May 30 2004 - 09:10 PM ET | In The News
The cover story for June 7's Newsweek Magazine is The Next Frontiers: Way Cool Phones. Included in the piece is an interesting quote by the Palm inventor: bq. One day, 2 or 3 billion people will have cell phones, and...
May 30 2004 - 01:15 PM ET | SMS
In Fox's "American Idol", viewers can vote for their favorite contestent via either a phone call or text message (only from AT&T Wireless phones). AT&T Wireless announced that during the latest season, 13.5 million SMS votes were cast. The total...
May 30 2004 - 01:05 PM ET | Samsung
The much talked about Samsung A790 (does both CDMA and GSM) is now available to Verizon Wireless business customers. It should be out for individuals soon. It's the first phone to work both on CDMA and GSM networks. bq. Not...
May 27 2004 - 01:34 PM ET | Data
BEA Systems recently demonstrated a new type of mobile brower to PC World Magazine. It aims to provide mobile users the same utility from the internet as desktop users. bq. Dubbed Alchemy, the technology extends the idea of a Web...
May 27 2004 - 01:28 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo announced today that it has sold all of its 20% stake in Hutchison 3G UK. The sale was to Hutchison Whampoa Limited, and was worth about $218 million. Hutchison has been taking a beating due to its fledgling...
USA Today has a piece in today's issue about the increasing number of cellular service resellers. We reported just last week that once Cingular gets the assets of AT&T Wireless, AT&T will start up a reseller under the AT&T Wireless...
May 26 2004 - 12:26 PM ET | Nokia
Nokia today started shipping the Nokia N-Gage QD for markets in Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. The price with contract is as low as €49.99. Here are some features of the mobile phone / game deck: * Hot-swappable MMC *...
May 26 2004 - 12:09 PM ET | 3G, Cingular, Data
The Wall Street Journal is reporting [subscription] that Cingular Wireless will soon start testing a high-speed data service. Don't get too excited though, it isn't expected to become commercial until 2006. bq. Cingular will use so-called UMTS technology for its...
May 25 2004 - 01:28 PM ET | Vodafone
Vodafone Group PLC posted a £9.02 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31. This is compared to a £9.82 loss from the prior year. The company also made it clear that it wants to buy back minority stakes...
May 25 2004 - 01:19 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS yesterday cut the price of push-to-talk (PTT) service. The service, dubbed, Sprint PCS Ready Link, can now be added to personal accounts for as little as $10. Sprint is also offering special service plans to business customers ranging...
As expected, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA have agreed to end a network sharing partnership. We first noted this on May 18th, but the news officially came out today. The agreement to end the partnership hinges on Cingular's takeover of...
Today marks the start of nationwide wireless number portability for America. November 24, 2003 marked WNP for the top 100 US markets. If you are planning on switching your carrier, read our collection of tips or head to the PhoneScoop...
With nationwide wireless number portability coming to US comsumers tomorrow, we thought a few tips would be appropriate: * Amazon.com has a page on how to transfer your number if you want to get a new phone/contract through them. Very...
May 23 2004 - 05:03 PM ET | Camera
No real surprise here, but Donald Rumsfeld has banned camera phones from US military installations in Iraq. The Defense Department believes that some of the photos that came out of Abu Ghraib were taken with camera phones (that explains the...
May 21 2004 - 12:50 AM ET | Nextel
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today [subscription] that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell has retracted his vote for Nextel's spectrum plan. We have covered the story before, the last time being in March. Mr. Powell's reversal on the...
May 20 2004 - 03:07 PM ET | 3G
Hutchison Whampoa's 3G subscriber data is looking better. The company has picked up nearly 700,000 new customers in the last 2 months. The total number of Hutchison 3G subscribers sits at 1.73 million. More subscribers are still needed for profitability....
May 20 2004 - 12:51 PM ET | In The News
The Orlando Sentinel has a piece on a [possibly] upcoming cell phone number directory. For years cell phone users have enjoyed keeping their numbers private, but that might change. bq. The database being assembled by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet...
May 20 2004 - 12:44 PM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS today announced plans for a mobile banking solution, Sprint Mobile Loan Officer. While the details are still sketchy, the coompany provides a description of the service: bq. The new solution will allow bank employees to process loans, establish...
LG Electronics USA yesterday announced the VI-5225, a Sprint PCS exclusive. The company is calling the VI-5225 the, "Little black dress" of wireless handsets. Here are the specs: * Black case * SMS (big deal for Sprint PCS phones) *...
May 20 2004 - 12:31 PM ET | Data
Analysts at research group IDC don't see a killer app in mobile data's future. Killer apps are usually what drive sales to the next level... For personal computers it was VisiCalc, a spreadsheet. This doesn't mean that data is dead,...
