Mobile and Wireless Industry Reports

Verizon Wireless’ two major announcements this week laid out not only a vision of open access for devices and applications on its current network, but augmented that vision with the carrier’s technology choice for its next-generation network. “We see 4G …

Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News runs through the major events of the week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks, months and years. Check below …

Handset distributor Brightpoint Inc. shuffled around some members of its executive team, promoting some veterans within the company to more prominent roles. The moves come as the company continues to integrate operations with Dangaard Telecom, a European handset distributor it …

Swapping out a chief executive sends a message of change. In the case of Motorola Inc.’s CEO Ed Zander’s long-anticipated departure, announced today, the message-new leadership-will require updates. Investors and market watchers clearly want to know what’s next.Motorola’s core business …

LG Electronics Co. Ltd. is creating a chief marketing officer position and the job will go to Dermot Boden, who starts work at the company’s headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, in December. Boden, an Irishman, is already working in Asia, …

Google Inc. is in! The Internet search engine giant said it will participate-alone-in the 700 MHz auction set to begin Jan. 24.“We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are,” said Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of …

The third quarter of 2007 saw few changes to the relative positions of the ten largest wireless carriers, but pending acquisitions soon will continue the industry’s march toward consolidation. AT&T Mobility had a particularly strong quarter due to a boost …

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 …

The European Commission has taken another major step toward formally adopting DVB-H as a European-wide standard for mobile television services. The commission intends to finalize the adoption by February.The commission initially presented a strategy to accelerate the rollout of services …

Glu Mobile Inc. will step up its efforts in China with the acquisition of fellow mobile game publisher Beijing Zhangzhong MIG Information Technology Co. Ltd. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company will pay $14.7 million in cash and as much as …

The French finally got their chance to embrace another American export last night. Move over McDonalds and EuroDisney. Orange, the iPhone’s exclusive French carrier (owned by France Telecom), offered a typically complex French equation for those who wanted the device: …

Verizon Wireless announced it will use Long Term Evolution technology for its fourth generation network. The carrier said that it and parent company Vodafone Group plc will begin testing LTE technology next year with equipment suppliers Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola Inc., …

A class-action law firm has begun an investigation into mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile USA Inc. to determine if it bears any civil liability under federal securities laws to its shareholders.Kahn Gauthier Swick L.L.C. alleges that the MVNO may …

Google Inc. apparently got so fed up waiting for more GPS-enabled devices to hit the market that it has taken matters into its own hands. Google Maps for Mobile users can now have their location automatically set, with or without …

Is the mobile-phone industry’s increasingly reluctant embrace of open access really a concession to consumers, or an inescapable inevitability driven in part by legal developments that have forced carriers to loosen their iron-clad grip on networks and handsets and otherwise …

A California consumer group has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Sprint Nextel Corp. accusing the No. 3 mobile-phone carrier of improperly assessing taxes and fees on broadband data customers. The San Diego-based Utility Consumers’ Action network claims Sprint …

Mobile Satellite Ventures said the Federal Communications Commission waived a requirement that it build a ground-based spare satellite in the event of satellite failure.FCC rules require mobile satellite service licensees, like MSV, to build an on-the-ground spare satellite within one …

Verizon Wireless introduced a new business-oriented device to its lineup-the XV6800.The device, which is available online and in stores beginning Dec. 5, runs the Windows Mobile 6 operating system, and includes support for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents as …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier –Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned a B- corporate credit rating to Virgin Mobile USA Inc. The outlook is stable. …

Verizon Wireless’ declaration this morning that “any application, any device” will run on its network next year is clearly an overstatement-Verizon’s CDMA network allows only CDMA-based devices, in use by 60% of subscribers in the United States market, but only …

Verizon Wireless’ open platform announcement was met with a mix of optimism and skepticism by parties at the forefront of a campaign to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to mandate that mobile-phone carriers allow third-party devices and applications on their …

Verizon Wireless said it will take a wrecking ball to its notorious garden walls, opening its network to third-party devices and applications. What that means for developers and consumers, though, is far from clear.The nation’s No. 2 carrier-generally the most …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ new 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 …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a special edition of our weekly 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 …

Homes with access to the NFL Network may be hard to find, but Sprint Nextel Corp. is giving the new channel more exposure by adding live NFL game coverage and other key moments of all games televised on the network …