• Market research firm Compass Intelligence reports that prepaid has a growing appeal with small business owners and also with wealthy consumers. Among the 10,000 U.S. mobile phone users surveyed, 22 percent who would be adding a new device said it would be a prepaid service. Also, small business owners are more likely to choose prepaid plans and are the most likely to give them to their employees in the second half of 2009, as compared to other business decision-makers, said the firm.
• Vonage has regained compliance with the New York Stock Exchange's minimum share price requirement, which requires a minimum average closing price of $1 per share over 30 consecutive trading days. The VoIP provider was threatened with delisting last October when it failed to meet requirements for share price and market capitalization.
• The mHealth Alliance has named its first executive director, David Aylward, who is a 35-year public policy and telecom veteran. The mHealth Alliance got its start last February, when the UN Foundation, The Vodafone Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation announced a collaboration to support and advance mobile health (mHealth) initiatives in the developing world.
• Supercomm, the major trade show for the broadband industry, has announced that administrators for the government's broadband stimulus fund will be delivering the keynote address at Supercomm's National Broadband Strategy Conference in October. Speakers will include administrators from the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). They will discuss implementing the $7.2 billion allocated for national broadband stimulus.
• Mobile marketing company HipCricket has introduced measurable mobile coupons for retailers and quick-service restaurants. The mobile coupon offering is built on a software-as-a-service (SaaS), on-demand platform that provides real-time analytics and reporting.
• Nonpartisan, nonprofit charity group ProCon.org has launched a new Web site devoted to examining the safety concerns over cell phones. The site, cellphones.procon.org, presents information from several scientific studies which examine arguments on both sides of the issue. ProCon.org says it is dedicated to promoting critical thinking on high-profile issues, including healthcare, the Big Three auto bailout and illegal immigration.