Jan 30 2004 - 05:17 PM ET | 3G
Anthony Newman over at infoSync World has an editorial that discusses the problems of 3G. It's a quick read, but makes some good points. bq. "A couple of years ago, 3G was all the rage, especially here in the UK....
T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile now have their much talked about legal problems settled. For the past 2 years, there has been a legal dispute over fees related to marketing Virgin Mobile (Virgin Mobile buys time from T-Mobile for its pay-as-you-go...
Jan 29 2004 - 02:28 PM ET | 3G, DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo has announced that it has passed the 2 million customer mark for its 3G services. It has been two years and four months since the service launched. The company was hoping to reach this milestone in two more...
US wireless leader Verizon Wireless announced that its fourth quarter sales for 2003 were very strong. It added a record 1.5 million customers. Average customer revenue stayed at $49 per month, but data services only accounted for a scant 3%...
Research In Motion today announced a deal with Samsung to enable BlackBerry connectivity on Samsung phones. With this contract, Samsung will enable its handsets to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The companies also intend to work together to enable Samsung...
Verizon Wireless announced with LG Mobile Phone that it will begin to ship the LG VX4500 tomorrow. The pricepoint is a cool $89.99 with a new contract. Here's a quick feature wrap up: * Innovative, Stylish Clamshell * E911 Emergency...
According to Reuters, T-Mobile USA is having the best luck with number portability thus far. In the last quarter, the company added 1M subscribers--more than Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless combined. This brings the total to over 13M. T-Mobile UK...
Jan 28 2004 - 12:33 AM ET | AT&T Wireless
AT&T Wireless has already made it clear that it is for sale. Today, word comes out that bids for the carrier need to be made on or before February 13th. Please see our last report for info on the players...
Jan 27 2004 - 01:29 PM ET | In The News
GSM, the most popular wireless standard, now has over 1 billion users. Although a late bloomer in the US, the technology is standard the world over. Just as interesting, over 100 million users pay for mobile data services. bq. "By...
Jan 27 2004 - 01:26 PM ET | 3G
Wireless carrier Hutchison has started 3G service in Hong Kong. We first reported on this back in December 2003, when the official launch date was still unknown. The NEC 616 is the only phone the carrier is offering for launch....
Jan 27 2004 - 01:22 PM ET | Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile UK had a great fourth quarter, according to its latest statement. Over 500,000 customers were added, making it Britain’s fastest growing carrier. The pay-as-you-go carrier has a 28% market share. The success of the company has other media...
Jan 26 2004 - 10:08 AM ET | 3G, Data, Vodafone
The Register is reporting that Euro-carrier Vodafone is trying out 3G data cards. The service should make it to the marketplace by Spring. However, the Register wasn't too impressed with the speed: bq. "The current version of the card provides...
Jan 25 2004 - 11:43 AM ET | In The News
TIME magazine has a piece on the latest fear of security experts--guns disguised as mobile phones. bq. "Sources tell TIME that cell-phone guns, some of which have been seized in drug raids in the Netherlands, England and Germany, have been...
Nearly every news outlet is reporting at least something about AT&T Wireless being on the market. To sum things up, we've compiled pieces from all of the reports we have heard thus far. nearly everyone but Verizon Wireless is interested....
Jan 23 2004 - 06:46 PM ET | In The News
A UK based domain name provider has started up a service where anyone can register an SMS keyword for £9.99. Short domains helped usher in the .com age for PCs, but their usefulness in mobile devices is limited. For more...
Jan 23 2004 - 06:24 PM ET | Unique
Although homing pigeons aren't all that common these days, a group of pigeons enthusiasts is reporting that cell phone towers are throwing their birds off course. One member was quoted as saying: bq. "During the World War II, thousands of...
Jan 23 2004 - 06:19 PM ET | Kyocera
Back in October of 2003, we reported on a Kyocera phone that had a battery explode. A few days later it turned out to be a hoax. The plot thickens as the company today announced a recall on batteries for...
Jan 21 2004 - 07:42 PM ET | Cingular
Cingular Wireless today announced its Q4 / Full year results, and the numbers look quite good. You've heard reports that Cingular wants to buy out AT&T Wireless, and it appears today they have the means: * Added 642,000 subscribers in...
