Wireless Wire: News from Wireless Services, NMS, AppForge, Novatel

Wireless Services Gets $30M in Financing, Changes Name

Showing once again that money will turn more heads than a pretty face, Wireless Services said on Aug. 29 that the company has landed a cool $30 million in financing and immediately changed its name to SinglePoint. SinglePoint is a mobile messaging and marketing company that delivers what the company calls “mobile content.” The company seems to be focusing on delivering marketing messages based on television campaigns on the same theme. Get ready for ubiquitous marketing on your cell phone.

NMS Unveils Mobile Video Gateway

NMS Communications announced—also on Aug. 29—a new mobile video gateway as part of its Vision family. The company claims its able to deliver high-quality, low-latency video over a 3G network. The company says that its a carrier-grade solution, but it does not explain what the concept of high quality means to someone watching it on the screen of a cell phone.

AppForge Looks to Change Mobile Browsing Experience

AppForge says its going to change the mobile browsing experience with a new version of its Crossfire platform, a translator for Visual Basic and C#. What the company doesnt say is that this is not the same Crossfire that Mercedes builds for Chrysler. Instead, what AppForge is planning to tell you in two weeks at CTIA (Sep. 11-14 but were telling you now) is that this browsing platform is designed to work with your handheld computer to allow you to use normal Web pages. So now when it looks like that guy stuck in traffic next to you in his Chrysler Crossfire is ordering a Papa Johns pizza on his way home, you might be right. Just dont call this a browser. The company says its declaring war on browsers.

Novatel Wireless Releases EV-DO Revision A Device

Novatel Wireless said on Aug. 29 that it has released its first EV-DO Revision A capable device. This means its a very high-speed wireless PC Card for Sprint customers. According to the company, its Merlin S720 card is supposed to enable access to audio, video and data. Now you have no excuse for not staying glued to your work. The new product wont be cheap, however. It costs $249.99, although with rebates that goes down to $99.99 with a two-year subscriber contract. A two-year unlimited-use contract adds an additional $59.99 per month. You need never be without Everquest again.

Springfield, Providence Make Municipal Wireless Moves

Both Springfield, Ill., and Providence, R.I., are announcing new steps in municipal wireless. Springfield signed a deal Aug. 29 with AT&T to deploy wireless in the city center. Providence, meanwhile, announced Aug. 30 that the city will unveil its new public Wi-Fi on Sept. 5th. You can run, but you cant hide.

Trusted Computing Group Fights Mobile Phone Viruses

And you should probably care about the work of the Trusted Computing Group, which is doing something virtually unheard of in computing, mobile or otherwise. Its being proactive about mobile phone security in putting together an open industry standard designed to help fight viruses in mobile phones and other mobile devices. You say you havent been bothered by viruses and worms on your cell phone? If this group gets its work done, perhaps you never will. They plan an announcement at CTIA. In the meantime, maybe its time to wonder where all of those dropped calls come from.

Next week, an advance look at the madness thats CTIA in Los Angeles.

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