely, worldwide. Motorola warned that the counterfeits are cheap fakes and won’t perform as...
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.—Motorola Inc. said it plans to develop a Java Micro Edition software stack using the Apache License Version 2.0. The company said the move would help unify the fractured market for Java software in cell phones. As part of the announcement, Motorola said...
SHENZHEN, China—Comtech Group Inc. announced it will license next-generation software technology, including technology for smart phones, from Microsoft Corp.’s IP Ventures program. Comtech provides custom design solutions for China’s technology manufacturing sector. The company said its partnership with Microsoft bolsters its ability to provide...
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Disney Mobile is trying to lure customers to sign up for its service during the holiday season by lowering the cost of its handsets and offering a month of service for free, according to promotions on the mobile virtual network operator’s Web...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. tomorrow will become the third tier-one wireless carrier to launch a mobile music offering, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, with a service that will allow users to "side load" tunes from partners Napster, Yahoo Music...
LONDON—MobileMail Inc. said it signed a letter of intent to acquire Oy Tracebit AB, a mobile content and entertainment provider and publisher. Tracebit was founded in 1996 and focuses on Java and BREW games. The company, which is based in Porvoo, Finland, has relationships...
WESTCHESTER, Ill.—Consolidation among communications vendors continued as Andrew Corp. announced plans to spend $50.5 million in cash to buy the wireless division of EMS Technologies Inc. Georgia-based EMS Wireless racked up revenues of $28.5 million during the first half of this year from sales...
WARREN, N.J.—Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. announced two new services that incorporate audio and messaging. "Txt Tones" will allow users to link musical tones to text messages instead of rings. The three- to five-second sound clips can be used as an alert that a text...
PARIS—Two European rivals announced they would join forces to provide a satellite-based operation that would beam data to mobile handsets, laptops and vehicles. The offering is the latest attempt by satellite companies to score a piece of world’s mobile communications and entertainment revenue. SES...
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.—InterDigital Communications Corp. is crying foul over a request by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to the International Chamber of Commerce for new arbitration relating to a patent royalty dispute. The ICC recently awarded InterDigital $134 million in its dispute over Samsung’s...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Digital networking company Plaxo Inc. stepped onto the wireless playground, inking a deal to allow Verizon Wireless subscribers to update contact information over the air. The software developer unveiled Plaxo Mobile Plus, a service that takes information from popular e-mail systems including...
DENVER—Qwest Communications International Inc. reported a profitable third quarter with net income of $194 million, a reversal of the $144 million loss the company reported in the same quarter last year. Further, Qwest said the penetration rate of its service bundles increased 6 percent...
PRAGUE, Czech Republic—Microsoft Corp. said it will open a business support center for mobile technology in the capital of the Czech Republic to serve European network operators and "manufacturers of mobile equipment." The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant did not specify the services or technologies...
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.—Bitfone Corp., a player in the firmware-over-the-air space, has signed on network operator Alltel Corp. to use its FusionDM device management service. Alltel joins Sprint Nextel Corp. in offering over-the-air updating technology in the United States.FOTA technology can fix bugs and update...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—What do LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic), NEC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SiBeam Inc., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have in common? Obviously they are all electronics giants, but they are also collaborating to push for the...
IRVINE, Calif.—AskMeNow said it plans to add ringtones and wallpapers to its mobile answer service. The company said it will offer more than 5,000 ringtones and true tones from hip hop, country and hard rock artists, television and movie themes, and college fight songs....
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Mobile advertising company Rhythm NewMedia said it raised $18 million in its second round of financing. Carlyle Venture Partners led the round. As part of the financing, Allan Thygesen, managing director of Carlyle, joined Rhythm NewMedia’s board of directors.Rhythm NewMedia’s solution supports...
BROOKLYN—Executives from two noted video game publishers are behind a new gaming company looking to exploit the connectivity of mobile phones. Veterans from Activision Inc. and Gameloft launched Massively Mobile, a studio focused on building single-player and multiplayer titles "utilizing the unique advantages of...
