The Federal Communications Commission said the next round of laboratory testing of prototype TV white-spaces devices will begin Jan. 24, a public process lasting four to six weeks that will be followed by a month or more of field testing at different locations.Microsoft Corp.,...
Sprint Nextel Corp. is continuing its battle to right a listing ship. The nation's No. 3 carrier announced it would cut 4,000 jobs and close 8% of its stores after losing 683,000 postpaid subscribers and 202,000 prepaid users during the fourth quarter of last...
Pizza Hut is the latest pie-maker to go mobile with a wireless Web site and text offering that allows users to order pizzas from their phones.The Dallas-based chain established a Web page instructing users how to send orders to the short code 749488 (749HUT)....
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Virgin Mobile USA Inc. announced that it has promoted Bob Stohrer to chief marketing officer of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Stohrer, who served as VP of brand and integrated marketing, will replace Howard Handler, who's leaving the company after serving as CMO...
When it comes to sponsoring content, the 30-second commercial is no longer enough.Marketers these days talk about being tied to programming in new ways that provide more options for consumers to remember who is bringing them their favorite shows.Many of these deals involve sponsoring...
Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna has begun shopping a bill in the legislature that would ban third-party marketing of cellphone numbers without consent of wireless subscribers, precisely the kind of law flagged by Bellvue-based Intelius Inc. in a planned $143.7 million public offering.The...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Wall Street woes and recession fears could affect the 700 MHz auction and tacitly conceded disappointment that Frontline Wireless L.L.C. will not be around to compete, but nonetheless expressed optimism that a bidder will emerge to win...
At least 46.1 million wireless subscribers used mobile search functions in the third quarter of 2007, according to a new report released by Nielsen Mobile. The report is based on a survey of more than 5,700 mobile search users who use at least one...
The Japanese-Swedish joint venture, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, had a mixed fourth quarter but ended 2007 with strong numbers and a projection of 10% industry-wide handset growth this year.The news may have affected the vendor's parent corporations' stock values, as Sony Corp.'s stock rose...
Podcasts and video ads have dropped off in the mobile advertising space, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 brand marketers and agencies.The "Wave Eight" survey, conducted by market research firm Advertiser Perceptions, asked marketers representing consumer package goods, automotives, retail and...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Handset and infrastructure vendors --Goldman Sachs lowered its estimates on Motorola Inc. due to indications of softened capital spending early this year. New estimates on the...
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs today unveiled a modest suite of new software applications for the iPhone during his much-anticipated keynote address at Macworld 2008 in San Francisco, perhaps disappointing those who sought news of a 3G upgrade for the device. Instead, Jobs announced...
Regional wireless operator U.S. Cellular Corp. tapped Alcatel-Lucent for a five-year contract to provide infrastructure equipment to increase coverage and capacity of the carrier's CDMA network. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Per the agreement, the infrastructure vendor will provide software, services and...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said today that its telecom division is booming, shoring up weakness in its semiconductor division. Fourth-quarter handset shipments reached 46.3 million units, up a healthy 41% year-on-year, while operating margins for 2007 increased by 1% year-on-year to 11%. The company...
The Federal Communications Commission launched a rulemaking to determine whether mobile phone text messages and short codes are covered by non-discrimination provisions of the telecom act.Public interest and consumer groups asked the FCC in December to rule that the law forbids mobile-phone carriers from...
The Federal Communications Commission said 214 applicants qualified to bid in the 700 MHz auction set to begin Jan. 24. Internet search engine giant Google Inc. joins a mix of leading mobile-phone carriers, cable and satellite TV operators and rural telephone companies in competition...
Alltel Corp. unveiled a service that will allow customers to remotely synch their mobile phones with home digital music libraries. The offering, which is powered by Celltop and uses mSpot's Remix player, provides access to non-DRM protected songs on PCs. The media player downloads...
Photobucket is moving squarely into the mobile space with a new WAP site optimized for mobile users. The Fox Interactive Media company is launching Photobucket Mobile today and is hoping a large share of its 58 million users will extend their relationship with the...
Citing "long-term competitiveness," Nokia Corp. said today it would close a handset factory in Bochum, Germany, and sell automotive and research-and-development sites in the same locale. Nokia will move its handset production from Bochum to more "cost-competitive" sites in Europe, according to the company....
Clearwire Corp. said it will offer Google Inc. applications including Gmail, Calendar and Google Talk to its subscribers.Craig McCaw's WiMAX startup said the Internet services will be available to customers in the first half of this year, and the company plans to use Google's...
Editor's Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.--Cable giant Comcast...
Market research firms seem to be falling over themselves in an effort to cram the most zeroes into their projections for mobile advertising revenues. But for traditional advertisers - you know, the ones with really big budgets - 2008 will be much more about...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and...