Jan 21 2004 - 10:51 AM ET | Palm
It's official, PDAs didn't kill phones. PalmONE, the largest maker of personal digital assistants, has announced that it will "refocus its investments on devices that include mobile phones." Due to the merger with Handspring and the new focus, the company...
Jan 21 2004 - 10:01 AM ET | In The News
In an annual invention study, the mobile phone came out as the most hated invention that we cannot live without. The alarm clock came in at a close second, but with most phones shipping with alarm clocks built in, next...
Jan 20 2004 - 07:06 PM ET | Motorola
Motorola today released its 4th quarter earnings statement. Sales of $8 billion resulted in a net profit of $489 million. Although that's nearly three times Q4 2002, mobile phone sales dipped 3%. Motorola cited delays in camera modules for the...
Jan 20 2004 - 01:10 PM ET | Push-to-talk
ALLTEL announced that it will roll out push-to-talk (PTT) technology on about half its network tomorrow. Markets that get the red-hot tech are: Little Rock, Cleveland, Phoenix, New Orleans, Charlotte and Tampa. The rest of the network gets PTT March...
According to a Reuters report, Cingular has made an official bid to buy out AT&T Wireless. Stock of AT&T Wireless (AWE) is jumping on the news. The bid is for $11 per share. Yet another story says Euro carrier Vodafone...
Jan 19 2004 - 02:26 PM ET | Data
Bell Labs announced that it has developed software that uses location based services, but still allows customers to retain some sort of privacy. Location based services are those that provide data to customers based on location--such as traffic reports and...
Jan 19 2004 - 02:18 PM ET | In The News
The wires are hopping with talk of a new membrane that could be used to create (cheap?) fuel cells for mobile phones. The startup, PolyFuel, is selling the product commercially. Like Hydrogen cars, distrobution is a big problem. Once a...
Jan 19 2004 - 02:14 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson today announced its sales figures for Q4 2003--up 13% from the same period last year. A total of 8 million handsets were sold. Once again the company experienced hot sales of the Sony Ericsson T610. Income for the...
Jan 19 2004 - 01:45 PM ET | Virgin Mobile
Today's rumor is that pay-as-you-go Virgin Mobile is planning on going public. It could come as early as July, but a nasty scuff with T-Mobile must be worked out before any shares go on sale. Estimated value is 1-2 billion...
Jan 18 2004 - 04:23 PM ET | Camera
Proving once again that, "they just don't get it", so called experts have decided camera phones won't replace old fashioned cameras. bq. "Cameras built into phones are perfect for "incremental" spur-of-the moment snapshots. But for vacations, weddings and other important...
Jan 16 2004 - 07:49 PM ET | Unique
Big news for geeks everywhere--Nokia has announced it will make software to run Perl on future phones! The internal version of the de facto scripting language will run on Series 60 devices like the 6620, 6600 and N-Gage. This should...
Jan 16 2004 - 11:51 AM ET | 3G
3G service to Australia has failed to spark the sales first hoped. The carrier '3' announced that it met only 24% of its expected holiday sales....
Jan 16 2004 - 11:46 AM ET | Cingular
Cingular has announced that it will carry the Motorola V400. A camera phone in the same series as the V300 and V600, the Motorola V400 will sell for a low $150. It was slated to start shipping before the Holidays,...
We've touched on the Cingular / AT&T Wireless merger rumor before, but it now seems to be moving past the rumor stage. According to the piece by the Wall Street Journal, the two companies are in active talks. AT&T Wireless...
Jan 13 2004 - 01:44 PM ET | Push-to-talk
Euro wireless carrier Orange announced that it will begin push-to-talk (PTT) service in 10 European countries this year. The UK will get the technology, dubbed Talk Now, first. PTT is red-hot in the US, so this will be an interesting...
Jan 13 2004 - 01:39 PM ET | In The News
The New York Post notes that Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint and Nextel have a limited supply of 212 area code phone numbers for customers. Expect these to go quickly as most residents of Manhattan have a hard time getting one for...
Jan 12 2004 - 12:44 PM ET | SMS
While American wireless carriers can't force customers to send text messages, UK citizens are sending too many--welcome to SMS addiction. The Priory, a well known detox clinic in the UK is helping patrons with text frenzy. The first case used...
