INQ Handsets Come to North America
Posted on July 28, 2010 |
The North American handset market has just gotten more crowded. On July 28, INQ Mobile, owned by Hong Kong-based carrier Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., said it will start selling its INQ Chat 3G phone through Telus and Koodo Mobile, both based in Canada.
The device will boast a Qwerty keyboard, pile all messages into one inbox, and feature a fast browser and social apps such as Facebook. Telus hasn't disclosed pricing. Koodo expects to sell the phone for about $50, according to INQ.
At this price, INQ should compete with low-end handsets from Research In Motion and Samsung, said INQ CEO Frank Meehan. "We are going into RIM's heartland," he said in an interview. "We are coming in with a device that's really aggressively priced, and with bells and whistles."
For INQ, the U.S might be next. The company is in discussions with U.S. wireless carriers, and hopes to introduce a smartphone in this market in 2011, Meehan said. He didn't disclose which carriers he is talking to. INQ is within months of unveiling a smartphone based on Android operating system developed by a consortium of companies lead by Google.
With Canada under its belt, INQ will be selling its phones in 12 countries, including the U.K. and India.
Blockbuster Moves onto Droid X
Posted on June 24, 2010 |
Blockbuster is expanding its mobile efforts. On June 23, Verizon Wireless announced that Blockbuster on Demand, an online movie buying and rental service, will become available on the new Motorola Droid X.
Blockbuster on Demand has already been available on T-Mobile's HTC HD2 since March. In late 2009, Blockbuster launched an app allowing iPhone and iPod touch users to rent and buy movies.
Many of the company's competitors are going after mobile phones as well. Apple lets iPhone, iPod and iPad users rent movies from iTunes. Monthly rentals service Netflix has recently released its iPad application. The top-grossing app on iTunes right now comes from yet another competitor, MobiTV, which streams news and sports onto the iPhone.
The influx of rivals ranging from Redbox to Netflix has been one reason behind Blockbuster's recent struggles with its rental stores business. In the first quarter, Blockbuster's revenues slid 15.6% year over year, to $939 million. The company will hold its annual shareholders' meeting on June 24. And the competition is quickly moving from the rental stores, TVs and PCs onto mobile devices.
Wireless Net Neutrality: Dead?
Posted on April 6, 2010 |
The effort to let any Web service run over wireless networks may be dead.
On April 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the Federal Communications Commission couldn’t tell the U.S.’s largest cable company, Comcast, not to interfere with certain types of traffic. This in effect reverses the FCC’s 2008 ruling, which allowed Web services like Web-calling provider Skype to run over most wired networks, and to grow and prosper faster.
Ever since, Skype and other services have lobbied the FCC to impose similar, so-called net neutrality rules on wireless networks of carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. The agency’s chairman, Julius Genachowski, has said he’d like to extend net neutrality rules onto wireless networks.
Now, however, Genachowski's ability to go ahead with the reforms may be severely crippled. While the FCC could appeal the court’s decision, that could be a drawn-out process. And it’s likely to halt any new net neutrality rulemaking and proceedings. That’s bad news for Skype, as well as a myriad of other Web services that depend on being able to run over various carriers’ networks to grow. These companies will have to work with the carriers to gain access to their networks via business negotiations – as Skype has already done with Verizon Wireless.
Wireless Net Neutrality: Dead?
Posted on April 6, 2010 |
The effort to let any Web service run over wireless networks may be dead.
On April 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the Federal Communications Commission couldn’t tell the U.S.’s largest cable company, Comcast, not to interfere with certain types of traffic. This in effect reverses the FCC’s 2008 ruling, which allowed Web services like Web-calling provider Skype to run over most wired networks, and to grow and prosper faster.
Ever since, Skype and other services have lobbied the FCC to impose similar, so-called net neutrality rules on wireless networks of carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. The agency’s chairman, Julius Genachowski, has said he’d like to extend net neutrality rules onto wireless networks.
Now, however, Genachowski's ability to go ahead with the reforms may be severely crippled. While the FCC could appeal the court’s decision, that could be a drawn-out process. And it’s likely to halt any new net neutrality rulemaking and proceedings. That’s bad news for Skype, as well as a myriad of other Web services that depend on being able to run over various carriers’ networks to grow. These companies will have to work with the carriers to gain access to their networks via business negotiations – as Skype has already done with Verizon Wireless.
Pantech Hires New Execs, Readies to Storm AT&T
Posted on March 19, 2010 |
Wireless handset maker Pantech is bolstering the senior ranks of its U.S. division to help it win more business from AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile phone service provider. South Korea-based Pantech named David Ronis as its chief marketing officer, a newly created position, the company plans to announce on March 19. Pantech also said that Charles Park became CEO of its U.S. operations in December.
Park, who replaced former CEO JB (Jung Bong) Chun, previously worked as Pantech’s vice chief officer of overseas sales and marketing, where he managed all international product sales and marketing for the company. Before then, he was the head of Pantech’s R&D and oversaw the development of key handsets. Prior to joining Pantech, Ronis was a sales executive at LG Electronics MobileComm and Cingular Wireless (now AT&T), so he has connections that could help get more Pantech products into the carrier’s stores.
Pantech aims to increase the number of handsets it makes for AT&T to 15% of total volume the carrier sells within three years. At the end of 2009, Pantech, which has been working to make inroads into the U.S. market for several years, produced only 5% percent of cell phones sold by AT&T, according to the handset maker.
Pantech wants to step up pressure on makers Samsung and LG in the U.S. “We are now ready to move into the upper echelon of strategic partners [at AT&T],” Ronis says. Pantech will introduce six new handsets at AT&T this year, double last year’s number, he says. He hopes to sell eight to 10 handsets to AT&T annually within three years.
To get there, Pantech has refocused on making Qwerty keyboard-based, quick-messaging devices, which account for some 65% of AT&T’s sales. Later in 2010, Pantech will introduce its first touch-screen phone, the Pantech Pursuit. It will have a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, and come with a number of nifty features. For example, you can program it to get to the right application with a shake: One shake of the phone might open up your messaging application. Two shakes might open up your social-networking app. It’s likely to sell for $49 to$79 from AT&T, Ronis says. “Over the next couple of years, we are going to break into other parts of [AT&T’s] portfolio,” he says.
