WASHINGTON—The 800 MHz Transition Administrator said late Wednesday it was extending the deadline to Aug. 14 for licensees in the border regions to file requests for planning funding. The original deadline was Saturday. The issue of planning funding has been bubbling under the surface...
NEW YORK—Mobile ESPN L.L.C. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced Samsung’s Ace handset is now available to Mobile ESPN subscribers. The Ace, based on Samsung’s A900 handset currently available through Sprint Nextel Corp., is a slim handset—a little over one-half-inch thick—and weighs about 3.5...
OAKLAND, Calif.—Four companies have been selected to take part in a trial that will bring mobile broadband to commuters on a 171-mile train corridor served by the Bay Area Rapid Transit/Capital Corridor Joint Powers Authority. The Capital Corridor stretches between San Jose, San Francisco...
ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. says it hopes to attract rural, high-speed-Internet-access-deprived customers as it expands its wireless broadband service into Melbourne, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, Miss., Charleston, S.C. and Albany, Ga. Set to launch in the new markets during the third quarter, the company said traditional...
IRVINE, Calif.—Mobile search company AskMeNow said it partnered with Ingenio Inc. and Third Screen Media to bolster its AdSwers advertising program, which provides targeted messages within answers to queries made by AskMeNow’s customers. Ingenio provides pay-per-call advertising and Third Screen provides Web-based mobile ad...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—VeriSign Inc. confirmed it received a grand jury subpoena requesting documents related to the company’s stock-option grants and practices. The company is the latest in a growing list of wireless firms that have been caught up in a nationwide investigation into executive...
SEATTLE—Two prominent mobile messaging firms announced leadership changes. First up, Mobliss tapped a longtime console-gaming executive in an effort to create space on the wireless gaming playground. The company said Jim Merrick, a former Nintendo Co. Ltd. executive, will take the reins as Mobliss’...
SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Leap Wireless International Inc. is continuing its aggressive rollout of service, preparing to grow its network cluster in Texas and add Kentucky to its roster of states with coverage.According to the Web site of Leap’s Cricket wireless service, Lexington and Louisville, Ky.,...
MINNEAPOLIS—Seeking to strengthen its position in U.S. markets, Bosch GmbH, a German auto parts company, plunked down $420 million to buy Minneapolis-based audio, security, communications and wireless systems supplier Telex Communications Holding Inc. Telex reported revenue of $308 million in 2005, generated from equipment...
NEW YORK—MTV Networks said it is in no hurry to join the mobile virtual network operator ranks in the near term, and instead it is looking to continue supplying access to its vast array of content to as many network operators as possible. Greg...
WASHINGTON—The Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday morning muddied the waters on wireless pre-emption by including stringent truth-in-billing requirements that would be determined by the Federal Communications Commission as part of a larger set of consumer protection rules.The action, which passed by voice vote, does not...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Palm Inc. said it will pay Xerox Corp. $22.5 million to settle a 9-year-old patent infringement lawsuit over handwriting-recognition technology. Xerox filed the lawsuit in 1997, claiming Palm’s "Graffiti" software infringed on Xerox’s "Unistrokes" patent, which covers one-stroke symbols. Xerox won an initial...
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...
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...
NEW YORK—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is not completely opposed to its customers running Voice over Internet Protocol services over its high-speed UMTS/HSDPA wireless data network. However, the carrier would like to work out the billing and operational kinks before fully supporting such activities.The guarded comments...
MIAMI—Wireless distributor Brightstar Corp. said it will expand in the Southeast Asian market with new offices in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Singapore facility will serve as the regional Southeast Asia regional headquarters for Brightstar as well as a flexible capacity distribution center...
ESPOO, Finland—Nokia Corp. announced it sued two Chinese handset manufacturers over alleged infringements of the designs used in its handset model 7260. Nokia’s civil action requests that the two Shenzhen-based, handset companies—Shenzhen Telsda Mobile Communication Industry Developing Co. Ltd. and Song Xun Da Zhong...
SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. announced that its future chipsets would support the AWS band (1700/2100 MHz). The Federal Communications Commission is planning to auction licenses in the AWS band in August. According to Luis Pineda, a marketing and product management vice president at Qualcomm, "Our...
BELLEVUE, Wash.—InfoSpace Inc. quietly launched its long-awaited direct-to-consumer effort with an Internet storefront hawking mobile ringtones, graphics and games. The site, www.moviso.com, offers content at tiered subscription levels as well as a la carte. The content is available to subscribers of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.,...
WASHINGTON—President Bush signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade the nation’s Cold War-era emergency alert system, which has yet to leverage wireless, Internet and other technologies. The order calls on DHS to administer the emergency alert system in coordination...
SAN DIEGO—The city of San Diego plans to expand its use of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s V-Trac program, which uses Global Positioning System technology combined with the carrier’s wireless data network to monitor city vehicles. San Diego’s Environmental Services Division first started using V-Trac in...
ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. chose Alcatel Inc.’s Evolium mobile WiMAX technology portfolio for testing in its lab next quarter, saying it plans to "assess the viability of offering a simple and seamless WiMAX solution that will extend broadband even further into our network."BellSouth already offers commercial...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commissions told a federal appeals court more than half of the 252 applicants seeking to participate in the Aug. 9 advanced wireless services auction claim "designated entity" status, a revelation presumably intended to refute arguments that recent changes to bidding rules...
SAN JOSE, Calif.—Cellfire Inc. is the latest 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 today launched a downloadable application that delivers coupons from national and local retailers...
