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Cingular has been catching some bad press after it came out the company billed a senior citizen $31,000 for international calls that would have been impossible to make. Oliver DeSofi was shocked to see his monthly bill (normally $150) listed...
Jan 15 2007 - 10:47 PM ET | In The News
A man staying in a California hotel was set on fire from his cell phone according to assistant fire chief Kurt Henke. Luis Picaso, 59, was unlucky enough to be wearing highly flammable polyester clothing when his cell phone apparently...
Dec 18 2006 - 05:18 PM ET | In The News
Previously recused FCC commissioner Robert McDowell was recently re-approved to vote in the approval of AT&T's take over of BellSouth, but has announced today that he will not do so. That leaves the panel in a 2-2 tie and will...
Dec 14 2006 - 04:36 PM ET | In The News
AT&T is currently testing a free (advertising supported) directory assistance service. An upstart called Free 411 uses the same business model and recently surpassed the 100 million call milestone. AT&T currently charges between 35 cents and $3.50 for each call...
Dec 08 2006 - 06:10 PM ET | In The News
Lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission have approved Robert McDowell to cast the tie-breaking vote in AT&T's proposed merger with BellSouth. McDowell recused himself from the vote early in the process because of a conflict of interest he had in...
Dec 07 2006 - 04:18 PM ET | In The News
According to data released out of a mob trial, the FBI may have the ability to record conversations remotely from a mobile phone when it's not even making calls. Dubbed a roving bug, the phone can be remotely hacked to...
Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is attempting to end a 2-2 tie in the vote to approve a merger between BellSouth and AT&T. Republican commissioner Robert McDowell had previously recused himself from the vote because of past...
Nov 27 2006 - 05:22 PM ET | In The News
The Library of Congress has approved a copyright exemption that will allow consumers to legally unlock their mobile phone to change to a competing carrier. The LoC decided that locked handsets don't qualify under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)....
Nov 21 2006 - 05:06 PM ET | In The News
Despite all the assuring commercials, OnStar might not be there once the US wireless operators pull the plug on their legacy analog networks. The FCC has ruled that carriers will be allowed to do so starting in January 2008 and...
Nov 14 2006 - 01:12 PM ET | In The News
Google's CEO recently said that mobile phones should be free and monetized by advertising. This sounds exactly like the business plan of Xero Mobile, a pre-launch MVNO that has attracted attention because of a connection to some former Gizmondo executives....
Nov 08 2006 - 04:05 PM ET | In The News
Leading online mobile phone dealer Inphonic has settled a lawsuit from the Attorney General for the District of Columbia concerning complaints about the company's rebate practices. The lawsuit was made on behalf of consumers who had filed more than 2,000...
Nov 07 2006 - 05:53 PM ET | In The News
Yahoo has increased its mobile monetization efforts with the introduction of graphical ads designed for mobile devices. The search company just launched mobile text ads last month. Yahoo expects the first ads in the new program to go live later...
Oct 28 2006 - 05:17 PM ET | In The News
The Federal Communications Commission is still burning the midnight oil to try and close the proposed merger of AT&T and BellSouth. The merger has direct implications on the wireless industry because the two companies happen to be the two joint...
Oct 17 2006 - 04:42 PM ET | In The News
Google is currently testing out text ads for its mobile search service. Yahoo announced a similar program earlier this month. Google hasn't made an announcement, but some users have reported seeing the ads and screen captures have been posted online....
The advanced wireless spectrum auction is heating up and Verizon Wireless is starting to show its size. At the end of 14 rounds Verizon Wireless is the top bidder for the top six spectrum licenses. The price tag for that...
Aug 09 2006 - 03:20 PM ET | In The News
While this information was made available previously through individual quarterly statements, iSuppli has put all the sales data and market share figures into one place. The big winners are Motorola and Sony Ericsson, both were able to outpace competitors' growth....
Aug 02 2006 - 03:13 PM ET | In The News
Microbiologists in England have done some research that shows mobile phones can easily collect more bacteria than a toilet seat or door handle. They point to the constant handling (and contact with the face) combined with heat generated by the...
Jul 24 2006 - 03:42 PM ET | In The News
Boston Communications Group Inc (BCGI) has settled its long running legal battle with suitor Freedom Wireless. BCGI w2ill pay $55.3 million to Freedom Wireless, a patent holding firm. Last year BCGI suffered a blow when a court found the company...
Jul 07 2006 - 04:13 PM ET | In The News
It appears the rumblings of severe financial trouble at VK Mobile were true, the Korean Times is reporting VK Mobile has filed for bankruptcy. Cutthroat competition and currency fluctuations hit profits and the company was recently unable to pay on...
Jun 30 2006 - 03:57 PM ET | In The News
The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for the government's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum auction. The sale is scheduled to begin on August 9th. Three groups were lobbying for the auction to be delayed until...
Jun 30 2006 - 03:49 PM ET | In The News
Researchers from the University of Utah claim that using a cellphone while driving impairs drivers to the same degree as alcohol. Several states have laws enforcing the use of hands free devices while driving, but they only have a limited...
Mobile phones might increase the severity of injuries sustained while being struck by lightning and doctors have advised patients to not use them outside during thunderstorms. Since it's advisable to not be outside (regardless of being on the phone or...
There have been lots of 'mobile only' short film competitions, but New Love Meetings is the first feature-length movie we have heard of shot entirely by a mobile phone. The documentary was filmed with a Nokia N90 in the MPEG4...
Jun 13 2006 - 09:06 AM ET | In The News
A new report from 3G Americas and Informa Telecoms & Media states that there will be 2 billion worldwide GSM mobile subscribers by the end of June. Just two and a half years ago we reported on the 1 billion...
Jun 09 2006 - 02:15 PM ET | In The News
The Attorney General for the District of Columbia has sued Inphonic [free reg req] on behalf of consumers. There have been more than 2,000 consumer complaints against the company over the past three years. Inphonic is the leading online retailer...
Sprint Nextel is continuing to protest against the proposed $67 billion merger of AT&T and BellSouth. The new company would completely control Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless carrier. Sprint's objections to the deal center around access to data lines...
Jun 01 2006 - 11:12 PM ET | In The News
Lawmakers in Lawrence, Kansas will soon vote on a proposed law to restrict usage of cell phones by drivers. It would be the most strict legislation of its kind in the country. Other cities that have cell phone laws on...
May 12 2006 - 04:26 PM ET | In The News
Popular college social networking site Facebook is putting the final touches on a WAP site that will allow users to access most features of the site from a mobile phone. According tot he latest ComScore data, Facebook is the...
Microsoft and Qualcomm have entered a deal to have Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system work more closely with Qualcomm latest wireless chipset. Qualcomm's 7000 series Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipset combines a radio modem and applications processor on one...
Amazon.com will transition its mobile phone sales to go through Inphonic, the largest online dealer of mobile phones. This is a rare move for Amazon, a company that is more used to having other companies outsource their web store...
Apr 20 2006 - 11:26 AM ET | In The News
Sales of mobile phones worldwide grew 26% in the first quarter of 2006 when compared to the same period last year. An estimated 226.7 million handsets were sold during the quarter according to research firm IDC. Even with the big...
Mar 18 2006 - 04:12 PM ET | In The News
Earlier this year that Google's CEO noted that he thought the mobile phone will become Google's number one client in terms of search volume in the near future. Now the search giant has made its commitment to mobile phones...
Mar 16 2006 - 04:18 PM ET | In The News
The US Senate Commerce Committee has pulled the plug on a bill designed to safeguard phone subscriber records. The Protecting Consumer Phone Records Act was removed from consideration this morning along with an issued statement: [The committee was] concerned...
Mar 15 2006 - 09:54 AM ET | In The News
The movie theater business is currently in some trouble thanks to falling attendance quarter after quarter. Some owners believe that instituting cell phone signal jamming will help bring back the crowds. At ShoWest, a motion picture industry trade show,...
The US Senate has been advised to block AT&T from purchasing more spectrum at upcoming auctions. The advice came from Jeannine Kenney, an analyst at the Consumers Union. Because the new company (after it completes a merger with BellSouth)...
One of the more unique cell phones being shown at CeBit 2006 in Hanover, Germany is the Pantech G-3600V. Pantech is touting this new cell phone with phrases such as a 'global GSM slider' and the ultimate ‘music phone’,...
Trend Micro announced today a new security package, called Mobile Security 2.0. Mobile Security 2.0 is a software package that helps to protect against viruses and other malicious software targeting Windows Mobile and Symbian handsets. According to NewsFactor, "Company officials...
Intercasting Corporation today announced a relatively new service called Rabble on Cingular Wireless. "Rabble is a carrier-grade mobile blogging and social networking application that allows users to create and share media using their mobile phones". According to the press release,...
Mar 08 2006 - 04:34 PM ET | In The News, SMS
A 13-year old New Jersey girl that went missing on Monday has sent her mother a series of chilling text message describing her situation. One of the messages reads: "Someone was following me and I just don't remember what...
On the coat tails of yesterday's announcement of two new 3G phones’, the LG CU320 and the Samsung SGH-ZX10 handsets, today Cingular announced ‘Cingular Video’ on-demand streaming video service, with 19 channels of video, and four more channels coming soon....
Mar 03 2006 - 04:11 PM ET | In The News
The so-called "cell phone bandit" was sentenced friday to a 12-year prison term for her involvement in a string of four bank robberies. Candice Martinez became an instant news celebrity after security cameras showed her casually chatting on a...
According to Moscow based Kaspersky Labs, a new Trojan horse that is able to infect almost any mobile phone or PDA is in the wild. The Trojan called "RedBrowser" targets traditional mobile phones running Java as well as the newer...
A research group, Mobile Antivirus Researchers Association (MARA), has found the first mobile phone to PC virus. Thankfully, it appears that the virus was sent directly to them instead of being found in the wild. The virus included the following...
After a slew of announcements it looks as if everyone wants in on the mobile TV bandwagon. Today, international powerhouse News Corp. owners of Fox TV and Sky TV, announced a new portal, Mobizzo, to sell ringtones and graphics, leveraging...
CBS today introduced two mobile video alert services that its calling CBS News to Go and E.T. to Go. Around five alerts will be sent out daily and right now the same alerts will be sent to everyone, but...
UPDATE: Our coverage of the hearing is in progress. Tomorrow morning at 9AM ET, NTP Inc will and Research In Motion will meet for a remand hearing before the US District Court in Virginia. Judge James Spencer will preside and...
Feb 22 2006 - 02:06 PM ET | In The News
USA Today is reporting on a new survey that found 16% of American wireless customers have two mobile phones (one for business and another for personal use). Five years ago the figure was nearly zero. The study was performed...
Cell phones often get the rap as being facilitators of bad manners in public, but the San Jose Museum of Art has the novel idea of getting it's patrons to listen instead of talk. During a current exibit, "Visual Politics:...
