In roughly 25 years, the wireless and mobile industry has undergone three generations of technological change and stands on the threshold of a fourth. Its success has made it possible for policymakers to imagine a connected world with "communication for all." In short, the...
Here's a hypothetical: What's the distinction between a smartphone, a MID, a PND, and a UMPC?Posing this type of question invites a geek fight. We who follow the smartphone space and remember the personal digital assistant (PDA) know it's a fool's errand to apply...
Mobile network infrastructure spending in North America in 2008 is likely to be down vs. 2007. We expect Wideband-CDMA network investments to accelerate as AT&T Mobility continues to expand its coverage and capacity, and as T-Mobile USA Inc. and Canadian wireless operator Rogers Wireless...
WiMAX is currently seizing and will grow into a multibillion-dollar fixed and portable wireless market, regardless of its fortunes in the mobile cellular market. 802.16e vendors may or may not capture a sizable portion of the mobile market opportunity, but that is hardly the...
Gartner Inc. research indicates there are a number of reasons why carriers will continue to spend on network infrastructure in the next five to 10 years.Wireless data boomCarriers in North America have strong growth prospects but future long-term growth is going to be driven...
One of the most powerful tenets of retail sales is the law of retail location. Seemingly irrespective of what the actual product is, without strong retail distribution points, your product is doomed to failure. There are exceptions these days, such as music and books,...
In the first half of 2007, mobile subscriber additions slowed to 10.4 million, the lowest level since 2003, and on a percentage basis, to its lowest level ever, according to CTIA. Most market analysts believe that penetration, 80.7% as of July 2007, is slowing....
The momentum of 3G data access has picked up speed as customers - particularly business users - experience the value of access to mobile broadband connectivity on their laptops, regardless of location. With this growing market, does Wi-Fi still have a role with the...
Internet protocol-based broadband wireless is the catalyst that will foster services innovation sparking a second stage (Transition stage) of growth in the cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) industry (see chart). Growth will be driven by rapidly emerging business-to-consumer services. The drivers for this change live outside...
Although the global market for mobile handset baseband semiconductors will continue to expand in 2008, business conditions for suppliers of such solutions will become more challenging due to the shrinking top-tier customer base and more complex requirements from these companies, according to iSuppli Corp....
Walking through Fort Lauderdale Airport recently, I heard the oft-repeated warning that the public-safety threat has been raised to orange. I think its time to change the phrasing: When was the last time the threat level at an airport has been below orange? As...
Wall Street Journal editorialists must be feeling downright cocky about now, fresh off their inimitable 'I-told-you-so' jab at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin in the aftermath of Frontline Wireless' demise and subsequent handwringing over whether anyone else in the private sector has the...
The first two handset vendors to report fourth-quarter and full 2007 earnings last week both forecast 10% growth for their sector in 2008, on top of healthy unit volume growth last year. That seemed to reassure industry analysts that macro-economic trends now capturing headlines...
Slash and cashVerizon Wireless said Guitar Hero III Mobile is its third-best-selling game of 2007 after only a few weeks of availability. The game, developed by Hands-On Mobile, was launched Dec. 4 to a limited number of handsets. Guitar Hero III Mobile is currently...
Demand for enterprise mobility should continue to ramp slowly this year, as companies move cautiously on well-thought-out strategies, according to two analysts who study the space.Coincidentally, both analysts - Kitty Weldon at Current Analysis and Bill Hughes at In-Stat - said that enterprise initiatives...
Qualcomm Inc. will shuffle executives to bolster global growth and named CEO Paul Jacobs' brother, Jeff Jacobs, to the new post of chief marketing officer, the company said.Whether the newly created post will also include an effort to present a "kinder, gentler" Qualcomm remains...
Most mobile games challenge players to use their phones to kill alien invaders or drive race cars. But LimeLife Inc. CEO Kristin McDonnell wants gamers to use their phones for . plating?LimeLife targets 15- to 30-year old women with a host of mobile entertainment...
Despite the unceremonious break-up that shattered plans for a nationwide mobile WiMAX network partnership between Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp., both companies insist their rollout plans for 2008 are on track. However, plans for some markets are being revisited now that both companies...
We are two shows into the 2008 show season and so far not much has been announced to trip up the wireless market. The Consumer Electronic Show had but a handful of new handsets and some network trials, while last week's Macworld was missing...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin last week said the agency will re-examine the pole-attachment regulatory regime as part of a broader, ongoing effort to promote the deployment of broadband communications, a policy direction that will give the tower and cellphone sectors the chance...
The market for WiMAX chipsets will reach almost $500 million by 2012, driven mainly by embedded mobile WiMAX in mobile personal computers, according to new research from high-tech research firm In-Stat.The market will also benefit from demand for WiMAX customer premises equipment, external clients...
The growing availability of cellphones that support music is spurring increasing mobile music consumption in the United States and Western Europe, according to a new report from M:Metrics.The company said sideloading of music accounts for 83% of mobile music usage in France, Germany, Italy,...
TD-SCDMA technology likely will be the dominant third-generation technology in China thanks to the government support it receives there, but the technology will face challenges outside the Chinese market, according to a new report from ABI Research.The firm noted delays in 3G licensing in...
