CTIA '08: The Works

FCC boss quashes Skype open access plea
01/04/08 When Verizon says that its entire wireless network will soon be open to any device and any application, the chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission believes the mega-telco is telling truth.

Cellco regulators are not the customer's friends
02/04/08 LAS VEGAS - Steve Largent, American Football hero and president of CTIA, the US cellular industry association, spent his keynote speech today reminding the industry that it was customers who asked for video on their mobile phones, that it was customers who asked for 3D games on their phones, and that it is now now customers who are demanding control of home appliances on their mobile phones.

Sprint and Samsung unveil Jesus Phone lookalike
02/04/08 This summer, Sprint and Samsung will offer a touchscreen wireless handheld that dares to compete with the Jesus Phone.

Richard Branson dupes entire wireless industry with Google on Mars gag
02/04/08 Speaking this morning (Tuesday) at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas, Sir Richard Branson told several hundred mobile industry insiders that he and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will soon fly a solar-powered Noah's Ark to Mars.

Apple ignores Jesus Phone life raft
02/04/08 For reasons unknown, Apple's new Jesus Phone SDK won't allow apps that run in the background. As many have noted, this rules out instant messaging - or, at least, instant messaging as we know it. But it also rules out all sorts of other useful applications, including the fledgling smartphone rescue tool from remote control maven LogMeIn.

Wireless wonks celebrate 35th anniversary of first cell call
02/04/08 April 3 marks the 35th anniversary of the world’s first cellular phone call, and to celebrate, former NFL hero Steve Largent has presented a priapic monolith to the man who made that call back in the spring of 1973.

Yahoo! brings speech rec to mobile search
03/04/08 Yahoo! has released a nifty BlackBerry app that lets you search the web with voice commands.

Vodafone chief tells mobile users he knows where they live
03/04/08 Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin believes that wireless users will happily opt in to mobile advertising. And he plans to reward them by reducing their monthly bill.

Android alternative delivers partial Linux package
03/04/08 The LiMo Foundation has announced the first version of its Linux based mobile alternative to Google's Android is "complete". Except that it isn't.

WiMAX is more of a crawl than a Sprint
03/04/08 Sprint is running late on its WiMAX network, which will now go commercial in the summer, and not this month, as originally pencilled.

Google's Android 'designed to drive fragmentation'
03/04/08 Google's Android platform is designed to drive fragmentation of mobile operating systems, creating an industry in which Google's cross-platform applications will thrive.

Blue Dasher seeks customers for street-level photographs
04/04/08 On Tuesday Blue Dasher announced it had accumulated complete street-level photography of every road in San Francisco, South Florida and Las Vegas. Today we sat down with the company in CTIA, who told us why.

WiMAX takes its place in the mobile broadband patchwork
09/04/08 Much of the 4G picture remains cloudy, but one thing is clear – the next generation of wireless networks will be based on the OFDMA/MIMO/IP combination shared by the most prominent contenders, LTE and Mobile WiMAX. ®