Sprint Nextel Hires Wireless Veteran Bob Johnson To Head CDMA Business (USA) May 13, 2009
Posted by aikservices in AT&T, CDMA, McCaw Cellular, Mobile, North America, Sprint Nextel, USA.Tags: AT&T, CDMA, McCaw Cellular, Mobile, North America, Sprint Nextel, USA
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Sprint Nextel has appointed Bob Johnson to the position of president of its CDMA business unit, which continues to lose subscribers despite having a strong restructuring plan in place. Johnson replaces Keith Cowan, who was serving as interim president of Sprint’s CDMA business unit. Cowan will now be president of Spring’s strategy and corporate development, and lead the company’s overall strategic planning.Johnson, 55, will be in charge of Sprint’s postpaid consumer marketing and sales, including acquisition, growth and marketing, as well as the more than 11,000 retail locations. Johnson most recently served as COO of Sotto Wireless, a Bellevue, Wash.-based company he co-founded. The company focused on offering wireless phones as a replacement for landline phones for small businesses. The company shut down earlier this year after it failed to get enough traction. Before that, he served 16 years as a key executive at AT&T Wireless, including as EVP of the company’s marketing, sales and customer service functions. Prior to joining AT&T, Johnson worked at McCaw Cellular Communications. Johnson will start on May 20, and will likely be easily confused with another Bob Johnson, who currently serves as Chief Service Officer.
Earnings Preview: AT&T to report 4Q results January 28, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, Financial, iPhone, USA.Tags: Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, Financial, iPhone, USA
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AT&T Inc. reports its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.As the largest telecommunications company in the country, AT&T has been something of a haven in a dismal economy. But its stock is down 24 percent from a year ago, compared with a 37 percent decline for the S&P 500.AT&T’s wireless unit has kept posting healthy growth, helped in particular by the July release of Apple’s second-generation iPhone. Analysts expect that growth to have slowed down in the fourth quarter, even though AT&T did launch another high-profile smart phone, the BlackBerry Bold, in November.Paradoxically, fewer iPhone sales help the company in the short term, because AT&T subsidizes each unit by hundreds of dollars, which it then recoups through service fees. AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone.
AT&T pay USD2 million to settle dispute January 16, 2009
Posted by aikservices in AT&T, Mobile, North America, Telecom, USA, Wireless.Tags: AT&T, Mobile, Telecom, USA, Wireless
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AT&T will pay the Department of Justice more than USD2 million to settle allegations it violated the terms of its USD2.8 billion acquisition of Dobson Communications in 2007. To obtain approval for the deal AT&T were ordered to divest from two rural markets in Kentucky and one in Oklahoma, but although the company did this, customer information was retained and used to poach customers back from the divested businesses.
An Odd Couple Pitching iPhone: Apple, Wal-Mart December 30, 2008
Posted by aikservices in 3G, Apple, AT&T, iPhone, Mobile, Telecom, USA, Wal-Mart, Wireless.Tags: 3G, Apple, AT&T, iPhone, Mobile, Telecom, USA, Wal-Mart, Wireless
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Apple has officially gone mass market with the iPhone. Wal-Mart said Friday that it would start selling the popular smart phone on Sunday in nearly 2,500 stores.The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer will sell the 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G for $197 and the 16-gigabyte model for $297, with a new two-year service agreement from AT&T T or qualified upgrade. Apple and Wal-Mart make an odd couple. Apple is a high-end brand known for its boutique-style stores and pricey computers. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is a renowned discount chain that touts “always low prices” for goods ranging from apparel to grocery items.
But Wal-Mart isn’t heavily discounting the iPhone as some media outlets had speculated in recent weeks. Instead, Wal-Mart is charging $2 less than Apple’s list price on both models, just a 1% discount. By adding Wal-Mart to its list of iPhone retail outlets, which in the U.S. also includes AT&T stores and the Best Buy BBY consumer electronics chain, Apple is executing on a strategy to take market share in the burgeoning smart phone market.
Cellcos complete asset swap (USA) December 24, 2008
Posted by aikservices in AT&T, CDMA, Dobson Cellular, GSM, Mobile, North America, telecom USA, Verizon Wireless, Wireless.Tags: AT&T, Dobson Cellular, Mobile, North America, Verizon Wireless, Wireless
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AT&T and Verizon Wireless have completed an asset swap which helps them meet the regulatory conditions of two recent buyouts of smaller operators. The Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T’s buyout of Dobson in November 2007 and Verizon’s purchase of rural Cellular in August 2008 as long as a number of overlapping operations were divested. Verizon has now acquired licences, network infrastructure and subscribers from AT&T in Kentucky and other unspecified areas, while AT&T has acquired Verizon assets in rural areas of Vermont, New York, Washington State and Kentucky. Verizon has also received an undisclosed cash payment under the deal.
Smartphones Try To Outsmart the Competition December 8, 2008
Posted by aikservices in AT&T, BlackBerry, CDMA, GSM, iPhone, Microsoft, Mobile, Research In Motion, RIM, Smartphone, Telecom, Verizon Wireless, Wireless, YouTube.Tags: BlackBerry Storm, GPS, Mobile, Research In Motion, RIM, Telecom, Verizon Wireless, Wireless, YouTube
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Cell phone carriers are touting their smartphones as the smart choice for the holiday season. Verizon Wireless and Research in Motion’s new BlackBerry Storm has all the familiar BlackBerry features but is a touch-screen device.