The TimesOnline is carrying a story that BT, Virgin and Microsoft are announcing a Mobile TV alliance. The three will announce a digital TV service for mobile phones at the 3GSM Congress in Barcelona. This is just one of...
Sprint Nextel reached an agreement with a key labor union over the spin-off of its local phone business. The new company will form in the second quarter and will be called Embarq. The Communications Workers of America dropped opposition...
Zi Corporation announced a new version of its handwriting recognition software, Decuma. Version 4 adds predictive features (including word completion) which is a first for handwriting recognition according to the company. Decuma recognizes 100% naturally shaped letters in upper...
Sprint and Bones in Motion appear to be the first to market with a unique application suite that tracks fitness and lifestyle goals via gps enabled cell phones. Bones in Motion's BiM Active software "enables runners, cyclist, and walkers...
ABI Research is reporting that 2006 may be a banner year for 3G technologies world wide. As reported by MobileMag, "The expansion of 3G services is expected to increase substantially this year, continuing the trend from last year when...
According to the Wall Street Journal, Motorola is planning to market it's "M-Wallet" service to U.S. consumers. The service allows shoppers to purchase products by waving their cell phone with an embedded chip over scanners at cash registers across...
According to a report from Finextra, PayPal appears to be working on a mobile payment service. PayPal has posted ads looking for employees to work the new PayPal Mobile business unit. In the ads, the company describes PayPal Mobile...
T-Mobile USA has filed suit against Locatecell.com, accusing the company of illegaly selling private cell phone calling records. The business practice was covered extensively in main stream media earlier this month and has spawned both federal legislation propositions and...
Jan 19 2006 - 03:56 PM ET | In The News
A spokesperson for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) discussed plans for what the country is going to do with the spectrum currently in use by analog TV. The official cutover date to digital is in 2009 and...
Several companies have submitted bids to equip New York City's subway system for mobile phone communication. The project went up for bids back in August of last year. Having the subway system wired will not provide significantly more revenue...
The New York Times has an article today about video advertisements coming to a mobile phone near you. So far consumers (and carriers) have been very resistant to advertising on phones, so it remains to be seen if this...
Mobile Satellite Ventures announced that it has signed a contract with Boeing for three satellites that will be used for American mobile communication. MSV aims to provide nationwide voice and data coverage starting sometimes after the satellites are launched...
CBS is working on a new TV series that will be broadcast exclusively on mobile phones. The so called 'mobisoap' will feature new episodes seven days a week and they will range between three and five minutes each. No...
A new study has linked cell phones and other types of always-on communicatioin to increased family tension. All those, "Can you pick up some more of...?" calls must be adding up. From the study, via Reuters: The study, which followed...
CES 2006 - Flash memory giant SanDisk today announced two new high capacity cards for mobile phones. The launch goes in tandem with Verizon Wireless' release of V Cast Music. Verizon's music service depends on phones that use the two...
Dec 28 2005 - 12:58 PM ET | In The News
PC World put together a list of the 50 greatest gadgets and more than a few phones made the cut. #6 - Motorola StarTAC #12 - Motorola RAZR #14 - BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld #20 - Handspring Treo 600 #30...
Dec 09 2005 - 12:40 PM ET | In The News
Regional carrier ALLTEL today announced plans to spin-off of its wireline business with existing wireline provider VALOR Communications Group. This will allow the company to focus on its wireless service and become a more attractive target for acquisition. A few...
Dec 08 2005 - 06:34 PM ET | In The News
Mobile phone game maker Jamdat Mobile will be acquired by game giant Electronic Arts for $680 million. That is a 19% premium over the last closing price for shares of Jamdat. Some of Jamdat's more popular titles include: Tetris, Bejeweled,...
Nov 20 2005 - 07:05 PM ET | In The News
Mobile pundit Russell Beattie comments on the state of carrier launched phones in the US in time for this year's holiday season. He did the same last year and viewing the two is an interesting comparison. Some of the differences...
Nov 16 2005 - 04:50 PM ET | In The News
Online retailer Wirefly released the top ten handsets (according to its sales) for last month. Seven of the ten have cameras and eight of the ten are Motorola handsets. Motorola RAZR V3 Motorola E815 Samsung PM-A740 Motorola V330 Audiovox 8910...
Oct 31 2005 - 05:16 PM ET | In The News
In a blow to cell phone manufacturers and carriers, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not hear an appeal concerning the legality of class action lawsuits arguing that the phone makers have known and hidden health risks. The debate...
Oct 27 2005 - 12:33 PM ET | In The News
Research group NPD Group said Wednesday that the US mobile phone market grew again during the third quarter. The top manufacturers by market share in the US are as follows: Motorola LG Nokia Samsung Sanyo Kyocera Sony Ericsson UTStarcom/Audiovox Siemens/BenQ...
Oct 05 2005 - 02:31 AM ET | In The News
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University announced a study today that suggests cellphone networks could be brought to their knees if malicious users sent bogus SMS messages to overcrowd the system. On the internet this kind of tack is called Denial...
Sep 22 2005 - 12:30 PM ET | In The News
NEC has started shipping its super-thin L1 in Hong Kong. At just 11.9mm thick, it's smaller than the Motorola RAZR by a healthy margin (the RAZR is 14mm thick). Feature wise it keeps up with the RAZR: 1.9" 176×220 pixel...
Sep 04 2005 - 01:13 PM ET | In The News
Most US carriers have made it easy for subscribers to donate to the Red Cross for hurricane Katrina relief: Cingular Wireless sent a text message to every subscriber asking if they would like to donate $1.99. Simply reply with yes...
Aug 31 2005 - 01:39 PM ET | In The News
Victims of hurricane Katrina have found communication tough--both wired and wireless phones are down for the most part, especially for long distance. Text messages have been the saving grace because they work with less signal than voice and the recipient...
US wireless carriers are scrambling to brace their networks as superstorm hurricane Katrina approahces. Rated a 5 out of 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Katrina packs winds of 175MPH. No matter where it hits, the storm is expected to cause...
Aug 26 2005 - 03:08 PM ET | In The News
US wireless carriers are now bidding on being able to provide coverage inside of New York City's subway system. The 10-year contract which covers 277 of the city's 468 stations is expected to bring in $50-100 million. Bids by carriers...
Both Nokia and Motorola saw market share gains according to research compiled by Gartner for the second quarter. Motorola's growth again outpaced its closest competitor, Samsung. Here is the latest data: CompanyQ2 2005Q2 2004ChangeNokia31.9%29.6%+2.3%Motorola17.9%15.7%+2.2%Samsung12.8%12.1%+0.7%LG6.5%6.1%+.4%Sony Ericsson6.2%6.6%-0.4%Siemens4.7%6.9%-2.2%Others20.0%23.0%-3.0% Motorola held its top position...
Aug 20 2005 - 02:47 AM ET | In The News
Universal Music Group will enter the MVNO race by partnering with SingleTouch Interactive. The MoveU Mobile phone will come packaged with pre-paid service from SingleTouch powered by the Sprint Nextel network. Interestingly, UMG will customize the phone for individual artists....
Aug 04 2005 - 03:49 PM ET | In The News
Educational company LeapFrog has announced plans to launch a mobile phone called that TicTalk that will be marketed for children ages six and up. LeapFrog will supply branding, the actual device is made by Enfora. The TicTalk joins a few...
Aug 02 2005 - 09:52 AM ET | In The News
According to the New York Times, a 27-year-old Briton accused of being apart of the bombing attack on July 21 was arrested in Rome Friday thanks to being tracked by his mobile phone. bq. The Italian police determined that Mr....
Jul 28 2005 - 12:22 PM ET | In The News
The FCC has posted approval documents (FCC ID NM8WZ) for a new Windows Mobile device from HTC that rumors call the Wizard. Features of the HTC Wizard include: * Windows Mobile 5.0 * WiFi * 320x240 touch screen * Megapixeal...
Jul 22 2005 - 01:29 AM ET | In The News
The Department of Consumer Affairs in New York City has filed a lawsuit againt Sprint, T-Mobile and Nextel for "deceptive advertising." bq. "You can't promise a great deal in the headline and hide the true costs in the fine print,"...
Jul 19 2005 - 07:32 PM ET | In The News
A new report from research group Gartner says sales of mobile phones could hit over one billion units annually by 2009. The revised estimate for the current year is 779 million units. The Asian Pacific market will play a large...
Jul 12 2005 - 02:19 PM ET | In The News
Rumors are flying through Wallstreet that mobile game leader Jamdat may be on the auction block. Gaming giant Electronic Arts is said to be the buyer. Jamdat's stock (JMDT) rose over 9% in trading yesterday on the news. bq. "Reports...
Jul 07 2005 - 10:10 AM ET | In The News
Early this morning, during the height of rush hour, London's mass transit was bombed in what appears to be a coordinated terrorist attack. The BBC is reporting that mobile networks inside London have been operating at peak capacity since the...
Jul 06 2005 - 02:54 PM ET | In The News
ALLTEL has gotten approval from the Justice Department for a merger with fellow rural carrier Western Wireless. Under the agreement, Alltel will divest 16 markets in Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska now owned and operated by Western Wireless. The company also...
Jun 26 2005 - 07:34 PM ET | In The News
JavaOne, an industry conference put on by Sun Microsystems, begins in San Francisco tomorrow. Nokia is a major sponsor and has a few speakers at the event. Motorola and Siemens are also sponsors (though due to Siemens' exit of the...
Jun 24 2005 - 08:25 PM ET | In The News
Three firms are in aquisition talks with Sendo according to Reuters. While not well known in the US, UK based Sendo makes several mobile phone models including the advanced X2. bq. "We're in discussions with three companies. As a matter...
British Telecom has launched a new hybrid telephony service dubbed Fusion that combines cellular service with Voice over IP technology. While the system doesn't use WiFi (which many believe will revolutionize telecom in the near future), it does allow for...
Musician Jimmy Buffet recently lost his Sony Ericsson phone, which although was returned, was missing its SIM card. Busboy Jason Martin was in possession of the phone when the Secret Service found it. Why the Secret Service? The phone's SIM...
Jun 03 2005 - 05:39 PM ET | In The News
At the BREW 2005 conference, Macromedia announced it is bringing Flash Mobile to the BREW platform. Having Flash on a phone allows developers to more easily build graphical applications. bq. "Macromedia's decision to provide Flash-based services for the BREW solution...
Jun 02 2005 - 12:28 PM ET | In The News
The Wall Street Journal has a piece today [paid subscription req.] on the rise of mobile phone only households, and how the percentage isn't growing as fast as once thought. The article cites things like wireline services being more reliable...
May 31 2005 - 12:34 PM ET | In The News
Several US Wireless carriers have announced their preparations for hurricane season are complete. Six hurricanes made landfall in the US last year, making it one of the worst seasons on record. Preparations for wireless carriers include network testing, preparing mobile...
