Wireless

Helix Wind's The S322 vertical wind turbine

(Credit: Helix Wind)

Helix Wind announced Wednesday that it's beginning a trial run in Southern California to see if its wind turbines might be useful for powering cell phone towers.

The manufacturer is becoming known for its small vertical-axis wind turbines that can generate electricity with winds as low as 10 mph, as well as its unique business model to finance them.

The pilot program, conducted in conjunction with cell phone tower operator Core Communications, will experiment with whether the turbines powering cell phone towers could also generate surplus energy to sell back to the energy grid.

If they generate enough surplus power, small wind turbines could provide a new source of income for cell phone tower operators as well as a new power source.

Helix Wind's turbines, which will be installed in early 2010, will run for up to three months before being re-evaluated.

According to statistics provided by Helix Wind, there are approximately 3,500 cell phone towers in Southern California, and another 1,000 expected to be added in the next five years to cover consumer growth.

U.K. wireless carrier Orange just started selling the iPhone, and it is trumpeting first-day sales numbers for the device.

(Credit: Apple)

The carrier signed up 30,000 people with a new iPhone contract on Tuesday, its first day selling Apple's smartphone, according to a post on Twitter from a member of Orange's marketing department.

While 30,000 isn't necessarily a lot, compared to the "hundreds of thousands" of iPhones AT&T sold in its first weekend selling the iPhone 3GS in the United States, it's not bad for being the second carrier in a much smaller country, where the iPhone 3GS has been available for four months.

Until Tuesday, wireless provider O2 was the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United Kingdom. Orange currently has 16 million mobile customers, compared to O2's 22 million. Incidentally, Orange's experience as the second carrier of the device in a country would seem to make a decent case for Apple releasing the iPhone to more than one carrier in many other countries, including the United States.

The numbers were far more impressive than the iPhone's debut on China Unicom's network last week. China's first crack at selling the iPhone was by most accounts disappointing, with 5,000 units sold over the first four-day period.

Of course, China Unicom is dealing with factors Orange is not. Besides having to sell the iPhone without Wi-Fi connectivity, China has to contend with something U.K. and U.S. carriers largely do not: a vast market for iPhone knockoffs, or gray-market phones.

In the race for mobile phone profits, Apple has overtaken Nokia, according to figures for the latest quarter.

Apple earned $1.6 billion in the third quarter from the iPhone, outpacing Nokia's $1.1 billion cell phone profit to grab the top spot among all mobile phone vendors, said research firm Strategy Analytics on Wednesday.

(Credit: Strategy Analytics)

This is the first quarter that Strategy Analytics has seen Apple surge past Nokia in mobile phone profits, according to Alex Spektor, the author of the research, who spoke with CNET News.

The contest between Apple and Nokia for top phone profits has been tight in recent months. ... Read more

If you're looking for just the right gift for Aunt Sally, you may find yourself turning to social networks and your mobile phone this holiday-shopping season.

More consumers expect that these two aspects of technology will help lead the way this year, according to a recent survey from consulting firm Deloitte.

Deloitte, which surveyed more 10,000 consumers for its 24th annual holiday-shopping survey, drillled down on technology's effect on buying habits by releasing new statistics on Wednesday.

The survey found that 53 percent of consumers plan to use social media to research gift ideas, 52 percent intend to check the wish lists of relatives and friends on social networks, and 60 percent plan to hunt for discounts and sales using social networks.

Mobile phones are also becoming a tool for bargain-hungry shoppers. Among those surveyed, 55 percent plan to use their phones to find store locations, 45 percent will use them to research prices, 40 percent will look for product information, and 32 percent will hunt for discounts. In addition, 25 percent said they expect to buy a holiday gift using their phones.

The good, old Internet still rates as a top spot for holiday shoppers, with 22 percent saying they'll shop primarily online this year and 44 percent expecting to use a coupon they find online.

Online research is big for key purchases, with 39 percent saying they read reviews of stores or products written by other consumers and 34 percent indicating that such online reviews influence their buying decisions more than advertising.

The relationship between brick-and-mortar stores and their Web sites seems to be symbiotic. Among those questioned, 65 percent said they've purchased an item online after finding it in a store or catalog, while 78 percent said they've bought a product in a store after seeing it on the store's site.

"Consumers are turning to mobile, online and social media during their entire holiday shopping experience," Stacy Janiak, a Deloitte vice chairman, said in a statement. "Retailers should consider harnessing this activity to turn browsers into buyers with one-click access to coupons, promotions and purchasing tools. This year's leaner in-store inventories may also open the door for retailers to lure customers to their online channels where it is easier to access inventory, no matter where it is located."

