Virgin Mobile USA Inc. named a telecom and customer service veteran as VP of its customer management team.Ted Vagelos will oversee Virgin Mobile USA's 4.8 million wireless customers, and the company said his primary objective will be "integrating the company's established service offerings with...
Clear Channel Communication Inc.'s outdoor advertising division will team with Qwikker to send marketing messages to wireless users via Bluetooth.The companies announced plans to "build an interactive digital network" integrating Clear Channel's display ads with mobile content in airports, shopping malls and other busy...
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, iGR's Iain...
As the wireless industry kicks into high gear for the upcoming holiday shopping season, and handset makers pull out all the stops to hype their latest offerings, now seems a good time to take a tour of some similarly much-hyped phones from the industry's...
A federal-state panel recommended that the Federal Communications Commission cap government subsidies for rural wireless deployment as part of a broader effort to reform the swelling universal service fund, an action that if upheld could cost mobile-phone carriers billions of dollars of support.The Federal-State...
T-Mobile USA Inc. announced it will restart sales of the Motorola Inc.-built Sidekick Slide starting next week. The carrier said Motorola will fix the glitch-which caused some of the devices to power off when the gadget's sliding door was opened or closed-that forced T-Mobile...
That sucking sound you hear is Steve Jobs trying to get air after laughing too hard at the spectacle of German operators fighting over the Apple Inc. iPhone. More fighting, more publicity, more sales-hence that haunting laughter echoing throughout the wireless industry.Vodafone Group plc...
United Kingdom-based ROK Entertainment Group said it has acquired a controlling stake in Fun Little Movies, a Los Angeles company that focuses on original video content for mobile.ROK, a technology, application and entertainment-development company formed in 2003, obtained a 51% stake in FLM through...
Frontline Wireless L.L.C. asked the Federal Communications Commission to briefly delay 700 MHz short-form application and upfront payment deadlines, pointing to new domestic and international wireless policy developments that have a bearing on the upcoming auction.The deadlines for filing short-form applications and submitting upfront...
In a presentation in New York, executives from infrastructure giant L.M. Ericsson said the company's fourth-quarter results likely will be "in the lower end of the range" the company had expected, news that sent Ericsson's stock down almost 6% in trading today to around...
The FlipShot, a new Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. phone at Verizon Wireless, sports a 3-megapixel camera and a swivel-out screen and lands at the higher end of Verizon Wireless' portfolio at $200 with two-year contract.The handset is a dual-band phone using Verizon Wireless' CDMA1x...
The following list includes venture capital and other investments into wireless companies announced during the past week. The value of the investment is included when available.--ComAbility: Stata Ventures and Vertex Venture Capital co-led a $6 million round of financing into ComAbility, which develops subscriber...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier --Lehman Brothers lowered its rating on Leap Wireless to equal weight from overweight and cut its price target on the company to $43 from...
Shares of satellite provider EchoStar Communications Corp. surged more than 25% yesterday, prompted by speculation that the company may be purchased by AT&T Inc. TheStreet.com reported that AT&T is close to a deal with EchoStar for a $29.5 billion buyout, citing a "source familiar...
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Buongiorno S.p.A, accusing the Italian mobile content giant of blatantly deceptive practices and cramming charges onto consumers' cellphone bills. "For too long, not enough attention has been paid to the manner in which unscrupulous companies were conducting business...
The Federal Communications Commission selected the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp. as the licensee that will team up with the winning bidder of the commercial D-Block spectrum license in the upcoming 700 MHz auction to deploy a dual-use wireless broadband network. "We are...
BEIJING-One of China's largest companies, Haier Group, is stepping up its efforts to build a global brand on the scale of Samsung or Sony by appointing an ex-Motorola Inc. marketer, Larry Rinaldi, to a new position, global chief brand officer.Haier already has a global...
The third quarter saw consumer handset sales in the United States valued at $3.2 billion, a 47% jump over the year-ago quarter, according to new data from NPD Group. Those numbers are based on 38 million units sold to consumers.Smartphones catapulted to 11% of...
Whether an element of schadenfreude-pleasure at another's misfortune-has played a role in Qualcomm Inc.'s depressed stock value, no one can say. But two analysts this week took a careful look at Qualcomm's future and upgraded their rating of its stock, which ticked up more...
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.--AOL announced it...
The following list details this week's infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available.Cellular--Finland: Elisa has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks and L.M. Ericsson...
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 of highlighting what works...
This week marks the beginning of the holiday season, of course, when most of us focus less on business and more on the reasons we work so hard. So in the spirit of the upcoming long weekend-and thanks to a predictably lethargic news cycle-a...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
