Europe

Twitter stops delivering outbound text messages in U.K.

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:38:34 -0400

Twitter, which offers a microblogging and social networking tool, has stopped offering part of its mobile service in the U.K., citing high prices charged by operators there. As of Thursday, Twitter said it is no longer delivering outbound text messages via its dedicated number. That feature was available to users who wanted updates straight to their mobile devices. However, Twitter's U.K. number ended up servicing all of Europe, leaving the company with a big bill. "When you send one message to Twitter and we send it to ten followers, you aren't charged ten times--that's because we've been footing the bill. When we launched our free SMS service to the world, we set the clock ticking. As the service grew in popularity, so too would the price," the startup firm said. Article

The top 5 trends for the European wireless market

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:33:46 -0400

Check out FierceWireless:Europe's top 5 trends for the European wireless market. Article

Qualcomm, Nokia reach new patent agreement, end years of bitter disputes

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:30:21 -0400

The many bitter patent disputes between Qualcomm and Nokia have finally ended. The two telecom giants announced they have entered into a new 15-year patent agreement that effectively settles all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission and numerous lawsuits filed in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Nokia filed a complaint with the EC in October 2005 with five other companies, which led to a flurry of lawsuits between Qualcomm and its rivals and several regulatory probes into Qualcomm's licensing practices. The two were also miles apart for some time when it came to renegotiating a new license agreement that expired in April 2007.

The new deal comes on the day Qualcomm and Nokia were to appear in a Delaware court to begin a key trial over WCDMA patents, but the judge had delayed the trial by a day. Nokia claimed Qualcomm charges too much for the patents. Nokia now has been granted a license under all of Qualcomm's patents for use in Nokia mobile devices and Nokia Siemens Networks infrastructure equipment. The agreement covers a number of technology standards, including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and others. Nokia also agreed not to use any of its patents directly against Qualcomm, enabling Qualcomm to integrate Nokia's technology into Qualcomm's chipsets.

The financial structure of the settlement includes an up-front payment and on-going royalties payable to Qualcomm. Nokia has agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA. The specific terms, however, are confidential.

Qualcomm investors breathed a sigh of relief, pushing the company's shares up 18.7 percent in after-hours trading.

Qualcomm delayed the release of its fiscal third-quarter results for several hours to announce the agreement with Nokia. The company's profits fell 6 percent to $748 million, or 45 cents a share, for the three months ended June 29, down from $798 million, or 47 cents a share, the previous year. Revenue grew 19 percent to $2.76 billion from $2.33 billion.

For more:
- read AP
- see this release

Related stories:
Nokia gains patent victory over Qualcomm in Germany. Nokia patent story
Nokia, Qualcomm head to court this week over CDMA patents. Nokia/Qualcomm story
Qualcomm-Nokia lawsuits continue to fly. Lawsuit story
Nokia sues Qualcomm in Europe. Nokia-Qualcomm story

Forrester: Don't expect mobile broadband to overtake fixed real soon

Lynnette Luna — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:59:53 -0400

Forrester Research released a study that refutes the mobile industry's prediction that mobile broadband connections in Europe could overshadow fixed in as short as five years. The firm said that despite its forecast for growth of the mobile broadband market, there are factors that will keep it from displacing fixed broadband. These include performance, weak indoor coverage and the high rates of desktop computers that don't have wireless connections.

Even with HSDPA, the theoretical speed for the services is 7 Mbps, said Forrester, with actual performance usually a lot slower, while data offerings aren't really "unlimited."

Still, the mobile share of the European broadband market will grow to 27 percent of all connections by the end of 2013, with fixed representing 67 percent, falling from 88 percent in 2008. The remaining 10 percent will account for users who have both types of connections, said Forrester.

For more:
- check out telecoms.com

Nokia, Qualcomm head to court this week over CDMA patents

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:57:07 -0400

The simmering battle between Qualcomm and Nokia is heating up again as the two technology giants head to court on Wednesday to determine whether Qualcomm's charges of royalties for CDMA are too high. While the trial won't likely settle the dispute the two have over a patent agreement that expired in April 2007 pertaining to royalties Qualcomm charges for WCDMA chips, it could offer the winner of this trial some leverage in that dispute.