May 31 2005 - 12:45 AM ET | In The News
The Wall Street Journal has a large piece in today's issue (humorously titled, "Why You Still Can't Hear Me now") on the sometimes unpredictable wireless reception common in the US. The article notes that despite recent spectrum buyouts and mergers,...
May 28 2005 - 03:32 PM ET | In The News
The long running debate of whether cellular phones should be allowed on aircraft is still raging, now CTIA is urging for more research to make sure airborne networks don't interfere with existing terrestrial networks: bq. Steve Largent, President and CEO...
May 27 2005 - 02:42 PM ET | In The News
Gartner says sales of mobile handsets are above expectations and as such revised the sales outlook for 2005. The first quarter saw sales of 180.6 million units, compared to 153.7 million in the year ago quarter. Total projected sales for...
May 27 2005 - 01:47 PM ET | In The News
Wired News reporter Joanna Glasner wrote today about the slow adoption of WiFi capable mobile phones by wireless carriers. Because phones with WiFi would in theory be able to make nearly free calls over VoIP, thus bypassing expensive wireless airtime,...
May 23 2005 - 12:40 AM ET | In The News
Today's Wall Street Journal argues that music oriented mobile phones may not be "iPod killers" like Bill Gates and others are saying. Quoting the article: bq. IPods are superb examples of design -- navigating between thousands of songs is only...
May 23 2005 - 12:00 AM ET | In The News
Pre-paid mobile phone service (aka pay-as-you-go), is currently facing legal trouble in the form of patent infringement lawsuits from Freedom Wireless. Freedom Wireless sued Boston Communications Group, a firm that provides services to many large carriers that provide pre-paid service....
May 18 2005 - 08:19 PM ET | In The News
The total number of mobile phone subscribers has cruised north of 1.8 billion according to research released today by Informa Telecoms & Media. According to the report, the number will swell to 2.14 billion by the end of 2005. Previous...
May 17 2005 - 03:50 PM ET | In The News
JAMDAT Mobile has signed a multiyear license with id Software for exlusive rights to DOOM mobile. DOOM, one of the most popular games of all time, will be published by JAMDAT under the name DOOM RPG. The deal also covers...
May 16 2005 - 03:45 PM ET | In The News
Ken Belson writes in the New York Times about a little known practice some cities are using to balance the budget--imposing stiff wireless taxes. It's no secret that wireless service is heavily taxed (CTIA says an average of 17%), but...
May 12 2005 - 01:09 PM ET | In The News
Microsoft founder Bill Gates told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he sees mobile phones overtaking the iPod as the top portable music player. Of course, Mr. Gates sees Windows Mobile 5.0 as a major reason phones will win out....
May 05 2005 - 04:42 PM ET | In The News
Western Europe is on pace to have a 100% mobile phone penetration rate in 2007 according to research firm Analysys. For comparison, the US is expected to have 65% penetration by the end of the year. Many countries already have...
Apr 29 2005 - 03:31 PM ET | In The News
Australian researchers are preparing a study that will use mobile phones to help monitor adolescent depression and suicidal factors. bq. Under the program, teenagers download specially-designed software on their mobile phones which asks a series of questions twice a day...
Apr 22 2005 - 03:55 PM ET | In The News
Today, April 22nd, is Earth day. There's no better time to dig out that old mobile phone that you no longer use and give it to a recycling company. There are several organizations that make it simple: * RecycleMyCellphone.org *...
Apr 21 2005 - 01:14 AM ET | In The News
By buying rival Blue Lava Wireless, Jamdat Mobile has secured the rights to selling Tetris. Not only is Tetris one of the world's most well known games, it's well suited for play on mobile phones. The cash and stock deal...
Apr 15 2005 - 12:31 PM ET | In The News
It's April 15th, the last day US tax returns can be post marked, but income tax isn't everything. CTIA notes that the average tax rate on wireless service in the US is 17%. In some states, like Florida and New...
Apr 12 2005 - 10:26 PM ET | In The News
USA Today ran a lengthy piece today about Macromedia's mobile version of Flash. The techology isn't new, earlier this year Nokia announced plans to ship a version of Flash on upcoming Series 60 phones, but this year could be the...
Apr 11 2005 - 04:03 PM ET | In The News
MarketWatch has an interesting article on the state of mobile 3D games. With VCast as a distribution method, Verizon Wireless has created a steady income stream by selling 3D titles. With prices up to $8 per game, gaming is a...
Apr 08 2005 - 01:58 PM ET | In The News
Though not a big shock, a recent survey has found that most fliers do not want mobile phones allowed during flight. We've reported on this story several times in the past, including that the FCC and FAA are currently investigating...
Apr 01 2005 - 09:17 PM ET | In The News
Investor's Business Daily has an article about the future growth of GSM and third world nations. GSM has the advantage because the handsets are cheaper. Motorola and Hop-On have been courting these emerging markets with phones under $40. bq. The...
Mar 29 2005 - 01:09 AM ET | In The News
Cingular Wireless led in FCC complaints per 100,000 customers according to recently released data published today [paid subscription req.] in the Wall Street Journal. It has been nearly a year since we have published complaint data. Complaints to the FCC...
Mar 23 2005 - 11:33 AM ET | In The News
Ericsson has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sendo. Suits were filed against Sendo in Britain (Sendo's home country), Germany and the Netherlands. Ericsson is claiming Sendo is using patented GSM and GPRS technologies without a license: bq. "We believe...
Mar 16 2005 - 06:50 PM ET | In The News
CTIA 2005 -- While at the CTIA 2005 conference in New Orleans, MobileTracker met with two smaller companies that have interesting ideas: Orative and DataWind (maker of the PocketSurfer). Both companies are after emerging markets with big potential, especially Orative....
Mar 14 2005 - 10:22 PM ET | In The News
CTIA 2005 -- The CTIA 2005 Fashion In Motion show was a welcome treat to tired show attendees this afternoon. It offered a place to sit down, highlights of neat wearable gadgets, and of course beautiful models to put the...
Mar 14 2005 - 03:26 PM ET | In The News
CTIA 2005 -- SanDisk and the SD Card Association today jointly announced that microSD is in the final stages of approval to become a memory standard. SanDisk will stop marketing TransFlash once microSD is finalized since microSD is backwards and...
Mar 09 2005 - 03:34 PM ET | In The News
A mobile startup called Firefly Mobile today announced plans to market a cell phone to children. The Firefly Mobile Phone is targeted at kids 8-12 years old. The device itself is smaller than most mobile phones, to accompany kids' smaller...
Mar 08 2005 - 01:07 AM ET | In The News
Hop-on, a mobile phone maker targeting emerging markets, will introduce the 1813 at CTIA next week. While the feature set is sparce, the price tag is only $36. Hop-on will market this phone to India. Features of the 1813 include:...
Mar 04 2005 - 01:36 PM ET | In The News
Internet giant Yahoo! announced today that the company has launched a studio dedicated to creating games for mobile phones. Yahoo Games Studio currently has an agreement with Verizon Wireless and is looking to expand to other carriers. Yahoo has been...
Mar 02 2005 - 03:12 PM ET | In The News
Motorola has toppled Samsung to become the second largest mobile phone manufacturer. In a report by research group Gartner, the data shows a net gain for Motorola and a net loss for Samsung. Siemens and LG also switched. Sony Ericsson...
Feb 17 2005 - 03:33 PM ET | In The News
An article in today's Wall Street Journal talks about the heat prepaid mobile phone services are taking for the high rate of criminal use. Since many these phones can't be tracked (pay in cash for the phone and minutes), they...
Feb 17 2005 - 03:07 PM ET | In The News
Our friends at PhoneScoop have posted photos and coverage from 3GSM World Congress 2005. Lots of neat 3G phones are pictured, as well as the new offerings from Motorola that we're likely to see (SLVR V8 and PEBL)....
Feb 16 2005 - 12:47 AM ET | In The News
Airbus has signed a deal with OnAir that will allow it to offer cell phone access inside the new A380 super jumbo aircraft. Airlines will be given the option. Currently cell phones are not allowed to be used on US...
Feb 15 2005 - 11:17 PM ET | In The News
FCC Auction 58 ended today after 91 rounds of bidding and a total of $2.25 billion in bids. Insiders predicted the spectrum licenses to sell for between $3 billion and $3.5 billion. The smaller total is being blamed on the...
Feb 15 2005 - 01:57 PM ET | In The News
3GSM World Congress -- Music has been a major theme at this year's 3GSM conference: * Sony Ericsson announced a line of Walkman phones will make their appearance soon. * Nokia teamed up with Microsoft to assure that digital rights...
Feb 12 2005 - 02:57 PM ET | In The News
College dorms could soon be wireless-only territory, MSNBC is reporting that manoy dormatories are phasing out wired phone service. bq. This transformation of campus culture--cell phones keeping students closely tied to friends and family, making social life fluid, even intruding...
Feb 11 2005 - 04:06 PM ET | In The News
Monday marks the start of 3GSM World Congress 2005, which is looking to be a great show for new mobile phone handsets. The expo is held in Cannes, so news of announcements should come in the early morning hours for...
Feb 08 2005 - 12:55 PM ET | In The News
With Valentines day less than a week away, mobile services are busy trying to find love... and money. Sprint has announced access to two mobile dating services: SMS.ac and Match.com Mobile. Both services allow users to hook up, most often...
Feb 07 2005 - 10:42 PM ET | In The News
The FCC today posted a list containing internet domain names that have sent spam to mobile phones. The sites have 30 days to comply to anti-spam rules before facing fines through CAN-SPAM. The domains were submitted to the FCC by...
Feb 01 2005 - 03:09 PM ET | In The News
A new study published in the new issue of Human Factors covers the affect of cell phones on drivers. bq. “If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as...
Feb 01 2005 - 01:58 PM ET | In The News
Metro PCS is still the leading bidder in FCC spectrum Auction 58. 35 companies are bidding for 242 wireless spectrum licenses over such valuable turf as LA and Denver. 18 rounds of bidding have finished so far, but the auction...
Jan 28 2005 - 01:18 PM ET | In The News
Research firm IDC reported yesterday that fourth quarter mobile phone sales were up 24% over the same quarter last year. A total of 194.3 million units were sold in the quarter and 664.5 million were sold in all of 2004....
Jan 27 2005 - 08:42 PM ET | In The News
FCC Auction 58 saw furious rounds of bidding today by wireless companies seeking new spectrum. Over $1.3 billion was promised for the 242 wireless spectrum licenses. Big spenders include (in order): Metro PCS, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless....
Jan 24 2005 - 03:59 PM ET | In The News
In what may be a sign of times to come, Twentieth Century Fox has signed a deal with Sorrent to make mobile phone games to hype movie launches. Sorrent will be the exclusive publisher of mobile games and content for...
