Sure, you've been following all of the news coming out of CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas, but what about the news that's not fit to print--the rumors and insider dish circulating like wildfire across the convention center floor? Here's the juiciest gossip overheard this week, absolutely none of it sourced or fact-checked to guarantee its veracity. And if any or all it all sounds completely made up…well, you're probably correct.
Rumor: CTIA president Steve Largent's opening keynote was lifted verbatim from late comedian Redd Foxx's Vegas stand-up routine. Rumor: The main entrées served at this year's CTIA Wireless Gala were all cooked from exotic animals left over
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Social networking giant MySpace officially confirmed its much-rumored MySpace Music retail effort, teaming with Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group to offer consumers free, ad-subsidized streaming content as well as premium downloads a la Apple's iTunes. The New York Times reports all three major label partners will own minority stakes in MySpace Music, and will offer up their complete content catalogs--holdout EMI is widely expected to join the venture in the near future. In addition to full-length, DRM-free tracks, MySpace Music will also offer ringtones, concert tickets, t-shirts and related merch--MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe said a subscription-based unlimited access model is also under serious consideration. Pricing details were not disclosed. "This is really a mega-music experience that
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Apple announced its iTunes digital music storefront is now the largest music retailer in the U.S., surpassing brick-and-mortar giant Wal-Mart for the first time. According to market research firm NPD Group's MusicWatch survey, Apple sold more music in January and February than any other retail outlet--in all, iTunes has now sold more than four billion songs, with a music catalog that spans more than six million tracks. "We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world," said Apple's vice president of iTunes Eddy Cue in a prepared statement.
For more on iTunes' ascent:- read this release
Related articles:Apple mulling all-you-can-eat iTunes dealiTunes
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Former presidential candidates John Edwards and Fred Thompson headlined Thursday's keynote presentation at CTIA Wireless 2008, largely sidestepping pressing issues directly impacting the mobile industry audience members in attendance. Opening remarks from CTIA president and CEO Steve Largent suggested the discussion would spotlight the regulatory issues looming over the wireless landscape: A short video segment assembled in conjunction with consumer advocacy group mywireless.org argued against government intervention via statistical snapshots indicating that 69 percent of U.S. wireless subscribers believe they are already paying too much for wireless taxes, 74 percent believe additional regulation would make their bills even higher, and 84 percent believe that a free market economy is sufficient to regulate pricing.
However, the event never again returned to
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Wireless technologies solutions provider Qualcomm announced it acquired eight licenses in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's recent 700 MHz spectrum auction, effectively doubling the footprint of its MediaFLO mobile TV service. Qualcomm ponied up $558.1 million for the E block spectrum licenses, which covers 28 markets including New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco--the firm said the spectrum will enable delivery of additional content and services in these areas. Qualcomm also acquired three B block licenses at a price tag of $3.5 million. "We have defined the mobile TV experience nationwide with our FLO TV service, and the acquisition of additional spectrum in many of America's largest cities provides us with the flexibility to take the mobile
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Mobile location-based services will generate annual global revenues of $13.3 billion by 2013, up from $515 million in 2007, according to a new forecast released by market analysis firm ABI Research. Crediting the growth to new WCDMA and GSM handsets incorporating GPS capabilities as well as consumer demand for personal navigation functionality, ABI also anticipates surging popularity for mobile applications including friend finders, local information searches, family tracker apps and enterprise apps. ABI adds the future of LBS hinges on availability of all-inclusive data tariffs and cross-network service interoperability. "The interesting thing about the LBS content-producing sector is that much of the information is already available," said ABI Research analyst Jamie Moss in a prepared statement. "It's a win-win situation
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AT&T mulls Android-based handsets. Article
> Nokia's N-Gage finally goes live. Article
> Opera Software releases beta preview of Mini 4.1 mobile web browser. Release
> MediaSpan teams with Verve Wireless on local mobile content solutions. Release
And finally…Ted Turner warns global warming will result in mass cannibalism. Article
> Nokia's N-Gage finally goes live. Article
> Opera Software releases beta preview of Mini 4.1 mobile web browser. Release
> MediaSpan teams with Verve Wireless on local mobile content solutions. Release
And finally…Ted Turner warns global warming will result in mass cannibalism. Article
Yahoo continued its aggressive mobile push as the web services giant announced the summer 2008 launch of oneSearch 2.0, an expansion of its mobile search service enabling users to initiate queries via text or voice. Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo's Connected Life division, announced the oneSearch upgrades during a keynote appearance Wednesday at CTIA Wireless 
2008, and said the company will open the search platform to publishers to stimulate content integration, simplify search input and make search instantly accessible on device idle screens. "We want to create indispensable mobile services for everyday people--the kinds of services people use many times a day," Boerries said. "We believe the mobile opportunity is
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