Cellular Phone News

I'd Like to Teach the World to SMS (eMarketer, December 19th)
Telephia and Harris report that 35% of US cellphone owners, age 18 to 24, are SMS users, while Amárach says 50% of Irish cellphone owners, age 12 to 14, use text messages primarily to communicate with friends.

Product Review: ViewSonic Pocket PC V35 (CNET, December 16th)
Long known for its monitors, ViewSonic has taken the plunge into the handheld market with its new Pocket PC, the V35. Small and light, the V35 has equal parts of fast performance and affordable price. Is this the Pocket PC that can do it all? Find out in CNET's review.

Intel Moves Closer to Mobile Phones with Manitoba (IDG.net, December 9th)
Intel Corp. wants to bring its advanced chip-making technologies into the fast-growing market for mobile phones and PDAs, building on the company's core strength in desktop processors.

Review: Dude, You're Getting a So-So Handheld (TechNews.com, December 8th)
Dell didn't get big enough to kick around all the other computer manufacturers by blithely jumping on every new trend. So for it to ship its first handheld organizer must mean something.

SMS, Ten Years Later (InstantMessagingPlanet, December 5th)
A decade after its inauguration, 'texting' has achieved burgeoning acceptance, but now faces new challenges.

Java-Induced MIDP 2.0 Debuts (internet.com, December 2nd)
In a show of support for standardizing mobile devices, Sun Microsystems Monday say they have completed the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP 2.0) standard.

New Multi-Function Gadgets May Spark Deregulation (USA Today, November 25th)
It almost sounds too Star Trek to be possible: A multipurpose cell phone that also serves as an FM radio, walkie-talkie, garage door opener and TV remote control.

Nokia Takes It To The EDGE (Forbes.com, November 25th)
If it weren't already confusing enough, there's another wireless technology coming to mobile phones, adding to the alphabet soup of data services that is intended to make phones more than phones.

Vodafone Inks Deal With Mobile PC Makers (internet.com, November 25th)
Europe's largest mobile phone company, Vodafone Monday scored a coup that aims to put its services in the majority of computer hardware makers' mobile devices.

RIM to Appeal $23M Patent Suit Loss (internet.com, November 22nd)
Just weeks after scoring valuable licensing deals with the likes of Nokia, Palm and Handspring, Canada-based Research in Motion was body-slammed with a $23 million judgment for infringing patents owned by NTP. Reeling from the ruling, RIM said it would appeal with Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis insisting the verdict has no effect on RIM's patents and other intellectual property.

Microsoft Wants Your Cellphone (Salon.com, November 21st)
The software king has big plans for making the world of mobile phones safe for Windows. Can phone makers, and a little Norwegian company called Opera, stop the onslaught?

Sony Likes Ringtones, Buys Run Tones (internet.com, November 21st)
Sony Music Entertainment (SME) is expanding its mobile digital media platform with its acquisition of wireless entertainment company Run Tones.

The Digital Imaging Big Picture (internet.com, November 21st)
While 3G technology and its applications — specifically wireless imaging — may be in its infancy in the United States, it's already a way of life in Japan. InfoTrends Research Group has found that Japan accounts for almost all (98 percent) of the wireless imaging market that is forecast to grow from 6.6 million in 2002 to over 160 million by 2007, representing a compound annual growth rate of 93 percent.

Pan-European M-Commerce Trials to Begin (ElectricNews.net, November 21st)
In a bid to boost mobile commerce in the EU, trials will begin next year on a project that aims to harmonise European mobile payment and security standards.

A Palm for Your Wrist? (CNN Money, November 20th)
During the first half of 2002, watchmaker Fossil will begin shipping watches that are also personal digital assistants running on the Palm operating system. CNET reviews the top-line Fossil Wrist PDA here.

Nokia Touts Fast Downloads at Comdex (internet.com, November 19th)
Nokia is previewing a new phone, the Nokia 6200 EDGE, that doubles download speeds and integrates features once found only in PCs and personal digital assistants.

Teachers Take Palm to School (eMarketer, November 19th)
Students' learning improved when teachers employed handheld devices in classroom learning activities, according to a Palm-sponsored study from SRI.