Jan 12 2004 - 12:35 PM ET | In The News
The news wires are buzzing about a new fear that paedophiles will turn to hard-to-track mobiles. All the stories stem from a report that child pornography crimes have increased by 15-hundred percent since 1988. This seems suspect, and probably just...
Jan 12 2004 - 12:18 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia today announced that The Sims Bustin' Out is coming to the N-Gage. The popular game which is published by Electronic Arts (EA) will be available for the device in the first half of this year. bq. "The Sims fans...
Jan 11 2004 - 08:11 PM ET | Siemens
Siemens Mobile has announced the Siemens ST60 (pictured at right, click to get larger photo). The sleek phone weighs in at a light 87grams but still packs a punch. The phone captures and sends video, has a digital camera with...
Jan 11 2004 - 08:03 PM ET | Camera
Cuba's Castro has clamped down on tourists' camera phones according to a report from the Inquirer. bq. "Castro's regime is worried that tourists might photograph something they shouldn't and send it back home before the regime had the chance to...
Sony Ericsson announced that its T610 replacement will come in black (pictured at right) and will be sold by T-Mobile. The T630 has all the features of the T610, an improved screen and a few more items including a redesigned...
Jan 09 2004 - 12:07 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo announced that it is creating a mobile message board for announcements of disasters (Earthquakes and such). i-mode users will be able to use the message boards and glean information in a timely manner during disasters, times where voice...
Jan 09 2004 - 11:50 AM ET | CES
Our friends at Phone Scoop have made a special section for their CES coverage. It will continue to be updated. Although it's not a huge outlet for new cell phones, there are still a lot of fun toys....
Universal just inked a deal to bring music from its releases to Sprint PCS phones. The company has a similar deal with Sony. In the deal with Universal, several big names came to play including Sheryl Crow and Sting. The...
Jan 08 2004 - 12:54 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS is going after the mobile gamer with its newest push, Game Lobby. The company says the service is, "a nationwide virtual mobile community for gamers to meet, recommend games and challenge each other", which if pulled off right...
Verzion Wireless has announced plans to create a nationwide 3G EV-DO network in the US. The service which has been available for some time in Washington D.C. and San Diego will be expanded to other major US cities by this...
T-Mobile USA said that while the total number of customers choosing to switch carriers was lower than expected, the company has a net gain. The company claims nearly twice as many people opted to switch to T-Mobile than from T-Mobile....
Jan 07 2004 - 01:36 PM ET | Unique
ATI, a company mostly known for high-end 3D video cards, has announced the Imageon 2300 GPU. The graphics processor is specially made for mobile devices, and could soon power 2D, 3D and video decoding in your phone. Mass production of...
Motorola has announced that the V600 will ship on AT&T Wireless starting next month. The phone, a big brother to the red-hot V300, should be in high demand. It will cost you $299 with a 2-year service contract. Here's a...
Jan 06 2004 - 11:01 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
According to a news release by the company, Sprint PCS is expected to announce that it added 1 million subscribers in Q4. The churn rate (customers that are lost) is thought to be 2.7%. Shares of Sprint PCS jumped 4%...
Jan 06 2004 - 05:55 PM ET | In The News
Washington D.C. has banned the use of driving while using a cellphone without handsfree set. The law, while not active yet, was passed today. We first mentioned this story over a month ago. A firm date for the law to...
Jan 06 2004 - 09:22 AM ET | SMS
The UK hit a record for SMS on new years day. The number of text messages sent in the first 24 hours of 2004 totaled 111 million. That's 8% more than last year, and nearly twice the daily average of...
Nextel has announced that it will carry the first BlackBerry handheld with a speakerphone. The BlackBerry 7510 is also the first device from RIM that uses Nextel's push-to-talk technology. Here's the feature wrap-up: * 65,000 color screen * 16 MB...
Jan 04 2004 - 09:07 PM ET | SMS
Macintosh enthusiast site MacTeens let us know that they are providing live coverage of the popular MacWorld conference via SMS. According to the site, it's the first such use of SMS. You can sign up for free here. The most...
