AT&T To Ship Hybrid Sat/Cellphone In Q1 By Joseph Palenchar - 10/12/2009
Dallas — AT&T will market a hybrid satellite/cellular smartphone beginning in the first quarter of 2010 to corporations, government agencies and small businesses followed sometime later by a hybrid phone for consumers, the carrier announced. The 3G smartphone will send and receive calls via TerreStar's voice-and-data communications satellite when terrestrial cellular coverage is unava...
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Novatel Readies Next-Gen MiFi Hot Spot By Joseph Palenchar - 10/12/2009
San Diego— The next-generation personal Wi-Fi hot spot available from Novatel Wireless in North America will add embedded memory, memory card slot and Linux OS, which will enable over-the-air application downloading, chief marketing officer Rob Hadley told TWICE. Novatel's first-generation personal hot spot, the MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hot Spot, is a pocket-size battery-powered Wi-Fi...
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Palm Will Drop Windows Mobile By Joseph Palenchar - 09/28/2009
Sunnyvale, Calif.— Palm will concentrate its future development efforts on WebOS-based PDA phones and no longer develop phones based on the Windows Mobile OS, president/CEO Jonathan Rubinstein said. During a conference call with analysts, Rubinstein said future engineering efforts will focus on the WebOS operating system, created by Palm and appearing in the Palm Pre and Pixie.
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Garmin, Mio, Navigon Update PND Offerings By Amy Gilroy - 09/28/2009
NEW YORK — Internet-connected portable GPS devices are becoming more prevalent with Garmin's launch of its first cellular-connected portable navigation device (PND), joining models from TomTom, TeleNav and Best Buy's Insignia house brand. Recent PND launches, however, weren't limited to cellular-equipped models.
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CTIA Pans Net Neutrality For Wireless Carriers By Joseph Palenchar - 09/28/2009
Washington — CTIA-The Wireless Association and major wireless carriers criticized Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Julius Genachowski's call to extend net neutrality principles to the wireless industry. They also criticized his plan to expand the rules to prohibit wired and wireless Internet service providers from discriminating against content or applications that compet...
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Sat Radio Reaching Consumers In New Ways By Joseph Palenchar and Amy Gilroy - 09/21/2009
NEW YORK— Satellite radio is reaching consumers in ways that weren’t available when satellite-radio service launched in 2001, largely as a mobile-audio service for vehicles. Today, XM and Sirius radio channels reach on-the-go consumers via wearable headphone portables. AT&T cellphones stream select XM channels to listeners over the cellular network.
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Motorola Joins HTC In Offering Android Phones By Amy Gilroy - 09/21/2009
SAN FRANCISCO— Motorola unveiled the first of several planned Android-based phones that it expects to turn around the company’s fortunes. With the announcement, Motorola becomes only the second handset maker to offer an Android phone in the U.S. market. HTC makes the Android-based G1 and MyTouch 3G for T-Mobile and the Android-based Hero, which is due from Sprint beginning Oct.
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Nano’s Camera, 64GB Touch Are Top iPod Debuts By Amy Gilroy - 09/21/2009
SAN FRANCISCO— Apple refreshed its iPod line in time for the Christmas selling season with its first camera-equipped iPod Nanos, a new $59 iPod Shuffle, and an expanded Touch line starting at $199 but running to $399 for a model with a new 64GB capacity. At a news conference hosted by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the company also announced a redesigned iTunes store to more easily integrate apps,...
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Palm Readies Pixi, Reduces Pre Price By Amy Gilroy - 09/21/2009
Sunnyvale, Calif.— The Pixi, a smaller and lighter version of Palm’s Pre PDA phone, will be available in time for the holidays exclusively from Sprint. The 3.51-ounce, 2.17-inch by 4.37-inch by 0.43-inch Pixi is expected to be less expensive than the 4.76-ounce 2.35- by 3.96- by 0.67-inch Pre, whose price was reduced to $149 from $199 with two-year service agreement after $150 insta...
