eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Its been a while since the Wireless Wire last ran. A ton of new phones have been launched, AT&T and Cingular merged, and Sprint tried twice to send me a working version of the companys new international phone, but it still doesnt actually work. Alas, a bout with cancer and the resulting surgery and recovery took me out of the loop. However, things in the world of wireless are picking up again, so heres the next version of the Wireless Wire.
- Sprint Nextel selects mFormation Technologies for its device management platform. The Reston, Va., company chose mFormation as the platform it will use to remotely manage all of the companys subscribers. The mFormation management package is designed to provision, configure, manage and diagnose phones and smart phones for both networks. mFormation claims this will give Sprints customers a better end-user experience, as well as better security.
- Sprint, meanwhile, would like you to know that the company has brought three more markets up to EvDO Rev. A. The new high-speed data service is now available in Miami, Puerto Rico and Portland, Oregon. In addition, Sprint begins selling the Rev. A capable Novatel EX720 wireless card nationwide next month. The card comes with software that can use the GPS chip in the card to work with location-based services.
- T-Mobile USA reached more than 25 million customers as of the end of 2006. The company did this by adding nearly a million subscribers during the last quarter of the year. Much of the increase, according to the company, was due to its data products, notably the BlackBerry Pearl, which T-Mobile had first.
- Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, is reporting that it has more than 59 million total customers as of the end of 2006, which is up 15 percent over the previous year. Verizon didnt announce specific reasons for the increase, but overall churn is down, and the company did bring out some snazzy phones at the end of the year.
- iPass is announcing that its service management and billing products will now work with EvDO Rev. A (Sprint, in other words) and that it now has a global satellite overlay with Inmarsat to provide third-generation connectivity anywhere. CNN will be soooo pleased.
- The town of Lakewood, N.J., which is a newly minted “Prominent Terrorist Objective” for reasons clear only to the folks at Homeland Security, is using its new status to help it get a new 4.9GHz public safety data network installed. The network, which avoids the headaches of standard Wi-Fi, uses some interesting technologies including a mobile mesh network. The town held a music festival to celebrate the network, which was attended by the Department of Homeland Security. New York, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles, apparently no long considered terrorist objectives, are not getting a 4.9GHz law enforcement data network, nor are they getting (as far as we can tell) the accompanying music festival.
- Former Presidents Bush and Clinton will be the featured keynote speakers at CTIA in Orlando in March. The two will talk to attendees for an hour or so and answer questions. The joint appearance will be on March 29 at 9:30 a.m. They will talk about globalization and about the fact that they really like each other, despite what they said about each other during the election.
The requests for prebriefings and embargoed press releases for 3GSM in Barcelona are already pouring in. Unfortunately, I wont actually be in Spain for the conference. Instead, Im following Eric Lundquists example of not attending, but instead, staying home. But youll still get all the news that fits when the Wireless Wire returns.
Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on mobile and wireless computing.