Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

Sure, it’s fun to crack jokes about snazzy-suit-wearing lawyers, but the reality is that eventually everyone comes to appreciate a competent attorney, and the wireless industry is no different. Hence, Edward Donohue, Catherine Blue and Thomas Carroll formed Donohue & …

WASHINGTON–The Federal Communications Commission hopes to adopt rules next month to start it down a path that will allow unlicensed devices to operate in vacant TV spectrum following the completion of the transition to digital TV in 2009. The full …

New York City handed Northrop Grumman a five-year, $500 million contract to build and maintain a wireless broadband public-safety network designed to add high-speed data and video capabilities to the city’s first responders and transportation personnel. The network will be …

LOS ANGELES–Starwave Mobile announced new licensing deals and a move to sell content directly to consumers. Starwave Mobile gained licensing rights from Beyonce Inc. and Sony BMG to develop and publish a mobile game around the singer. Expected to launch …

WASHINGTON–Technology exists to solve the interoperability problem, according to the Department of Homeland Security secretary, so there is no need to establish a dedicated funding source for interoperable communications. DHS has already spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on interoperability, …

Social-networking Internet site MySpace.com tapped mobile software developer UIEvolution to provide a user interface for its wireless offering. The news marks a big win for UIEvolution, a Bellevue, Wash.-based developer that offers technology designed to allow users to access content …

WASHINGTON–California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger planned last Friday to sign into law legislation banning motorists from operating a cell phones. The legislation allows drivers to use hands-free devices to conduct conversations while behind the wheel. California joins New York, New Jersey, …

WASHINGTON–The Federal Communications Commission may scrap the band-manager concept as a way to manage spectrum as it examines what to do with the 700 MHz guard-band spectrum being returned by Sprint Nextel Corp. Only six spectrum-user agreements have been signed …

WASHINGTON–As the Federal Communications Commission began examining industry reaction to its June decision to raise the safe-harbor amount the wireless industry can use to pay into the universal-service fund, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin found himself defending a more radical reform …

WASHINGTON–Wireless industry trade association CTIA asked the Federal Communications Commission to delay the comment cycle for its re-examination of the service and licensing rules for the 700 MHz spectrum band because the auction for advanced wireless services is still ongoing. …

L.M. Ericsson said it’s looking for 500 engineers to accelerate its research into next-generation Internet Protocol-based networks and multimedia technology. The move coincides with Ericsson’s attempts to morph into a more customer-focused organization by reorganizing itself into three business units: …

Pantech Wireless Inc., the U.S.-based subsidiary of Korean mobile-phone manufacturer Pantech Group, launched a new camera phone that is being offered via Cingular Wireless L.L.C. The Pantech C120 is a slim, bar-style phone that includes a VGA camera, color display …

WASHINGTON–The recent scandal at Hewlett-Packard Co.–where executives collected the phone records of board members to ascertain who had been speaking with the news media–is the impetus needed to push a bill onto the House floor requiring carriers to better protect …

The cell-phone industry points to results of a newly released survey of 1,000 cell-phone users nationwide to buttress its argument that consumers are largely satisfied with their cell phone service and skeptical of attempts to impose new government regulations. The …

WASHINGTON–Freescale Semiconductor Inc. confirmed last week it is talking with parties relating to a possible transaction characterized by a New York Times story as a bidding war between two private equity firms to acquire the chipmaker for $16 billion. The …

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–Sage Software acquired Corum Mobile, a division of Corum Corp., to solidify Sage’s offering of Corum’s mobile customer record management services, Sage announced. Corum is privately held and based in Concord, Ontario. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. …

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is adding a Razr-esque smart phone to its device lineup, targeting business and consumer users who want access to e-mail and entertainment content, but are willing to forego a full Qwerty keyboard. ? The Cingular 3125 is …

LOS ANGELES–Motorola Inc. is putting the pedal to the metal on getting ideas more rapidly transformed into services with its “Fast Track” program, part of its MotoDev effort to spur innovative services–and, of course, take over the world. “We want …

LOS ANGELES–A quick tour of last week’s CTIA I.T. Wireless & Entertainment event showed there’s no shortage of hype regarding the future of wireless data. But there’s also plenty of uncertainty. News Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Chernin …

SAN DIEGO–Qualcomm Inc. announced that chipmaker Newport Media Inc. signed a royalty-free agreement to design, manufacture and market Qualcomm’s MediaFlo multicast mobile TV technology. The move is somewhat surprising since Qualcomm has a history of collecting what many in the …

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands–Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. are teaming up to test the interoperability of DVB-H mobile devices and network services in hopes of accelerating mobile TV service deployments. The companies said they support DVB-H because of the technology’s low …

LOS ANGELES–In its eight-year history, Symbian has had one profitable year–last year, its first in the black. While this is a critical turning point in its business fortunes, one likely to be repeated this year and henceforth, smart-phone penetration worldwide …

LOS ANGELES–The M2M module market is growing as enterprises grasp the technology’s promise of efficiency in gathering data from many points and wirelessly transmitting it to a single cellular connection for those who need it. Applications range from fleet management …

HELSINKI, Finland–New warnings from a Nokia Corp. parts supplier could foreshadow trouble with the handset vendor’s third- and fourth-quarter sales. Elcoteq, which makes components for Nokia phones, warned that its third-quarter net sales will be below those of last year, …

LOS ANGELES–Sprint Nextel Corp. unveiled a pair of CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A laptop cards last week–including one that consumers can get for free after rebate–and has more device and network announcements in the works, according to company officials. The …