Mobile Phones

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.—Motorola Inc. and a handful of handset vendors, along with two major network operators, have agreed to establish a global Linux-based software platform for mobile devices, the companies involved …

LOS ANGELES—Mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. announced that its first major distribution deal will be through Best Buy stores. Best Buy is expected to start selling Amp’d Mobile …

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court asked the Bush administration to weigh in on Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch’s appeal of a lower court ruling over whether mobile phone carriers must notify subscribers …

NEW ORLEANS—Hurricane Katrina may have substantially changed communications patterns in Gulf Coast cities such as Houston and New Orleans, a new mobile usage report by Telephia concludes. Mobile phone use …

BOSTON—Place your finger on the pulse of U.S. consumers desperately seeking a mobile phone this summer and you find all the attributes that makes anything a success in America: It’s …

The latest scuttlebutt surrounding Steve Jobs’ much-anticipated jump into wireless sounds more like a breakfast treat than a music-friendly phone-but it could produce a tasty mobile device. Tech bloggers and …

If the world would only stand still for a moment, Nokia Corp.’s new chief executive officer, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, would still have his work cut out for him. He’d have to …

WASHINGTON—Three groups sued the Federal Communications Commission over changes to small-business bidding rules, asking a federal appeals court in Philadelphia to immediately stay enforcement of new guidelines and delay the …

MUMBAI, India—Nothing sells a mobile phone like a familiar face, or at least that’s the idea behind Motorola Inc.’s harnessing an Indian actor to boost sales in India. The handset …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission got a new member last week and immediately began considering whether it should increase the amount wireless carriers pay into the universal-service fund. FCC Chairman Kevin …

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.—Yuvee Inc. introduced a new cell phone keypad interface called NeoKeys that it says simplifies commands and text and number entry and eliminates use of the upper screen …

ESPOO, Finland—A U.S. district judge has found Suplimet Corp., a Florida-based supplier of mobile phone accessories, in contempt of a prior injunction that prevented the firm from trafficking in counterfeit …

By Normandy Madden HONG KONG—Already home to the world’s largest broadband TV platform, nearly universal mobile phone ownership and a blanket of Wi-Fi hot spots, Hong Kong has yet another …

“News of my death has been greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain is said to have written in 1897, when he remained hale and hearty. Qualcomm Inc. has taken a page from …

REDMOND, Wash.—Microsoft Corp.’s MSN is hoping to move onto the mobile marketing playground with the acquisition of Third Screen Media. MSN is negotiating to buy out the Boston-based company, according …

SAN DIEGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. signed on to use Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW-based handset customization interface, uiOne. Qualcomm’s uiOne is already in use at Sprint Nextel Corp, the nation’s third-largest carrier with …

ALBANY, N.Y.—Micro fuel cell developer MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. announced that its technology has been chosen to fuel a series of mobile phone and accessory prototypes by Samsung Electronics Co. …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—Mobile gaming continued the move toward consolidation this week with news that Hands-On Mobile snapped up wireless applications developer Thumbspeed Inc. Financial details were not disclosed. Thumbspeed’s 30 employees …

The wild growth of mobile-phone service in Iraq is rightly held up as one of the great success stories in a chronically war-battered country that’s now trying to put a …

WASHINGTON—A telecom watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and congressional committees alleging major mobile phone carriers and their small-business partners illegally …

WASHINGTON—The Sprint Nextel Corp.-cable TV joint venture today took the first step toward competing for spectrum at the advanced wireless services auction this summer, a move with implications for the …

The advanced wireless services auction is scheduled to begin in less than two months. The filing deadline for short-form applications is Wednesday. The upfront payments deadline is three weeks later. …

WASHINGTON-Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. have been forced to defend their proposed trans-Atlantic merger after a key lawmaker raised security concerns about the deal in a letter to President …

WASHINGTON—Apple Computer Inc. is attracting attention with two new patent applications that outline plans for a wireless-enabled iPod. The application, filed 18 months ago but only recently published by the …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Increasing mobile gaming revenues weren’t enough to offset a hefty quarterly loss for Electronic Arts Inc. The publishing giant reported a $16 million net loss for the quarter …