May 20 2004 - 12:28 PM ET | SMS
A story out of Korea notes that 1 in 10 SMS messages in the country are spam. While that number may seem high, remember when email was only 10% spam? According to the latest reports, more than half of email...
May 19 2004 - 12:18 AM ET | Nextel, Review
Walter Mossberg of the Wall Stree Journal wrote up his first experience with a navigation system powered by a GPS enabled Nextel phone. The TeleNav service Mossberg used was mentioned by MobileTracker several days ago. bq. Overall, TeleNav's setup is...
May 18 2004 - 06:19 PM ET | Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson and HP jointly announced a new software application that allows printing from Sony Ericsson's P800 and P900 smartphones. The HP Wireless Printing for Mobile Phones software allows users to print via Bluetooth. bq. Sony Ericsson smartphone users can...
May 18 2004 - 03:10 PM ET | Camera
Japanese mobile phone carrier KDDI has announced the Casio A5406CA, the world's first 3 megapixel camera phone (technically 3.2 megapixels). Other features of the handset include a QVGA display, 16MB of internal memory and a miniSD slot for up to...
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today [subscription] that AT&T is expected to announce a partnership with Sprint to offer wireless service to AT&T customers. The announcement should come this week, but won't take effect for a while: bq. The...
May 17 2004 - 02:42 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo today announced two new mova 506i Series phones: the D506i and the F506i. The 2G i-mode compatible handsets will start shipping on Wednesday May 19, 2004. D506i * Voice-activated camera shutter * Multifunctional side button to activate the...
May 17 2004 - 02:18 PM ET | Samsung
Samsung announced that it will release a mobile phone that picks up satellite TV signals. The phone can pick up 40 stations and will be sold only in South Korea. Look for it in the third quarter of this year....
May 16 2004 - 01:23 PM ET | In The News
Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement authorities want cell phones to be blocked in popular Las Angeles locations like LAX, the Staples Center, the Rose Bowl and Universal Studios. All part of an anti-terror plan, authorities want the ability...
May 15 2004 - 03:56 PM ET | In The News
The Toronto Star is reporting Canadian wireless carrier Telus has offered to purchase rival Microcell Telecommunications Inc. (who operates Fido). Fido is Canada's smallest carrier, the offer was for just $1.1 billion Canadian. Stock in Microcell soared from $10.45 to...
May 14 2004 - 05:21 PM ET | In The News
This AP article states that a fire errupted at a New Paltz, New York gas station after a cell phone while. Despite all the warnings, the danger of a phone at a gas pump was thought to be an urban...
May 14 2004 - 05:14 PM ET | Unique
An angry customer, fed up with bad cell phone service, decided to take action by throwing mobile phones across the Verizon Wireless store he was in. After the incident, the man told authorities he only planned on yelling at the...
May 14 2004 - 04:51 PM ET | Staff Picks
Avis Rent A Car and Motorola today announced recompletion of a plan to provide Avis customers with Motorola gear to give driving directions on the go--from mobile phones. Avis Assist is now available in 57 US cities. The description given...
May 14 2004 - 04:42 PM ET | In The News
Boston Communications Group Inc. hopes that its Mobile Guardian technology will incrase mobile contracts to both teens an employees. What's the catch? Call limits: bq. Mobile Guardian lets bosses and parents visit a Web site and limit calls from certain...
May 14 2004 - 02:25 PM ET | Rumor
The long awaited Sendo X smartphone may be launching soon. InfoSync World is reporting that the phone should be launched within weeks, not months. The site continues with, "The smartphone is currently undergoing validation with operators." We first reported on...
It was announced today that since November, 2.8 million Americans have taken advantage of number portability. The FCC says that the number had only a minor effect on the overall "churn rate" for the wireless industry. May 24th is the...
May 13 2004 - 06:57 PM ET | Palm
PalmOne has released an update for the Treo 600. At this time the update is only for users on the Sprint PCS network. It is currently being tested for other carriers. The update is said to improve reliability. However, audio...
May 13 2004 - 03:16 PM ET | T-Mobile
According to a release by parent company Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile USA added 1.2 million customers in the first quarter of 2004. Analysts expected an increase of 647,000 to 1.1 million. Average revenue per customer, a key statistic in the wireless...
May 13 2004 - 03:12 PM ET | In The News
Sorrent has inked a deal with Atari to bring the hit-game "Deerhunter" to mobile phones. The Deerhunter line has sold 4.3 million copies since 1997. Look for it on various carriers starting in the third quarter of this year....
May 13 2004 - 03:08 PM ET | Camera
Chip maker Qualcomm has announced chips for a 6-megapixel camera phone. VGA resolution, the standard for most camera phones, is a scant .3 megapixels. bq. In a volley of announcements coinciding with the company's spring Wall Street analyst briefing here,...
