Cingular said it is testing mobile banking in a partnership with Atlanta-based startup Firethorn, and plans to launch a service early next year. The carrier is talking to banks — though hasn’t signed any up yet — for a service that would let customers view their […] Read more »
In the fight to unwire cities, Google might be one of the bigger names in the business, especially when it comes to the potential for location-based advertising. But Mountain View-based startup MetroFi, which champions the free ad-supported WiFi model, just announced a high profile ad-pushing partner […] Read more »
We said yesterday it would likely take several years for mobile advertising to grow big enough to cause a major shift in the mobile industry — or in Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s terms, lead to free cell phones. Today Yahoo and Vodafone announced a mobile advertising […] Read more »
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After buying Good Technology last week, Motorola said today it is buying the Emeryville, CA-based broadband hardware provider Netopia in a deal valued around $208 million. Motorola said the purchase will help the company in the DSL and IPTV markets, and will enable it to now […] Read more »
The latest data on Internet usage in Europe comes from Eurostat, which says that 52% of households in the EU25 had access to the Internet during the first quarter of 2006, compared to 48% during the first quarter of 2005. Though, the range between countries is […] Read more »
TextMarks, a startup that has an SMS service targeted at small communities, emailed us this weekend to say they have added widgets for web sites (yes, like MySpace). The widgets enable users to send a text message to update their web page, as well as enourage […] Read more »
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt tells Reuters one day your phone could be free, subsidized by the growth of mobile advertising. That’s a pretty convenient suggestion for the ad giant to make. Similar models have been suggested many times before; remember Xero Mobile, the MVNO that was […] Read more »
The Novato-based mobile enterprise messaging startup ClairMail says its raised $12 million in a series B round from JAFCO Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and Outlook Ventures. The mobile workforce is a good place to build a business, as the market is predicted to grow from more […] Read more »
Motorola will buy mobile software company Good Technology the companies said today, for an undisclosed sum. Good’s push mobile email product competes with RIM’s Blackberry, and Motorola’s purchase follow’s Nokia’s previous acquisition of Intellisync. Good is reported to have raised over $200 million in venture funding […] Read more »
No Lou Reed, no YouTube talk, no rockstar startups — oh right, I didn’t go to Web 2.0 yesterday, I spent the afternoon in a dark nook of the Santa Clara Convention center listening to engineers talk about silicon. Yep, it was Broadcom’s big analyst day, […] Read more »
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The Seattle-based mobile imaging software startup Ontela says it has raised money from Hunt Ventures, Oak Investment Partners and Voyager Capital. John Cook puts it at $4.5 million for the company’s service, which will help camera phone users move and share their photos — already a […] Read more »
Helio made its third phone official today called Drift, made by Samsung, which runs for $225. The device has built-in GPS and location services including a friend-finder application called the “Buddy Beacon,” and Google Maps. Maybe this will help Helio bring in more customers for the […] Read more »
The first thing we noticed after downloading Skype’s 3.0 beta version for Windows (onto our single dusty GigaTeam PC) is that the company did some serious UI feng shui, or “spring cleaning” as this Skype designer describes it. The company created four tabs — Contacts, Live, […] Read more »
While everyone is swarming around the Web 2.0 conference today, yesterday’s Mobile 2.0 conference was a more calm event that showed off some interesting mobile startups and examined trends like mobile-created content, access to the web via cell phones and mobile browsers. Maybe it was the […] Read more »
Yahoo says it has launched the beta of its graphical advertising platform, and interactive ads will land on several of its mobile web sites — Yahoo already has a beta version of basic mobile search ads. Yahoo says Pepsi is the first advertiser to sign up […] Read more »
Veeker, the mobile video startup we’ve written about over the past few months, wants you to point your video camera phone at your voting booth today to “veek-the-vote.” It’s the company’s first big marketing attempt, and it’s partnering with Youthnoise.com. (If you care, send any video […] Read more »
Verizon is in advanced talks with YouTube to use YouTube’s content for both VCast mobile videos and for Verizon’s on-demand video service, reports the Wall Street Journal. It’s not a surprising development that YouTube is looking to go mobile — YouTube’s CEO Chad Hurley outlined his […] Read more »
Despite the launch of Korea’s WiBro wireless broadband service at the end of June, the BBC says the service hasn’t made it onto cell phones yet and is only available in a few sections of Seoul — the culprit is the slow moves and technical difficulties […] Read more »
Mobio Networks, a year-old Cupertino-based mobile application company announced the availability of its Mobile Movie Times product today. The company, which says it has raised $9 million from investors like InterWest Partners and Storm Ventures, says the mobile application allows movie-goers to find movie times and […] Read more »
More and more companies are looking to get a piece of the mobile social network market that has been growing in Japan, one of the world’s most advanced cellular markets. Mixi, with its mobile-friendly features went public earlier this year, and Rupert Murdoch said today that […] Read more »