Jan 18 2005 - 11:49 AM ET | In The News
Industry research group Deloitte & Touche is predicting the global number of mobile phone users will top 2 billion in 2005. It's currently above 1.5 billion. Most of the new subscribers will come out of developing markets in Asia and...
Jan 12 2005 - 12:44 AM ET | In The News
The FCC has announced that 35 bidders have qualified to participate in a January 26th auction of wireless spectrum. While the action starts on the 26th, it may take a bit of time before the dust settles--bidding will end once...
Jan 10 2005 - 01:26 AM ET | In The News
The Wall Street Journal is reporting [paid subscription req.] that Alltel has agreed to purchase Western Wireless for $4 billion. Information about this deal was first leaked last week. bq. Alltel Corp., the country's sixth-biggest cellular service operator, is expected...
Jan 06 2005 - 02:32 AM ET | In The News
With national carriers already consolidated, merger mania has moved onto regional co's--the New York Times is reporting that Alltel is planning to purchase Western Wireless for $4 billion. According to sources "Close to the talks," the deal is not yet...
Jan 03 2005 - 12:30 PM ET | In The News
Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile, is reportedly in talks with Stelios Haji-Ioannou over creating a cheap mobile carrier for Germany. Stelios Haji-Ioannou is the creator of EasyJet (a no-frills airline in Europe) and other budget-priced businesses. The interesting part...
Jan 03 2005 - 12:24 PM ET | In The News
Analysts at Merrill Lynch have kept buy ratings for two US based publically traded wireless carriers: Sprint and Alltel. bq. For 2005, we are raising our estimate for US wireless industry net additions from 16 million to 17 million, for...
Dec 29 2004 - 08:40 PM ET | In The News
US wireless carriers are working to add more network capacity around Washington D.C. in preparation for the Presidential Inauguration. New to this Inauguration is widespread use of camera phones--analysts expect lots of MMS messages to be flying out of the...
Dec 29 2004 - 05:45 PM ET | In The News
The FCC may auction off more wireless spectrum intended for 3G access as early as 2006. bq. The bands to be auctioned include 1710-1755 Megahertz and 2110-2155 MHz. The agency said it would try to sell licenses for airwaves in...
Dec 28 2004 - 02:06 PM ET | In The News
Ericsson has inked a contract to provide the indoor network for the world's tallest building--Taipei 101. The building got lots of press last weekend due to famed French free climber Alain Robert scaling all 101 floors. Such a large building...
Dec 27 2004 - 12:36 PM ET | In The News
You can put in your nomination for the cell phone of the year in the first annual Engadget awards. There were a ton of new cell phones this year, so it's a wide open game. According to the rules, the...
Dec 20 2004 - 05:33 PM ET | In The News
A new study out says that radiation from mobile phones harms DNA. There are many studies on both sides of the issue, but as the industry continues to grow the findings (especially negative findings) are becoming more and more newsworthy:...
Dec 15 2004 - 02:36 PM ET | In The News
There are several recent reports attempting to predict sales figures for cell phones for the next year. Most agree that while sales will continue to grow, the growth will be at a slower pace. A Japanese research group says demand...
Dec 12 2004 - 10:47 PM ET | In The News
Samsung today announced the MMCmicro, a new low-power MMC card that is 1/3 the size of today's MMC cards. The MMCmicro is only 12x14x1.1mm or slightly smaller than TransFlash, a mini memory format Motorola has been backing lately. Initially, the...
Dec 10 2004 - 05:16 PM ET | In The News
A report out yesterday from the International Telecommunication Union says that mobile phone users have doubled since the year 2000. Besides outpacing the growth of fixed line phone service, new mobile phone users are also growing more quickly than new...
Dec 10 2004 - 01:36 PM ET | In The News
The FCC will begin considering rules that would end the official ban on cellphone use on commercial airline flights in the US. This will be a controversial decision--airplanes are one of the last cell phone free zones. If the current...
For the most part, MobileTracker has stayed out of the "Will Apple release a cell phone?" battle because the rumors are unsubstantiated, but today a music big shot went on record saying mobile phones may take out the iPod--one of...
Dec 01 2004 - 02:33 PM ET | In The News
A report from research group Gartner shows global handset sales up 26% for Q3 2004. Total sales reached 167 million mobile phones. However, the big news is a change in market share: Samsung edged out Motorola. Despite hot phones like...
Nov 28 2004 - 11:08 PM ET | In The News
In case you missed something in the past week, here are all the big stories: (In chronological order) * The Motorola V260 shipped on Verizon Wireless * Deal: Motorola RAZR V3 for $369.99 * Cingular plans to cut 10%...
Nov 22 2004 - 11:49 AM ET | In The News
Tegic Communications has released version 7.2 of its T9 predictive text software that is used on many mobile phones and PDAs. The update focuses on mutli-lingual capabilities, including easier switching between languages and the addition of three new langauges: Bengali,...
Nov 20 2004 - 04:00 PM ET | In The News
In case you missed something in the past week, here are all the big stories: (In chronological order) * The Motorola V551 was re-launched by Cingular * AT&T Wireless stores became Cingular Wireless stores * T-Mobile launched the Samsung P735...
Nov 13 2004 - 11:00 PM ET | In The News
In case you missed something in the past week, here are all the big stories: (In chronological order) * Sprint PPC-6601 started selling from business channel * Motorola looks to ship 20 new phones in Q4, 10 that we don't...
Nov 12 2004 - 04:43 PM ET | In The News
According to a report from the research group IDC, sales of mobile phones surged nearly 25% in 2004. In the third quarter 164.1 million phones were sold. The market share battle is still fierce: * Market leader Nokia moved back...
USA Today's Life section Snapshot focuses on mobile communication technology today: Percentage of people in the USA who have used wireless devices (cellphones, laptops or PDAs) to access the Internet, send e-mail or text messages while: * 22% - In...
Nov 08 2004 - 02:48 PM ET | In The News
According to India's government, mobile phones now outnumber landlines in the nation. There are over 44 million cell phone users in India, compared to 43 million land lines. India is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world,...
Nov 06 2004 - 06:07 PM ET | In The News
In case you missed something in the past week, here are all the big stories: (In chronological order) * The Motorola RAZR V3 launched on Cingular... Only to be removed--it should reappear on the 15th. * The Nokia 7710 was...
Nov 05 2004 - 08:43 PM ET | In The News
The US Navy has signed a five-year $100 million cellular service contract. It's one of the largest ever and still has the possibility for larger contracts in the future. Cingular Wireless, Nextel Comunications and Verizon Wireless were all in on...
Nov 05 2004 - 04:28 PM ET | In The News
A study by Harris Interactive found that 13% of adults have changed their wireless provider during the last 12 months. Another 13% are likely to do so in the next year while another 23% are looking into it. Only one...
Oct 29 2004 - 02:44 PM ET | In The News
McDonalds has teamed up with JAMDAT Mobile to provide free mobile phone games as prizes in the latest McDonalds instant win game. Three titles for mobiles are being given away: # Bowling # SPORTS Golf 2004 # Solitaire The availability...
Oct 28 2004 - 01:28 PM ET | In The News
SecurityFocus notes that a company called Camophone has launched a service open to the public that allows caller ID to be spoofed. It costs 5¢ a minute and is available to anyone with a PayPal account. There are obvious privacy...
Oct 25 2004 - 03:31 PM ET | In The News
CTIA, the Wireless Association, today announced at its IT conference that the number of wireless subscribers in the US increased 14.5% during twelve-month period ending June 2004. Total subscribership is now estimated to be more than 170 million. Networks are...
Sources close to the situation believe the FCC will announce approval for Cingular's $41 billion takeover of AT&T Wireless tomorrow. The vote has already taken place and the deal was approved with the expected concessions: bq. To satisfy the antitrust...
Oct 23 2004 - 12:54 PM ET | In The News
Due to popular demand, we're going to start highlighting the biggeset stories of the week on Saturday's. If you've missed something, here's your chance to catch up. Posted in chronological order (oldest posts first). * Motorola MPx 220 went on...
Oct 22 2004 - 11:56 AM ET | In The News
The Register is reporting on a security flaw in mobile Java that could allow hackers to gain control of users' mobile phones. This is one of the first major security problems for a large number of mobile phones. bq. Exploits...
Oct 22 2004 - 11:51 AM ET | In The News
Ericsson said in its quarterly financial statement that it sees the growth of the cell phone market slowing during 2005. The announcement sent shares of Ericsson down, despite positive earnings news. bq. Booming mobile subscriber growth, which will see a...
Oct 19 2004 - 03:18 PM ET | In The News
A German has set the record for throwing a mobile phone the farthest distance. We mentioned a similar competition back in July 2003, but this year's contest set a record--67.5 meters (221 feet). The previous record was 65.8 meters, set...
Oct 17 2004 - 05:15 PM ET | In The News
The Associated Press has an article about churches and other generally quite places around the world installing cell phone jamming equipment to keep areas quite. Though the article didn't mention any locations in the US (where such equipment is illegal...
Oct 14 2004 - 01:58 AM ET | In The News
While the experts go back and forth on this topic, a new study out of Sweden says that extended mobile phone use increases the likelyhood of developing a certain type of tumor: bq. Ten or more years of mobile phone...
Oct 11 2004 - 02:25 PM ET | In The News
The AP has an article about the French goverment approving use of cell phone jamming equipment in certain locations. However, the jammers cannot block emergency calls (how this will be accomplished was not noted): bq. The government's industry minister has...
Oct 11 2004 - 02:44 AM ET | In The News
The New York Times has a piece today about the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) objecting to US cellular carriers' marketing towards senior citizens. The industry is looking towards people over 65 as the last untapped market. The AARP...
Oct 07 2004 - 03:01 PM ET | In The News
IEEE is going to take on the challenge of creating standards for lithium-ion mobile phone batteries. bq. The new standard will seek to make cellular phone batteries more robust by setting uniform criteria for their design, production and evaluation. It...
Oct 01 2004 - 01:28 PM ET | In The News
Zi's eZiText predictive text system is now compatible with Series 60 mobile phones. With this Series 60 Platform announcement, Zi is now pre-integrated on all the major operating system platforms for mobile phones. eZiText tries to one up other predictive...
Sep 28 2004 - 02:10 AM ET | In The News
The Washington Post has an article today about a woman who was arrested in a DC metro station for a loud cellphone conversation. To make the story even more strange, the woman was 5-months pregnant! bq. The police officer told...
Sep 27 2004 - 11:02 AM ET | In The News
Wacom today announced that its popular wireless pen technology is coming to mobile phones. Wacom is known for making tablets that allow graphic artists to gain more control over their cursor--these tablets use wireless tools that do not need batteries...
Sep 23 2004 - 12:07 AM ET | In The News
Today's Wall Street Journal has a piece [Paid subscription req.] about old unused cellphones stacking up in record numbers. While there is no way to get ahold of the actual numbers, the estimates are eye-popping: bq. An astounding 100 million...
