While we agree with some others that Apple’s decision to focus on a walled garden approach to iPhone apps seems short-sighted, it certainly does open up an opportunity for competitors — and those competitors seem to be realizing it. A bunch of companies are starting ad campaigns around their mobile phone offerings highlighting how open[…]

It’s well known that folks at the FCC have a rather chummy relationship with the telco industry. After all, many of them either worked in the industry at one point or (more importantly) expect to get lucrative jobs in the industry after they leave the FCC. So it probably should come as no surprise to[…]

I vaguely recall a very similar study making waves a few years ago, but can’t find any trace of it right now. However, a recent study of executives working in the mobile content space found that more than half of those surveyed don’t actually use the mobile content they’re pitching. Now, there can be plenty[…]

The debate over white space spectrum has gone on for quite some time. Basically, the FCC handed out a ton of spectrum (for free, mind you) to TV broadcasters years ago. In order to prevent against interference, there’s always been a requirement for some “buffer” space. However, as technology has improved, the need for this[…]

The promises of contactless payments consistently seem to fall a bit short. The hardware costs for merchants sound hard to justify, and the benefits to the consumer are usually minimal — since credit cards aren’t exactly a painful process to begin with. However, wireless technologies are cool, so NTT DoCoMo has demonstrated a prototype phone[…]

We’ve tried to point out how government granted monopolies can distort a market, whether it’s in the intellectual property space or within wireless spectrum. For example, take a look at what’s happening in the 2.5 gigahertz spectrum space. A bunch of 2.5 gigahertz spectrum was handed over to schools and non-profits, supposedly for use in[…]

While you need to take this study with a large grain of salt, since it was paid for by T-Mobile (who has a vested interest in the results saying what they say), it does have a ring of truth to it that parents and kids often find it easier to communicate these days using various[…]

For something as boring as a spectrum auction, the upcoming 700MHz auction sure has its fair share of excitement. There are the rumors of Google and even Apple potentially bidding on the spectrum. Google requested that the FCC attach some specific conditions to the auction, which the FCC gave some lip service to, but hardly[…]

Nokia made a bit of a splash this morning by announcing plans to buy digital mapping/navigation firm Navteq for $8.1 billion. Navteq is definitely the leading player in the space, followed by TeleAtlas — and the two companies basically dominate the market. Earlier this year, you may recall, navigation device maker TomTom announced plans to[…]

You may recall the bizarre tale of Xero Mobile, a company that was formed out of the ashes of Gizmondo, the UK gaming handheld provider whose spectacular failure revealed all sorts of sketchy details involving executives taking ridiculous salaries and buying themselves luxury cars (which one former Gizmondo exec famously crashed last year). There were[…]