More Legal Battles for Nokia and Qualcomm
By Teresa von Fuchs
Nokia has filed another patent counter-suit against Qualcomm, this time in Texas. The suit accuses the chip maker of infringing six patents in its MediaFLO mobile TV technology and its Brew mobile data technology. Nokia is seeking damages and an injunction.
"This is another example where Qualcomm has effectively copied Nokia's innovations," Tero Ojanpera, chief technology officer at Nokia, said in a statement. "We believe that, for MediaFLO to evolve and for BREW to remain viable, Qualcomm needs access to these and many other patented Nokia inventions."
This is just the latest move in a seemingly endless legal tangle between the two companies. Qualcomm has filed 11 suits against Nokia in the last two years; one was in Texas in April of this year.
This is Nokia's second patent suit in the game of tit for tat.
Qualcomm was dealt a blow in another patent wrangling case last week when the U.S. International Trade Commission sided with Broadcom and issued a partial ban on phones using Qualcomm chips.
Onex Joins Group to Bid for BCE
By Teresa von Fuchs
Onex, Canada's biggest buyout firm, has joined a consortium in a bid for BCE, the country's largest telephone company. The possibly buyout group is led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and includes New York-based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Groups led by Cerberus Capital Management and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan also are in talks to buy the telecom.
BCE has not yet officially begun an auction of the company, but its shares have jumped almost a third in the last 10 weeks as buy out speculation continues to develop.
According to Bloomberg News, Onex has $28 billion Canadian in assets, including stakes in electronics manufacturer Celestica and call-center manager ClientLogic.
Ericsson signs $1 billion deal with China Mobile
By Teresa von Fuchs
Ericsson has signed an agreement with China Mobile, valued at $1 billion, to expand the carriers GSM network. China's President Hu Jinato was at the contract signing in Stockholm, marking the first time a Chinese president has visited Sweden since the two countries began a diplomatic relationship in 1950.
In a company statement, Ericsson Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said: "Ericsson is proud of its cooperation with China, which dates back over a century. We are dedicated to supporting the development and growth of China's telecom industry with our global expertise and proven competence. The agreement we are announcing today is further proof of this."
Under the terms of the contract Ericsson will supply core radio network equipment, along with related technical support and services, to China Mobile as it expands GSM coverage in 19 regions of China.
Groove Prepares for Vodafone Trial
By Monica Alleven
Groove Mobile is involved in a project designed to take away discouragingly high data charges for U.K. mobile phone subscribers and encourage mobile music usage.
The Bedford, Mass.-based company is preparing to conduct a trial with Vodafone UK that will provide access to Sony BMG's music catalog. Users will be able to access full-track over-the-air (OTA) downloads via SMS short codes without the fear of incurring additional high data charges, according to Groove. More music labels are expected to follow.
High add-on data charges have been a problem in the U.K. market for years, which has been an inhibitor to growing the off-portal market, explains Adam Sexton, chief marketing officer at Groove Mobile. "We expect in the U.K. for the other carriers to fall in line very quickly," he says.
They also can expect the U.S. market to follow. New applications and services often heat up in the United Kingdom before they do in the United States. "We start off behind but catch up pretty quickly," he says.
A couple developments in the U.S. market are helping to drive the mobile music business. Last year, Verizon Wireless started allowing customers to go to its music store to buy music without requiring a minimum monthly data plan, and Sprint cut its prices from $2.50 to 99 cents for full tracks.
The buzz surrounding the upcoming iPhone, due out June 29, is a good thing for the mobile music market because it has raised awareness, Sexton says. But one thing that is a bit of a step back is the lack of OTA. Sideloading music is not that compelling, he adds.
In the Vodafone trial, off-portal billing integration will be provided by Bango using the Payforit system.
TeleNav Updates GPS Navigator
By Monica Alleven
TeleNav today launches the 5.2 version of its GPS Navigator, allowing users to send their current location to any other text-capable mobile phone.
Similar to some other social networking services, like Boost Mobile's loopt, the product allows subscribers to let their buddies know where they are located in real time. But unlike others, the TeleNav service includes users on other networks.
The new version also includes a new user interface (UI) with improvements in the graphics and usability, according to Sal Dhanani, TeleNav co-founder and senior director of marketing. The company hired Frog Design to help with the UI and bring to it the simplicity of an iPod and the slickness of the Mac, he says.
