ArchiveJuly, 2007

Verizon Wireless announced a deal this morning to acquire Rural Cellular Corp., in a move designed to expand the national footprint of Verizon’s wireless coverage.

Rural Cellular is the 14th largest service provider in America in terms of subscribers; Verizon Wireless will pad its 62.1 million customer base with the modest 700,000 it acquires from RCC. More importantly, the deal helps Verizon solidify its network in rural areas across the country – including northern New England, parts of the South, and segments of the heartland stretching from Minnesota and Oklahoma to the Pacific Northwest.

This move is part of an ongoing trend we’re seeing from the nation’s major carriers; the acquisition of regional providers like RCC continues to help the big names augment their nation-wide coverage, and deliver enhanced services to customers in regions with spotty access to national cellular options.

The deal must be approved by shareholders and regulators, but is expected to close in early 2008.

No kid wants to hear this quite yet, but it’s almost time to head back to school.

As America’s kids become more and more tech-savvy, devices like cell phones and computers tend to top the “must-have� list this time of year. An online shopping site, ShopLocal.com, recently conducted a survey of children ages seven-to-12, and confirmed what may seem intuitive to some – kids love their gadgets.

The survey, timed to coincide with the back to school rush, found that 73% of all kids in the age range want to start their new school year with a new gaming system (Nintendo’s Wii was the most commonly cited system). A new computer follows closely behind, at 70%, and cell phones round out the top three, with 69% of preteens hoping to carry a brand new cell phone to class this fall.

Also of interest, the presence of cell phones among the preteen set is rising – the number of 10-to-12 year olds who place importance on a new phone in 2007 rose 18% over a similar survey conducted in 2006.

Wirefly’s Back to School sale is underway, and will stretch through August - just in case your kids need that new RAZR.

Imagine running late for a meeting at a client site and realizing you don’t have the right PowerPoint slides with you. You call your assistant, she forwards an email with the document as an attachment to your Motorola multimedia cell phone, and – voila – you’re good to go.

How does this help? Your cell phone has a projector as one of its features, which enables you to get to the meeting just in time, point your phone towards the projection screen, and the meeting is on the way. No set-up time.

A Redmond, WA, visual technology firm, MicroVision, signed an agreement with Motorola this week to develop a “pico projector� display for cell phones and mobile applications. The innovation will make use of Microvision’s ultra-miniature laser based display engine called PicoP.

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This week’s highly publicized YouTube debate signaled another shift in the way politicians employ technology; four years after Howard Dean’s campaign helped push politics onto the Internet, most mainstream candidates have poured resources into high-quality websites, and are present on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

Now, reports indicate that some politicians are exploring new options, by diving into another rapidly growing subculture – the world of mobile content.

The cell phone is the primary communications tool for a significant portion of the voting public; many potential voters consider their phones irreplaceable, and politicians are taking note. Using interactive mobile content to reach voters is a strategy that could enhance a candidate’s visibility and increase his or her credibility with constituents, but, among the leading presidential candidates for 2008, only Democrats have entered the mobile world.

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Good news for anyone who has a habit of misplacing their cell phone – according to a recent Reader’s Digest survey, there’s a good chance you’ll get it back.

Reporters from the magazine planted “lost� cell phones in public places around the world, covering 32 cities, as part of an experiment designed to test people’s trustworthiness. And, when it comes to unattended cell phones, they found a shockingly high level of honesty. As people walked by the “lost� phones, Reader’s Digest staff placed a call, to see if people would answer the ringing phone and attempt to contact its owner, walk right by, or pocket the device.

Prior to the study, many of the people involved expected the “return rate� to be in the single-digits. To their surprise, however, 68% of the “lost� cell phones were returned.

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Verizon Wireless customers set a new record in June by sending a combined total of more than 10 billion text messages. That’s more text messages in one month than any other carrier, and more than double Verizon’s SMS volume in September 2006 (when the company was the first to break the five billion messages a month mark).

Verizon’s cell phone customers also sent in excess of 200 million multimedia (photo, video) messages last month.

Verizon Wireless specifically credits cell phone models such as the LG enV, which were designed with messaging in mind.

We touched on the Broadcom-Qualcomm dispute earlier this month by taking a look at both sides and identifying the two extremes – Broadcom’s desire to see a more strictly enforced ban on patent-infringing cell phones, versus Qualcomm’s claim that the existing ITC ban tampers innovation and consumer choice. In the end, we expected to see a resolution of some sort.

Today, Verizon Wireless took a unilateral step towards crafting such a resolution.

The carrier announced a licensing agreement with Broadcom that will allow Verizon Wireless to continue to sell devices containing the disputed microchips. As a result, Verizon will stop supporting Qualcomm in its ongoing fight against the ban.

The deal Verizon Wireless accepted appears to be the same one Broadcom previously offered to Qualcomm: Broadcom will collect a $6 licensing fee directly from Verizon for each unit sold. For its part, Verizon Wireless now has access to products which rely on the disputed patents – something its competitors can’t, for the time being, say.

Amid reports that Qualcomm is working together with Sprint on a “work-around,� today’s news is especially interesting. Will the other carriers follow suit, and make Broadcom the winner here by signing similar licensing agreements? Or does Qualcomm still have the strategic relationships in place to stand firm?