Commissioned by Deloitte, the survey was conducted online by an independent research firm between September 24 and October 2 and included responses from 10,878 consumers.

Henry Tirri

(Credit: Nokia)

HELSINKI--It will take years and a technology "breakthrough on multiple fronts" before the battery lives of smartphones will reach "good" levels, according to the head of Nokia's research center, Henry Tirri.

By "good," Tirri meant phones that can last on a weekly power charge, which will support battery utilization closer to what basic phone models require today, he said at a media interview here Tuesday.

Lamenting the current state of smartphone battery life, he noted that most high-performance models with large screens do not last more than eight hours of constant usage on a single charge....

Read more of "Smartphone batteries need 'breakthrough'" at ZDNet Asia.

Google said Tuesday it will subsidize free wireless network access in 47 airports from now until January 15--and indefinitely in the airports of Burbank, Calif., and Seattle.

The promotion, in cooperation with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, and Airport Marketing Income, is the latest effort to use free Wi-Fi to boost a brand. Among others: Yahoo is sponsoring Wi-Fi in Times Square in New York, and Google is sponsoring Internet access on Virgin America flights during the holidays.

Among the larger participating airports are those in Houston, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, Baltimore, and St. Louis. A full list of the airports is at Google's free holiday Wi-Fi site.

The move, though not cheap, is probably smart. Plenty of business travelers have a laptop and time to kill, and today's consumers are increasingly likely to be equipped with laptops, iPod Touches, or other devices that can use wireless Internet access. Google is spending some money for an opportunity to give a lot of people the warm fuzzies when they encounter the Google brand.

And in the big picture, Google gets to show people what the world might be like if there were more high-speed wireless Internet access--something the company has been aggressively lobbying for in Washington, D.C. Many people are used to wireless networking in their homes, but it's a different matter on the road.

There are downsides, though, too. Having been to dozens of conferences where the wireless Net access collapses as soon as the keynote speech begins, I'm acutely aware that providing large-scale wireless Internet access is technically demanding--and people get unhappy when a promised benefit evaporates. And public, anonymous places such as airports and urban population centers are great spots for hackers to launch main-in-the-middle attacks by offering "Free Wi-Fi," so exercise caution when logging on to these networks.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET)

Early indications suggest that the Motorola Droid could be the breakout hit phone of the holiday season.

You might not have guessed it from the lack of long lines this past weekend, but analysts believe that Verizon is seeing strong sales of the Motorola Droid. The device went on sale on Friday across the country. And unlike other big launches for phones such as Apple's iPhone or even the Palm Pre, retailers had plenty of devices in stock, and customers didn't have to stand in long lines to get their phones.

Neither Verizon nor Motorola is providing exact sales figures, but David Samberg, a spokesman for Verizon, said sales were very strong over the weekend, with a steady stream of customers Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Store representatives in Manhattan confirmed this, with one sales associate telling me on Monday afternoon that there had been a steady stream of customers in the store all weekend and even through Monday.

Analysts also believe that the phone is selling well. Mark McKechnie, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech, who covers Motorola, checked with a small sample of Verizon retailers around the country and said in a research note on Monday that he is encouraged by the anecdotal reports.

"While it is early, and the sample size is small, we are encouraged by our findings," he said.

McKechnie estimates that Verizon had about 200,000 phones in retail channels for the launch, with many stores in larger metropolitan markets, such as New York and Los Angeles, getting about 300 devices. Stores in cities such as San Francisco got more than a 100 devices, and retailers in smaller cities got between 25 and 40 devices each.

Locations were stocked well enough that there were no reports of any stores that were completely sold out. An employee at the Verizon Wireless store on West 34th Street in New York said his store had gotten about 500 Motorola Droids and HTC Android Eris phones for Friday. The store didn't sell out of either phone, but much of its stock is now gone.

That said, the store employee, who didn't want his name used, said his store did sell out of the $29.99 Droid docking station, which charges the device. As of Monday, the company still hadn't restocked its supply of that accessory.

McKechnie reported in his research note that the Droid outsold the HTC Eris, which also went on sale Friday. And checks with Verizon stores in Manhattan back up this claim. While there were plenty of customers looking at the HTC Android Eris in the Verizon stores I visited Monday afternoon, most people said they planned to buy the Droid. The main reasons were the device's higher-resolution screen, better camera, faster processor, and latest Android software.