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SonyEricson Plans More 1.7/2.1GHz Phones By Joseph Palenchar - 08/24/2009
London — SonyEricsson plans to expand its selection of 3G phones that operate in the U.S. 1.7/2.1GHz Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band. The company, which already offers the AWS-banded TM506, plans fourth-quarter availability of the Jalou and limited-edition Jalou by Dolce&Gabbana. Both are clamshell models positioned as fashion accessories with facet-cut styling.
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Prepaid Competition Heats Up In Cool Econony By Joseph Palenchar - 08/24/2009
New York— Competition continued to heat up in unlimited-use prepaid calling plans as the economy cooled. Nationwide prepaid provider Page Plus Cellular of Holland, Ohio, launched a $39.95/month unlimited-use plan that includes unlimited voice and text messaging and 20MB of data for phone-based Web browsing, email and over-the-air application downloads.
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Extra, Extra, e-Read All About It: More e-Readers Debut By Amy Gilroy - 08/24/2009
New York— New developments in the e-reader market occurred at a rapid-fire pace this month, with iRex Technologies announcing a possible Amazon Kindle competitor, Sony opening up its eBook Store to e-readers other than its own, and both Sony and Astak launching new low-cost models. In addition, Sony said it plans to offer a wireless e-reader but didn't disclose a time frame.
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Samsung's WiMAX MID Hits The Streets By Joseph Palenchar - 08/03/2009
Dallas— Samsung is rolling out its WiMAX/Wi-Fi-equipped Mondi mobile Internet device. Samsung launched the device through its Web site at $449 without service contract and is also rolling out the device to distributors, which will offer it for August availability by retailers in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland, Ore.
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Cobra To Offer Trucker PND 08/03/2009
Chicago — Cobra Electronics plans September delivery of a personal navigation device (PND) targeted to truckers. The device will include a database of points of interest specifically aimed at professional drivers. It will also provide routing instructions for trucks whose access to certain roads might be restricted.
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SiRF: Cellphone GPS To Reach PND Quality By Amy Gilroy - 08/03/2009
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A new GPS processor due soon from SiRF Technology will render cellphone navigation as robust as that on a personal navigation device (PND), improving smartphones' indoor GPS reception, allowing instant-on GPS acquisition and reducing battery drain, SiRF contended. The company, whose chips power many PND devices, said its SiRFstarIV processor could appear in cellphones a...
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Zer01 Wants To Turn Retailers Into Carriers By Joseph Palenchar - 07/20/2009
Las Vegas— Major retailers could be offering unlimited cellular VoIP and data service under their own name if startup Zer01 is successful. The company turned on its $69.99/month prepaid service this month, when multilevel marketing company Global Verge began selling a phone and service under its Buzzirk Mobile brand on Buzzirk's Web site.
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PNDs Seek Their Niche As Competing Devices Grow By Amy Gilroy - 07/20/2009
NEW YORK — Recession, falling prices and competition from smartphones are threatening to turn personal navigation devices (PNDs) into commodity items unless PND suppliers come up with new ways to add value to the devices, marketers and analysts said. Although PNDs will enjoy a few more years of growth despite gains by smartphones and netbooks as navigation platforms, marketers said, PNDs ...
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T-Mobile Readies Ads For 2nd Android Phone By Joseph Palenchar - 07/20/2009
BELLEVUE, WASH. — T-Mobile will support the Aug. 5 nationwide rollout of its second Android-based 3G smartphone with a major mid-August ad campaign. The launch of the $199 touchscreen-equipped MyTouch 3G will be backed by a TV, print and online ad campaign focused on consumers' ability to personalize the device.
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Sophisticated Cellphones Get Industry Focus By Joseph Palenchar - 07/06/2009
NEW YORK — The wireless-phone industry focused on the high end in unveiling plans for a series of sophisticated cellphones, including new models with Android smartphone OS, customizable user interfaces and applications, and dual-mode CDMA/GSM technology for worldwide use. New products here or on the way include: T-Mobile's second-generation Android-based smartphone, the HTC-made full-tou...
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Gartner: PC Shipments To Rebound In 2010 By Doug Olenick - 06/26/2009
Stamford, Conn. — Gartner expects the worldwide PC market to make a dramatic recover in 2010, posting a 10.3 percent gain in units shipped compared with 2009.
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