MMS, We Hardly Know You (WirelessAdWatch, November 18th)
MMS has been simultaneously heralded as the next golden child of wireless messaging and shrugged off as a ploy to increase phone sales in a stagnant market. Can it emulate the popularity SMS has found in Europe and Asia? And should marketers care?

HP Trumps Dell's PDA Entry (internet.com, November 18th)
Dell officially announced its entry into the handheld PDA market, lifting the wraps off a pair of Axim X5 devices running on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 software. Dell's PDA plans, leaked in the press in recent weeks, puts the PC maker right in the Pocket PC thick of things, forcing market leader Hewlett Packard to release two new iPAQ models -- one matching Dell's $299 price point.

IBM Dips Toe Back Into the Handheld Waters (InfoWorld, November 15th)
Shunning the two largest handheld platforms, Palm and Pocket PC, IBM will announce Friday it has inked a deal with Sharp to create a new version of Sharp's Linux-based Zaurus handheld to be named the Enterprise Edition Zaurus.

Cell Phone Maker Calls on USB (PC World, November 15th)
USB-on-the-Go technology will allow peer-to-peer and direct connections between phones and other devices--without a PC.

Consumers to Define Mobile Content Market (eMarketer, November 14th)
Now that North American wireless operators have the technology to deliver voice, data and video to mobile phones, they would do well to follow NTT DoCoMo's strategy for content delivery.

Sony Powers up Amid Handheld Market Fall (eMarketer, November 14th)
According to IDC, worldwide handheld device shipments slid 6% from Q3 2001 to Q3 2002. Casio’s market share was nearly halved over the past year, falling from 7.1% to 4.1%. It now looks up to newcomer Toshiba, which commands 4.3% of the market, to bridge the gap seperating Sony, HP and Palm from the rest of the market.

Coke Judges China SMS Campaign a Success (australia.internet.com, November 13th)
Coca-Cola is crowing about the success of its short-message service contest in China this summer, which it says increased brand awareness and led to direct interactions with consumers.

Mobile Net Use Proving Popular (BBC News, November 13th)
Slowly but surely, British mobile phone owners are starting to use the net while on the move. Over 11 million webpages are being looked at via phones every day according to figures collated by the Mobile Data Association.

Europeans Place WAP on Call Waiting (eMarketer, November 12th)
Though nearly one-quarter of Europeans aged 16 and older own mobile phones enabled with WAP (wireless application protocol) that could be used to surf the web or send e-mail, only 3% actually use WAP applications, according to Forrester Research. This is in a region where 72% of Europeans in that age demographic (190 million consumers) own and use mobile phones.

Computerized Phones and What They Can Do for You (NewsFactor, November 12th)
IDC's Alex Slawsby, who likened dropping a $700 smartphone to wrecking a laptop PC, said users will continue to carry multiple devices for multiple functions until the price of smartphones drops.

RIM Says Hello to Nokia (internet.com, November 8th)
On the heels of crucial patent deals with Palm Inc. and Handspring, Canada-based Research in Motion has now added mobile phone giant Nokia as a licensing partner.

Nokia Licenses BlackBerry Software (ITWorld.com, November 8th)
Nokia Corp. has agreed to license the BlackBerry wireless e-mail software developed by Research In Motion Ltd. in a move to simplify messaging services for corporate customers, the companies announced Friday.

Palm Gets Thumbs Up for RIM Keyboard (internet.com, November 7th)
On the heels of a similar licensing agreement with Handspring earlier this week, Research in Motion Limited entered the preliminary stage of a deal with Palm Solutions Group to license certain patents for its thumb-operated keyboard technology.

Handspring to License RIM Patents (ZDNet News, November 5th)
Handspring plans to license Research In Motion's keyboard patents, paving the way to settle pending litigation from the maker of the BlackBerry wireless devices, the companies announced Tuesday.

Real to Bring MPEG-4 to Mobile Gadgets (internet.com, November 5th)
Tweaking its solid partnership with multimedia encoder maker Envivio, Seattle's RealNetworks Tuesday said the two companies will now work together to develop a mobile media encoder for the wireless sector.

Hybrid Handhelds (RedHerring, October 31st)
Multifunctional devices may be the future for handhelds, but for now, hybrids will have to do.