Sep 22 2004 - 01:15 PM ET | In The News
PhoneScoop attended a media event in New York City this week where mobile phone makers showed off their holiday 2004 lineup. We've covered most of the phones pictured already, but it's great to see non-promo photos (you can see how...
Sep 14 2004 - 04:39 PM ET | In The News
Cell phone carriers are once again preparing for a hurricane--this time in multiple states. While initial projections put Ivan on the battered Gulf Coast of Florida, forecasters are now predicting that the strong category 4 storm will slam into the...
Sep 09 2004 - 07:58 PM ET | In The News
The NY Times has an article about old 'brick' style cellular phones catching a geek-chic wave. Quoted in the article is Eugene Auh, a proud owner of a Motorola DynaTac. It did not explain how Mr. Auh plans to use...
Sep 09 2004 - 04:01 PM ET | In The News
The FCC today announced a new auction for 3G spectrum space in the US. The 20 MHz of spectrum should be sold within 15 months. bq. It [the FCC] started the process to make paired, five megahertz blocks of spectrum...
Sep 07 2004 - 03:15 AM ET | In The News
Hurricane Frances left millions of Floridians without power and thousands without homes, but cellular carriers tried hard to make sure cell phone service was not on the list of losses. Verizon Wireless sent in dozens of COWs (cells on wheels)...
Sep 03 2004 - 11:39 AM ET | In The News
According to a new report from researchers at Gartner, cell phone sales have seen a recent growth in sales. During the last quarter, "worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 156.4 million units, up 35 percent from unit sales posted a year...
Sep 03 2004 - 11:13 AM ET | In The News
Many national cell phone carriers have announced their plans for hurricane Frances, the latest storm to threaten Florida. Here's direct links to each carrier's press release: * Cingular * Nextel * Sprint PCS * Verizon Wireless Furthermore, T-Mobile USA announced...
Aug 23 2004 - 01:35 PM ET | In The News
Texas Instruments has announced a new Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that encodes and decodes H.264 video (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10) in real time. While most consumers do not yet no what H.264 is, Apple Computer is trying to...
Aug 20 2004 - 08:22 PM ET | In The News
A new study by J.D. Power and Associates found that the worst cell phone reception in the US is centered in the Northeast. Over 21,000 wireless users were surveyed for the report. Interestingly enough, geographic location played a big role...
Aug 18 2004 - 08:43 PM ET | In The News
A Dow Jones Wire [Subscription only] story notes that while most handset makers see a slight rise in prices for handsets, market share leader Nokia will continue to make cuts that will force prices down across the board. Prices on...
Aug 10 2004 - 04:43 PM ET | In The News
Apple Computer has updated its iSync software to version 1.5. The new version adds support for new mobile phones from Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Sendo. No list of newly supported handsets was announced, but MobileTracker has obtained a full list...
Aug 05 2004 - 01:20 PM ET | In The News
A new study on moible phone usage patterns was released today--78% of wireless minutes remain unused. Also revealed in the study was that the average wireless household pays $17.75 more than the cost of their monthly rate plan (taxes, fees...
Aug 05 2004 - 01:00 AM ET | In The News
The FCC has taken steps [PDF] to prevent mobile spam. The FCC first hinted at this back in March. bq. The Commission adopted a general prohibition on sending commercial messages to any address referencing an Internet domain associated with wireless...
Jul 16 2004 - 02:23 PM ET | In The News
NTT DoCoMo has arranged to set up its 3G FOMA service in Athens for its customers that travel for the Olympics. This is the first we have heard of a carrier putting up a network in another country for a...
Jun 28 2004 - 11:31 AM ET | In The News
Hungarian scientists are saying that mobile phones may damage men's sperm. Fertility experts don't buy into the research which says that carrying a mobile in hip pockets or a holster on the waist could cut sperm count by nearly 30...
Jun 17 2004 - 03:47 PM ET | In The News
The New York Times is running [free registration req.] a piece today about 3D gaming on mobile phones. Included in the article are two screenshots of the upcoming Spider Man game for N-Gage. We reported on this title back in...
Jun 15 2004 - 04:25 PM ET | In The News
Reuters is running a story about Mini HDD, a technology that could bring large amounts of storage to mobile phones. Miniature hard disk drives could power phones with gigabytes of storage--enough space to store 1,000 songs. It's the same tech...
Philips Semiconductor today announced, "Separate, integrated single-package WiFi and Bluetooth chips for smart phones and portable devices." The hope is that phone makers will be able to add in both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth much more cheaply. Volume pricing for the...
Jun 11 2004 - 04:26 PM ET | In The News
The FCC has approved a plan to reconfigure wireless spectrum for wireless-mobile broadband. It rejected a plan to allow the sale of educational spectrum space to commercial interests. Under the new plan education organizations are allowed to lease spectrum to...
Jun 08 2004 - 01:10 AM ET | In The News
A lawsuit for handset locking was filed against three major US wireless carriers. AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile USA and Cingular Wireless are being sued by The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. The full complaint can be read here [PDF]. Here...
Jun 04 2004 - 11:27 AM ET | In The News
North Korea has started recalling cellphones from citizens in an attempt to curb "foreign culture". Mobile phones were introduced in the country about a year and a half ago. There is not much more known on the story....
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...
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 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 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 - 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 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 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 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...
Apr 26 2004 - 09:22 AM ET | In The News
Teens were at one time not a part of cellular carrier marketing, but are quickly becoming a cash cow--to the tune of $21 billion in revenue in 2004. More profit can be made off younger users because they are more...
Apr 22 2004 - 02:02 PM ET | In The News
Nextel Communications announced a Q1 2004 profit of $591 million, nearly triple that of the same quarter last year. The company added 474,000 subscribers in the quarter. Nextel's bread and butter, average monthly revenue per subscriber, sat at an impressive...
Apr 13 2004 - 10:26 PM ET | In The News
Our friends at PhoneScoop note that a new standard for EV-DO (cleverly named CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A) adds support for video calling. Also new to the update is an increased upload speed (now 1.8 Mbps at peak). Verizon Wireless is...
Apr 12 2004 - 10:58 AM ET | In The News
Chip maker Intel is showing off a new chip aimed to power high-end mobile phones and PDA's. The XScale processor is savvy with wireless communications, and has a lower power consumption than the chips being used today. Intel hopes to...
Apr 07 2004 - 11:54 PM ET | In The News
The Consumers Union has started a campaign to stop the common practice of locking cellphones to a carrier. The group is asking the FCC to use it's might to help consumers by allowing carrier changes without needing a new phone....
Apr 06 2004 - 09:17 PM ET | In The News
New Scientist is reporting that Swedish physicists believe the type of radiation given off by cellular phones causes damage to red blood cells. However, the finding seems to be all hype: bq. Experts cautioned that the finding was theoretical and...
Apr 01 2004 - 08:09 PM ET | In The News
Forbes has a piece on a new technology aimed at finding cell phone theives--at least the ones that are silly enough to use the phone shortly after lifting it. bq. " Why not start with embarrassing the thief? Anytime a...
Mar 30 2004 - 03:36 PM ET | In The News
Breaking news from French mega-carrier Orange: CEO Solomon Trujillo has stepped down after only 15 months on the job. The new CEO will be current COO Sanjiv Ahuja. More from the BBC....
Swedish 3G carrier '3' will offer free in-network calls and data transfer. The move is an attempt to gain market share bq. "The offer is available for existing and future subscribers who sign up for services starting at 99 Swedish...
Mar 26 2004 - 10:15 AM ET | In The News
Alcatel, a French telecommunications equipment maker, and US based sillicon giant Intel announced an agreement to try and make WiMAX compete with GSM and 3G. The two companies hope to have something out to market in the second half of...
Mar 26 2004 - 10:06 AM ET | In The News
According to a new study by Gartner, 90% of mobile devices lack protection from hackers. This was most recently shwon by the "bluejacking" phenomenon, though that was largely harmless. bq. The most commonplace scenario occurs when a user accidentally loses...
Mar 24 2004 - 12:30 PM ET | In The News
Japan's six major television networks announced an agreement that could bring high-quality digital signals to mobile phones in 2006. The networks are: * Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) * TBS * NTV * TV Asahi * Fuji TV * TV Tokyo...
Mar 22 2004 - 11:09 AM ET | In The News
SplashData announced that its popular SplashID program is now available for Symbian devices like the Sony Ericsson P900 and Nokia's Series 60 devices. SplashID is very popular on the PalmOS. bq. "[SplashID] securely maintains personal identification information on both the...
Mar 22 2004 - 11:03 AM ET | In The News
Last month chip maker Texas Instruments announced that it would announce later in the year a process to make its chips used in cell phones smaller. Well, now is that time: TI plans to move to a new manufacturing process...
Mar 22 2004 - 10:39 AM ET | In The News
Sierra Wireless has announced plans to ship a PC Card and GPS Modem for EDGE Network. AT&T Wireless currently runs the only US Nationwide EDGE network. Sony Ericsson has the corner on the market for PC cards. Look for the...
Mar 21 2004 - 04:33 PM ET | In The News
While geeks are looking forward to CTIA to bring new phones, it should also bring more simple devices. Reuters has a piece that states poweruser phones will be overshadowed by, "More pedestrian concerns like on-the-go convenience and fewer dropped calls."...
Mar 17 2004 - 11:37 AM ET | In The News
NEC today announced plans to bring out a new phone dubbed the n400i. It will be Europe's first fully compatible i-mode handset that will allow users to shoot and send video clips. Here are the notables: * Two 65,536 color...
Mar 15 2004 - 12:45 PM ET | In The News
A California based law firm is bringing a class action lawsuit against most US cell phone carriers for over charging customers for night and weekend use. The carriers being investigated are: AT&T Wireless, Verizon, Cingular, NEXTEL, Cellular one, Sprint, T...
Mar 12 2004 - 09:56 PM ET | In The News
Officials believe that yesterday's terrorist attack in Madrid was activated by multiple mobile phones. 10 bombs were stashed in sportsbags aboard various commuter trains, causing the death of nearly 200 people and injury of over a 1000. It was one...
Mar 11 2004 - 02:04 PM ET | In The News
Microsoft today announced that it is launching a mobile video platform called MobileVision. Microsoft said it is teaming up with both digital content and applications makers. bq. "The software, called MobileVision, is meant to provide a complete streaming-video services framework...
Mar 11 2004 - 11:03 AM ET | In The News
A top-level domain (TLD) dedicated to content for mobile devices has been talked about for a long time. However, yesterday that talk got a whole lot more serious-- Microsoft, Nokia, Vodafone, 3, GSM Association, HP, Orange, Samsung and Sun Microsystems...
Mar 11 2004 - 10:57 AM ET | In The News
While not full of new stuff, CeBit should still be some fun this year. It starts next week. Here's a preview, via Computer Weekly. * Vodafone is likely to launch the Sharp's GX30. Besides sporting a 262K color screen, Bluetooth...
