Mobile Phones

Analog Devices Analog Devices Inc. introduced the AD9226, a 12-bit, 65 MSPS analog-to-digital converter designed to increase data rates and enable direct intermediate frequency-sampling architectures for communications applications, including next-generation cellular base station and software radio applications. Analog Devices said …

Handset subsidies are falling as digital mobile phones gain huge volumes, but as carriers begin targeting new segments and a new cycle of data-enabled handsets come to market, analysts wonder how low carriers can keep subsidies. The days of 1-cent …

Easy Access Inc. has selected SeaGull Inc.’s Wireless-to-Host solution to wirelessly enable its EZ-Vote mobile voter registration management system. MG Financial Group has introduced wireless access to Forex market trading information. Geoworks Corp. announced its Mobile ASP solution will power …

WASHINGTON-Nearly a week after the Federal Communications Commission ruled that wireless carriers can be subject to damages awarded in civil lawsuits, consumers and the industry are reading the ruling differently. Meanwhile, interest in wireless consumer issues on Capitol Hill is …

WASHINGTON-A ruling last week from a federal appeals court allowing for law enforcement to obtain cell-site information without a court order means the issue of law enforcement using mobile phones as tracking devices could be hotly debated by Congress when …

WASHINGTON-Despite splashy headlines of multibillion dollar telecom deals, wild dot-com stock swings on Wall Street and all the hot-button digital issues that have GOP and Democratic policy-makers crawling over each other to champion, it is virtually impossible to distinguish the …

WASHINGTON-A little known government panel could play a big role in the coming years as new trade rules free up foreign firms to buy U.S. wireless companies, a trend that some in Congress claim is a national security threat. The …

WASHINGTON-The Baltimore law firm that earlier this month filed a mobile-phone cancer lawsuit against several wireless firms and two industry trade associations is expected to file additional lawsuits as early as this week, according to sources. The lawsuits could be …

TORONTO-Rogers AT&T Wireless launched a wireless shopping comparison service in conjunction with BuyBuddy.com, an online independent comparison shopping guide. The service is available on the new BlackBerry 957 and 950 handheld devices. Rogers plans to extend BuyBuddy Mobile to all …

SYDNEY, Australia-Australia’s Telstra said it switched on the telecommunications network for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, which includes capacity for more than 15,000 mobile phones for media and officials. The games open in Sydney on Sept. 15. The Telstra Millennium …

The issue of mobile-phone radiation and its possible link to cancer became even more garbled last week as the Australian Consumers Association released a study in its Choice magazine, claiming hands-free kits dramatically reduce the amount of electromagnetic radiation exposure …

Alcatel supplied European wireless operators France Telecom Mobiles, Mobistar and Dutchtone a solution that will allow their customers to continue making or receiving calls on their prepaid mobile phones when they are traveling abroad. Alcatel said the services are delivered …

WASHINGTON-A congressional audit of federal agencies’ responsibilities and actions toward testing for mobile-phone health effects is likely to go forward even if the person who requested the audit is elected vice president of the United States. Meanwhile, a new product …

WHEATON, Md.-Between 12 and 17 percent of end users buy hands-free kits at the time they purchase their wireless phone, according to a nationwide survey of respondents at 400 retail distribution points conducted by Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd. A similar …

PacketVideo Corp. and Warner Bros. New Media unveiled plans to deliver Warner Bros.-created original animated content to wireless devices, including wireless phones and personal digital assistants, using PacketVideo’s MPEG-4 streaming video software. Appropriately, Warner Bros. said it will use its …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-Televigation and U.S. Wireless Corp. have partnered to provide navigation assistance for both WAP-enabled and regular mobile phone users. Under terms of the agreement, U.S. Wireless will provide Televigation’s Snap-to-Map system with information from its RadioCamera platform to enable …

MOSCOW-CDMA technology has been battling for a spot in Russia’s mobile market for two years, but it lost the war as Communications Minister Leonid Reiman, an opponent of the technology, retained his post in the new government formed after President …

NEW YORK-The risks of using a cellular phone while driving “appear to be small compared to other daily risks, but are uncertain because existing research is limited and of uneven quality,” a new Harvard Center for Risk Analysis report concluded. …

WASHINGTON-A top-flight Baltimore law firm is expected to file a lawsuit this week claiming a malignant brain tumor diagnosed in a 42-year-old male neurologist was caused by heavy and long-term mobile-phone use. The lawsuit, likely to be filed in a …

WASHINGTON-While international attention is focused on Deutsche Telekom AG’s $50.3 billion bid for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and the fireworks it has set off in Congress, merger and acquisition activity in the coming months is expected to be dominated by smaller …

CALGARY, Alberta-Cell-Loc Inc.’s TimesThree and SUMedia.com Inc. unveiled e-couponing as a component of the L411 service that TimesThree demonstrated at its wireless location network launch in Calgary, Alberta. When available, customers can dial an L411 code on a mobile phone …

Tantau Tantau Software Inc. released its Wireless Internet Platform version 2, which features enhancements for back-end connectivity, content personalization and information delivery. In addition, the company announced a strategic agreement with Hewlett-Packard Co. to co-market mobile e-services solutions designed for …

To its credit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking the driver distraction problem seriously. Last Tuesday’s all-day conference at the Department of Transportation was educational and enlightening, providing varied views from a broad cross section of stakeholders. The …

WASHINGTON-On land and in air, the ever-popular mobile phone-America’s favorite toy in the New Millennium-is creating headaches for government, industry and citizens, and raising serious safety questions with no easy answers. Last week, federal regulators and lawmakers zeroed in on …

WASHINGTON-Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, has begun preparing for the likelihood that many mobile-phone carriers will not meet upcoming deadlines governing location-based 911 wireless emergency service rules. Meanwhile, Sugrue and his staff are mired in other …