Just another WordPress weblog

So we’re about to head out to the Smartphone Summit at CTIA 2008 — stay tuned for coverage during the day. But first, a new service from MySpace. The “world’s most popular social network” has partnered with mBlox to offer text message alerts of friends requests, new messages, and other MySpace features. This deal covers Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, U.S. Cellular, and Virgin Mobile — though users from other services can also sign up for the text alerts at MySpace.com.
Read the rest of MySpace offers text message alerts…

Welcome back everybody to Going Cellular.com’s Mobile Week In Review!

Join us every Friday for a weekly wrap up of all things cellular. If you missed our previous episode, check out the following link: Mobile Week In Review|episode 3

This week Katie talks about Motorola taking a dive and possibly splitting in two. while the hardware manufacturer is in plenty of trouble, the exact opposite seems to be true for the carriers. Katie touches on Alltels recent purchases and how their strategies are targeted towards the youth.

You may also have heard about the recent 700Mhz auction. In the final segment, Katie discusses the auction and reveals a surprise newcomer who is bound to shake things up a bit.

Read the rest of Mobile Week In Review: Episode 4…

There was plenty of talk about mobile TV offerings following the close of the 700 MHz auction. Specifically, it was about EchoStar, which got a huge chunk of the E-Block, and of Qualcomm, which is thought to be using the spectrum to beef up its MediaFLO offering. Even though the spectrum won’t be available for another year or so, MediaFLO is already getting the wheels in motion. They’re partnering with AT&T for a mobile TV service, which is set to launch in May. This will give the nation’s No. 1 carrier a platform on which to compete with Verizon’s VCAST offering.
Read the rest of AT&T set to launch mobile TV service in May…

Yes, it’s that time a year again. J.D. Power and his associates have released their first customer service survey for the wireless industry in 2008. The survey is broken down into regions: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, North Central, Southwest, and West. I’ll wait until after the jump to post the winners. But here’s a bit of a spoiler: Sprint didn’t win any. Okay, so maybe that was a bit predictable. How about this? AT&T didn’t win any. Ooh. Good one.
Read the rest of J.D. Power finds Spint, AT&T lacking…

Can you guess how many text messages we as Americans send on a monthly basis? Try 28.8 billion. With 243.4 million cellular subscribers (as of June 2007), we’re each sending on average about 100 text messages a month. If you’re not bringing up that average yourself, you surely know someone who does — I have a sibling who sends and receives no fewer than 300 messages a month. So if we’re spending all this time tapping out messages, we might as well explore the phones that are best for this.
Read the rest of The 7 best phones for texting…

It’s like YouTube on your cell phone! Alltel announced yesterday a service called Alltel Social Video. It does pretty much what you’d expect. Users with video phones can upload, share, view, and rate videos “from a wide range of online outlets.” It’s the latest effort by Alltel to reach a younger audience. In addition to their expanded My Circle plans, they’ve also started to offer a celebrity voicemail service, and announced a partnership with online music service Pandora. This move is a collaboration with Transpera, a “leading provider of mobile phone video services.”
Read the rest of Alltel rolls out Alltel Social Video…

We’ve been hearing a bit lately about how Motorola’s top investors haven’t been too happy with their mobile handset unit. And why would they? They were knocked off their perch as the world’s No. 2 handset maker this year, supplanted by Samsung. However, despite this, CEO Greg Brown said earlier this month that they were looking for a new mobile chief, but now it appears they’ll be looking for someone to buy their mobile unit. The pressure was applied by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The split, though, is expected to happen next year, with the hope that it buys Motorola time to make the sale more attractive.
Read the rest of Motorola to split in two…

It looks like Verizon is about to get into a game of: “What constitutes gambling?”. America’s No. 2 service provider, along with third-party content providers, are the defendants in a class-action suit, in which they are accused of enticing subscribers to gamble. The charge is related to premium text messaging contests on TV shows, like “Deal or No Deal” or “Sole Survivor,” where contestants answer questions via text message. A $0.99 charge is added to the texter’s cell phone bill, and if he gets the question right, only then is she entered into the lottery. The suit alleges that these are games of chance, and thereby gambling. I’ll let the suit explain it better:
Read the rest of Verizon taken to court on gambling claim…

Check out this map of the E-Block of the 700 MHz auction. Notice that one company basically acquired a nationwide license. If you zoom into the legend in the bottom left corner, you’ll see that it’s Frontier Wireless. If you haven’t heard of the company, you’re not alone. It’s actually a company set up specifically to bid on the auction. It belongs to EchoStar, the satellite TV company that owns the DISH Network. So while AT&T and Verizon dominated the B- and C-Blocks, Frontier snuck in and mopped up the E-Block, which is said to be ideal for streaming TV. Gee, I wonder what their intention is?
Read the rest of Frontier Wireless readying to compete with big telecoms?…

Big ol’ AT&T and Sprint have been at it lately. It’s a bit of a mess, actually, and not the easiest issue to grasp, since neither company is supplying the specifics of their agreement. But the quick version is that AT&T agreed to certain roaming rates with Sprint when the former took over BellSouth in 2006. Sprint is taking a very liberal interpretation of this agreement, saying that “it can take any contract it, or one of its subsidiaries, had with AT&T or one of its operating units, and adopt it in any of the 22 states AT&T operates in.” That is, they can expand the original agreement. Of course, AT&T disagrees with that interpretation.
Read the rest of Sprint, AT&T seek FCC mediation…