News
T-Mo's Merger with MetroPCS Complete, Now Trading on NYSE
May 1, 2013 9:59 am | by Andrew Berg | CommentsDeutsche Telekom today announced the completion of the merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications. T-Mobile will also debut this morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TMUS. As previously announced, the company's board will have 11 members, including...
Best Buy Exits Europe, Selling Joint Venture Stake
May 1, 2013 9:08 am | by Michelle Chapman, AP Business Writer | CommentsBest Buy is looking to exit Europe, selling its stake in its joint venture there to partner Carphone Warehouse Group PLC in a cash-and-stock deal valued at 500 million pounds (about $775 million). The consumer electronics company said Tuesday that the deal allows it to streamline...
Apple Sells $17 Billion in Bonds in Record Deal
May 1, 2013 9:06 am | by Associated Press | CommentsApple Inc. sold $17 billion in bonds Tuesday in a record deal spurred by the company's plan to placate its frustrated shareholders. The Cupertino, Calif., company sold the bonds in its first debt issue since the 1990s to raise money to pass along to shareholders through dividend payments...
First News Briefs for April 30, 2013
April 30, 2013 10:33 am | by Wireless Week Staff | CommentsGenband has announced a partnership with F5 Networks to deliver integrated SIP and Diameter signaling solutions. The QUANTiX Diameter Signaling Controller addresses surge in signaling traffic growth across IMS and LTE networks. The company also announced that it released GENBAND SPiDR, a WebRTC gateway...
Softbank Claims Its Sprint Bid Represents 21 Percent Premium over Dish Bid
April 30, 2013 10:22 am | by Andrew Berg | CommentsSoftbank today went on the offensive as it sought to defend the benefits of its $20.1 billion offer to acquire a 70 percent stake of Sprint Nextel. SoftBank Corp. said it has presented an analysis of its agreed transaction with Sprint and explained to investors why its transaction is superior to what it called...
FCC OKs LightSquared to Test Spectrum Sharing
April 30, 2013 9:56 am | by Andrew Berg | CommentsThe FCC has granted LightSquared a three-month period to assess the technical feasibility of using the 1675–1680 MHz band for mobile broadband services on a shared basis with existing federal operations. The grant makes good on policy set forth in a July 2012 report from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology...
How Siri, Google Now Respond to 5 Questions
April 30, 2013 9:29 am | by Associated Press | CommentsWith Google's voice assistant now available on iPhones and iPads, The Associated Press used an iPad Mini to throw five test questions at Google Now and Siri on Monday afternoon in New York. Here's what the two digital assistants had to say for themselves...
IBM’s MessageSight Looks Ready to Deal With the “Internet of Things”
April 30, 2013 9:01 am | by Ben Munson | CommentsIBM’s looking big picture at the needs of a smarter planet with the unveiling of its new appliance, MessageSight, which could come in handy once the “Internet of things” blows up in the consumer market. The message hub comes ready to handle the galaxy of micro-transactions connected devices...
Clearwire Draws Sprint Funding for Third Straight Month
April 30, 2013 8:55 am | by Ben Munson | CommentsAfter declining funding from Sprint in January and February, Clearwire has elected to take the funding for May, making it three straight months of $80 million draws for a grand total of $240 million. The initial offer from Sprint totaled $800 million to be lent...
IBM Hits Refresh On Its Mobile First Focus
April 29, 2013 4:40 pm | by Ben Munson | CommentsIBM Monday announced updates to the “Mobile First” initiative it has adopted toward its integrations with enterprise customers. At the kickoff to its annual Impact conference Tuesday morning, the recurring message was “Business. In Motion,” and that mantra materialized in numerous new products and updates to existing offerings in IBM’s portfolio.
First News Briefs for April 29, 2013
April 29, 2013 11:01 am | by Wireless Week Staff | CommentsMyriad Group AG, the company creating and connecting communities across mobile and TV, today announces that it has completed the acquisition of RCS products and intellectual property from Metaswitch. The acquisition enables Myriad to extend and enhance the social messaging portfolio it provides to network operators...
SoftBank Allows Sprint to Conduct Talks with Dish
April 29, 2013 10:49 am | by Associated Press | CommentsSprint Nextel says SoftBank is allowing it to seek more information from Dish Network related to its rival bid for the third-largest U.S. cellphone company. Sprint has agreed to sell 70 percent of itself to Japan's Softbank Corp. for $20.1 billion. But it recently got a competing...
Google Now Update Hits iOS App
April 29, 2013 10:43 am | by Andrew Berg | CommentsGoogle continues to make inroads on iOS today with the launch of an update to its Google Search app. The company today announced it was adding Google Now functionality to its iOS app. Google Now is a kind of virtual assistant akin to Apple's Siri...
Report: Investors Pan Rumored $100B Verizon Bid for Vodafone's Share in VZW
April 29, 2013 10:12 am | by Andrew Berg | CommentsA Reuters report from Wednesday that claimed Verizon had hired advisers to prepare a $100 billion bid for Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless was apparently credible enough to provoke a response from major Vodafone investors...
Smartphones Overtake 'Dumb' Phones Worldwide
April 29, 2013 9:32 am | by Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer | CommentsResearch firm IDC said more smartphones than "dumb" phones are being made this year, a milestone in a shift that's putting computing power and Internet access in millions of hands worldwide. Manufacturers shipped 216 million smartphones worldwide in the first three months of this year...