Still, plenty of customers noted that they preferred the look of the HTC Eris over that of the Droid.

Verizon's marketing may also be paying off. Verizon is spending more money on the Droid advertising campaign than it has on any other device launch. At least one customer at the West 34th Street said Verizon's advertisements had convinced him to get the Droid instead of Apple's iPhone, which runs on AT&T's network.

"I was considering the iPhone," said Henry Goodison of the Bronx borough. "But I saw a commercial about AT&T's 3G coverage. It said, 'Here is AT&T's 3G coverage, and here is ours.' And I thought it would be better to have Verizon, if I travel to another state, where AT&T doesn't have 3G coverage."

AT&T is actually suing Verizon Wireless over this commercial, asserting that Verizon's advertisement is misleading consumers. Verizon dismisses this claim as untrue.

Sprint Nextel said it will cut 2,000 to 2,500 positions in the fourth quarter in an effort to save $350 million.

The cuts will be completed by December 31.

According to a statement, Sprint will cut jobs across the company, including its wholesale unit and contractors. The company said the cuts won't impact customer service, something the Sprint has been trying to improve. Nevertheless, Sprint said call volume has decreased so it has discontinued 27 call centers.

Sprint will take a fourth quarter charge of $60 million to $80 million. The layoff news comes as Sprint will reportedly sink another $1 billion into Clearwire.

Read the original post of "Sprint to cut 2,000 to 2,500 jobs" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Clearwire investors are pumping in another $1.5 billion into the venture to help pay for the company's nationwide 4G wireless network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The article cites two unnamed sources "familiar with the matter," who said that Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks have all agreed to contribute an additional $500 million to the cause. Google, which had initially invested with these other companies, is not participating in this funding round, the article said.

Sprint and these other partners invested about $3.2 billion in Clearwire about 18 months ago when a new joint venture was developed to build the Clearwire network.

In addition to cash, Sprint also gave Clearwire access to its 2.5 GHz spectrum. Sprint, Comcast, and Time Warner have already begun reselling the Clearwire WiMax service in areas where Clearwire has already built its network.

Clearwire now offers service in several cities including Baltimore, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

There is little doubt that consumers' appetite for faster wireless speeds is growing. But Clearwire is building its network using WiMax technology while its major competitors, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, have chosen to use a competing technology known as LTE or Long Term Evolution.

Verizon is already building its LTE 4G network and will have commercial deployments in 2010. AT&T plans to continue upgrading its 3G network with newer technology, but has said it eventually plans to move to LTE. Most other major wireless operators around the world have also settled on using LTE for their next generation networks.

Clearwire does have a good head start in terms of deployments. But it's unclear if that will be enough to beat competitors, such as Verizon Wireless, in the long run.

But in order for Clearwire to even have a chance in competing with Verizon and AT&T, it will need a fully built nationwide network. And that takes a lot of money; money that Clearwire is spending very quickly. As of the second quarter of 2009, Clearwire had projected a cash burn of $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion for 2009. The company said in August it had burned through $646 million of its cash. But as it spends money, the company is also losing money. For the second quarter, Clearwire announced a net loss of $73.4 million on revenue of $63.6 million.

Clearwire will report third quarter earnings on Tuesday.

The Google factor
Google's decision not to invest in the next round of investment could be an indication that the search giant is losing faith in the technology. In a recent interview with CNET News, Andy Rubin, who heads up Google's mobile operating system division, said Google is planning its mobile future around LTE and not on WiMax.

That said, a Google spokesman told Reuters that the company still supports Clearwire's efforts to build a high-speed wireless network using WiMax. But the spokesman said the best way for Google to offer support is through product and strategic cooperation rather than investing more money.

Google also recently announced a strategic partnership with Verizon Wireless. The companies worked closely to launch a new 3G wireless Android device called the Droid. And the two companies will likely work closely to develop other new products and services on Verizon's new 4G network.

By contrast, Clearwire's other investors have far too much at stake now to abandon the network and the WiMax technology.

Intel has been a big backer of WiMax from the beginning. And the company has already invested millions of dollars in developing products. Sprint has also bet big on the WiMax technology, and the company is too far down the WiMax path to completely drop it. The cable companies Comcast and Time Warner, which are reselling Clearwire's service to their cable customers, have no other choice at this point, but to stick with the WiMax plan. The last thing these companies want to do is build their own wireless network, and they desperately need a wireless broadband service to compete with their phone company rivals.