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Credit-Card Payments via SMS Now Possible
A new patent-pending technology
from Briza Technologies will enable wireless operators to provide credit-card transactions
via short-messaging services (SMS) -- without any upgrades to their infrastructures.
Hillsborough, N.J.-based Briza's technology uses a proprietary encoded SMS message and
it is compatible with all major air interfaces, including TDMA, CDMA, and GSM.
Go to article by Bob Woods at Instant Messaging Planet
GRIC Communications Signs Four More Wireless Internet Service Providers
in Asia; Wireless Broadband Network Offers Roaming Service In More Than Eleven Countries
Worldwide
GRIC Communications, Inc., the
leading provider of mobile office communications services, today announced the addition of
four more broadband wireless service providers in the Asia Pacific, increasing the number
of current wireless access points (hotspots) in the region by more than twenty-four.
Bluengine Holdings Pte Ltd., Tridor Pte Ltd., both of Singapore, Infoserve of Taiwan, and
Airborne Access Corporation of Philippines are the newest members of GRIC's global wireless
broadband roaming network.
The four Asian wireless Internet service providers now
join the world's largest remote access network comprised of more than 300 service providers
and Telecommunications companies in more than 150 countries. Through GRIC's intuitive
interface, users have fast access to the Internet and their corporate intranet through more
than 17,000 dialing locations, which include wireless "hotspots" at airports, convention
centers and hotels.
Go to article at Wireless Networks Online
Verizon Wireless rolls out flat-rate pricing for high-speed data
Verizon Wireless is applying the
Internet-access pricing model to its mobile, high-speed data business, offering what it
called an "all you can eat" $99.99 a month flat-rate price to high-use enterprise
customers.
Analysts predicted that other cellular carriers will quickly follow the
lead of Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless, the country's largest cellular carrier.
Isaac Ro, an analyst at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston, said that mobile data
customers, who are used to flat-rate Internet service, chafe at the per-megabyte or per-
minute pricing of current mobile data plans, including those offered by Verizon.
Go to article by Bob Brewin at ComputerWorld.com
Wireless LANs 'critical' for GM
Viewing wireless LANs as a mission-
critical infrastructure for its manufacturing operations, General Motors Corp. by year's
end will have installed them in all 25 of its North American assembly plants.
GM
will initially use the massive in-plant wireless LAN infrastructure to track materials and
replenish parts at stations on its assembly lines. But once the wireless LANs are in place,
according to Clif Triplett, global information officer for manufacturing and quality at GM,
they can be used to support a wide range of other applications. Those include access to
computer-aided design drawings and plant configuration information, which Triplett called a
"virtual factory" database.
Go to article by Bob Brewin at ComputerWorld.com
Two-piece cell phone cuts radiation
A Hong Kong-based company has
developed a cell phone that could put radio frequency farther from the user.
Group Sense's Greenphone e688 splits
the conventional cell phone into two parts but maintains connectivity wirelessly via
Bluetooth, a radio-frequency communication standard. The main handset, called the eFone,
contains the display screen, speaker and microphone. This device is used for making voice
calls and typing text messages.
A separate rectangular case, known as the eBox,
holds a user's subscriber identification module (SIM) card, which provides the
authentication required to register the phone with a mobile network. It also contains the
owner's contacts and short messages.
Go to article by Aloysius Choong at C|Net
From Milan to Manila, a Hand-Held Lifeline
Using wireless telephones and devices while traveling internationally can be problematic because different regions of the world use different standards for transmitting calls.
A digital cellular technology called G.S.M. (Global System for Mobile communications) has emerged as the standard in Europe, with parts of Asia and North America using it as well. Motorola (news/quote) makes a device called the Accompli 009 Personal Communicator that relies on G.S.M. and G.P.R.S. (General Packet Radio Service, a related standard for delivering data like e-mail) networks in 171 countries, including the United States and nations in Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Accompli 009, which is about the size of a two-way pager, costs $649 plus a monthly charge for service from Cingular Wireless, currently the only certified provider.
The North American version of the Treo 180 Communicator by Handspring ($399 plus monthly service from VoiceStream or Cingular; www.handspring.com) can also be used in parts of Europe and Asia.
Go to article by J. D. Biersdorfer at NY Times
AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Rivals May Seek Mergers to Cut Costs
AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Sprint Corp.'s PCS Group and other U.S. mobile-telephone companies may seek merger partners to cut costs and lift profit amid slowing customer growth, investors and analysts said.
With almost 50 percent of Americans using cellular phones, carriers are reducing prices by as much as a third to lure subscribers. That's trimming revenue, delaying profitability and making it harder for money-losing companies to repay billions of dollars in debt they've taken on to upgrade networks.
Go to article by Lisa Levenson at Bloomberg.com
FedEx signs five-year mobile data pact with AT&T Wireless
FedEx Corp. has signed a five-year deal to use AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s next-generation mobile data network to support new, high-bandwidth applications used by its 40,000 couriers, a move that analysts said indicates commercial mobile data services have started to become a reality for enterprise users.
FedEx also disclosed that it has selected the Microsoft Corp. Pocket PC operating system as the future technology for its next-generation mobile scanner and package-tracking device, which will be called PowerPad.
Ken Pasley, FedEx's director of wireless systems development, said the AT&T Wireless General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network "gives us significantly more bandwidth" than the company's private network and will allow FedEx to expand the types of applications used on tracking devices. The throughput of the GPRS network is approximately 20K to 40K bit/sec., compared with the 19.2K bit/sec. FedEx gets on its private nationwide network. This will allow couriers to send "fat" files such as digital signatures and could also support voice recognition technology, Pasley said.
Go to article by Bob Brewin at Computer World
With TeleCorp Acquisition Complete, AT&T Wireless Updates 2002 Guidance
Reflecting the impact of its recently
completed acquisition of TeleCorp PCS, AT&T Wireless today provided its updated 2002
expectations for growth in its mobility services revenue, EBITDA (defined as operating
income excluding depreciation and amortization) and subscribers, and for its capital
expenditure plans.
"Closing the TeleCorp acquisition four months earlier than
originally planned will enable us to accelerate the integration of TeleCorp's product
offers and operations with ours," said Mohan Gyani, president of AT&T Wireless Services.
"While we'll have earlier-than-planned transition costs, the good news is we'll be better
positioned for 2003."
Given industry-wide pricing pressures and a challenging
economy, the company said it expects to report services revenue percentage growth, without
TeleCorp, in the low double digits for full-year 2002, which is slightly less than previous
guidance. However, with the addition of TeleCorp, AT&T Wireless expects mid-teens
percentage growth for services revenue, on a reported basis for the combined company. The
company said it would implement a number of plans designed to address the revenue pressure,
with most of the benefit expected in the second half of the year.
Go to article at Wireless Networks Online
Bluetooth wireless technology propels you into a new dimension in wireless connectivity.
Go to "The Official Bluetooth Website"
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