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Motorola will separate into two publicly traded companies in January 2011, co-Chief Executive Greg Brown said Monday.
The Schaumburg-based company had said it was targeting the first quarter of next year for the split. Monday’s announcement, made at a financial analysts’ meeting in New York, marked the first time the company specified a timeframe in the first quarter. Get the full story »
A suit filed Tuesday in federal court alleges that a Naperville marketing firm has been spamming cell phone users with text messages in an attempt to sell magazine subscriptions for the publishers of US Weekly, Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal.
The suit claims that the unsolicited text messages not only represent “an especially pernicious form of marketing” but also are in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which bars companies from making unsolicited calls to cell phones. Get the full story »
AT&T on Tuesday cut the price of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Torch in half, down to $99.99.
The cut comes about three months after the smart phone landed on AT&T store shelves and amid intense price competition from Web sites such as Wirefly.com, which is offering the Torch for $29.99, and Amazon.com, which is selling the smart phone for 1 cent.
Smartphones running Microsoft Corp.’s new software are now available for AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA customers. Get the full story »
(Motorola)
Motorola is launching a new Android-based smart phone for globe-trotting executives later this month at Verizon Wireless.
The Droid Pro, unveiled Monday, is the latest device in Verizon’s Droid line-up, its portfolio of premier Android-based smart phones. Motorola has been an important maker of Android devices for the carrier and its other phones for the Droid line include the Droid, the Droid 2 and the Droid X.
The Droid Pro is designed for business users and comes with QuickOffice, a mobile software suite for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. The phone also has a physical keyboard and is global-ready, meaning it is compatible with wireless service in different countries. Motorola said the device can tap into voice service in more than 220 countries and will have data coverage in more than 200 countries. Get the full story »
Shares in Research In Motion slipped more than 3 percent on Friday morning as investors fretted the BlackBerry smartphone’s stranglehold on corporate communications was being eroded by rival devices. Get the full story »
Third-quarter earnings at Telephone & Data Systems Inc. and its U.S. Cellular Corp. business rose, with U.S. Cellular losing more subscribers than a year earlier.
Both companies topped analysts’ expectations and adjusted their revenue outlooks for the full year. U.S. Cellular narrowed its target while TDS raised its to $785 million to $800 million from $760 million to $790 million as the company also expects higher profit than before. Get the full story »
Visitors to a Stockholm hotel will be able to use mobile phones instead of keys to unlock the doors to their rooms. Assa Abloy AB, the world’s largest maker of door locks, has launched a pilot in which Clarion Hotel Stockholm will lend customers mobile phones with close-range radio chips, much like devices used for contact-less payments at gas stations. Get the full story »
T-Mobile says it’s adding a cheaper data plan with a limit on monthly traffic, much the way AT&T and Verizon Wireless have done.
T-Mobile USA will introduce the new plan before the end of the year. It will cost $10 per month with a two-year contract or $15 without one. It will provide 200 megabytes of data use per month. Get the full story »
Apple Inc. sued Motorola Inc., alleging that the company’s smartphone lineup and the operating software it uses infringe on the iPhone-maker’s intellectual property.
The two lawsuits came after Motorola sued Apple in October for patent infringement and were the latest skirmish in a long-running series of disputes in the fiercely competitive smartphone industry. Get the full story »
Federal regulators say Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a fine of $25 million and at least $52.8 million in refunds to customers who inadvertently racked up data charges on their phones over the last three years. Get the full story »
Apple says the elusive white iPhone 4 will remain out of reach until spring.
Apple Inc.’s “Apple Store” iPhone app lets people reserve products to pick up at local Apple stores. On Tuesday, bloggers posted screen shots of the app appearing to offer the option to reserve a white iPhone 4. By late afternoon, that option was no longer available. Get the full story »
EBay Inc.’s online payments unit PayPal on Tuesday unveiled new software that will let people to use their phones to make payments, as well as a new platform that will make it easier for consumers to pay for digital media, music and games. Get the full story »
Want to make a donation to the Salvation Army? Just hit send on your cell phone.
As part of an effort to attract a younger generation of donors, the Salvation Army Chicago Metropolitan Division will soon accept donations via text messages.
After seeing the success of text messaging campaigns for relief efforts after earthquakes devastated Haiti in January — a record $43 million has been collected, according to the Mobile Giving Foundation — nonprofits have been lining up with their own campaigns.