Mar 07 2004 - 06:33 PM ET | In The News
China based dotcom companies are looking at multimedia messaging services (MMS) as the next big thing. MMS messages meld graphics, text, sound and even video into short messages that can be sent to most any modern cell phone. The firms...
Mar 06 2004 - 02:02 PM ET | In The News
A Southern California legislator is pushing for a ban on cell phones for drivers under 18. While it attempts to make the roads safer, this law sounds amazingly difficult to enforce. The first time someone gets pulled over and they...
Mar 05 2004 - 10:19 AM ET | In The News
India's wireless industry added a record 1.63 million customers last month. There are now 31.4 million customers in the world's second largest country. India is the fastest growing wireless market. Estimates put India at 100+ million users by 2005....
Feb 29 2004 - 11:15 PM ET | In The News
Qwest announced that it will start up nationwide cellular service Monday. While the service will be powered by the Sprint PCS wireless network, it's expected to increase already fierce competition in the US wireless sector. While the service will work...
Feb 26 2004 - 05:29 PM ET | In The News
PCWorld's Peter Sayer has a piece on a new memory card from SanDisk / Motorola that makes the miniSD seem big. bq. "At around.5 inches by.4 inches in size, the new cards are smaller than the current champion of miniaturization,...
Feb 25 2004 - 11:53 AM ET | In The News
Sendo launched two phones at 3GSM World Conference: the S600 and M570 MMS. Both phones are pretty advanced and deserve a closer look: S600 * 65K color display * VGA camera with 5x zoom * Enhanced MMS, "only five key...
Feb 24 2004 - 09:02 AM ET | In The News
Openwaved teamed up with Microsoft to build software that allows users access to their Hotmail and MSN Messenger accounts while on the go. It's not uncommon for AOL's AIM program to be installed on mobile phones, so this is a...
Nextel announced that it had a net increase of 553,000 subscribers in Q4 2003. The numbers are in line with predictions, and bring the final net increase of 2003 to 2.3 million new customers. Average monthly revenue per customer was...
Feb 17 2004 - 02:47 PM ET | In The News
Apple Computer updated its iSync software today. Version 1.4 brings support for the Nokia 6600, 3620, 3660 and Siemens SX1. bq. "iSync now has calendar, contact, and to-do synchronization for the Nokia 6600, 3620, 3660 and Siemens SX1. With these...
Feb 17 2004 - 09:57 AM ET | In The News
Real Networks announced today that is has signed up 5 more carriers to use its mobile video software. This brings the company to 180 million new faces, and is a major win in its battle against Microsoft. Furthermore, the company...
Feb 16 2004 - 01:38 PM ET | In The News
With the talk of AT&T Wireless bids in the $38 billion price range, we thought some math was in order. According to the company, and the end of 2003, AT&T Wireless had 22 million customers. At a price of $38...
Feb 15 2004 - 10:51 PM ET | In The News
Cell phone chip making giant Texas Instruments announced that later this year it will unveil a single chip that can do multiple cell phone functions. The benefit to consumers is a 50% reduction in power consumption and board space. This...
Feb 12 2004 - 01:42 PM ET | In The News
A recent study by the Baskerville research company predicts that we'll have 2 billion mobile phone users by 2008. This means an increase of over 800 million users in the next 4 years. The report notes that most of the...
Feb 10 2004 - 01:26 PM ET | In The News
Nextel today launched the first NASCAR themed mobile phones. As part of its partnership with NASCAR, Nextel is selling 10 phones themed to different NASCAR drivers: * No. 2 Rusty Wallace * No. 6 Mark Martin * No. 8 Dale...
Feb 09 2004 - 10:58 PM ET | In The News
USA Today reports on the hottest new industry in Iraq--cell phones. Despite tough conditions, cellular phones are selling faster than business owners can import them. Everything from dime-a-dozen Nokia's to high-end Samsung camera phones are selling....
Nextel, the carrier most known for its push-to-talk services, is testing a highspeed data network in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. According to the company, speeds as high of 3 megabits can be experienced (more than twice the speed of a T1)....
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 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...
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 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 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 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 - 12:35 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 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...
Dec 29 2003 - 12:20 PM ET | In The News
The Boston Globe has a rather long piece on the possible mergers we'll see in 2004. The Cingular + AT&T Wireless deal we mentioned last week is included. Other possible mergers are: * Verizon Wireless + Sprint PCS * Cingular...
Dec 23 2003 - 11:48 AM ET | In The News
A federal appeals court today ruled that cell phone companies are free to offer whatever deals they want to consumers, even if some customer end up with better deals than others. Most companies allow sales staff to add in extra...
Dec 22 2003 - 12:13 PM ET | In The News
ScienceDaily News has a piece on the latest technology out of the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), ink-jet printed displays. The technique uses modified ink-jet printers to create flat panel displays. Besides cutting costs, the technology is expected to work...
Dec 18 2003 - 01:14 PM ET | In The News
Apple Computer has updated QuickTime, its popular media application. QuickTime 6.5 adds improved support for 3GPP [search], the mobile multimedia standard. According to the company, QuickTime 6.5 enables users to share high-quality video, audio and text across the two predominant...
Dec 09 2003 - 12:33 AM ET | In The News
The Observer notes some of the privacy risks that come with location based services on mobile phones. Select phones in the US already sport this feature--usually advertised for its use with 911 services. However, the technology has many more uses...
Dec 04 2003 - 04:46 PM ET | In The News
A bill in the US Senate aims to put a stop to the mobile industry's latest money making idea--a mobile phone number directory. Consumers have rapidly switched from home phones to cell phones, and do not miss public directories. The...
For various reasons worldwide shipments of cellular phones have surged, causing a squeeze on supply. Reasons for the brisk sales have varied from the Christmas season to improving economic conditions to cheaper hand sets. The latest estimates for sales this...
Dec 02 2003 - 07:45 AM ET | In The News
Airline America West has announced that it is starting to allow passengers to place cell phone calls after landing, while the plane is taxiing to the gate. Talking on the phone before a flight takes off is still a no-no....
Dec 01 2003 - 11:07 PM ET | In The News
The UK has joined others in banning the use of mobile phones without a hands free device while driving. First time offenders will be fined £30 while multiple offenders can be fined as much as £1000....
Nov 25 2003 - 08:52 PM ET | In The News
Yet another study has found that more and more US consumers are opting for cell phones over home phones. bq. "Nationwide, nearly one in thirty (3.5%) households with Home PCs have no phone line, up from 2.4% only one year...
Nov 24 2003 - 02:39 PM ET | In The News
Cellular News notes that a recent study found there are more mobile phones than land lines in China. The country has nearly 260 million mobile phones while only 255 million landlines. Along the same lines, by 2007 China is expected...
Nov 05 2003 - 08:17 AM ET | In The News
According to a recent IDC release, worldwide mobile phone shipments were up 21.2% for the 3rd quarter vs. the same quarter a year ago. The total number of phones shipped was an impressive 130 million. Here are the standings: *...
PalmSource is officially its own company as it today began to be traded on the NASDAQ exchange. You may remember that Palm split itself into two parts: PalmOne and PalmSource. PalmOne is the hardware company, while PalmSource is the software...
Oct 24 2003 - 05:28 PM ET | In The News
According to scientists, we're currently being hit with a pretty large solar storm, but communications devices are still holding strong. Airline communcation has been the worst hit, but cellular reception could take a dive. The storm isn't expected to last...
Oct 24 2003 - 01:06 PM ET | In The News
According to a study by Nikkei Market Access, sales of color screen phones are up an impressive 134% in 2003 (versus last year). Total volume should be around 209 million units. More information available at NE Asia....
Oct 24 2003 - 12:40 PM ET | In The News
Apple has released iSync 1.3, an update to its popular (but free) software to sync your Mac with mobile devices. The last update occcured only a few weeks ago, but version 1.3 still adds enough to warrent a download: *...
Japanese mega-carrier NTT DoCoMo has announced that it is partnering up with Network Associates to develop an antivirus engine for mobile phones. Network Associates is the company behind McAfee, which is a popular antivirus solution for PC's. The target date...
Oct 17 2003 - 05:27 PM ET | In The News
NewsFactor has posted an article on some new technology that looks to improve the reception on cellular phones. bq. "Advanced Technology Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, are developing three-dimensional switches and tiny fuel cells to improve the reception quality and extend...
Oct 08 2003 - 08:46 AM ET | In The News
Apple has updates its free iSync software. Version 1.2.1 supports Symbian powered mobile phones as well as the latest Bluetooth phones from Sony Ericsson (most notably the Z600)....
Nokia's highly-marketed-and-little-liked N-Gage gaming/cell gadget is going to officially be shipping tomorrow. Few people should be unaware of the N-Gage within a few weeks thanks to Nokia's $100 million marketing campaign dedicated solely to the N-Gage. The company also announced...
Sep 22 2003 - 01:53 PM ET | In The News
Cellular service fared much better during Isabel than during the '03 outage last month. Unlike the power outage, call volume on the East Coast during Isabel was below average (thanks to the evacuation) which allowed a smaller number of towers...
Sep 16 2003 - 10:14 PM ET | In The News
PhoneScoop has put together a page for TechXNY coverage. Right now the hot items are pictures of the Sony Ericsson Z600 and the Motorola MPx200. It should fill up with more content in the next few days....
Sep 12 2003 - 01:17 AM ET | In The News
A new company out of Britain says it found a way to block camera phones from taking pictures... This is different from typical "scramblers" because all of the other functions of the phone continue to work. As with seemingly all...
Sep 09 2003 - 01:36 PM ET | In The News
CTIA has finalized a code of conduct for cellular companies. It has already been adopted by many carriers, and even has a prominent spot on Cingular.com. Here's the gist of what carriers must do if they want to be able...
Last week we mentioned that Motorola's new A920 was going to be launched by 3... It just came out now that the phone is going to be locked to specific applications approved by 3. This really takes the "smart" out...
Sep 03 2003 - 07:58 AM ET | In The News
Salling Clicker 2.0 has been up released today by Salling Software. The new version adds support for Bluetooth enabled Palms and the Sony Ericsson T616. Also added to version 2.0 is advanced iTunes support (see progress of songs, and some...
Sep 02 2003 - 08:52 AM ET | In The News
NYC's cell phone ban for drivers has been ineffective for the most part. Thanks to cops not ticketing and people not caring, just as many people are talking behind the wheel as before. For those unfamiliar with the law, it...
Aug 31 2003 - 12:45 PM ET | In The News
Nextel is trying to bed with the big boys so it doesn't have to cut deals with local public safety agencies over its use of the 800MHz spectrum. You may recall when we noted the FCC is looking into the...
