Cellular

Best Buy invests $2.1 billion in European phone retailer

Best Buy, the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S., is getting into the European cell phone market by taking a stake in retailer Carphone Warehouse.

Best Buy, which operates 900 stores across the U.S., will pay $2.1 billion for half interest in Carphone Warehouse, the largest cell phone retailer in Europe.

Carphone Warehouse's 2,400 U.S. and European stores will be included in the new joint venture. Also included in the deal are Carphone Warehouse's Web, insurance, and airtime reselling businesses. But the company will retain full ownership of its traditional landline phone … Read more

Verizon Wireless debuts the Samsung Glyde

Samsung and Verizon Wireless on Thursday announced the Samsung Glyde (aka the SCH-U940), a touch-screen cell phone based on the Samsung SGH-F700. All signs originally pointed to a May 9 release date, but Samsung and Verizon had an itchy trigger finger. But no matter what the reason, sooner is always better, particularly if it involves putting a high-profile device through its paces with a review.

Offering a touch screen and a slider design that hides a full alphabetic keyboard, the Glyde is a powerful phone with a full set of features. Inside you'll find Bluetooth, a full HTML browser, … Read more

Is the new Sprint/Clearwire venture doomed to failure?

The deal to merge Sprint Nextel's WiMax business unit with Clearwire to build a nationwide 4G network is finally complete, but the newly formed company could be doomed before it even gets out of the gate.

On Wednesday the companies said they would combine the two entities to form a new company, called Clearwire. Cable companies Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House Networks, along with technology giants Intel and Google, are contributing a combined $3.2 billion, bringing the total investment in the company to $14.5 billion.

In many ways the new venture is a win-win situation for … Read more

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire detail 4G plans

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are combining network assets to build a new nationwide 4G wireless network that the companies say has huge benefits for each of them.

Until now, Sprint and Clearwire have been on separate paths to build nationwide broadband wireless networks using WiMax, an IP technology that can blanket entire cities and provides more than five times the speed of 3G wireless networks. Now they are joining forces and creating a new company that will have access to more wireless spectrum than any other company in the entire country.

Cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House … Read more

Qwest dumps Sprint for Verizon

Qwest Communications International is ending its relationship with Sprint Nextel and has struck a new deal to resell wireless service through Verizon Wireless.

The company said Monday that it plans to resell wireless service from Verizon Wireless starting this summer. The companies have signed a five-year contract. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Qwest has been reselling Sprint's wireless service since 2004 under its own brand. A spokesman for the phone company said it will continue to service customers on the Sprint network until its contract expires with Sprint in February 2009. Current customers will be given … Read more

Sprint Nextel to spin off WiMax network

Update at 4:07 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, May 7: This article has been updated to reflect the official announcement.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire will create a new joint venture that will combine both companies' WiMax assets to create a nationwide broadband wireless network, the companies said Wednesday.

The deal, which will be valued at about $14.5 billion, is being backed by cable operators Comcast and Time Warner, as well as Intel and Google.

News of the deal was earlier reporter in The Wall Street Journal.

The new joint venture has raised a total of $3.2 billion … Read more

HTC Touch Diamond officially unveiled

As expected, HTC officially took the wraps off the HTC Touch Diamond at a press conference in London Tuesday and great googly moogly, does this thing look hot! Not only does it look sexy from the outside with its sleek, black casing, but the Touch Diamond also features a revamped TouchFlo 3D interface that gives you a more animated and easier way to access your contacts, messages, and other content. You can do all this via the Diamond's gorgeous 2.8-inch, 680x480 VGA (yes, that's right, VGA) touch screen; plus, there's a new touch-sensitive control below the … Read more

Vodafone and Telecom Italia get the iPhone

Vodafone is the latest cell phone company to get Apple's iPhone, the company said Tuesday.

Telecom Italia also said Tuesday it's going to sell the iPhone in Italy.

Vodafone will be distributing the iPhone in 10 countries, making this the first time that Apple has sold the phone through two different operators in the same market.

Vodafone subscribers will be able to get the iPhone in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and later this year in Turkey.

Almost a year after the iPhone hit store shelves in the U.S. … Read more

Checking e-mail at 17,000 feet on Mt. Everest

China Mobile has opened a wireless service center and Internet cafe at an altitude of 17,000 feet at the Everest base camp, making it the world's highest such site, according to People's Daily Online.

According to reports, the Internet cafe is aiming to effectively protect the Olympic torch relay teams' communications needs at Mount Qomolangma in Tibet. China Mobile has built a business office and Internet cafe at an altitude of 5,200 meters at Mount Qomolangma base camp to provide mobile services and Internet services to government officials, mountain climbing members and journalists.

Maybe they'll … Read more

AP launches news aggregator for iPhone

The Associated Press has created a news aggregation Web application called the Mobile News Network for the Apple iPhone.

The new mobile Web site is targeted at people who want access to international, national, and local news all the time. It aggregates news from more than 100 news publishers and offers text plus multimedia coverage including, photo galleries of sports events, and video coverage of the presidential campaign. The Web application is currently optimized for the iPhone, but the news service plans to add support for other smartphones in the future.

It can be accessed directly on the AP news Web site … Read more