|
Posted on 10.19.06 by Nikhil @ 4:05 pm
For wireless carriers, business is becoming increasingly complex. In addition to handling voice calls, the carriers are now faced with distributing games, ringtones and multimedia messaging. Even television is on its way. But one problem that the carriers still haven’t figured out is how to make sending and receiving e-mails from a cellphone easy. Now, there is a little-known company, Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Voice Genesis, that has come up with a product it calls Vemail. It could be the answer. WiMax is coming, and 3G networks are already being rolled out. Are you profiting from wireless broadband? Click here for analysis on undervalued wireless companies set to soar. Vemail, which is based on Qualcomm’s BREW platform, is currently used by 28 carriers in 50 million mobile phones, and it is remarkably simple. The idea is fast message review. E-mails come in and you read them. To respond quickly, you speak the response instead of trying to type a response using the tiny keys on a mobile phone. The system then records your voice and sends an e-mail to the recipient with a hyperlink. The recipient clicks on the hyperlink and hears the recording of your message. Please click here to read the rest of the story at Forbes.com Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
|
Posted on 10.13.06 by Nikhil @ 4:26 pm
Qualcomm got a boost recently. The FCC had ruled that Qualcomm could not deploy its MediaFlo service (which allows broadcast quality TV on your cell phone) on Channel 55 in some areas because of potential interference with broadcasters that operate on Channel 54 and 56. This was a blow to Qualcomm, which owns the 700 Mhz band inteded for mobile TV use. Qualcomm filed a petition with the FCC to allow relief from certain interference protection rules. The FCC responded by specifying the permitted level of minimal interference. It also expalined how interference would be calculate from MediaFlo to televsion and DTV stations. This new ruling will hold until DTV transition ends on February 17, 2009–when the stations must move off those channels. You can get more details on this at Qualcomm’s site. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
|
Posted on 10.11.06 by Nikhil @ 2:22 pm
Could InPhonic’s fortunes finally be changing? Over the past year, shares of Washington-based InPhonic, which is the largest seller of wireless phones, plans and activation services on the Web, have fallen 68%, hitting a low of $5.02 in February. But recently, the stock has begun to turn the corner. Yesterday, shares of InPhonic (nasdaq: INPC - news - people ) gained about 12%, closing at $9.16 per share. The reason: Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ), one of InPhonic’s largest shareholders, made the company a proposal to provide it with $100 million in debt financing at an interest rate of 9%. While terms still need to be negotiated, the idea is that portions of the loan could be used to retire existing debt, repurchase company stock and satisfy InPhonic’s working capital needs. It’s a great deal for Goldman, and considering how shaky InPhonic has been, it will probably be good for shareholders as well. Filed under: Stock Watch and Miscellaneous Comments: Comments Off |
|
Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:55 pm
Qualcomm and Broadcom have been fighting with each other for months now, each blaming the other for infringing on their patents. Last month, a federal judge ordered Broadcom chairman Henry Samueli and Qualcomm chairman Irwin Jacobs to meet him in court to reconcile their differences. The meeting took place last week. It’s not clear, though, that the judge’s efforts were successful. Apparently,neither chairman would let on to the discussions. You can read more about this in The Mercury News. Filed under: Stock Watch and Miscellaneous and News Comments: None |
|
Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:51 pm
T-Mobile just announced today that, yes, it has a 3G Wireless strategy! The company, which has been often criticized for lacking enough spectrum to keep up with competitors,said that it will spend $2.6 billion over the next three years to build a UMTS/HSDPA network. But don’t expect TV on your cellphone anytime soon, at least with T-Mobile. The company’s USA CEO Robert Dotson says that the first priorities are to applications already being used such as email. The company also said that infrastructure and handset vendors have already been picked for T-Mobile USA’s 3G network rollout. expect to see this network launched in the middle of next year. Visit WirelessWeek for more info. Filed under: Applications and Infrastructure and News Comments: None |
|
Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:47 pm
Mobile TV, I believe, is one of the most exciting applications in wireless. Since the end of May, four companies - E-Plus, O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone have been working on mobile TV applications, having launched limited mobile TV service in Berlin, Hanover, Munich and Hamburg using the DVB-H standard. The service demonstrated the future potential of handset TV. Now, it looks like the service is soon to be widely available across the country. Read more in Cellular News. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/19024.php Filed under: Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: 1 Comment |
|
Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:45 pm
According to Gartner Group, Motorola is still making headway, snagging market share away from competitor Nokia. According to the company, Motorola increased its market share in the mobile-phone market in the second quarter to 22%. Nokia, still the top dog, has 33% of the market. Motorola sold 50 million handsets globally during the quarter, compared with the 77 million that Nokia shipped. For more details, Click Here for an article in the Register. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure Comments: None |
|
Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:44 pm
Nortel says it will build a research and development center in Bangalore India. While wireless research will be part of the focus, the center will also try to give Nortel an edge over the competition in developing rich applications for networks such as real-time apps, voice, video and multimedia. More on this in Cellular News. Filed under: Stock Watch and News Comments: None |
|
Posted on 10.01.06 by Nikhil @ 2:16 pm
I went to an Electronic Arts showing of its newest products for 2007. They games were fascinating – they seem to keep getting better. There were also a number of games available on mobile phones. I played Bejeweled with one of the EA’s representatives (he was on one phone, I was on another) and it was a lot of fun – and worked well. Now, of course, EA is pinning its hopes on a successful holiday season. A big part of its success will depend on how well Nintendo’s Wii does when it is launched in November. At the showing/cocktail party I went to with EA reps, most of the attendees were gathered around the Wii from Nintendo. If the buzz around Wii is any indication, it oculd mean good things for both Nintendo and EA. Big News from EA this month. Electronic Arts reached an agreement with Nokia where EA will provide games that will be available to owners of Nokia devices. This is great news for distribution of EA’s games – however financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Filed under: Stock Watch and Wireless Gaming and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
