The Federal Communications Commission is facing a gathering legal storm over its emergency back-up power rule, with the mobile-phone industry asking a federal appeals court to put its legal challenge on a fast track and Sprint Nextel Corp. seeking to stay the effective date...
QUALCOMM INC. IS NO STRANGER to the Federal Communications Commission and its auction process for spectrum. The company has successfully bid on and won spectrum before, and it appears ready to strike again with the 700 MHz auction, which is scheduled to begin Jan....
PREDICTIONS ARE SO LAST YEAR.Instead, let's talk "expectations" - a term that seems to promise a more realistic look ahead at the new year. And there are questions worth asking that dog the conventional wisdom.To keep it tangible, consider issues related to mobile handsets...
There is no shortage of reasons why traffic on the wireless Web hasn't matched the sky-high forecasts of a few years ago. But one of the biggest stumbling blocks may also be the most overlooked.A recent study from JupiterResearch found that nearly twothirds of...
The LiMo Foundation, an alliance of mobile vendors and service providers, announced its member base has grown to 25 this week with the addition of five new members.Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Acrodea Inc., Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute, Purple Labs and Trolltech ASA have...
Ringing insultThe King of Spain's recent tongue-lashing of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has become a popular ringtone in Spain. King Juan Carlos asked Chavez, "Why don't you just shut up?" at a summit earlier this month. The comment was turned into a ringtone that...
The Federal Communications Commission boasts that its new wireless emergency-alert proposal will help fulfill its statutory charter to promote the safety of life and property, but the agency's head conceded to lawmakers there's no assurance that warnings of terrorist threats or natural disasters will...
The 700 MHz auction - spectrum the wireless industry has coveted for more than 10 years - is set to start this month.At times it didn't seem like the wireless industry was ever going to get its hands on this valuable resource because the...
EchoStar L.L.C. could be forgiven for being less than merry the day after Christmas, the day the Federal Communications Commission told the satellite TV company that it must pony up a down payment 50% higher than normal if it wants to participate in the...
Cartoon Network New Media sounds like a fun place to work. Take Ross Cox's word for it. The network's senior director of entertainment products said it often feels like he's working at a toy store. That analogy came through when RCR Wireless News had...
Online search provider ChaCha last week sashayed onto a very crowded mobile dance floor.The Indianapolis startup unveiled a short-code based version of its search offering, which uses paid human "guides" instead of computer-generated algorithms to deliver information. Users can send questions to 242242 (ChaCha)...
The calendar says 2008, but a wireless directory controversy that's been resurrected in Congress makes it seem like 2004 all over again.Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced a bill designed to protect cellphone subscribers from being listed without...
Not that we spend too much time surfing Canadian carrier Web sites, but a quick glance of the Telus Mobility site shows some interesting coverage challenges for the Great White North. The carrier's coverage map shows extensive availability of high-speed EV-DO Rev. A service...
At crime scenes in Boston, youth who gathered in the aftermath to watch the police at work were often texting and making calls, communicating about the events that had just transpired - and which they may have seen.Like many police departments around the country,...
Telecom and cable companies will go into 2008 with an eye on real convergence products and personalizing content access for customers, according to Kent Steffan, VP of the content direct initiative for CSG Systems.The company provides customer service and back-office solutions for about half...
Juniper Research released a new report that predicts Mobile WiMAX will attract 80 million subscribers within five years, assuming devices and differentiated services are available.The firm said Mobile WiMAX 8012.16e will start to see growth between 2010 and 2013, and will reach the 80...
The wireless broadband industry hailed a new Federal Communications Commission effort to write rules to prevent satellite radio terrestrial repeaters from interfering with WiMAX services planned in the 2.3 GHz spectrum band.The FCC recently decided to update the public record to better ascertain how...
Full data on how various handsets and carriers fared during the holiday shopping season awaits collection and analysis. Various firms will report their definitive views in late January, early February.Based on Compete Inc.'s measure of online shopping in November, as the quarter revved up,...
In the early days of wireless, rate plans were an a la carte-style hodgepodge of offerings at a host of price points. Like new cars, basic calling plans could be packaged with premium options such as voicemail and caller ID, and a consumer often...
NOKIA CORP.'S DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER EFFORT suffered yet another growing pain as the company again pushed back the launch of its mobile gaming service. The world's No. 1 handset maker postponed the release of the highly touted N-Gage platform until early 2008. The delay marks the...
SPRINT NEXTEL CORP. HAS TAKEN THE HEAD of its wireline spinoff back into the wireless fold, tapping Embarq Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Dan Hesse to become the wireless operator's new president and CEO.Hesse, 54, has served as the leader of Embarq since Sprint...
Television just isn't the same these days. The writers' strike in Hollywood, now in its ninth week, has given millions another reason to turn off the tube. Unless reruns and reality TV are your thing, the TV set has essentially become a content wasteland...
It's hard to imagine, but people are more connected to their television than ever before. Countless TV shows have adopted participation characteristics that make fans interaction with their favorite shows all the more possible - if they so desire.Premium SMS doesn't comprise the bulk...
Palm Inc. almost looks like two companies these days, depending on which way the light strikes.Palm is focused on keeping the productivity-based Treo line from slipping into irrelevance, while it experiments with form factors and features for a future in the consumer market.This past/future...