Aug 27 2003 - 12:45 AM ET | In The News
Thanks to the recent outages, senator Schumer is calling for an official policy/standard on power backups for cellular communications. He also wants companies to upgrade so they can handle more capacity (typically less than a quarter of its customers). Here's...
Here's another reason to not use a cell phone when you drive--it could catch fire. A woman in Amsterdam recently was treated for slight neck burns after her Nokia caught fire. Nokia of course blames all cases (yes, there has...
Just as we reported late last week, Nextel has filed suit against rival Verizon. The case stems of Verizon's brash use of "Push-To-Talk" to describe its new walkie-talkie like service. Verizon claims that the phrase "Push-To-Talk" is common enough to...
Aug 21 2003 - 11:18 AM ET | In The News
Around 2.68 million handsets based on Symbian technology shipped during the first half of the year, up more than 1000% from the 230,000 that shipped in the first half of 2002. These are the numbers straight from the company, but...
After losing its reign on Push-To-Talk (PTT), Nextel has found another way to make its service stand out--coverage inside your building. They have partnered with a company called RadioFrame to basically build base stations that are small cell towers AND...
Aug 19 2003 - 12:34 PM ET | In The News
Although it has failed for the most part to make inroads in US and Euro sales, Microsoft is trumpeting its mobile technology. Its inked a deal with Dopod (a Chinese handset maker) to sell a phone using the latest version...
Millions of people are looking forward to November 24th--US carriers won't be able to lock your phone number. It hasn't come freely though... You've been paying for it since Q2 of this year. It varies by carrier, but it is...
The rumor was true--Palm Inc. will rename itself to palmOne. This all has to do with the spinoff of the OS side of the company (partners like Sony want to make sure Palm has no advantage in making hardware, and...
Aug 17 2003 - 11:09 PM ET | In The News
An article in the Washington Post states that interference from cell phones is causing trouble with emergency radio services (police and fire). Reports of officers calling for backup only to not be heard because of wireless interference are surfacing. bq....
Aug 15 2003 - 03:03 PM ET | In The News
A massive power outage in the North East region of North America caused millions of people to turn to their cellphones, and then turn to their home phones. Between towers being powerless, and the few powered towers being overwhelmed at...
Aug 12 2003 - 07:06 PM ET | In The News
According to the latest reports, the number of new cellphones shipped in Japan has increased for the 8th straight month. This June, Japan saw nearly 5 million new handsets (up some 19% from a year ago). The growth is attributed...
If Bluetooth is to slow for you, read up on ultrawideband (UWB). It's not new (originally developed by the US military back in the 60's) but due to the falling cost of chips, it's getting cheap. It boasts speeds of...
Aug 10 2003 - 06:25 PM ET | In The News
If you're looking to get a phone, this is a great time to start looking. Wireless co's are beefing up customer service, giving away decent phones, and actually trying to not piss you off. Why the sudden change? Number portability....
Palm announced today that the waiting period for a U.S. Justice Department review of its proposed acquisition of rival Handspring has expired. This moves the two companies one more step closer to closing the deal which is valued at $200...
Aug 06 2003 - 04:51 PM ET | In The News
The number of cell phone users worldwide will rise twofold in the next few years, but there will still be a dramatic slowdown in growth, according to a new study. Not a major revelation, but a worthwhile read....
Aug 05 2003 - 02:56 PM ET | In The News
Wired has an AP article on something most people already knew--the amount of people who have had enough of landlines. According to the article, there are "as many as 7.5 million Americans who have "cut the cord" and gone solo...
Jul 29 2003 - 01:29 AM ET | In The News
The woman behind most of the voice-mail systems has died according to the NY Post. Jane Barbe could only be named by a few, but was heard by 40 million people a day for over 10 years....
Jul 23 2003 - 07:04 PM ET | In The News
AT&T Wireless posted a profit for Q2 2003 due to higher revenues and stronger-than-expected subscriber growth. They added 446,000 new customers in the quarter--a nice increase over the expected 313,000. Q4 will be the most interesting of the year though,...
Jul 23 2003 - 02:50 PM ET | In The News
NEC is teaming up with AT&T Wireless to bring the 515 High Definition Mobile handset to the states. It's the world's first quad-band GSM phone, and also includes goodies like a 64,000 color display and dual-processors. Look for it July...
Jul 22 2003 - 11:27 PM ET | In The News
July has been deemed National Cell Phone Courtesy Month, but it's not quite clear by who. Jacqueline Whitmore, cell phone etiquette spokesperson for Sprint, stated that personal conversations overheard in public is the most frequent cell phone related complaint she...
Jul 21 2003 - 02:28 PM ET | In The News
AT&T has started to offer shared plans similar to Verizon's Freedom package. AT&T One aims to simplify life for consumers, but according to C|Net usually combo plans confuse consumers. The plans have been introduced in select markets (Tampa, Florida and...
Jul 18 2003 - 11:12 AM ET | In The News
Word on the street is that the carriers are preparing for a slowdown... T-Mobile must not have gotten the message. Other carriers are spending less on their networks this year, mostly because sales of handsets are slipping....
Jul 14 2003 - 09:03 PM ET | In The News
According to a recent New York Times article, the adoption of WiFi is out pacing cell phones. This isn't very surprising as it's a much newer technology, but it's still interesting. The bit about cell phones is located on page...
Jul 14 2003 - 11:57 AM ET | In The News
Wired News is running a story about AirCell, a new company that is trying to patent a technology that allows passengers use their own cell phones during flights. If they can get it by the FCC, they will have a...
Jul 12 2003 - 12:10 PM ET | In The News
Handset makers are no longer exempt [PDF] from making hearing aid compatible digital phones. The FCC today voted unanimously to require digital phone makers to make hearing aid compatibility wireless phones, saying its former exemption was outdated. According to the...
Jul 07 2003 - 10:18 AM ET | In The News
Looks like there is an upshot to being shot with all the radiation from cellphones--that is unless you are a woman. Researchers from Bradford University’s School of Life Sciences just wrapped up a 2 part study into the effects of...
Jul 02 2003 - 07:05 PM ET | In The News
AT&T Wireless has announced it will cut a "low single digit percentange" of its workforce to increase profit margins and get rid of some satellite offices. Other carriers including Cingular and Sprint PCS have cut jobs this year....
Jun 30 2003 - 11:49 AM ET | In The News
RealNetworks has been making some serious moves in the mobile industry lately. First it was with the Nokia 3650, and then it was with the Nokia 6600. Now it is with Vodafone--the biggest carrier in Europe. The deal will provide...
Jun 24 2003 - 08:13 PM ET | In The News
The UK has cracked down on driving with cell phones, but is being criticized for not cracking down on handsfree cell phone use. Earlier we reported that a new study found almost no difference between drivers who used phone without...
Jun 24 2003 - 01:08 PM ET | In The News
Cingular's annual survey has found that men talk more on cell phones than women (by 14%). This is the third time in a row men have been in the lead, so it's probably right. For our female readers, don't feel...
Jun 24 2003 - 12:56 PM ET | In The News
If you use a hands free device to talk while you're driving, it may not be as safe as you think. A new study out of Sweeden found that a hands free device makes little difference in "safety". It lets...
Jun 24 2003 - 12:44 PM ET | In The News
During the WWDC Keynote yesterday Apple introduced a new version of its iChat software. Doesn't sound neat until you dig into the details. iChat A/V does both voice and video (on top of text), and uses the same "audio technology"...
Jun 20 2003 - 01:21 PM ET | In The News
A recent survey asked people if they would switch after number portability kicks in (hopefully in Novemeber). The results were interesting: * 16 percent may discontinue their local phone service once they can transfer their phone numbers. * 27 percent...
Jun 19 2003 - 07:26 PM ET | In The News
Several sites have posted CeBIT America coverage today. We weren't able to attend this year, but according to Gizmodo we didn't miss much. Maybe next year. Everyone seems to be in agreement that the 8-day mega conference in Germany is...
In today's Wall Street Journal (sorry about the late post, it's been a long day at MobileTracker HQ), there is an article on megapixel camera phones. It's on the front page of the Marketplace section, and features a large photo...
Jun 14 2003 - 09:13 PM ET | In The News, SMS
According to a recent BBC report, SMS has taken the lead as the most popular function young people use their mobile phones for. 80% of people under 25 would rather send an SMS than make a call, but the number...
Jun 13 2003 - 01:06 PM ET | In The News
According to a recent study, low priced plans aren't enough to sell a phone contract--at least in the US. Usage patterns vary (some make many night calls, other weekends, still others enjoy SMS), so having plans that cater to different...
Jun 13 2003 - 01:02 PM ET | In The News, SMS
Following up on our previous report on SMS Spam, it looks like Australia is cracking down. The West Australian is reporting that carriers that don't crack down on junk SMS messages will face fines of up to $10 million AU....
Jun 12 2003 - 11:22 AM ET | In The News
The last round of bombing in Saudi Arabi was set off by a cell phone--or at least that's the word at this time. This is going to fuel the people who are pushing for a ban of cell phones in...
Jun 11 2003 - 02:46 PM ET | In The News, SMS
According to Will Sturgeon over at Silicon.com, spam on mobile devices is becoming a problem. He cites that over 2/3 of mobile users have gotten an unsolicited SMS. However unlike email, SMS has a cost to it--usually a per message...
Jun 09 2003 - 04:14 PM ET | In The News
Reuters has posted a story about the effects of SARS on mobile sales. There has been a lot of talk about SMS used as a warning technique, but this is the first we have heard of negative effects for the...
Jun 06 2003 - 12:46 PM ET | In The News
Consumers rejoice. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the FCC's plan to not make consumers change phone numbers when they change carriers. The suit which was brought by...
Jun 05 2003 - 11:17 AM ET | In The News
T-Mobile will officially launch the color Side Kick tomorrow according to Reuters. Save for the color screen and boosted RAM, it's exactly the same as the cult-hit monochrome version. It's going to cost $300 and be available through T-Mobile's 1800...
Jun 03 2003 - 12:44 PM ET | In The News
Keeping with our Apple theme, an update to QuickTime was made today. Version 6.3 includes support for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project--a format for the creation, delivery and playback of rich multimedia content over wireless networks. You can snag the...
If you're a Mac user, make sure to check out Software Update. Apple has posted an update to the Bluetooth software in OS X. The update provides enhanced stability and support for the following Symbian OS based mobile phones: Nokia...
Jun 02 2003 - 02:18 PM ET | In The News
California wants all drivers to either use a hands-free device or risk paying fines. This comes at an interesting time, since a few days ago a study was released that stated hands free devices don't really prevent accidents. It's the...
Nokia and Warner Music International today announced a new marketing collaboration to make music mobile for the Nokia 3300 music device. An inbox MMC memory card will include short music clips from emerging artists, as well as True tone ring...
May 29 2003 - 02:28 PM ET | In The News
Forbes is running a forward dated piece on AT&T's practice of spamming its customers with text messages. In such a competitive market, something like sending out junk SMS could hit the bottom line in a pretty short period of time....
