Nuance To Buy Provider Of Speech-Enabled Mobile Services
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TechWeb - Nuance Communications plans to buy MobileVoiceControl, a provider of speech-enabled mobile search and messaging services, for an undisclosed sum.
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Well, it looks like things are getting a bit more interesting regarding the Sprint/Nextel deal. It seems that Vodafone, which owns 45% of Verizon Wireless in the US, is supporting a move by Verizon to potentially buy Sprint PCS.
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A new licensing deal with Trimble could assist in Qualcomm negotiations.
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InfoWorld - Nuance Communications has agreed to buy the developer of the T9 predictive text input software for mobile phones from current owner AOL.
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Wireless service provider MetroPCS Communications Inc on Tuesday proposed buying competitor Leap Wireless International Inc for more than $5 billion in stock in a letter to the company's board of directors.
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(InfoWorld) - Don't expect new mobile phone services based on the Internet Protocol to become nearly as prevalent as those running over PCs. That's the view of Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International, one of Europe's largest mobile phone operators. VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services provided over mobile phone networks will have "far less impact" than those offered over fixed-line networks, Akhavan said Tuesday on the sidelines of a news conference at theÂ 3GSM conferenceÂ in Barcelona. "There are all sorts of technical issues that make mobile VOIP services difficult to implement," he said. Technical issues related to how networks pass on IP addresses of mobile users have not been completely resolved, he noted. "Take reachability, for example: How can the call come to me?" Akhavan also said emergency phone service and "always on" connectivity are also big issues, since staying online takes up bandwidth on pricey mobile networks. And then there's price: "When people talk about VOIP, they think free," Akhavan said. "With any mobile service provided over the Internet, you're going to need to buy a data package." Mobile VOIP "will take a small share" of revenue generated by mobile voice services, he said. Akhavan's views on the technical and commercial hurdles are shared even by some of the key advocates of mobile VOIP -- namely Skype. In a recent interview with a Finnish newspaper, Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas ZennstrÃ¶m spoke of "technical obstacles" and conceded that efforts to make Skype work had been taking "much longer than expected." Earlier, Eric Lagier, Skype director of business development for hardware and mobile, called the lack of attractive flat-rate fees for most mobile phone services a key commercial hurdle to mobile VOIP usage. He said the company didn't want to be in a position of claiming that its service is free, but facing users who at the end of the month are docked with a huge broadband usage fee. At last year's 3GSM World Congress, Skype and the Hutchison 3 Group (Hutchison 3G)Â announced a partnershipÂ to provide what they had hoped to become the world's first commercial VOIP service for mobile phones. Hutchison 3G, which operates IP-based mobile broadband networks in several European markets, was one of the first mobile phone operators to embrace VOIP, a technology many in the industry view as a major threat to their cash-cow voice business.
