Filed under: WIRELESS
Nokia has begun to open its laboratories and share ideas for innovative new products in hopes of finding potentially popular ideas like the Nokia Morph, a phone that can bend to fit a user’s wrist. “For Nokia, this is probably the biggest throw of the dice since they entered the cell phone business,” said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight. (NewsFactor Network/International Herald Tribune 3/20)
MySpace launched a new version of its mobile web site accessible through web-enabled phones at http://m.myspace.com/ , allowing users to update profiles, receive messages, view photo albums and post comments on others’ pages. The social networker also announced a new deal with Sprint in the U.S., giving all its web-enabled users free access to the new MySpace Mobile site. Until now AT&T and Helio users had to pay a subscription fee to access MySpace Mobile. The MySpace/Sprint tie-up also gives Sprint users access to content from other Fox Interactive Media properties including FoxSports.com, IGN and Photobucket. (Cynopsis, 3/21)
Despite all the pre-auction hype that Google was gunning for wireless spectrum, telcos AT&T and Verizon Wireless emerged as the big winners of the FCC’s license-mart, which raised a record $19.6 billion in proceeds. Verizon paid $4.7 billion for the C-block spectrum, giving it the space to launch a national wireless network the FCC says must be open to accommodate third-party applications. Of course, this was the caveat that Google wanted all along. (Cynopsis, 3/21)
Cox, bidding as Cox Wireless, spent $304.6 million in the government’s recently concluded 700-megahertz wireless-spectrum auction and won 22 licenses in the A and B blocks, while Charter Chairman Paul Allen and his Vulcan Ventures spent $112 million to get two licenses in the A block. Cablevision did not win any licenses, according to the FCC, and Comcast and Time Warner Cable did not participate. (Multichannel News 3/20)
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