NEW YORK—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. has begun offering service on its high-speed UMTS/HSDPA wireless network in the greater New York City area. According to coverage maps on Cingular's Web site, the service covers much of Manhattan plus parts of Brooklyn and Queens and an area...
Mobile virtual network operator Xero Mobile has yet to launch, but the company already is facing an investigation of its business by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Los Angeles-based MVNO recently announced that it had been notified by a local office of the...
Upoc Networks announced it is providing mobile chat and community functions to Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. customers.The service allows customers to access thousands of existing messaging groups or create their own personal messaging groups. The service is available on phones through a WAP browser...
ALAMEDA, Calif.—UTStarcom Inc. introduced its T66 dual-mode, dual-standby CDMA/GSM handset and announced China Unicom plans to offer the handset for use with its World Wind dual-mode service. The handset is targeted at mid- to high-end consumers and business users who want entertainment features on...
Diversification, anyone will tell you, is a smart move. Excelling in one area is no guarantee against a changing market. Common sense dictates that you hedge your bets. But even the most successful companies have stumbled by straying too far from core competencies that...
WASHINGTON—President Bush put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of upgrading the nation's Cold War-era emergency alert system, with the Federal Communications Commission having failed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and last year's devastating hurricanes to leverage wireless,...
The big issue for some players in the wireless community regarding Java ME revolves around its owner, Sun Microsystems Inc., which announced at its May JavaOne conference that it was mulling how to go open source with the industry's dominant programming language. This move...
Imagine Java as a set of three types of Lego blocks, says Eric Chu, director of the Java ME platform in Sun's Client Systems Group. The bottom unit contains two "configurations," including CDC (connected device configuration) and CLDC (connected limited device configuration). Sitting on...
Cellfire Inc. is the latest player to get into the mobile-couponing game, partnering with retailers including T.G.I. Friday's and Hollywood Video to deliver discount offers to wireless phones. The startup last week launched a downloadable application that delivers coupons from national and local retailers...
DALLAS—Somera Communications Inc. and Telmar Network Technology announced they have agreed to merge, saying they have reached a deal to pay Somera shareholders $4.60 per share, which is a 123 percent premium above the stock's June 23 closing price of $2.06 per share. The...
EXTON, Pa.—Wireless infrastructure engineering services firm WPCS International Inc. announced it will spend $3.2 million to acquire Southeastern Communication Service Inc. of Sarasota, Fla. SECS has deployed and maintained wireless systems for Verizon Wireless, BellSouth Corp., Comcast Corp., Time-Warner and Puerto Rico Telephone.The company...
WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein joined the wireless industry in expressing concern about federal guides for relocating broadband licensees from the 2150-2162 MHz band to make room for advanced wireless services. "I was disappointed … because we were unable to adopt self-relocation procedures that...
WASHINGTON—The 800 MHz Transition Administrator is extending the deadline to Aug. 14 for licensees in the border regions to file requests for planning funding. The original deadline was last Saturday. The issue of planning funding has been bubbling under the surface of the 800...
NEW YORK—The Yankee Group once again pulled together a quality list of speakers for its Wireless Leadership Summit, including executives from Sprint Nextel Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Verizon Wireless, as well as representatives from a handful infrastructure vendors and wireless content providers. Notable...
While a handful of mobile e-mail service providers seem most at ease in the courtroom, Fabrizio Capobianco is comfortable on the tightrope. Capobianco is chief executive officer of Funambol Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based software developer that offers a mobile push e-mail service based...
WASHINGTON—The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to halt the Aug. 9 start of the advanced wireless services auction, but the Federal Communications Commission likely faces continued litigation over small-business bidding rule changes in light of the court's discomfort with the process by...
T-Mobile USA Inc. again is trying to crack down on independent dealers that sell service from multiple carriers and mobile virtual network operators, allegedly threatening to pull T-Mobile USA products from distributors who want to carry products from new market entrants such as Amp'd...
CYPRESS, Calif.—Bandai America Inc. announced plans to release a mobile-phone version of its popular Tamagotchi virtual-pet game. Tamagotchi, first introduced 10 years ago as a handheld game, requires users to care for a virtual pet by feeding it, playing with it and performing other...
MURRAY HILL, N.J.—Nothings spells "major contract win" like Lucent Technologies Inc.'s deal to supply Verizon Wireless with CDMA 1x EV-DO Revision A hardware and software as the carrier upgrades its nationwide network. Verizon's Rev. A announcement comes as no surprise; the carrier has previously...
WASHINGTON—The Senate Commerce Committee passed its sweeping telecommunications-reform bill, including in it two critical bits for the wireless industry: wireless pre-emption with a small caveat and a moratorium on cell-phone taxes. The bill is now headed to the Senate floor. However, Sen. Ron Wyden...
There was no parade. Not even a press release to accompany Intel Corp.'s unveiling of its new Rosedale 2 WiMAX chip for both fixed and mobile broadband access during the Wireless Communications Expo forum event held last week in Washington, D.C. Intel's spokeswoman, Amy...
MobiTV Inc. said it extended its wireless video service to devices running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.The service, which is available through Alltel Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Nextel Corp., includes both live video and on-demand clips from content providers including...
WASHINGTON—Two high-profile politicians are looking to the third screen to reach potential voters. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., recently teamed with pundit Mary Matalin to launch a text-message campaign touting at a Women For Rick breakfast. Santorum, who faces a tough re-election bid this fall,...
Sun licenses the testing of Java applications to various companies, and it licenses the Java brand to companies whose products are Java-compatible, according to the company. Sun also licenses implementations, so companies that want to ship a Java-enabled handset need to get software from...
