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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Posted on 09.29.06 by Nikhil @ 4:25 pm
There is a transition taking place among wireless carriers, and Motricity, based out of Research Triangle Park, N.C., is in the middle of it. Until recently, U.S. carriers such as Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ), Sprint Nextel (nyse: S - news - people ) and Alltel (nyse: AT - news - people ) have been notorious for guarding how their wireless networks are used and what kinds of content their subscribers can see. By doing so, they have been able to differentiate themselves from one another. The content made available to their subscribers could easily be found on a cellphone’s “deck.” Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 09.28.06 by Nikhil @ 5:57 pm
Shares of Novatel Wireless (NVTL) fell more than 18% last week. The reason: Nokia (NOK) and Intel (INTC) announced that the two companies would work together to make notebook computers able to access cellular networks through high speed downlink packet access technology (HSDPA). The idea is to have product out in 2007. Nokia plans to make the cellular module while Intel would embed the module into a platform and handle sales and marketing to notebook vendors. Shares of Novatel were hit hard because Novatel dominates the sale of embedded wide area wireless modems. These are the radios that go inside a laptop, such as one from Dell, that are then activated by a wireless carrier, such as Verizon or Cingular, for use on their high speed data network. For Novatel, this is a growing part of its business. Of course, when you have a big opportunity like this and you hear that not just one Goliath, but two are coming into your turf, it’s not good news. It means that Novatel will now have a new competitor in the marketplace – one that could be very tough. Besides that, Intel was not considered a real threat, prior to this announcement. After all, in June Intel took steps to reduce its exposure to wireless, selling some of its wireless business to Marvell Technology Group (MRVL). Now, Intel is coming back strong with Nokia. Let me say, however, that right now, all this is nothing more than announcements. Intel and Nokia have not announced any particular product yet and obviously have no customers. They have just stated their intent. Shares of NVTL have fallen because investors are discounting the stock for a less competitive environment. This may, however, not be all bad news. With Intel now entering this market for wireless laptops, can Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) be far behind? If so, from where will AMD get its radios? It could be from a number of companies including Novatel or from others such as Sierra Wireless (SWIR) or Motorola (MOT). Enabling wireless laptops promises to be a big business worth half a billion dollars or more. I believe there will be room for many players. I’ll continue to watch this company and update readers of Forbes Wireless Stock Watch. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.28.06 by Nikhil @ 1:55 pm
MVNOs (mobile virutal network operators) hold the promise of giving advertisers a highly targeted audience. But last week, Disney’s seven month old Mobile ESPN service decided to call it quits. The service has had trouble attracting enough subscribers to make it worthwhile to the company. I’m a little surprised by Disney’s decision. Reason: it doesn’t seem like Disney really gave Mobile ESPN much of a chance. The service was never available over a significant holiday period. And it wasn’t around during a football season, when demand may have picked up. Also, it’s not that easy for new subscribers to switch to a new service. They need time to get out of their long term contracts. The problems that this service faced are not, I believe, a bad sign for MVNOs in general. I think the problems here were specific to Mobile ESPN. The service was expensive and it didn’t own enough proprietary content. It seems that ESPN could have solved these problems. Now, it’s possible that the service will be acquired by a carrier. Meanwhile, Disney isn’t giving up on MVNO’s completely. The company is still pushing ahead with Disney Mobile -a cellphone service for kids that gives lots of control to Mom and Dad. Mobile ESPN will take on no new customers, and will continue to remain active to existing customers at least through the end of this year. If you have the service and you want to discontinue it, you can with no penalty. If you bought a Mobile ESPN phone, you can get a full refund. Filed under: Applications and News Comments: None |
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