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‘National Lampoon’ producer turns to mobile

Entertainment media company Ckrush Inc. said it has created a studio to produce and distribute short-form original video content for the Internet and mobile phones.Ckrush, which produces feature films and television programs, said it will use its in-house production capabilities as well as Hollywood...

Video Share expands at AT&T

AT&T Mobility has extended its Video Share application to almost 160 markets. The one-way live video application was launched late last month in three markets, and the carrier said at the time that it planned to expand the launch to all of its HSDPA...

TomTom bids for Tele Atlas

Shares of navigation device manufacturer TomTom N.V. shot skyward after the company said it will bid $2.5 billion to acquire Tele Atlas N.V., its main supplier of digital maps.The Dutch firm said it will offer about $29.35 per share for Tele Atlas, which provides...

Aruba Networks buys security unit of Network Chemistry

Aruba Networks Inc. will acquire two mobile security product lines from Network Chemistry to complement its existing offerings, the two companies announced.The deal-terms were not disclosed-transfers Network Chemistry's RFprotect and BlueScanner products to Aruba, which is located in Sunnyvale, Calif. According to Network Chemistry,...

Amp’d may turn off service tomorrow

Amp'd Mobile Inc. subscribers may find themselves without wireless service tomorrow, according to the mobile virtual network operator.The MVNO has begun warning subscribers via text messages and its Web site that its service could go dark as early as tomorrow. The company also said...

A&E Mobile channels go to MobiTV

A&E Television Networks has struck its first carriage deal for its made-for-mobile channels A&E Mobile and the History Channel Mobile with MobiTV."We believe our audiences are skewing younger, and we want to have our programming available to consumers in different platforms," said Paul Jelinek,...

Analyst Angle Special Edition: Why Sprint Nextel is Bad For WiMAX

Editor's Note: Welcome to a special edition of 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...

Analyst Angle: Don’t stop the music . Why features and functions sell phones and why they don’t

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'...

Report: Mobile video surging; viewers open to ads

Mobile television and video subscription revenues grew 198% year-over-year to $146 million in the first quarter of 2007, according to data from Telephia Inc. Approximately 8.4 million wireless customers now subscribe to some form of mobile video, representing nearly 4% of all U.S. mobile...

WiMAX development leaves plenty of wiggle room: Trial markets heat up as proponents betting on take off in cities, overseas

As WiMAX service edges closer to rollout here, the technology is advancing on a number of fronts, both in overseas trials and deployments as well as interest from venture-capital companies.Dr. Mohammad Shakouri, board member and vice president of marketing for the WiMAX Forum, noted...

BACKDRAFT: Martin’s 700 MHz draft ignites debate on public safety, open access

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN could face trouble securing support from the agency's two Democrats for a key component of his 700 MHz plan, but the draft rule could entice Verizon Wireless to become more serious about a possible partnership with public safety.I'm...

Open access: Questions and consequences

CONCEPTUALLY, AT LEAST, FEW THINGS could be more appealing to mobile consumers than open wireless access.Richard Whitt, Google Inc.'s telecom and media counsel, painted a picture of a veritable mobile utopia on the company's blog last week as Google and its allies lobbied the...

The Simpsons jump off-deck-and on-deck: Subscription-based content to be available in 35 countries

THE EXTENDED FAMILY OF "THE SIMPSONS" IS MAKING A BIG BET on mobile. The creative minds that introduced us to Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and dozens more back in 1989 are now bringing fresh content from Simpsons characters, new and old, to the...

Motorola sinks, Sony Ericsson, Samsung take up slack: More than ever, handset makers in race for profitability, market share, mind share

Like a crash by leading contenders in the Tour de France, any stumble by a leading handset vendor creates an opening for competitors.Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications apparently have instantly gobbled up the market share ceded by Motorola...

Exploiting iPhone’s Achilles’ heels: In other words, don’t panic, but find fun in phones

"Serenity now!" yelled the character George Costanza in one episode of the 1990s sitcom, "Seinfeld."Costanza's anguished cry underscored the unbridgeable gap between his desperate need for serenity and the angst that gripped his soul.A roughly analogous gap may yawn between the public serenity of...

Sugar Mama reveals new advertisers, updates uptake

Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. said that its users have earned more than 9 million minutes of free airtime since the mobile virtual network operator instituted its Sugar Mama program, which offers customers the chance to receive calling minutes in exchange for watching advertisements.The opt-in...

2 large network players make moves in femtocells

Femtocells, or access point base stations, are making some big waves in the wireless industry this month. Shortly after ABI Research released a positive report on the outlook for femtocells, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks each announced new partnerships and detailed plans for their...

Retail Snapshot: Customer comes first: Yakety Yak aims to pay attention to customer as devices get more complex

Retail franchise Yakety Yak Wireless' location in Huntington Beach, Calif., sells devices and service from Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. (both Sprint and Nextel brands) and soon will offer wares from MetroPCS Communications Inc. It offers services that include contact-list backup and transfer as...

Etc.

Was she a former Sprint Nextel customer?A four-year-old Illinois girl called 911 almost 300 times on a deactivated cellphone last month. Dispatchers were able to hear the child talking and track the calls to an apartment complex, but not to the specific address. Authorities...

YAY OR NAY: Review: Helio makes surfing, shopping breeze

Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. To sign up for the free weekly e-mail alert, go to rcrnews.com/email. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from...

Under the gun, Moto talks ‘seamless mobility’: Innovation moving ahead full steam, despite near-term fortunes

Finding itself at a windswept crossroads, buffeted by a sub-par performance in the second quarter, Motorola Inc. is reaching out to the media with a message:We're still innovating in pursuit of "seamless mobility," the company's grand strategy to connect consumers to whatever they want...

Changing Course

Two disparate events-the 700 MHz auction and the iPhone introduction-have the potential to alter the wireless industry's existing course. Traditional wireless players must adapt to these new forces of change-and if they respond correctly, they will remain healthy.It is ironic the two movements are...

Diminishing returns

In a sense, the iPhone phenomenon-the feeding frenzy that gave instant icon status to a multimedia device that was conceived outside the box before a single consumer had even removed it from inside the box-arguably represented the most poignant, glorious manifestation of the convergence...

Op-ed authors rebut Hundt’s Frontline letter

Dear Editor,We would like to respond to some of the many misleading comments made by Reed Hundt in RCR Wireless News relating to our editorial. That piece argued that the FCC should not play favorites in auctioning spectrum, and that Congress should change the...