Audrey Lundy, public relations manager for Verizon Wireless, said Verizon incorporated the touch-screen to keep up with customer demand. The Storm employs a clickable touch-screen that is designed to respond like a keyboard.
When Apple’s iPhone came into the marketplace in 2007, users were excited about its touch-screen capability. The phone also offers more than 5,000 downloadable applications like navigation tools and access to YouTube.
The iPhone was the No. 1-selling phone for the third quarter of this year. Even with its success, some said the iPhone is for general consumers while the BlackBerry is for the business community.
The launch of the iPhone 3G added Microsoft Exchange access and GPS technology, which could in turn appeal more to the business crowd, said Brian Bollenbach, director of product development for Anyware Mobile Solutions. The BlackBerry and the iPhone still have their niche audiences, he said. But additions and phone upgrades are increasing their customer base. “I say in both cases they have opportunities to bleed over to both markets with their new versions,” said Bollenbach.
Smart phones took off about six years ago, said Bollenbach. They offered mobile versions of applications business people had on their home computers, making it easier to work away from the office.
Various industries took note of the increasing popularity for mobile devices. They started creating mobile Web sites, but many were slow to take off because it took a long time to download all the information. Bollenbach said in the past year there have been significant improvements to browsers that have sped up loading time. The success of the iPhone in the past year has the other carriers taking note of its forward-thinking applications, he said. “The systems are going to continue to become more diverse,” said Bollenbach. “I do think we’ll see certain carriers lose market shares and others will gain.”
Which company will see the most success depends on consumers’ carrier service, he said. The iPhone works for AT&T subscribers and the BlackBerry Storm is on the Verizon plan. Those services could influence future smart-phone purchases.
“I would say iPhone is off to a good start, they have a loyal fan base,” he said. “But we’ll have to see.”
Even with people conserving their money this holiday season, Bollenbach anticipates many smart phones are a likely gift purchase this year.
Open-Source Symbian Has Caught AT&T’s Eye December 8, 2008
Posted by aikservices in Android, AOL, Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, CDMA, Google, GSM, iPhone, Mobile, Research In Motion, RIM, Smartphone, Symbian, Telecom, Windows Mobile, Wireless.Tags: Android, AOL, Apple, AT&T, BlackBerry, Cell Telecom, Google, Intrinsyc, iPhone, ISB Corporation, Mobile, Nokia, Research In Motion, RIM, Symbian, Telecom, Trusted Logic, Windows Mobile, Wireless, Xenient
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The world has been waiting for an open-source Symbian mobile operating system, but it won’t have to wait much longer. The Symbian Foundation expects to have its first version ready in the first half of 2009.
The foundation is making strides and gaining more support. Symbian on Thursday announced AOL, Cell Telecom, Intrinsyc, ISB Corporation, Trusted Logic, and Xenient have added their endorsements to the 58 other companies already supporting the open-source effort.
“We are delighted with the response from the Silicon Valley community, as well as from developers around the world, to the plans for the foundation to build on the leading open mobile platform,” said Lee Williams, who has been nominated as executive director of the foundation and who was a keynote speaker at this week’s Symbian Partner Event in San Francisco.
The AT&T Connection
Even though Symbian has a commanding lead in the global mobile operating-system market with nearly half the implementations worldwide, competition is rising. Research in Motion, Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android, and Windows Mobile are all challenging Symbian on the smartphone front.
What’s more, Symbian hasn’t gained much traction in the U.S. Symbian could gain an advantage, though if comments made by an AT&T executive at the Symbian event Thursday pan out as some observers expect.
Roger Smith, AT&T’s director of next-generation services, told the event that the wireless carrier is considering how it might standardize on only a few mobile platforms over the next few years. He cited Symbian as a “credible candidate” to be among those platforms.
Speaking of an open Symbian, Smith said, “If done well and done right, this can be a game-changing event.” It’s all part of AT&T’s move to take more control over its destiny in the mobile operating space.
A Fragmented Market
“At the end of the day, the mobile OS platform market is going to be fragmented for the foreseeable future. While there is Windows Mobile, there is no Windows of mobile, meaning one dominant platform that will rule everything,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia. “We are going to see any number of strong players here amongst many.”
Symbian has been a strong platform in Europe for some time. But until the birth of the Symbian Foundation, talk about Symbian revolved around Nokia, its creator. Nokia’s interpretation of the Symbian mobile operating system was in the Series 60 devices. Some industry watchers have speculated about Symbian becoming a unified platform for AT&T.
“It’s hard to see a carrier standardizing on a single platform and what benefit that would have for them,” Gartenberg said. “Even more interesting is that these comments came from someone at AT&T, which of course has the exclusive [U.S.] franchise on the iPhone, which is now one of the best-selling devices in mobility, period.”
AT&T to cut 12,000 jobs due to economic downturn December 5, 2008
Posted by aikservices in AT&T, CDMA, GSM, Mobile.Tags: AT&T, Mobile, North America, USA, Wireless
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Telecom Giant, AT&T said, it will cut 12,000 jobs, or about 4% of its total work force. The company holds responsible to economic pressures and make an effort to create a “more streamlined organizational structure.” AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp says the telecommunications company, which relocated its corporate headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas earlier this year, has approximately 14,400 employees in the Dallas-Forth Worth area.
No specific information on how many jobs will be lost in the Dallas area has been provided. Job cuts will occur nationwide, he said.
Regardless of Job cuts, AT&T is employing more than 7,000 people and growing other parts of businesses. The company is also intending to trim its 2009 capital expenditures from 2008 levels.
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