May 28 2003 - 01:43 AM ET | In The News
Just as we reported last week, Nextel's Direct Connect feature is going to be challenged this summer. The New York Times (believe it if you are feeling lucky) has some dirt on the offerings coming. bq. "That lock on the...
The rumor on the street is that Cingular wants to buy around 20% of NextWave Telecom's airspace. This looks to be good news for Cingular customers and investors alike. The deal is rumored to be worth $1.5 billion. Reuters has...
Reuters is running a story that states Hutchison inked a deal with Playboy to sell porn over 3G. Sounds like they are desperate to sign people up. 13 million photos and 2,000 hours of video will be at the finger...
May 20 2003 - 03:23 PM ET | In The News
Gizmodo notes that the Matrix phone has sold out from the online store in a mere 5 days. MobileTracker sources cited that there was only a limited run of 10,000 phones being made, so when the online store gets another...
May 20 2003 - 12:21 PM ET | In The News
Who wouldn't want to kernal hack their phone? NEC's betting on Linux for their future 3G smartphones... Sounds like a risky move when you're talking about a market as competitive as mobile phones. At least the people at Slashdot will...
For our Japanese readers this is a big deal--you'll be able to rent a GSM phone directly from NTT DoCoMo to take across the world. Consumers can pop in their own SIM card so nothing really changes except the phone/mode....
May 19 2003 - 02:55 PM ET | In The News
According to story from the Inquirer, Iraq is getting a GSM network. This was under confusion for a while--originally the US said a CDMA network would be put in. Evidently they figured out that the world uses GSM and didn't...
May 16 2003 - 07:49 PM ET | In The News
Wired is running a story about the mobile phone's impact on teenage society in the United States... Quite interesting: bq. "Being part of the "in" crowd for teens used to mean hanging out where the cool kids were -- the...
May 15 2003 - 05:02 PM ET | In The News
What have cell phone done to us? Well according to a recent study we're more rude, increasingly tardy, and more spontaneous. Funny that with more spontaneity we've actually become slaves to phones....
May 15 2003 - 01:31 PM ET | In The News
According to Reuters, T-Mobile has shelved its plans to ship a Microsoft powered smartphone. When it was announced that T-Mobile would carry this phone, it was a major win for Microsoft and a major blow to Nokia who makes the...
Nokia and MasterCard yesterday launched a new breed of mobile phone technology that lets people use their Nokia phones as credit cards. It's just a trial, but it sounds pretty neat: "The phones are equipped with MasterCard's new "PayPass" payment...
May 08 2003 - 11:57 AM ET | In The News
The US company which manages the collective MPEG related patents for the MPEG-4 visual compression standard, delivered a 47-page agreement in English to befuddled Japanese content providers laying out new terms for paying royalties on video download content formatted in...
May 07 2003 - 11:57 AM ET | 3G, In The News
After all the hype with Hutcison's 3G launch in the UK, the company is now admitting that they've only sold 20,000 phones since early March. To non-aficionados that may sounds like a lot, but the company publicly stated they expected...
ZDNet is reporting that a California resident is bringing a class action law suit against Nokia for faulty LCD screens in many of its phones. The suit alleges that Nokia knew there were problems but neglected to fix or acknowledge...
May 05 2003 - 09:09 AM ET | In The News
MacMinute notes that RealNetworks is starting up a new mobile phone content service. According to Real news, music, sports and movie trailers will be sent to mobile phones which have their software on board (such as the Nokia 3650 and...
Apr 30 2003 - 05:43 PM ET | In The News
Gizmodo notes that Dell and Good Technology are partnering to make a wireless device. Besides the new device that will be available next year, Dell is going to start selling the G100 email pager. The G100 looks and acts pretty...
Apr 29 2003 - 06:18 PM ET | In The News
A study was released today that found US mobile phone subscribers spend more time gabbing on their mobile than on their land line. The Yankee Group said the average cellular subscriber knocked back 490 minutes which just betters landline averages...
Apr 25 2003 - 02:11 AM ET | In The News
AOL Time Warner has struck up a deal with Symbian, makers of the popular mobile OS with the same name. In the past this would be a great thing, but lately AOL has been the kiss of death (biggest quarterly...
Apr 23 2003 - 08:46 AM ET | In The News, SMS
It looks like people in the US have finally figured out how to text message via their mobile phones. American Idol, a popular show seen on Fox, has allowed its viewers to cast votes by sending text messages. To date...
Throughout the day, several media outlets have been discussing the recent development of "push to talk" phones. They sound basically like audio instant messengers. Instead of a ring, the voice message just blurts out. Unlike traditional "walkie-talkies" the audio messages...
Apr 21 2003 - 01:07 PM ET | In The News
The Register is running a story about people in the US getting bored with the Internet and turning to their mobile phones. In Japan, mobile phones are taking over normal Internet usage: "Phones are used for shopping, for news, but...
Apr 21 2003 - 10:49 AM ET | In The News
During a game this past Saturday, Texas outfielder Carl Everett was smacked in the back of the head with a cellphone. It did no serious damage to the player--but the phone was cracked open. The fan who chucked it was...
Apr 18 2003 - 06:40 PM ET | In The News
Wired notes that after 12 years and a cool $200 million, New York City still doesn't have a system in place to pinpoint locations of 911 calls made with mobile phones. It's not clear why the city has to raise...
Samsung has announced mass production of multimedia cards (MMCs) to be used in mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, and other handheld products. The cards are 128MB which sounds like a good amount of storage for a mobile phone. What's...
The New York Times has an article running that compares various camera phones available in the US. Free registration needed as always for NYTimes.com pieces. Among the phones featured is the sexy Nokia 3650 (seen at right) . "As cellcams...
The well-known PDA maker Handspring has partnered with European mega company Orange SA to develop new smart phones. The phones will be used exclusively in Europe on Orange's network. At this time there is no word on a time frame...
As reported earlier this month, Australia now has a 3G network. NEC introduced the e606 for use on the new network, which makes it the first mobile hone in the country that can handle video calling. The camera phone supports...
Sunday Communicatons Ltd is launching a service that allows its users to dial a number and get the low-down on possible SARS infections within a kilometer of her current location. Sounds like a hi-tech version of the leprosy bells from...
Apr 14 2003 - 09:04 AM ET | In The News
It was inevitable for advertisers to want to get their hands on the millions of mobile device owners... Yahoo! News is running a story about how the ads will work and frankly it sounds annoying: " The promise is that...
Apr 10 2003 - 06:32 PM ET | In The News
ThinkMobile comments on a report (no link) on mobile phone games. They are expected to take in $7 billion by 2008 because of the recent developments of downloadable games (via Java and BREW). Who would have thought a 1" screen...
In today's Wallstreet Journal the front page of Personal Journal features a picture of the Kyocera 7135 (runs Palm OS and is dubbed as a smartphone). That kind of exposure would be great for Kyocera, except the article is dubbed...
Apr 09 2003 - 02:17 PM ET | In The News
Gizmodo points to an article at the Washington Post concerning the famed FCC move to make November 24th the date when mobile numbers must be portable (you can keep the number you had with Cingular when you move to T-Mobile...
Nokia and Lexus have announced the Lexus Integrated Phone System. It lets owners of some (higher end most likely) Lexus vehicles and a Nokia 6310i phone to integrate the phone's data and capibilities into the vehicle. "The phone transfers its...
Apr 04 2003 - 11:48 AM ET | In The News
In a move that proves cities act like children, Boston is considering the passage of a ban on mobile phones that is almost exactly like the one in recently enacted NYC. If you aren't familiar with the rules, the NYC...
Apr 03 2003 - 01:41 PM ET | In The News
The cell phone has turned 30! "On April 3, 1973, Motorola vice presidents Marty Cooper and John Mitchell went to New York to show off a new type of phone, the likes of which had never been seen before. It...
Apr 02 2003 - 09:26 PM ET | 3G, In The News
Wireless companies are looking to put in 3G networks in Africa despite poverty. Less than 10% of the country has telephone access (yes, telephone not mobile phone) so if these networks take off it could be extremely profitable. It's going...
Apr 02 2003 - 09:10 AM ET | 3G, In The News
Hutchison Telecommunications announced that it's 3G network is ready for commercial use. If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane--look for it. The downside is that since it's a new technology you're going to have to buy a new phone....
Nokia made a big move today by merging its Chinese operations. The new company will begin to make CDMA phones for the world's most populated country....
Mar 30 2003 - 09:48 PM ET | In The News
Starting on November 24th US wireless operators won't be able to keep onto your phone number after you decide to leave. Not sure why, but the companies say it will cost a billion dollars to get their networks ready for...
According to 3G NewsRoom, the aforementioned Nokia 3650 is able to have RealOne installed. It's not yet clear if the mobile version has to be installed seemingly every two weeks or if the installation process is as annoying as it...
If that camera phone doesn't attract enough geeks, try out video messaging. T-Mobile has launched the service which works with the Nokia 3650 (very cool phone, check it out at right). You can exchange video clips with audio, but only...
Mar 26 2003 - 09:27 PM ET | In The News
Wireless News Factor has a story running today about a big move from the FCC to allow mobile satellite service company's to offer cellular like service in tandem with satellite communications. Why would they want to do this? So you...
Mar 24 2003 - 08:20 PM ET | In The News
A big problem with text input on cell phones has been that it sucks. Atelab Research has announced that its built a better mouse trap. The phone looks normal with the usual numeric keypad, but when you want to start...
Mar 24 2003 - 08:16 PM ET | In The News
USA Today is running an article today about people who have dumped their land line in favor of their mobile. Look for this trend to continue until traditional phone co's realize how much they're losing and start not being evil....
Mar 18 2003 - 09:04 PM ET | In The News
Howard Chui has posted a report from Day 1 at the CITA conference. It's an interesting read and has lots of pictures of the latest phones (most of which you have seen here). Update: Wired has a good story about...
Kyocera has released a bunch of new goodies. Times are great in the Mobile Phone market: * SE47: Slider design (think Matrix), 65K color display, BREW, EMS, WAP 2.0, look for it in Q3. * Phantom/Blade/Rave: Mix-and-match features chosen by...
Mar 13 2003 - 04:11 PM ET | In The News
C|Net has an article about mobile phones dropping in price during 2003. As usual, that's good news for us and bad news for the manufactures. Prices should drop an average of 5% this year while still gaining more features (just...
Mar 10 2003 - 04:01 PM ET | In The News
C|Net has an article running today about cell carriers bringing out geo-location services in the near future. Sounds like an interesting idea, but it will catch some flack from the privacy activists....
Mar 10 2003 - 02:41 PM ET | In The News
"One college student I spoke to described leaving one's phone at home or letting the battery die as "the new taboo." Teens and twentysomethings usually do not bother to set a time and place for their meetings. They exchange as...
