As the hipsters descended on Austin, Texas last weekend for South by Southwest (the event, by the way, that “made” Twitter a few years ago, much attention turned to location-based services. By some reports, more than a dozen new location-based-style services are launching at the show. Are location-based services the next big thing in mobile? Read the rest of this entry »
Unfiltered
Frank discussion with telecom's most experienced editors
SXSW and the great location wars
Veraz latest kid/vendor on the block
Count Veraz Networks as is the latest, “smallish” IMS/NGN vendor to look to get acquired. As part of its recent Q4 earnings call, the company said it had retained an investment banking firm to pursue the old “strategic alternative” route. Veraz is the latest in a line of smaller vendors going the buy-out route in recent days. Read the rest of this entry »
ABI: 2009 wasn’t quite so dire for wireless vendors
From the way the vendors talked in last year’s earnings calls, you’d get the impression that 2009 was one of the most horrible years for the telecom infrastructure market. But ABI Research said it wasn’t as bad as the industry made it out to be. Rather than decline as much 10% to 12% as many analysts estimated, the equipment market saw a surge in the second half of the year, said Aditya Kaul, practice director for ABI. Read the rest of this entry »
CNN Mobile synchs up with FLO TV, but not VZW
Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) mobile television arm FLO TV announced today it has expanded its relationship with partner Turner Broadcasting to add CNN Mobile to its channel line-up, including content from CNN US and International, HLN and CNN.com. The channel will be available on FLO TV’s dedicated Personal TV device, its Auto Entertainment platforms and on AT&T (NYSE:T), although not Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ, NYSE:VOD) at launch.
CNN Mobile, first introduced as an exclusive to AT&T Mobile TV subscribers in 2008, provides political, world, health and entertainment news, including from Anderson Cooper, Larry King and Robin Meade, as well as live events, one of FLO TV’s best performing content categories. AT&T’s exclusive hold on CNN Mobile still holds today, so it won’t be made available to subscribers of VZW’s V Cast Mobile TV service. Read the rest of this entry »
Will you buy an Apple iPad? (poll)
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) began taking iPad pre-orders today for either the Wi-Fi-only version, available on April 3, or the AT&T (NYSE:T) 3G-plus-Wi-Fi version. Some analysts are predicting shortages, while others are pointing out the reasons you should wait to buy Apple’s computing device. The Wall Street Journal even breaks down whether a Wi-Fi-only iPad or 3G version, which even AT&T doesn’t believe will be most popular, is best for you. Will you be ordering either?
T-Mobile offering same plans (and data caps) for HSPA+
T-Mobile (NYSE:DT) is tripling the capacity of its 3G high-speed packet access (HSPA) network, which could mean near-home-broadband speeds for its laptop data customers. But it might also result in its customers eating up their monthly allotment of data much more quickly. Today T-Mobile revealed it will start selling its first HSPA+ USB dongle on Sunday with the same data plans–and their associated data caps–it offers for its regular 3G access service. Read the rest of this entry »
Sprint’s new insurance policy
Sprint (NYSE:S) is getting into the insurance business–sort of. While it won’t be hiring actuaries or issuing policies, it will be supplying one of the key connectivity elements in one of the newest frontiers in auto liability: usage-based insurance. Sprint is partnering with Walsh Wireless to deliver M2M devices that can track how much, where and even how safely a car is driven–data which insurance companies can use to calculate personalized premiums. Read the rest of this entry »
What are mobile searches looking for? Coffee, shopping, pizza
The power of localized, mobile search is just starting to become clear as the first smart phones equipped with GPS (or other location technology) and local search capabilities start to move into wide use. So what exactly are mobile searchers looking for? According to info from TeleNav — Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Target led the business name searches while pizza, chinese food and burgers led the search for food. Read the rest of this entry »
In 4G, Cisco goes back to IP roots
Access has never been Cisco Systems’ (NASDAQ:CSCO) strong point, a conclusion that the vendor itself seems to have reached by abandoning its WiMax radio business. PCWorld originally reported on Friday that Cisco had stopped developing and manufacturing WiMax base stations, and FierceBroadbandWireless today confirmed it. That leaves Cisco to focus on the area of the 4G network it is arguably best positioned to dominate, the IP core. Read the rest of this entry »
VZW says LTE networks averaging 5-12 Mb/s
Releasing the first results from its 4G trials, Verizon Wireless (NYES:VZ, NYSE:VOD) today said that its first two long-term evolution (LTE) networks are averaging download speeds of 5-12 Mb/s and upload speeds of 2-5 Mb/s, while achieving peak downlink speeds of 50 Mb/s and uplink speeds of 25 Mb/s. Though the Boston and Seattle networks have yet to be tested in the real conditions of a commercial launch, the initial results show VZW’s new 4G network to be significantly faster than any 3G network running today. Read the rest of this entry »
