Amid rumors of suitors for its handset manufacturing business, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has sold its mobile-phone sales and distribution unit in a deal reportedly worth up to $85 million.Japanese handset distributor Telepark Corp. confirmed that it purchased Sanyo's mobile phone sales and distribution...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Jupiter Research's Julie Ask, Current Analysis'...
Aloha Partners L.P., the parent company of broadcast mobile TV outlet HiWire L.L.C., entered into an agreement to purchase 32 lower 700 MHz licenses from LIN TV Corp. for $32.5 million in cash.The acquisition will boost the company's portfolio to more than 270 licenses...
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced it has begun selling a compact, consumer-targeted femtocell base station that will work with any Sprint Nextel CDMA phone, an effort designed to allow customers to improve their own in-home wireless coverage. The Sprint Airave, which is manufactured by Samsung...
Leap Wireless International Inc. rejected a merger proposal from MetroPCS Communications Inc., saying that the offer fails to fully account for Leap's growth prospects, undervalues Leap's business, and favors MetroPCS' shareholders over those of Leap.Leap made its response-a letter from CEO Doug Hutcheson to...
Nokia Corp. continued its quest to be all things wireless, agreeing to acquire Boston-based mobile marketing firm Enpocket. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Six-year-old Enpocket was one of the first players in the mobile marketing space, and the company has carried out ad...
T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it will acquire regional operator SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc. for about $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt. SunCom's GSM/GPRS/EDGE network covers parts of the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean; the carrier has provided roaming in its markets to T-Mobile...
ACE*COMM surveyed teens and parents on their cellphone uses. Based on responses from 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 U.K./German teens in 2005-2006, the firm found:● 39% of American teens use SMS with friends while in school● 24% of U.S. teens play video games on their...
Twenty new financing deals with 20 private companies were announced in August, according to Rutberg & Co., valued at $234 million.The bulk of the investments were made in the enterprise infrastructure, consumer application and carrier sectors.Rutberg also said there were 22 mergers and acquisitions...
Ad-subsidized mobile games are a sure-fire catalyst for an industry sorely in need of a kick in the pants.Either that, or they're the quickest way to sabotage the space in its infancy.Hands-On Mobile last week became the first major mobile publisher to experiment with...
It's been fun following the story/non-story about Apple's possible interest in participating in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction. Sure, Apple, like Google, which has expressed interest in the auction, has all the money in the world and could easily purchase the spectrum needed...
At this point, it's shamefully laughable. It's past the confusion, frustration and anger endured by journalists, lobbyists, lawyers or anybody else who ever ventured a view of a Federal Communications Commission meeting under Chairman Kevin Martin. The bizarre, chaotic delays associated with Martin open...
Ringtone of the year awardedRap artist T-Pain's "I'm n luv (wit a stripper)" nabbed Broadcast Music Inc.'s Urban Ringtone Award at this year's Urban Awards held at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. BMI noted the ringtone scored the most...
Broadcasters-having invested hundreds of millions of dollars transitioning to digital technology and now bracing for a government ruling on whether to allow Wi-Fi service in unoccupied television guardbands known as white spaces-turned up the volume of its opposition by launching an inside-the-Beltway advertising blitz...
Editor's Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what's hot in wireless.Search for "wireless phones" on Google, and Letstalk.com is one of the first sites that pops up. The online...
Digtial video broadcast-handheld technology appears to be securing its place as the No. 1 broadcast mobile television technology. The technology has scored at least 47 trials in 22 countries, according to the DVB Project.Twelve of those trials have been completed, and at least eight...
According to a popular if crass bumper sticker, "stuff" happens.In the case of outages or slowdowns for Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry service, stuff happens pretty rarely.But a days-long outage this spring and a day-long outage and slowdown in e-mail traffic Sept. 7-8 at...
VERIZON WIRELESS IS SIMPLIFYING its weather offerings by dumping several content providers off its deck in favor of WeatherBug.The nation's second-largest carrier said WeatherBug will be the only source for weather information from its wireless home page, marketed as Mobile Web 2.0. The move...
YOU CAN'T HAVE A HOLIDAY PARTY without a potent punch bowl for all comers.The news from last week: Some of the latest models of 3G handsets will indeed appear in the United States in time for the retail party just getting under way.Specifically, the...
With penetration rates pushing higher, the senior population, including 76 million baby boomers, are starting to look a little sexier.There are few tailored offering for seniors from wireless operators-and according to a recent study by iGR Inc., a substantial chunk of that market is...
CLEARWIRE CORP. AND ICO GLOBAL Communications Ltd. are trying something new with broadcast mobile TV. The two Craig McCaw-backed companies are collaborating on a new mobile TV trial that will use satellites to broadcast directly to mobile devices.The trial marks the first time mobile...
In another move indicative of the music industry's increasing frailty, two of its largest players are trying some new twists: Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group last week announced a new format they're calling the "ringle."Each ringle will contain one ringtone bundled...
Motorola Inc. is shifting its long-term, 3G-chip business away from Qualcomm Inc. in favor of Texas Instruments Inc., leading one analyst last week to downgrade his short-term rating on Qualcomm from "buy" to "neutral."A Motorola spokeswoman confirmed that the company would use Qualcomm "opportunistically"...
"I think I feel a change in the winds," said Mr. Gibbs to Captain Jack Sparrow.Ditto for the wireless industry.Wireless carriers and their lobbying organization, CTIA, have a steep challenge ahead of them as sentiment for the status quo in wireless comes under fire.-Locked...
