Vodafone

Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs …

Vodafone Group plc has made a somewhat surprising move by joining the WiMAX Forum as a principal member.“For a company that has historically been perceived as hostile toward the technology, does this mean that their attitude toward WiMAX has now …

Vodafone Group plc said it had no plans to sell its stake in its U.S. joint venture Verizon Wireless.In an effort to end speculation about its U.S. business, the British operator said it had declined to exercise its rights to …

In case you hadn’t heard, Google is going mobile. The Wall Street Journal last week trumpeted the Internet giant’s efforts to build handsets in a page-one story that quickly echoed throughout the blogosphere and the trade press. London’s Telegraph stoked …

Yahoo Inc. has tapped Chicago’s Novarra Inc. to provide transcoding technology for its oneSearch offering.Novarra, which powers mobile Internet services for a handful of wireless services providers-including bankrupt mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc.-will provide technology that customizes Web …

Speculation has sent network operators’ stock up and down, but a British analyst said yesterday that Apple Inc. had not signed any deals with Euro-operators.The sticking point, according to Bill Ray, analyst with ARChart and columnist for the online technology …

The following list details this week’s infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available.Cellular–China: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said …

Google Inc.’s search supremacy online continues to be handsomely carried over to mobile, according to the latest rankings of mobile Web companies from research and analysis firm M:Metrics.Google was visited by 62.5% of smartphone users in the United States in …

The second quarter is over in a week and will end with a bang or a whimper, depending on how “opening weekend” goes for Apple Inc.’s iPhone. Hard numbers from the vendors themselves are due in mid-July and the leading …

The Mobile Marketing Association said it will join forces with the dotMobi Advisory Group to develop guidelines for mobile advertising, and push adoption of the controversial .mobi domain.The industry associations committed to support each other’s initiatives including mobile advertising, search …

Network operators will earn more than $10 billion this year from selling self-branded handsets made by ODMs, according to ABI Research. That’s a nearly 25% jump from the prior year. Within four years, that segment could grow to about 10% …

It’s no secret that a stroll through the offerings on carrier decks is enough to give you carpal tunnel syndrome. A recent study of four U.S. wireless services providers by Strategy Analytics found that a simple music download from a …

Spending on mobile advertising could reach $14.4 billion by 2011, accounting for one-fifth of global spending on Internet advertising, according to a report from Strategy Analytics Inc.“The outlook for mobile advertising spend has significantly advanced in the past 12 months,” …

Vodafone U.K. has tapped Novarra to transcode Internet content for mobile phones.Novarra will provide a hosted service that automatically transforms Web content to fit specific handset capabilities such as screen size and memory. The technology also optimizes the speed and …

Spending on mobile advertising could reach $14.4 billion by 2011, accounting for one-fifth of global spending on Internet advertising, according to a report from Strategy Analytics Inc.“The outlook for mobile advertising spend has significantly advanced in the past 12 months,” …

Sagem Communication signed a royalty-bearing agreement with Qualcomm Inc. to make and sell W-CDMA handsets worldwide at the latter’s “standard rate,” Qualcomm announced. The deal represents another customer win for Qualcomm, which competes with other W-CDMA intellectual property holders in …

RealNetworks Inc. expanded its mobile entertainment business with the $9 million acquisition of Sony NetServices.A joint venture between Sony DADC and Sony Europe, Sony NetServices targets carriers in eight European markets with white-label music services. The company’s technology powers on-demand …

RealNetworks Inc. expanded its mobile entertainment business with the $9 million acquisition of Sony NetServices.A joint venture between Sony DADC and Sony Europe, Sony NetServices targets carriers in eight European markets with white-label music services. The company’s technology powers on-demand …

As wireless companies and banks seek to move into mobile banking and payments, many are eyeing the global remittance market as a potential source of new revenue. However, some may find that space a bit crowded by remittance giant Western …

Sanef announced that it has acquired location-services firm Webraska for an undisclosed sum. The European telecom infrastructure management company said the move will help it gain a foothold in the satellite navigation and geospatial technologies markets.Webraska’s properties include GPS-based navigation …

The Mobile Marketing Association is going global with a new chapter for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The new chapter comprises more than 150 brands, agencies and other players under Chairman Richard Saggers, who oversees Vodafone Group plc’s mobile …

Research In Motion Ltd. announced a “World Edition” BlackBerry for international travelers that combines CDMA and GSM technology and will be sold by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp.The two-carrier deal covers the two CDMA operators in the United States, …

The mobile payment space continued to gain steam as Nokia Corp. and 10 network operators joined an effort by the GSM Association to allow consumers to pay with their phones at retail outlets.European and Asian network operators KPN, O2, Orange, …

The following list details this week’s infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available. Cellular China: Alcatel-Lucent and Datang …

Alcatel-Lucent and Datang Mobile scored big wins as China Mobile tapped the companies for a TD-SCDMA trial network expansion program.Datang and Alcatel Shanghai Bell will provide technology for expansion of the 3G network in the cities of Shangai and Guangzhou. …