May 13 2004 - 03:04 PM ET | Motorola
The Motorola V600 has started shipping on Canadian carrier Rogers Wireless. The Motorola V600 will sell for $449.99 Canadian with a 2-year contract from Rogers Wireless. Look for it at Rogers Wireless dealer and retail locations across Canada, or online....
May 12 2004 - 04:53 PM ET | AT&T Wireless
AT&T Wireless finally came in first for something... However, it is first in customer complaints. The FCC released figures on the number of complaints for US wireless companies: # AT&T Wireless # Sprint PCS # T-Mobile USA # Cingular Wireless...
May 11 2004 - 12:46 PM ET | Camera
Congress is trying to combat "peeping Tom" type usage of camera phones with new legislation. Lawmakers want to make behavoir like taking pictures beneath women's skirts and posting them on the Internet a federal crime punishable by up to a...
Sony Ericsson and NTT DoCoMo have announced the world's smallest internet-capable cell phone. It's just 9.0 cm (3.6 inches) long, 3.9 cm wide and 1.9 cm thick. It weighs in at 69 grams (2.42 ounces). Due to the size, it...
May 10 2004 - 12:50 AM ET | Motorola, Review
You can buy the Motorola V600 for just -$25 with T-Mobile service from WireFly. By Jon Gales - The Motorola V600 was a long time coming to the US, but that hasn't hurt its popularity. It's one of the most...
Vodafone K.K. has announced 5 new phones that should arrive this summer. The V602SH by Sharp, V601T by Toshiba, V401D by Mitsubishi Electric, V401SA by Sanyo and V402SH by Sharp should all be here in late June to early July....
May 09 2004 - 02:10 PM ET | In The News
While everyone has heard consumers are switching from landlines to mobile phones, the phone companies are now starting to sing a different tune: they are switching back. bq. Faced with fierce competition from wireless telephone providers, traditional wire companies are...
May 09 2004 - 02:03 PM ET | Data
The AP has an article about the possiblity of WiFi becoming the next big thing in mobile phones. The benefit is that with the increasing number of free "hot spots", calls and data could cost nothing (as long as you're...
May 08 2004 - 03:15 PM ET | SMS
The AP has an article about newspapers seeing text messaging as a gathering threat. The "thumb generation" is sending news, rumors and gossip around the globe in real time without newspapers getting a piece of the action. The Madrid bombings...
May 08 2004 - 01:22 AM ET | Bargain
Amazon.com recently added a couple new phones to its cell phone store, and the prices are pretty decent (even without rebates). * Motorola V600 from AT&T Wireless - $199, no rebate * Nokia 6600 from T-Mobile - $249, no rebate...
InfoSync has an article on the new LG VX4600, an update to the LG VX4400. It's a clamshell CDMA phone, with a lot of features: * External OEL and internal 65,000 color LCD * Dual band 1.9 GHz PCS /...
May 07 2004 - 02:09 PM ET | Motorola
While the Motorola V600 has Bluetooth and a large color screen, it doesn't have a press relations department. We reported in March that it was starting to ship from AT&T Wireless (despite the lack of an announcement by either company)....
May 07 2004 - 01:01 PM ET | DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo's quarterly profits are up almost three times. After taxes, the company made 650 billion yen (5.9 billion dollars). However it warned that next year it expects to make less due to lower service prices....
May 06 2004 - 12:46 PM ET | Smartphone
Smartphone OS maker Symbian has released its first-quarter results for 2004. Sales are up: * Global shipments reached 2.4 million (1.18 million in the same quarter last year) * Seven new products were announced by Symbian OS licensees * Symbian...
May 04 2004 - 01:12 PM ET | AT&T Wireless
Yahoo! and AT&T Wireless today announced that Yahoo! Photos is now available to AT&T Wirless mMode customers. bq. The new Yahoo! Mobile Photos application is a full color, graphical service that gives consumers a new, easy way to connect to...
May 04 2004 - 01:08 PM ET | Nextel
Nextel, NII and TELUS Mobility have teamed up to provide international Direct Connect (push-to-talk). Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Peru are now all within walkie-talkie range. Look for Mexico to be added soon. bq. For example, a Nextel subscriber working remotely...
May 03 2004 - 11:47 AM ET | Sprint Nextel
Sprint PCS has announced a new billing strategy that is, "Aimed at permanently changing the wireless industry for the better." The first part of the plan is the introduction of Sprint PCS Fair & Flexible. Here's an example of a...
May 03 2004 - 11:36 AM ET | In The News
Microsoft has announced a new version of its Digital Rights Management software, and it now works on mobile devices. bq. The software will allow users to play rented content on portable devices, such as mobile phones, and networked devices within...