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A vendor based in Dubai pounced on the enterprise mobility market Tuesday evening with a set of Windows Mobile 6 phones that come with built-in security and management software and will be sold independent of carriers.The company, i-mate, unveiled its Ultimate series of four GSM phones at Showstoppers, a product showcase held alongside the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show happening this week in San Francisco. They will start hitting the market worldwide in the middle of next month.The devices all are about the size of a typical smartphone, run Microsoft&#39;s Windows Mobile 6 operating system, and come with the Office Mobile suite. Two have touchscreens, and two have QWERTY keyboards, one of them using a &quot;slider&quot; design with a larger keyboard and a screen that can be viewed horizontally. They are aimed at markets ranging from small business to larger midsize enterprises.One thing that sets i-mate apart is its business model: It will sell the phones in the U.S. through resellers and retail channels, bypassing mobile operators and the subsidies they typically offer. The i-mate phones will range in price from about $600 to $800, said Nicole Buchanan, vice president of sales and marketing (Americas) at i-mate. The company isn&#39;t averse to carrier distribution if it can make a deal: It will sell devices through Telstra in Australia, Buchanan said.Although carriers dominate the U.S. handset business, a few device makers are starting to take matters into their own hands. Nokia sells phones through its own retail stores and makes some high-end devices available through alternative distributors like Brightpoint, which i-mate will also use. The trend allows businesses to make their handset choices without worrying about what carrier to use or how long the mobile operator will continue offering the device they want.The traditional mobile handset business, in which carriers dictate the timing of handset and service rollouts based on their own business plans, doesn&#39;t match up with typically long enterprise planning cycles, IDC analyst Shiv Bakhshi said Monday at the show. Enterprises often can&#39;t find out what phones will be available when they carry out their mobile strategies or whether their current phone models will still be available in the future. Although hardware makers are starting to gain some autonomy, with the prominent example of Apple and its iPhone, they have a long way to go, Bakhshi said.The i-mate phones come with built-in software for securing and managing the devices. The Secure i-Q software lets users or IT support people lock down a lost or stolen device or wipe the data from it over the air. They can then configure a replacement device with all the appropriate applications over the air, Buchanan said. Custom i-Q allows for customization of each device with applications, e-mail settings, and features over the air.i-mate&#39;s only previous product was a digital picture frame with Wi-Fi. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It developed the i-Q software and designed the Ultimate phones, which are built by contract manufacturers. All the devices use an XScale PXA 520MHz processor and have storage expandable to 2GB. They come with features typical of high-end phones, including Bluetooth and cameras. Three of the models have a front-facing camera that can be used for videoconferencing, according to i-mate. One feature that makes the devices stand out is XGA output, which lets a user plug the handset into a full-size display or projector.The Ultimate 6150 and 8150 touch-screen phones and 8502 QWERTY phone are due to ship worldwide in mid-November. The 9502 slider phone will ship around the end of the year, i-mate said.
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Alcatel has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Nortel Network's 3G (third-generation) mobile phone network business for $320 million.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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You buy a cell phone, load any software you want on it, then choose your carrier. This vision of expanded consumer choices in the wireless world might be a little closer today than it has ever been, especially with reports that the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is circulating an &quot;open platform&quot; proposal for the upcoming auction of the 700-MHz band.
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Nokia Siemens Networks will buy Apertio, which specializes in network management applications for telecommunications operators, for &#8364;140 million ($205 million), the companies said Wednesday.Apertio, in Bristol, England, sells a software application suite with components for managing mobile phone subscribers. Features allow operators to authenticate and deliver applications to users, shut off lost handsets and collect real-time data on subscribers.The management and consolidation of subscriber data is becoming more important, particularly as operators offer &quot;converged&quot; services, the term for offerings that combine mobile, fixed-line and Internet-based services, the companies said.The deal is expected to close by May. When complete, Paul Magelli, Apertio&#39;s CEO, will head a new section within the Converged Core business of Nokia Siemens.Apertio&#39;s software and equipment is used by operators such as Orange, T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone. Apertio, a private company, estimates its 2007 revenue at &#8364;28 million.&#160;
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Company aims to make it easier for Linux to be incorporated into low-cost consumer handsets.
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Palm OS merchant PalmSource is buying mobile phone ISV China MobileSoft (CMS) in a $22.6 million stock deal to tap into the huge Chinese market and the growing popularity of Linux.
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SINGAPORE - SingTel will begin selling high-speech third generation mobile phones, or 3G phones, from Thursday, making it the first company in the region to sell the new technology.
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The wireless phone provider's focus on business spills over into the consumer market.
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Company said Thursday that it's seeking alternatives that might include selling off its cell phone business.
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Nuance Communications has agreed to buy the developer of the T9 predictive text input software for mobile phones from current owner AOL.
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Discount wireless phone provider MetroPCS Communications Inc. yesterday offered to buy regional rival Leap Wireless International Inc. for about $5.12 billion in stock - a deal that could effectively create a nationwide carrier.