wireless carrier

The Federal Communications Commission is about to conduct a “public education forum” where it will discuss the issues of consumers’ location data tracking. As a part of this discussion the FCC invited Apple, Google and consumer advocates to a forum scheduled for late June.

On June 28 the FCC will be talking about the risks and benefits of location-based services with wireless carriers, other technology companies and consumer advocacy groups, the FCC said on Tuesday.

An in-depth investigation will be conducted by the Justice Department to learn whether AT&T's plan to buy of T-Mobile USA break anti-trust laws, says the source familiar with the case.

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to confirm that the antitrust division had deepened its probe. "Our investigation is ongoing," she added.

US lawmakers said that mobile privacy rules should be applicable to third-party app developers along with wireless carriers.

Thursday, representatives Edward Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairs of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, released letters they received from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile in response to their inquiries last month about the collection, use and storage of location data.

Google has found at least its partner to make Google Voice service working on a large mobile network. The company has partnered with Sprint to integrate mobile phones with the Internet telephony to let users attach a single number to multiple phones and further turn voicemail messages into emails, send free texts, make free domestic calls, and dial international numbers at lower prices.

According to an outlook of R.W. Baird & Co. analyst William Power the number of iPhones to be sold by Verizon in 2011 may account for 25 million, reports All Things Digital.

The analyst believes that Verizon could sell 23.8 million iPhones to its subscribers this year. That figure, combined with the 5.6 percent of AT&T iPhone users who, Baird says, will switch to Verizon in 2011, and you've got a sales number that approaches 25 million, which is more than twice as predicted by other analysts who forecast 9 to 12 million.

China is taking actions to crack down on Android running mobile phones. The measures aim to involve network operators, target retailers and ensure that selling handsets featuring pre-installed Trojans is explicitly illegal. The authorities plan to set up a central unit to manage complaints, though it seems the scam has been going on long enough to build up considerable momentum.

Verizon Wireless is reportedly to announce Tuesday the deal with Apple to finally launch its own version of the iPhone. The announcement will be made at a press conference in New York. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that the wireless carrier will unveil its own version of the iconic smartphone, ending the exclusive distribution arrangement that Apple has had since 2007 with AT&T.

Cricket Communications, a subsidiary of low-cost carrier Leap Wireless International Inc, announced the introduction of a new service for wireless customers to allow them to unlimited song downloads as part of a monthly rate plan.

Starting January customers will be able to use a combined voice, data and text plan, along with all-you-can-download music for $55 a month.

The company said the new Muve service will offer music from the four major record labels: Vivendi's Universal Music Group; Warner Music Group; Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music.

AT&T has entered into a partnership agreement with Apriva to allow merchants use smartphones as point-of-sale devices that accept credit and debit card transactions.

North Korea’s only 3G wireless operator Koryolink recorded increase in its sales in the first three months of the current year as a result of expanded network coverage and continued demand for its service.

As reported by Orascom Telecom, Egyptian company that owns 75% of Koryolink, at the end of March North Korean wireless carrier had 125,661 subscribers, a gain just under 34,000 subscribers over the quarter.

On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Google and Verizon are partnering for the launch of a computer tablet to compete with Apple in the market. According to the Journal Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam mentioned the tablet during an interview.

Meantime, the company declined to comment on the report with Google also saying it has nothing to announce.

Research in Motion Ltd has announced its new smallest BlackBerry Pearl smartphones the 9100 and 9105 that will come on sale on May this year. Mike Laziridis, co-CEO of RIM, in a statement, noted "the fast-growing consumer interest in smartphones," and how 75% of customers globally still buy mobile phones with traditional alpha-numeric keypads.

InComm, a marketer, distributor and technology innovator of stored-value gift and prepaid products, has signed a definitive merging agreement with Qpay Inc. Qpay, based in Miami, Florida, provides payment processing systems that enable wireless carriers to inexpensively and efficiently collect in-person payments for wireless services.

As a result of the merger over 15,000 retail outlets of Qpay will be added to InComm's own network of more than 200,000 locations across the globe.

iPhone users are offered to get $100 to $350 by T-Mobile, a wireless carrier based in Bellevue, Washington, if they trade in their devices for HTC HD2. According to the reports the deal will be offered by participating dealers, the company's 1-800-TMOBILE sales service and "business direct sales representatives" until May 19.

While HD2 is quite a functional and nice phone it runs on the dying operating system Windows Mobile 6.5. as Microsoft announced that these devices won’t be upgradeable to Microsoft's latest and greatest Windows Phone 7.

Japan plans to allow users of one mobile carrier to use SIM cards of other operators on their mobile phones. At present time three main carriers in Japan ban customers from swapping SIM cards.

In regards to the governments’ plans to change the policy of the SIM lock system NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, responded frigidly, saying "careful discussions" would be needed. A NTT DoCoMo spokes person stressed that their “unique” services are dependent on their “unique” handsets.