TeleNav expects people will use the latest version as a social networking tool and share user-generated content, such as restaurant ratings, which also can be accessed via the TeleNav Website. Sports enthusiasts might use it to alert team members that their soccer field has changed location, for example, but the full range of applications probably isn't even yet known, Dhanani says.
Customers can share addresses of favorite businesses, including restaurants, hotels or movie theaters. The Fuel Finder feature allows users to send information on local gas stations with the cheapest prices for that day. Other new features include reviews and ratings for nearby businesses and the ability to rate restaurants directly from a mobile phone.
To help subscribers discover all the features in the TeleNav Navigator, the company is offering a product tour as well.
The latest version of TeleNav GPS Navigator service is offered for $9.99 per month for unlimited use. So far, the application can be launched on about nine Sprint phones, but more models and carriers are expected to be added. Current customers using TeleNav GPS Navigator on supported phones can access the new version by re-downloading TeleNav GPS Navigator.
TeleNav GPS Navigator originally launched in 2003.
Last week, In-Stat came out with research showing that cellular operators whose service is based on CDMA and iDEN have an advantage over other mobile operators in nearly every region of the world largely because of the A-GPS technology originally driven by E911 mandates. In-Stat surveys of U.S. subscribers show that navigation applications have a strong ability to draw subscribers from others operators and keep them loyal.
Linux Forum Releases Phone Specs
by Teresa von Fuchs
The Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum says it plans to release its first mobile phone specifications today, hoping to encourage more Linux-based applications for mobile phones. The specs include a reference model, address book, voice call enabler, text input methods, application programming interfaces and user interface services such as widget sets.
LiPS plans to add specifications relating to telephony, messaging, calendar, IM, presence and additional user interface services before the end of the year. The completed specifications are publicly available on the LiPS Forum Web site.
The LiPS Forum also announced that Bill Weinberg has joined the organization as general manager of business development. In this role, Weinberg will be in charge of growing LiPS membership and developing the organizations impact on the Linux-based mobile phone market.
Most recently Weinberg served as senior technology analyst at the Open Source Development Labs (now part of the Linux Foundation), he also managed the OSDL Mobile Linux and Carrier Grade Linux Initiatives.
Coca-Cola Launches the Yard
by Wireless Week Staff
Coca-Cola has launched a mobile social networking site aimed at teens called The Sprite Yard. The mobile community allows users to set up a profile, send messages and photos to other kids in the yard and download content like visual ring tones. The Yard will also offer directly related product content such as animated shorts called mobisodes that can only be viewed using a PIN found under the cap of every 20 oz. Sprite bottle.
"Sprite is the first beverage brand to enable a mobile experience combining such a rich combination of features and functions," said Mark Greatrex, senior vice president of marketing communications and insights at The Coca-Cola Company, in a statement. "The Sprite Yard provides an efficient, sustainable and fresh marketing platform that reflects changing consumer demands and significantly personalizes the relationship between consumers and Sprite."
Sprite Yard went live in China earlier this month and will be available in the U.S. on June 22. Users join the community by texting YARD to Lymon, which returns a link to the mobile site.
News briefs for June 11, 2007
Companies in today's briefs include: Nokia, PCCW Mobile, CTIA, InfoSpace
• Nokia announced an agreement with Hong Kong-based PCCW Mobile to provide its mobile e-mail platform to the carrier's mobile business services. The Nokia Intellisync solution will allow PCCW Mobile to offer secure, easy-to-use mobile e-mail to its business and consumer customers under its own brand.
• CTIA, along with its member companies, is sponsoring National Wireless Safety Week, starting today. This awareness week seeks to highlight the significant role wireless technology plays in enhancing public and personal safety. The VITA Achievement Awards Dinner kicks off the event tonight. The awards dinner will honor eight Wireless Samaritans from across America who have used wireless technology in extraordinary circumstances to save lives or fight crime.
• InfoSpace has formally launched its mCore Mobile Services Platform, a suite of customizable mobile infrastructure services designed to help carriers offer their subscribers a better mobile content experience. mCore is an end-to-end technology platform that includes search functions, storefronts, portals and messaging. Carriers can customize which features of mCore they want to deploy.