foneGEAR, Aura Introduce 'Magentic' Headset

foneGEAR and Aura Communications introduced a wireless headset based on magnetic communications technology at last week's DEMOmobile 2003 event. Leveraging Aura Communications' LibertyLink technology, the foneGEAR Cord Free headset uses an enhanced form of "near field" magnetic communication rather than conventional radio frequency technology. Read more ...

Sprint Launches Hitachi's Pocket PC/Phone Camera/ Device

Sprint is seeking to snap up some business via the launch of Hitachi's "converged" Pocket PC device that integrates a phone and built-in camera. Read more ...

Hawaii HomeLoans Goes Completely Mobile With Sprint

Hawaii HomeLoans is tossing out its wireline phones in favor of wireless ones. The banking mortgage company's phone of choice: Sprint. Read more ...

Cell Phone Sally Debuts in Texas

Cell Phone Sally is helping Texans become more cell-phone savvy. Sponsored by the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications, the character is part of an education campaign to inform people of the limitations of cellular phones when making a 9-1-1 call. Read more ...

A Cool Move: Nokia's 8390 for AT&T's GPRS Network

It may not look like a trendsetter, but for the U.S. market, this handset from Nokia – the 8390 – lays the groundwork for future cool. The reason: It is designed to ride AT&T's new high-speed data network (GSM/GPRS), now available in the U.S. (at least for subscribers on the East and West coasts). Read more ...

Breaking Down the Barriers for Mobile Mail

The calling walls are falling downas Sprint joins Cingular and AT&T in the move to allow U.S. mobile subscribers to send text messages between carriers. Sprint's "intercarrier messaging" update will take effect April 1 for users of its "Short Mail," as the carrier dubs text-messaging service. Read more ...

Scooby Doo's Spooky Fun Goes Mobile

Scooby Doo and The Gang will be bringing their brand of spooky fun to mobile phones soon via a partnership between the Cartoon Network and Digital Bridges Ltd. Read more ...

San Diego Co. Answers SOS for SMS

SMS is getting a boost in the fragmented U.S. network market from a San Diego company that says its solution is aimed at giving users what they're clamoring for – text-talking between carriers. Read more ...

Cell Costs Drop in U.S., California in Particular

Cell phone costs are going down in the United States and particularly in California, according to a new study by a Los Angeles-based economic research and consulting firm. Read more ...

Seattle Co. Aspiring to Be Lord of the Ring(tone)

If "The William Tell Overture" is getting on your nerves, just wait until you hear what a Seattle company has in store. Called Over-The-Air Wireless, the company this week launched its "advanced" SMS ringtone service that will give cell-phone users the ability to download licks from the latest pop, hip-hop and R&B hits to their handsets. Read more ...

In This Case, Talk Isn't Cheap

A year ago, Nokia was winning kudos for creating trendy cell phones that were prized by youthful users for their fashionable form as well as utilitarian function.

Now Nokia is taking a different approach to marketing. While fashion is still upper-most in design, the upper-crust is the target audience for the new line announced by Vertu Ltd., the Nokia subsidiary. Read more ...

Dial Nokia for Music

Nokia is music to Finnish ears – and maybe, down the road, a hit-maker for the music industry itself. The mobile-phone giant and Emma.fm have launched a pilot digital music delivery service that allows users to download tracks by popular artists to their Nokia 5510 phone or the Nokia Music Player HDR-1. Read more ...

A Cingular 3G Focus

Cingular Wireless, the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., on is currently testing technology that will allow its customers to move seamlessly between its TDMA and GSM networks. Read more ...

Cell Phone Use Slowing but Still Growing

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter cut its estimate on wireless subscriber growth in the U.S. Wednesday by 4 million for 2001, but maintained that the sector will continue to see growth overall. Read on ...

Tiny Handheld on Sale in a Huge Market

What's smaller than a business card and weighs about as much as a pack of gum? A cell phone, of course, on sale now in China with components supplied by Agere. Read on ...

Wireless Running of the New York City Marathon

Vicarious thrill-seekers take note: coverage of Sunday's New York City Marathon will be a heart-felt experience. This year's race, titled "United We Run" and dedicated to the victims of the Sept. 11 attack, will feature real-time wireless-to-Internet coverage of two runners using Motorola phones and biotracking products from Massachusetts-based FitSense. Read on ...

Motorola: Euro 3G Still a Couple Years Away

How long will it take for third-generation telephony to develop in Europe? Try 2004 – that's when Motorola predicts 3G technology will hit Europe's mainstream market. Read on ...

A 'Digital Angel' for Troubling Times

Before Sept. 11, Digital Angel was simply an up-and-coming company with an honorable mission: creating cutting-edge location-technology products to help parents and caregivers keep track of both the whereabouts and basic well-being of loved ones.

"We wanted to provide hope to those who need it, something good that could be used for happy endings. We saw our products as tools for bringing peace of mind," said Digital Angel's Chief Technology Officer Keith Bolton. "Today there is a whole other level of awareness." Read on ...

In Vogue: Fancy Faceplates for Your Phone

Hot Products – Motorola is offering up some scary faceplates for their handhelds this Halloween season. But that's par for the course, in terms of what's happening in the realm of faceplate fashion.

Mobile phones these days are as much accessory as necessity, which is why manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia are pushing the faceplate envelope. You can cradle the Dallas Cowboys. You can walk down the street jabbering proudly into your nation's flag – or college colors. You can have a phone that matches the color of your Hard Candy fingernail polish or one with Madonna on the cover.

You can even design your own faceplate, if you own a Motorola phone. Want to learn more about couture phone covers? Then read on ......

Ericsson Snags 2 China Deals

Ericsson has secured two contracts with Guangdong Mobile Communication Corporation to help expand Guangdong's GSM/GPRS network in China. Read on ...

FCC Gives Carriers Extension on E-911

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a request by several of the nation's largest phone companies to extend their deadline for implementing technology that pinpoints the location of cell phone users calling 911. Read on ...

Palm Courts 'Mid-Level' Consumers with new PDA

Palm is seeking to connect with mid-level personal device consumers via a new model that sells for about $250. Read on ...

Bells to Whet the MMS Whistle

Nokia yesterday introduced its Multimedia Terminal Gateway for mobile operators, which will allow users to send messages enhanced with graphics and sounds to any existing GSM phone. But there is a catch, and it's called a PC. Read on ...

Cell Service Disrupted but Intact

The cell phone, despite interruptions in service in and around Ground Zero in Manhattan, as the area of devastation is being dubbed, has been a life-saver as America reels under the impact of Tuesday's terrorist attack on New York City and the Pentagon. Sometimes literally, as in the case of victims buried in the rubble using cell phones to call for help. Read on ...

Cell Phones Provide Link to Hijacked Planes

Cell phone calls provided glimpses of the terrifying ordeal aboard two of the doomed commerical jetliners used to attack America's World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday. "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" a passenger – locked in a bathroom – on United Flight 93 told a 911 dispatcher. Read on ...