Europe's PDA Sales Slowdown (eMarketer, October 30th)
Western Europe trails the US and Asia-Pacific in handheld device shipments. Is the future for smart phones bright enough to spur growth?

Positive Picture for Future Phones (BBC, October 28th)
The future of third-generation mobile phone networks looks rosy, according to a new report. But it also warns that phone firms planning the futuristic services face a tough and lengthy task to ensure that their investment pays off.

Palm Unleashes the Tungsten Twins (internet.com, October 28th)
Two new handhelds debuting Monday from Palm target what the company calls "Power Users" and are expected to compete with just about everybody else making a digital organizer or smartphone.

Point, Shoot, and Dial: Cellular Industry Pins Hopes on Photo Messaging (Think Mobile, October 28th)
Digital cameras sparked an imaging revolution in the late '90s and attracted buyers in droves. Today, telecom operators are hoping that a new generation of handsets equipped with digital cameras will do the same for the mobile phone industry.

Colorful Growth in PDAs (CyberAtlas, October 22nd)
Dynamic applications and increased availability are among the key drivers that could contribute to significant color display PDA growth, but power issues and high costs are likely to be major impediments.

Symbian Rises To Top With Samsung Smartphone (internet.com, October 21st)
The deal means the world's top five mobile phone manufacturers are now Symbian OS licensees.

China Unveils Next Phase of CDMA Deployment (internet.com, October 21st)
On the eve of President Jiang Zemin's visit to the United States, U.S. and Chinese officials on Monday announced renewed contracts to North American telecommunications equipment providers valued in the "hundreds of millions" of dollars.

RealNetworks Goes Mobile with NEC (CNET News.com, October 17th)
RealNetworks on Thursday said that it shipped a mobile version of its multimedia playback software in NEC's MobilePro P300 handheld computers. The partnership will allow NEC MobilePro users to transfer audio and video files from their PCs and play back the media on their handhelds. MobilePro users can also stream songs and videos encoded in RealNetworks' software through a wireless connection.

Sony, PalmSource Work Together on Bluetooth (internet.com, October 17th)
Sony Ericsson wants to get its phones talking with Palm-driven devices better, announcing Thursday its intention to optimize Bluetooth between the two for out-of-the-box compatibility.

Opera Sings On Phone Browser (ZDNet News, October 14th)
Opera Software says it has finally solved the long-standing problem of reading big, bulky Web pages on tiny cell phone screens, posing a potential threat to both WAP and to Microsoft.

Multiple, Global Increases in Mobile (CyberAtlas, October 11th)
It's becoming a wireless world as the number of U.S. households with multiple handsets rises, along with global usage.

Handhelds Seen Empowering Officers, Security Personnel (EE Times, October 4th)
John Inkley, manager of federal sales for Palm Corp., addressing attendees at the LA Power2002 conference today, suggested that placing the right technological tools in the hands of military forces and emergency personnel (that's PDAs, not guns) is likely to significantly enhance their ability to function quickly and safely in a multitude of situations.

Cutting Cord May Not Cut Costs (CyberAtlas, October 1st)
Some mobile phone users are eliminating their landline service completely - despite rising cellular service costs.

Mobiles to Leapfrog Into the Future (BBC News, September 30th)
One of the things helping developing countries to rapidly close the communications gap with the West is the mobile phone.

Cyantel Launches Mobile Child Finder (ElectricNews.net, September 30th)
Irish telecom software developer Cyantel has developed a new technology that allows parents to pin down the location of their children using a mobile phone.

PDA Revenue Found in Consumer, Wireless (CyberAtlas, September 30th)
Latin American market growth is on par with worldwide forecasts, as competing vendors try to seize share from Palm.

US Slow on Wireless Data Uptake (eMarketer, September 26th)
There will be 23.4 million mobile data service subscribers in the US by the end of this year, according to Yankee Group, but those numbers should double annually until 2004.

Mobile Marketers Treading with Caution (eMarketer, September 26th)
Wireless spam caused such a fury in Japan that i-mode users started leaving their phones at home. In the US, marketers can learn from this by heeding consumer preferences.

