Mobile Phones

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and Symbian Ltd. are teaming up to develop a color-screen mobile phone and personal organizer ahead of Microsoft Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal. Nokia plans to launch the product, the 9210 Communicator phone, with Symbian’s …

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry last week suffered two stunning legal setbacks in health-related litigation, capped by the decision of wealthy Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos to take control of an $800 million mobile phone-cancer lawsuit in Maryland. It was an unprecedented week …

Twenty million mobile phones in use in the United Kingdom early last December. Soaring to almost 25 million after all the Christmas presents had been opened. What an industry! Mobile communications manufacturers and operators certainly have reason to celebrate the …

MELBOURNE, Australia-In a part of the world that still relies on word of mouth as a means to keep in touch, cellular communications-both digital and analog-is continuing to spread through the Pacific Islands as greater numbers of people in the …

MADRID, Spain-Last March, when the Spanish government’s beauty contest awarded Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) licenses to Telef

Most mobile companies are looking to make the Internet wireless, giving their customers a chance to search for information on their favorite stock or movie wherever they are. Spyonit, a subsidiary of 724 Solutions Inc., is taking mobile media one …

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to consider appeals of mobile phone and tower radiation safety guidelines adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1996. Four parties had challenged a decision last year by a federal appeals court in …

NEW YORK-Eatoni Ergonomics Inc. has staked its business case on the proposition that typing should be nearly as easy as talking if wireless data usage is to reach its full potential. Howard Gutowitz, formerly a code breaker for Los Alamos …

The ominous shadow of an economic slowdown is creeping into the wireless industry as vendors reel under unfulfilled earnings forecast, poor sales performance, downgrades and investor anxiety, capping off the gold-rush mentality of the past half-decade which took shareholders, analysts …

PARIS-Mitsubishi’s European telecommunications brand Trium released its new GSM/GPRS phone-enabled pocket PC, Mondo, which the company said will be its flagship product this year. Mondo features a high-powered 166 MHz Intel processor and a variety of Microsoft Corp. software products. …

MEXICO CITY-U.K.-based Vodafone Group purchased a 34.5-percent stake in Iusacell, Mexico’s second-largest mobile operator, in an effort to expand into the Latin American wireless market, according to international press reports. The US$973.4 million purchase was made from Grupo Peralta, the …

LAS VEGAS-Socket Communications Inc. introduced a new version of its Digital Phone Card, which the company said supports Internet-ready mobile phones for Nextel Communications Inc.’s network. Socket, which made its introduction during the 2001 International Consumer Electronics Show, said the …

BOULDER, Colo.-Cellport Systems introduced its Cellport 3000 Universal Hands-Free System for mobile phones in vehicles, which the company said will accommodate different manufacturers and different models of phones. The new system also features an intelligent battery charging feature and an …

FRANKFURT, Germany-Siemens AG expanded its presence into the crowded U.S. wireless handset market, signing a marketing deal with mobile-phone operator Cingular Wireless that allows Cingular to market Siemens’ S40 GSM handset in the United States beginning in March. “We welcome …

NEW YORK-To avoid falling into “microcap hell,” companies play a “gorilla game” of amassing size, but going public may not be the best way to get there, said Eric Gebaide, a principal of Broadview, Fort Lee, N.J. Major technology market …

WASHINGTON-SouthernLinc, the iDEN division of the Southern Co., will be going up against Nextel Communications Inc. and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association if it follows through on comments urging the Federal Communications Commission to mandate automatic roaming between carriers …

WASHINGTON-Commerce Secretary-designate Donald Evans said he will stress spectrum management in the next administration and told Senate Commerce Committee members he realizes the international implications of third-generation mobile-phone development in the United States. “We need to put a lot more …

Everyone knew it was coming. Everyone who cared to listen that is. Concerted legal action alleging use of mobile phones has caused brain tumors is to be launched in the United States. No surprise there. Everyone knew such litigation has …

PDA technology Blue Impact Blue Impact, a partner of CellPoint, introduced a combined GSM/global positioning system (GPS) module for the Handspring Visor called Tellmen. The Tellmen module is compatible with CellPoint’s location platform and services, allowing the Visor to access …

DUBLIN, Ireland-Despite the positive noises coming from the industry body for paging and messaging service providers in Europe, falling subscriber numbers and service provider rationalization indicate paging might be about to fulfill the prophesies of doom first voiced when cellular …

SEOUL, South Korea-South Korea awarded much-coveted third-generation (3G) mobile service licenses to SK Telecom, the country’s largest mobile carrier, and state-run Korea Telecom on 15 December. The race, however, is not over, analysts said. The Ministry of Information and Communication …

WASHINGTON-As President-elect Bush crafts a diverse team of Republicans with Pentagon, state government and Old Economy business experience and confronts a slumping stock market increasingly subject to the vagaries of high-tech shares, it remains to be seen whether the next …

WASHINGTON-Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos confirmed he may take over mobile phone-cancer litigation in Maryland that was dealt a major legal setback recently, but he distanced himself from press reports last week that said his law firm intended to file lawsuits …

At the end of each year, the RCR Wireless News editorial staff looks back on the new events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks …

WASHINGTON-2001: A Space Odyssey? Perhaps if you’re working on the international space station or developing a Star Wars defense. But for wireless, it will be a year the industry comes back to earth and gets back to basics as carriers, …