The opening of Nokia’s Palo Alto research center last week was a good event to see a lot of experimental mobile ideas and projects — most which will likely never see the light of production. One that we really hope does make the cut is a […] Read more »
Nokia, the largest cell phone manufacturer in the world, is “looking to have a stronger presence in the Valley,” says Tero Ojanpera, Nokia CTO and Executive Vice President. Ojanpera made the remarks at the official opening of the Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto, which looks […] Read more »
InfoSpace said the company is ending investment in its direct-to-consumer mobile content business, and reported a $46.7M loss last quarter. The company will now focus more on moving its online search capabilties into wireless, which many predicted would be a better bet. Read more »
We’ve been hearing about the possibilities of YouTube pushing mobile for awhile. A few people we have talked with in the mobile industry have said that the company has been burning the midnight oil working on getting a mobile offering out as soon as possible. Now […] Read more »
The last time mobile video startup MobiTV said they raised $70 million in a third round of funding, we used them as an example of the return of the big VC money. Now the Emeryville-based company is announcing today that it has raised even more money […] Read more »
The address book syncing startup Plaxo is offering a mobile service which allows users to sync your computer-based address book and your mobile phone address book over the air. Verizon is the first to sign up with other carriers to follow. Read more »
When Cingular, the largest and generally the least aggressive U.S. carrier when it comes to new services, moves into a market, you know the market has been set to take off for awhile. Cingular will launch a mobile music service with deals in place with Napster, […] Read more »
WiFi location startup Skyhook Wireless, which has the marketing-friendly browser plug-in Loki, has been making some pretty good progress since we last spoke to them in June. The Boston-based startup, which has raised $8.5 million from Bain Capital Ventures and Intel Capital among others, says it […] Read more »
The well-funded MVNO Amp’d Mobile says it will make some mobile entertainment content available to Japanese carrier KDDI’s subscribers. Japanese cell phone users like mobile data and Amp’d needs customers — last time we checked it had 50,000 subscribers but expects 100,000 by the end of […] Read more »
Venture firms and investors seem to be pouring more and more money into startups that create or enable mobile content. In September over $150 million in venture funding was invested in companies in the mobile content industry. October and November will likely have high numbers too, […] Read more »
Online travel search company SideStep has bought hotel review site TravelPost. SideStep was one of the first of the new wave of meta-search travel sites around, though now there are many. We guess they have to stand out somehow — why not buy a travel blogging […] Read more »
While we’ve been somewhat skeptical about the market for certain location-based applications for mobile devices, the market for GPS-navigation services is actually taking off. Nokia is betting big on the GPS market, and today the company announced its first dedicated GPS auto-navigation device, the Nokia 330 […] Read more »
Google will develop a mobile search engine tailored for South Korean cell phones in partnership with Korea’s largest wireless operator SK Telecom, says the Korea Times. Google has search deals in place with carriers like Japan’s KDDI, but has recently been eying the Korean market, likely […] Read more »
We stopped by the so-called FON Freedom Friday event in Union Square this afternoon, and watched the WiFi-sharing company give away 500 FON routers to those milling around, mostly workers on their lunch break. By the time we left, around one P.M., they had given away […] Read more »
While startups and investors are clamoring over flashy mobile consumer applications, there’s a lot more mobile money found in the silicon — a fact that chip giants like Qualcomm and Broadcom know better than anyone. Quellan, a four-year-old Santa Clara-based startup knows this too. The company, […] Read more »
Sprint executives might be licking their wounds this morning after announcing that the company’s profit fell 52% for the third quarter. But yesterday Sprint’s Vice President for Partner Development and Product Innovation Paul Reddick was more than happy to dole out advice to mobile startups at […] Read more »
While we mentioned Loma Linda’s fiber plans last week, the truth is that the U.S. falls behind many countries in Europe and Asia when it comes to fiber deployments (which many readers kindly pointed out). The OECD says that fiber is becoming more important for countries […] Read more »
Looks like T-Mobile quietly launched its dual WiFi/cellular phone service called “T-Mobile Hotspot @ Home” yesterday in Seattle. Potential customers can sign up for the service at http://www.theonlyphoneyouneed.com. The T-Mobile service is based on Unlicensed Mobile Access, UMA, which is a big boost for the standard, […] Read more »
We’ve pointed out the growing trend of cell phone users creating and sharing video and photo content, pushed by the popularity of camera and video-camera embedded phones, content-sharing mobile applications and high speed networks. While user-generated mobile content is still a relatively small market, the International […] Read more »
The municipal WiFi network in New Orleans has been the subject of a lot of debate. Clashes with incumbent carriers, a CIO that says he’ll go to jail to save the network, and then a deal with Earthlink to build a private Municipal wireless network. And […] Read more »
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