retail

   ROSEMONT, Ill.—Motorola Inc. launched its thinnest handset yet, the Motofone, which the company said is aimed at users in emerging markets. The handset is 9 millimeters thick and features a flat keypad and high-contrast display. The phone offers a …

EDINBURG, Va.—Regional telecommunications operator Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. got a big boost from its wireless operations in the second quarter, with the company’s wireless segment doubling its net income compared with the same period in 2005. Shentel’s wireless net income jumped …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.—Verizon Wireless reeled in 1.8 million net new customers last quarter, all of which the company says were retail customers—and the second-largest national carrier now claims that “based on publicly available information, that it has the most retail …

The battle between Leap Wireless International Inc.’s Cricket Communications subsidiary and No. 4 wireless operator T-Mobile USA Inc. over markets in Texas has escalated into a lawsuit and potentially could affect Cricket’s second-quarter numbers, analysts say. Cricket last week slapped …

Mobile-phone penetration rates are surpassing 90 percent in markets around the world, reaching the saturation point in Hong Kong, South Korea and Western Europe. Meanwhile, handset manufacturers continue to gain ground. Worldwide mobile-phone shipments in the second quarter fell just …

SEATTLE—Starbucks Coffee Co. is the latest mega-brand to go mobile, launching a scavenger-hunt promotional campaign for wireless users. The coffee giant launched a Web site, starbuckssummer.com, that allows customers to send a message to a short code and receive three …

SEATTLE—Starbucks Coffee Co. is the latest mega-brand to go mobile, launching a scavenger-hunt promotional campaign for wireless users. The coffee giant launched a Web site, starbuckssummer.com, that allows customers to send a message to a short code and receive three …

FORT WORTH, Texas—RadioShack Corp.’s turbulent summer continued as Chief Financial Officer David Barnes said he will leave the retail chain to take a job with Western Union Holdings Inc. No replacement was named for Barnes, who will remain with the …

Obopay inked its first carrier agreement last week, announcing a deal to provide wireless payment services for mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. But most operators aren’t exactly embracing such services with open arms. The startup allows users to …

Business forecasts are integral to industry, wireless or otherwise. Vendors crunch them, analysts parse them, investors fret over them, bloggers disparage them and reporters write about them. Early in the year, forecasts typically are up, down or mixed. And by …

Score a hit in the global marketplace with a sleek handset that spawns imitators and you can crown yourself a design innovator and refer to your designs as “iconic.” This is particularly true if, previously, you’d been groping for ideas …

Time to play “Guess the mobile virtual network operator.” Your clues: U.S.-based, postpaid but requires no contract and relies on Internet sales and telephone sales for distribution. The MVNO is hosted by a national carrier and has nearly doubled its …

LONDON—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. announced that its earnings for the second quarter—$181 million—nearly doubled its earnings from the year-ago quarter, while revenue increased more than 40 percent and handset shipment volumes increased by 33 percent. The results exceeded financial …

SHANGHAI, China—Motorola Inc. is hoping to expand its efforts in the burgeoning Chinese wireless market with a new flagship store in Shanghai. The handset manufacturer said the new outlet is the first of four planned for China, and follows the …

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos—Caribbean mobile operator Digicel Group plc said it plans to launch new mobile services in its Turks & Caicos market. New services include per-second billing, international roaming and free activation, said the company. The company also recently …

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. has officially rolled out wireless service in Louisville and Lexington, Ky. The markets were launched as part of a joint venture with Alaska Native Broadband 1 License, L.L.C., in which Leap has a majority, non-controlling …

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to sell Motorola Inc.’s new low-cost handset to its GoPhone prepaid customers for $40. The move reflects the handset vendor’s strategy for grabbing a slice of the fast-growing prepaid market in the United States, where …

After entering the mobile virtual network operator space with naked ambition, a $500 Sanyo Corp. handset (the “MVP”) and a take-the-world-by-storm marketing spend, Walt Disney Co.-owned Mobile ESPN L.L.C. has regrouped. Results have not met expectations for the lucrative sports …

FORT WORTH, Texas—Shares of RadioShack Corp. lurched after company named former KMart Holding Corp. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. executive Julian Day as its new chairman and chief executive officer. Day has drawn accolades for reviving Safeway Inc., where he …

   OVERLAND PARK—Sprint Nextel Corp. has begun selling a co-branded, slim clamshell phone with an internal antenna from Sanyo Corp., according to the carrier’s Web site. The phone appears to be the first Sanyo slim phone sold by the handset …

T-Mobile USA Inc. again is trying to crack down on independent dealers that sell service from multiple carriers and mobile virtual network operators, allegedly threatening to pull T-Mobile USA products from distributors who want to carry products from new market …

There was no parade. Not even a press release to accompany Intel Corp.’s unveiling of its new Rosedale 2 WiMAX chip for both fixed and mobile broadband access during the Wireless Communications Expo forum event held last week in Washington, …

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Those pesky, detail-oriented analysts and emotional stock traders sent ripples through the market yesterday and today as news circulated that RF Micro Devices Inc.’s two largest customers—Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc., which happen to be the two largest handset …

ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. says it hopes to attract rural, high-speed-Internet-access-deprived customers as it expands its wireless broadband service into Melbourne, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, Miss., Charleston, S.C. and Albany, Ga. Set to launch in the new markets during the third quarter, …

ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. chose Alcatel Inc.’s Evolium mobile WiMAX technology portfolio for testing in its lab next quarter, saying it plans to “assess the viability of offering a simple and seamless WiMAX solution that will extend broadband even further into our …