Nokia Provides Cosmetic Launch of 3G Phones (Reuters, September 26th)
The unveiling of Nokia's first, next generation color-screen mobile phone on Thursday will enable US mobile operators to test fast 3G networks but will mean very little for consumers until next year.

The Dark Side of Wireless Number Portability, or Lack Thereof (M-Commerce Times, September 26th)
You can't take it with you. Your cell number, that is. That's what the carriers would like to able to tell you when you do the old switcheroo and opt for another cellular company. But is such an intransigent attitude helping or hurting broader adoption of wireless wonderments in the m-commerce world?

Openwave Browser Boasts Color, Cookies (internet.com, September 25th)
Openwave launched two products Tuesday aimed at providing PC-like Web browsing on IP-based 3G phones in the U.S.

New Technologies Showcase the Not-too-Distant Future (USA Today, September 24th)
The bar is noisy, yet the blaring music makes an impression just the same. You might actually buy the record if you knew the title and performer. So you pull out your cell phone, dial a four-digit number and hold the phone up near the speakers for 15 seconds. Moments later, a text message arrives on the handset with the song's name and artist. You might even be able to buy the CD right from the phone.

Canesta Launches Invisible Keyboard (ElectricNews.Net, September 20th)
Finger cramps from typing into mobile phones or PDAs could be a thing of the past following the launch of a full-sized keyboard made out of light.

Phone Makers Hope Games Lift Sales (MSNBC, September 19th)
The mobile-phone industry hopes wireless games will catch on by offering arcade action on handsets, but flaky software means it is unlikely to score big soon.

Cell Phone Users Flip for AOL Instant Messaging (USA Today, September 18th)
The company's nascent rollout of its AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) for wireless phones is quietly paying dividends. The number of unique users — many teens or young adults — swelled to 500,000 in the past month from just 500 in November, AOL says. Mobile phone companies charge for the AIM service, with AOL getting a small cut of monthly fees of $3 to $12 or per-message charges of about 10 cents. Revenue is small but growing.

Phones Join File-Sharing Revolution (BBC News, September 12th)
Soon you could be using your phone to share music, games and images with almost anyone, just like you used to do with Napster.

IEPs Continue to Penetrate Mobile Market (eMarketer, September 11th)
According to the latest "Mobinet" study from AT Kearney, 41% of worldwide mobile phone users have an internet-enabled phone.

Wireless Surfer Numbers Grow (CyberAtlas, September 6th)
Proving that Internet users are more than "mouse potatoes" are reports from comScore Networks, Inc. estimating that as many as 10 million Americans surf from cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs). The research firm has found that of the 19.1 million users owning a PDA, 5 million access the Internet with those devices, and among the 67.2 million online users that own a cell phone, 5.8 million access the Internet with those devices.

Greek Cell-Phone Gamers Fight Ban (Wired News, September 5th)
The Greek gaming community is up in arms and going to court next week to fight a law that makes playing games on cell phones illegal, reported Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

CDMA Has 99 Percent Of 3G Market (internet.com, September 4th)
Proponents of one 3G technology movement claimed victory in the mobile world Tuesday against its competitor, stating code-division multiple access (CDMA) devices have a 99 percent market share worldwide.

5 Lightest Cell Phones (CNET, September 4th)
Looking for a mobile that won't weigh you down? Here's a list of the most compact phones available today.

Minding Mobile Manners (eMarketer, September 3rd)
A LetsTalk survey determined that only 6% of people in the US think it is appropriate to use cellphones in a theater or at the movies, while 47% think the bathroom is, however, an appropriate venue.

Mobile Navigation the Next Killer App (eMarketer, August 28th)
Compass needles are pointing to higher sales for wireless operators and telematics companies, as consumers in the US and Japan plan on adopting navigation services.

Mobile Shipments Make Their Way Up (eMarketer, August 28th)
Gartner reports that 98.7 million mobile phone handset units were shipped worldwide in Q2 2002, and Strategy Analytics estimates that 425 million will be shipped by year-end.

Cellphone Subscriber Prices and Penetration (eMarketer, May 10th)
Econ One reports that average US cellphone service fees remained flat between February and March 2002 at $36.94 per month.