Verizon

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--What is the best way to make money with ads tied to online video? And how can traditional advertising models benefit from new methods pioneered online?

Those were major topics of discussion during the morning keynote today at the Dow Jones Consumer Technology Innovations conference here. And while panelists--representatives from Google, Verizon and Polaris Venture Partners--made some interesting points, they also made it quite clear that there are not yet obvious answers to the questions.

To Michael Hirshland, a general partner at Polaris, one encouraging developing trend is the continued emergence of what he termed "prosumer&… Read more

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I know a lot of you have been waiting for this smartphone, and the day has finally come for the Verizon Wireless XV6800 to shine. Starting today, you can purchase the XV6800 online for a pricey $349.99 (ouch) with a two-year contract and after rebates, while in-store availability will begin on December 5.

As the successor to the aging UTStarcom XV6700, the XV6800 brings a much-needed refresh with an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, a sleeker design, and a 2-megapixel camera. You also get EV-DO, integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), and … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.The great thing about the development of future mobile computers is that no one school of thought has come to dominate the territory. Of course, that's also a problem.

A group of panelists from the world's leading mobile operating system developers, including representatives from Symbian, Microsoft, MontaVista, and newcomer Google, perused a wide number of topics Tuesday afternoon at the Palo Alto Research Center, birthplace of so many technologies that changed the world. The panel, which also included executives from Nokia and Research in Motion, would like to do the same, but the hard and exciting … Read more

In a move that some have called "groundbreaking" and I have called "a disgusting attempt at trying to look cool", Verizon Wireless has announced that it will be opening its network to "any apps and any device...that meets a minimum technical standard."

What a waste of valuable editorial space. Why is this even news? Does anyone actually believe that Verizon Wireless has become the cell phone industry's latest (or is it first?) good guy? I certainly don't.

One of the more laughable parts of this story is Verizon's insistence on its new service becoming the haven "small device manufacturers and developers" have been waiting for. For some reason, I can't quite grasp why this is true.

In order to get your device or app on the Verizon service, you'll need to send it to the newly created $20 million test lab Verizon has set up and the company will need to approve it for use on its network. Also, it'll need to meet certain technical standards, which could mean it simply needs to light up and make noise, or it could mean it'll need to fly to Mars if it's not made by a well known firm.

To make matters worse, Verizon has yet to announce how it will accomplish this newly devised system and if you've been keeping score, this company that's trying so hard to be "open" has yet to join Google's Android Open Handset Alliance. That seems a bit odd, doesn't it?

But I digress. The real story here is not that Verizon Wireless has announced something without any real details, the real story is the fact that Verizon exemplifies everything that's wrong with the cell phone industry -- it's a place where common sense is thrown out the window and customer loyalty and respect have never existed.… Read more

Slowly but surely, we're reaching the point where future mobile computers will be able to hook up to the wireless Internet just like a PC.

Verizon Wireless' announcement that it will open its network to outside devices and applications by the end of next year is the latest step in the dismantling of the traditional wireless industry. For years in the U.S., we've been locked to networks, saddled with expensive two-year contracts, and restricted from doing things we'd like to do with the products we buy.

It seems like that is finally starting to change. Verizon'… Read more

Verizon Wireless announced plans Tuesday to let any cell phone compatible with its technology run on its network, and to let owners of those devices run any application they desire, by the end of next year.

That would mean that any U.S. customer of Sprint's, which also uses the CDMA (code division multiple access) cellular networking technology, could use his or her phone on Verizon's data network. But the decision to open up the network to outside applications is a clear nod to the growing interest in mobile phones as an application development platform by companies like Google, … Read more

If nothing else, the threat of Google appears to have pushed Verizon into opening up its network to any device and any software, as the Wall Street Journal reports. The wireless industry has long thrown around the canard that it had to restrict access to protect its networks, but Verizon's move casts this policy into doubt and paves the way for the mobile Internet to become as big as the desktop Internet.

Of course, we still have the problem created by having different network standards in the US (CDMA, which Verizon uses, versus GSM, which AT&T uses, … Read more

It's become a rite of passage that the autumn season brings more than pumpkins and turkey dinners; it also brings another high-end messaging cell phone from LG and Verizon Wireless. Two years ago, we said hello to the LG VX9800; last year, it was the LG enV VX99000; and now in 2007, we greet the next model in the series, the highly anticipated LG Voyager VX10000. More of a thorough revamp than a simple redesign, the Voyager features everything that we liked from the VX9800 and the enV, but it raises the bar immensely by offering redesigned controls, V … Read more