Mobile

Motorola is counting on Verizon to use its marketing prowess to help the handset maker stage a smartphone recovery, and the wireless carrier has promised to do just that, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Motorola has worked out a deal with Verizon Wireless to make sure some of its new smartphones for Verizon will get a heavy promotion by the carrier, says the Journal.

As Motorola has struggled to turn a profit, its co-CEO Sanjay Jha has bet the farm on Verizon Wireless and the Droid to help turn the tide of its sluggish handset business. But the Android … Read more

Nokia and Opera Software have taken sides in the Adobe-Apple battle over Flash multimedia support: They are in the Flash camp.

On Thursday executives from Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, and Opera Software, the maker of a leading mobile browser, said they'd support the new Flash 10.1 software that is coming out. Opera's co-founder Jon von Tetzchner was quoted as saying "It is the only proprietary part of the Web we support."

Getting these two companies on board, as well as Google's Android, which also supports the software, is a … Read more

A film director in Singapore once told me that he sent back a very expensive crane he had just bought because its serial number, according to numerological lore, signified "Will die, must die." (From what I remember, there were too many 4s.)

Bulgaria, however, is not a place, as far as I am aware, that is deeply committed to number-based superstitions. Until now, perhaps. For, according to the Telegraph, three consecutive owners of one single cell phone number have left this life for the next.

Perhaps your first thought was that the number was 0666-666-666. You would be … Read more

Looks like Palm is suffering a bit of post-acquisition talent drain.

Mobile user interface master Matias Duarte has left Palm and evidently hired on at the most obvious of places: Google.

Duarte, who lead development of Palm's WebOS user interface as the company's senior director of human interface and user experience, has jumped ship, Palm confirms. And while the company refuses to tell me where he's going, multiple sources say it's Google, where he's working on the development of Android, the company's open-source platform for mobile devices.

Duarte's departure is a significant loss … Read more

The lack of regulatory consistency across Europe means that businesses and consumers are paying higher prices than necessary and that new telecommunications services are being held back, warns the European Commission.

The EC released on Tuesday the 15th version of its annual report on progress in the European Union's electronic communications market. It found that telecom regulation across the region remains nationally focused, with regulators often procrastinating over the introduction of EU laws.

Because of this, the key to growth in the telecom market, particularly for the creation of next-generation broadband networks, lies in consistent enforcement of legislation across … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission, which has been taking a beating on proposed Net neutrality regulations, is lacing up the gloves again, this time to do battle with wireless carriers.

While more than a few of the wireless carriers are the same companies going toe-to-toe with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski over Net neutrality, the latest scrap is over a very different issue: billing. More specifically, those shocking bills consumers say they get from time to time from their wireless providers.

The FCC has been looking into the wireless industry's billing practices and pressuring carriers over their early termination fees for … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that one in six U.S. mobile-phone customers have been shocked by unexpected cell phone fees on their bills.

The agency conducted a survey of roughly 3,000 Americans and found that about 30 million Americans, or one in six mobile users, have experienced a sudden increase in their monthly bill that is not caused by a change in service plan. The survey indicated that 84 percent of respondents said their mobile carrier did not contact them when they were about to exceed their allowed minutes, text messages, or data downloads. And about 88 … Read more

Google and its Android partners can thank customers in North America for the hot growth of smartphones sporting the mobile operating system.

Among all the Android devices owned around the world, 75 percent of them are in North America, according to AdMob's April Mobile Metrics Report, released Wednesday. That's followed by 11 percent owned in Western Europe and 12 percent in Asia. In contrast, 49 percent of devices running Apple's iPhone OS are in North America, with 28 percent owned in Western Europe and 14 percent in Asia.

Though consumer demand for Android has been climbing, the … Read more

Robert Dotson, president and CEO of T-Mobile USA, plans to leave the wireless company in May of next year, after a new chief executive takes up the reins in February.

Dotson's posts will be filled by Philipp Humm, an executive with T-Mobile USA's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, and former CEO of T-Mobile Deutschland. Humm is currently in charge of DT's sales and service in Europe as chief regional officer.

On July 1 of this year, Humm will join T-Mobile USA as president and CEO designate.

Dotson, who will stay on as a non-executive member of T-Mobile USA'… Read more