Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

Handmark Inc. is hoping to raise its profile by giving away service. The Kansas City, Mo.-based company mobile media company this week will begin offering free content in an effort to raise consumer awareness of its Pocket Express offering. Users …

ANDOVER, Mass.-Mobile music company Groove Mobile announced it closed $8.5 million in new venture funding. Egan-Managed Capital led the round, while Charles River Ventures, Kodiak Venture Partners and Star Ventures also participated. Groove has so far raised more than $20 …

Powerwave Technologies Inc. said it deployed a multitechnology, multicarrier wireless coverage system for the Chicago Transit Authority. In cooperation with Aldrige Electric, Powerwave installed its fiber-based indoor distributed antenna system along 11.4 miles of subway tunnels. The system enhances the …

As Alcatel Corp.’s board of directors met last Thursday to review its “merger of equals” with long-time rival telecom equipment vendor Lucent Technologies Inc., analysts were pounding out reports and talking up a storm, delving into the merger’s many angles. …

British wireless subscribers can send and receive text messages at bargain-basement rates thanks to an IP-based messaging service released last week. But-unlike Voice over IP-analysts say the new offering poses little threat to mobile operators in the United States. Hotxt, …

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-The Moto Q, Motorola Inc.’s flagship smart phone, will be available in April, missing by a hair the company’s initial forecast for a first-quarter release. A Motorola spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the timing of the …

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-In a move that could help it retain a core piece of business, Motorola Inc. is developing handsets for Sprint Nextel Corp. designed to work on both the carriers iDEN network that Motorola created for Nextel Communications Inc. in …

All signs point to the Walt Disney Co. gearing up to jump into the wireless space soon. The company’s mobile virtual network operator’s Disney Mobile Web site has been stepping up efforts to lure would-be subscribers to the service, as …

Bango is powering three new mobile content portals for properties of publishing giant Hearst Publications. The U.K.-based provider of direct-to-consumer content launched mobile sites for Cosmopolitan, CosmoGirl and Seventeen, hawking ringtones, wallpapers and horoscopes for the publications. Users can access …

Network business intelligence and operating support systems solutions provider ACE*Comm Corp. unveiled its Enterprise Patrol application that the company said allows enterprise communications managers to control company-owned mobile phone usage. ACE*Comm noted the solution allows for individual or group credits, …

Wireless operators largely are expected to maintain their market share in the first quarter, which is typically a weaker quarter than the holiday-fueled fourth quarter. However, the seasonality of the wireless sales cycle is expected to be flattening, with less …

XG Technology L.L.C. said its first consumer product, a Voice over Internet Protocol handset, will be available by the end of this year and that the device will work with low-cost xMAX-enabled base stations. The handsets are expected to be …

BOULDER, Colo.-The Mobile Marketing Association has created a committee to address the operational and technical guidelines surrounding wireless video. The committee, which is open to all MMA members, seeks to establish best practices for marketing through wireless video and create …

MENLO PARK, Calif.-LimeLife Inc. snared $10 million in Series B financing, the women’s mobile content publisher said. U.S. Venture Partners led the round; other investors include Rustic Canyon Partners, i-Hatch Ventures and Monitor Ventures. LimeLife publishes casual games targeted at …

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.-Operators struggling with decreasing profits from basic services may want to look to mobile music, according to two new studies. The worldwide market for full-track mobile music downloads increased 2,000 percent from 2004 to last year, according to …

ATLANTA-Being fashionably late to a party can cut two ways-it gets you noticed, but the assembled crowd inevitably registers a thumbs up or down on your appearance. So Nokia Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and market watchers will observe with keen …

WASHINGTON-Experts said a merger between French telecom giant Alcatel SA and U.S.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. likely would undergo intense scrutiny over national security implications, possibly delaying but not necessarily dooming a blockbuster vendor deal that could become a major test …

WASHINGTON-With each significant manmade or natural disaster, the problem of public-safety communications networks not being able to interact with each other is underscored. Indeed, even as the public-safety community was fighting to gain access to 24 megahertz of spectrum it …

WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee last week passed the Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act of 2006, but only after adding an amendment that the chairman of the committee believes will doom the bill to failure. By voice vote, the Senate Commerce …

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.-This year could mark the beginning of important changes for the U.S. wireless industry, according to research from IDC. Last year was a stellar year for the industry, with about 21.8 million new subscribers activating service, propelling the industry …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. sent ripples through the mobile-device industry by raising its 2006 growth estimate for global handset sales from 10 percent to 15 percent “or more” over last year. The statement was delivered by Jorma Olilla, Nokia’s outgoing chairman …

LAS VEGAS-Mobile virtual network operator XE Mobile said it plans to launch its pay-as-you-go cellular service targeted at students during an event in Las Vegas this week. The company said it will launch the service at a party April 6 …

PLAINFIELD, Ind.-Handset distribution company Brightpoint Inc. announced it will provide soon-to-launch mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. with wireless device distribution services, including inventory procurement and management, and custom packaging. Helio, a joint venture between Internet provider EarthLink Inc. and …

Tecore Wireless Systems, which has developed technology to provide voice, data and multimedia services from a common platform, introduced a service for mobile virtual network operators. The T-MVNO product provides mobile subscriber management and application services, uses an IP backbone …

BRISTOL, Conn.-With Major League Baseball’s spring training winding down, two wireless players are gearing up to bring baseball content to their subscribers in time for opening day. Mobile virtual network operator Mobile ESPN L.L.C. announced a suite of content focused …