BROWSING: Apple
Internet players’ move to mobile is new frontier for all
Google Inc.'s Internet dominance has grown in recent years as the competition - well, what passes for competition - continues to plod along. But for the long list of Web-based players moving to the new platform, wireless is the wild, wild West.The Mountain View,...
Will U.S. consumers keep spending? On smartphones?: The year’s second act
The maturing U.S. handset market continued to chug along in the first half of the year - though slowing relative to years past - and analysts offered an array of views on what forces will shape the market in the second half of the...
The OEM service strategy
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.Along with every one of my friends in this industry, from entrepreneurs to product managers at carriers,...
REVIEW: Don’t blame Sprint Nextel for slow mobile music adoption
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. 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 what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...
Linux group adds more members, embedded handsets hit markets
The LiMo Foundation announced nine new members today and said that more handsets with its operating system are launching in North America and Japan. The organization is a leading proponent of an open-source, Linux OS for handsets, and said that its latest members represented...
Verizon Wireless upgrades to visual voicemail: LG Voyager first to offer service
Verizon Wireless quietly launched visual voicemail, allowing customers to view caller and voicemail information and listen to voicemail messages in any order on their phone.Voice messages will be displayed on users' phones with sender and time information, and customers can scroll through the messages...
Moto CEO: iPhone knockoff in the works
Motorola Inc. says its troubled handset business is improving and will be stronger by the end of the year, but CEO Gregory Brown isn't willing to say when he expects the unit to break even.Yet Brown insists the division, which lost $346 million in...
Moto makes profit, hangs onto No. 3 ranking: Handset spin-off will wait more than one year
Motorola Inc. managed to both pleasantly surprise the market today and disappoint industry observers who are looking further down the road.The company posted a meager profit, beat expectations on handset volumes and forecast it would end the year in the black.Motorola also said its...
Worst of the Week: All hail Google
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 RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
Garmin: Nuvifone is MIA until next year
Garmin Ltd. reported rosy jumps in sales in its various sectors - automotive, outdoor, aviation, marine - but its earnings and outlook disappointed analysts, sending the company's stock tumbling more than 19% to a new, 52-week low.Oh, and, remember Garmin's celebrated leap into mobile...
N2 recall throws Neonode off balance
Neonode Inc. needs patience from investors, the company's interim CEO wrote yesterday in an open letter.The fledgling, Swedish public company, known to many for its small, touchscreen N2 device - which debuted long before Apple Inc.'s iPhone - will miss its guidance from the...
Adult content remains lukewarm in U.S.: International markets continue to drive adoption
Things move quickly in the U.S. mobile entertainment ecosystem - unless you're an adult content vendor.From sex texts to moantones to bikini-clad models to full-on hardcore video, wireless porn is gaining traction in certain markets around the world. Wireless wantonness rang up about $1.7...
VZW posts $12.1B in Q2 revenue: Data ARPU grows, customer churn drops
VERIZON WIRELESS MAY LAG BEHIND larger rival AT&T Mobility in total customers, but the industry's No. 2 players continues to hold a financial lead.Verizon Wireless posted an 11.8% increase in total revenues during the second quarter, reaching $12.1 billion, which was $85 million more...
Analyst Angle: Mobile content providers beware, the iPhone is a Trojan iHorse
Editor's Note: Welcome to 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.The introduction of the iPhone was the most significant event in the 2007 wireless industry....
Tower industry remains open for business: Sprint Nextel sells 3,300 towers for $670M, SBA picks up competitors
The tower industry was busy last week with Sprint Nextel Corp. announcing the sale of 3,300 towers to TowerCo L.L.C. for $670 million and tower giant SBA acquiring a pair of smaller players. Sprint Nextel said the sale of its towers to TowerCo provides...
Samsung handset performance: mixed bag
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. solidified its position as the world's No. 2 handset vendor in the second quarter, with less than half the volume of Nokia Corp. but nearly twice the volume of closest rival LG Electronics Co. Ltd.Handsets proved to be the industrial...
Sprint Nextel sells 3,300 towers for $670M
Sprint Nextel Corp. sold its 3,300 towers to TowerCo L.L.C. for $670 million, a move that provides the carrier with some cash and relieves it of the business of owning and managing the towers.The companies expect the deal to close in 90 days.The agreement...
AdMob targets iPhone
AdMob launched an iPhone-specific "advertising marketplace" to deliver marketing campaigns through the high-profile device.The San Mateo, Calif.-based startup announced deals with advertisers including Ford Motor Co., Electronic Arts, Land Rover and Jaguar to place ads online and in native applications built for Apple Inc.'s...
Qualcomm stock soars on Nokia settlement: 15-year agreement includes next-gen technologies
Given the broad scope of an agreement between Nokia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. announced last night, it's apparent that negotiators have been quietly hard at work for some time to resolve a vast swath of issues that were hamstringing the two industry powerhouses.Yet the...
iPhone sets stage for other handsets: Analyst: broadband uptake could benefit Qualcomm
As analysts and pundits scoured the tea leaves in the wake of Apple Inc.'s 3G iPhone launch, a few issues emerged.Who, besides Apple, will get a boost from iPhone mania? Who gets hurt? Will a rising iPhone-tide lift all boats in the second half...
AT&T Mobility shows gains in revenue from wireless, 1.3M net adds
AT&T Mobility's second-quarter numbers were buoyed by a 52% jump in wireless data sales over the same quarter last year, and the carrier's overall revenues from wireless popped by 15.8% over the same period. The carrier reported a gain of 1.3 million new customers...
Financial ratings wrap-up: MetroPCS, Apple, SBA and more
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 upgraded MetroPCS to B from B- with a stable outlook. "The upgrade reflects the company's improving financial leverage," said Standard...
Will developers leave Google’s Android high and dry?
Apple suffered a case of the hiccups last week with the launch of the iPhone 3G and MobileMe, but Google is struggling with a serious developers' revolt months ahead of Android's scheduled launch.Android developers began getting antsy a few weeks ago due to the...
The impact of the iPhone on the smartphone application market
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.With the launch of the 3G iPhone, there has been an incredible amount of media attention on...