At issue on Wednesday in a Delaware court is whether, as Nokia contends, Qualcomm forfeited its right to seek injunctions in lawsuits to enforce patents because it promised European standards-setting bodies to license its patents under fair and nondiscriminatory terms. Nokia also claims that it is paid up on Qualcomm's key patents while the rest should be valued much less when taking Nokia's own patents into consideration.

Of course, Qualcomm says Nokia is wrong about the worth of those other patents and its "fair and nondiscriminatory" agreement with standards bodies. It contends that Nokia extended their existing license agreement by default by using Qualcomm inventions after the agreement expired.

Vendors have long grumbled about the amount of royalties Qualcomm charges for CDMA-based patents. Nokia and Qualcomm have been filing a number of lawsuits in the U.S. and Europe against each other over patents since 2005.

For more:
- read the WSJ (sub. req.)

Related stories:
Qualcomm-Nokia lawsuits continue to fly. Lawsuit story
Nokia sues Qualcomm in Europe. Nokia-Qualcomm story

Nokia gets green light for Navteq deal

Sue Marek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:31:00 -0400

The European Commission approved Nokia's acquisition of digital map data firm Navteq. The deal is supposed to close within the next five business days.

Nokia first announced its $8.1 billion acquisition of Navteq last October. Through the deal, Nokia will get access to Navteq's digital map services, which span 69 countries across six continents. The two firms had teamed prior to this deal. In 2005, they joined forces to create mobile search solutions for the handset giant's smartphones. In addition to Nokia, Navteq's corporate partners include automakers such as Chrysler, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

For more:
- see this article

Related stories:
Nokia to buy Navteq for $8.1B
Navteq invests in Acuity Mobile

Report: Huawei to sell mobile devices unit

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Huawei is mulling a sale of a multi-billion dollar stake in its mobile devices unit to a foreign investor that could connect it with U.S. carriers. The renewed interest in such a deal comes after a failed $2.2 billion bid by Bain Capital and Huawei for 3Com. Since 3Com had contracts with the U.S. government for some security services, the deal did not pass the regulatory process.

Huawei has risen as a competitive force on the networking side of the wireless industry, but the company has had some difficulty breaking into the competitive handset market in the U.S. and Europe. In 2006 Huawei inked a deal with Vodafone to supply 3G handsets to the various carriers through Europe. For handsets in the U.S. however, Huawei only has one announced carrier partner: MetroPCS.

For more on the report:
- read this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Best Buy inks $2.1B JV with Carphone Warehouse

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse plan to form a joint venture that will require a $2.15 billion investment from Best Buy. Carphone Warehouse will be contributing its European and U.S. retail businesses to the JV in return for the $2.15 billion in cash from Best Buy. The JV will open its first stores in the U.K. next year before expanding into other parts of Europe. Larger stores will take Best Buy's branding, while smaller outlets will retain Carphone's moniker.

For more on Best Buy's investment:
- read this report from WSJ (sub. req.)

HTC launches Windows Mobile powered Diamond

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

HTC has unveiled its latest Windows Mobile-powered touch screen device, the Diamond. The handset runs the newest version of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and is powered by a Qualcomm 528MHz processor. While no pricing information is available yet, HTC announced that the handset will be available in Europe in June and elsewhere in the second half of 2008.

The phone sports an innovative, new TouchFLO 3D UI and is both WCDMA/HSPA-enabled as well as WiFi-enabled. Other features include GPS, Bluetooth, a 2.8-inch VGA touch screen, 4GB of internal storage and a 3.2MP camera.

For more:
- see this photo slideshow of the HTC Diamond
- read this release on the HTC Diamond

Report: AT&T to offer $100 femtocells

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

According to a report from ThinkPanmure, AT&T has inked a $500 million deal with ip.access for 7 million femtocells, which it plans to sell to its subscribers for about $100. While AT&T would not comment directly on the reports, a spokesperson did note that the carrier plans to conduct a femtocell trial later this year. Femtocells are similar to WiFi routers in that they make use of a users high speed data connection at home, but differ in that they make use of carrier's licensed spectrum. Sprint has already launched a femtocell from Samsung that it calls the Airave. The unit costs about $50 and requires a monthly fee. The ThinkPanmure report predicts that GSM carriers will rollout femtocells next year.

For more on the report:
- read this RCR article