If consumers are forced to pare down, high-speed internet connection has trump
Advertising Age Oct 27, 08 10:20 AM CDT
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An economy that’s stuck in “slow” could soon have consumers making choices about whether to keep their cable TV or Internet connections, and weighing whether they need a telephone landline, reports Advertising Age . A high-speed connection that can provide access to the Internet, phone service and even entertainment would be the preferred path for the tech-savvy, analysts say.
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ANALYSIS
Getting back on track may be hard after confusing few days
Los Angeles Times Sep 29, 08 2:25 PM CDT
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John McCain's insistence on rushing to Washington to involve himself in the bailout process left his campaign reeling, gave critics new ammunition, and widened Barack Obama's poll margins, Bob Drogin reports in the Los Angeles Times . The Arizona senator, who didn't help draft the plan and also skipped voting on another bill, "needs to be a bit more measured," says his former campaign manager.
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Docs see danger while driving—or walking
New York Times Sep 20, 08 8:12 AM CDT
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The steep rise in text-messaging is being matched by a steep rise in people not paying enough attention to what they're doing, the New York Times reports. Fatal accidents involving distracted texters are on the rise and a group of emergency room doctors has issued a stern warning against attempting to send texts while performing other activities.
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Slydial users can sneak a message straight onto voicemail
New York Times Aug 2, 08 7:04 AM CDT
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A new phone service is a hit with people who want to make a phone call without actually talking to anybody, the New York Times reports. Slydial allows users to skip directly to leaving a message on voicemail without the recipient realizing they have an incoming call. Users say the service has helped them dodge many awkward conversations.
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French telco looks to expand into Turkey and Russia
New York Times Jun 5, 08 7:26 AM CDT
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France Telecom’s long-anticipated takeover bid of Swedish telco TeliaSonera finally landed today—with a thud. TeliaSonera immediately rejected FT’s $42 billion cash-and-stock offering—worth some $10.33 per share—as too low, reports the New York Times. Investors appeared to disagree, pushing France Telecom stock down 4% in Paris as analysts worried the buy was too big.
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One-sixth of US households are
now wireless
USA Today May 14, 08 8:29 AM CDT
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Mobile and Internet-based phones are replacing landline phones in US households as younger Americans lead a movement to newer technologies, reports USA Today. The number of homes depending on wireless phones jumped 159% between 2004 and 2007. Nearly 35% of people 25-29 years old lived in wireless-only households in the second half of 2007, more than double the percentage of wireless-only 30-44 year olds.
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earnings report
Company posts 22% increase in net income for Q1 despite dip in landline earnings
Wall Street Journal Apr 22, 08 2:43 PM CDT
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AT&T posted a 22% increase in net income during the first quarter, thanks to strong growth in its wireless unit. Its wireless earnings nearly doubled, while landline earnings dropped 2.1%. The company’s net income was $3.46 billion (57 cents a share), compared to $2.85 billion (45 cents a share) a year ago, reports the Wall Street Journal .
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Famous red booths disappear from
English streets
USA Today Mar 24, 08 12:18 PM CDT
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Britain’s iconic red phone booths are going extinct in a country where cellphones outnumber people, USA Today reports. British Telecom is shrinking the overall number of pay phones and replacing the red booths with modern ones that double as wireless hotspots. With just 12,700 of the originals left on the streets, discarded red boxes are finding homes with collectors worldwide.
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New plan would combine mobile,
landline accounts
Wall Street Journal Feb 28, 08 4:10 AM CST
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Cell phone giant T-Mobile is moving into the landline business. The company is trying out a service that ties cell phones to landlines that if successful in Seattle and Dallas could go nationwide within months, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company's new service uses a special router to tie a home WiFi network into its cell phone network. It allows consumers to use a cell phone account with any home phone, with multiple extensions and unlimited domestic calls, for an additional $10 a month.
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Other operations lagging behind
Wall Street Journal Jan 24, 08 7:53 PM CST
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AT&T's quarterly numbers indicate strong wireless sales, the Wall Street Journal reports, though unimpressive figures from its landline and Internet divisions have left some analysts and investors concerned. AT&T enjoyed a quarterly revenue of $3.14 billion—up from $1.94 billion this time last year—bolstered by the highest quarterly gain for a US cellular provider.
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Wireless giant says claims made in commercial are untrue
The Register Jan 6, 08 1:23 PM CST
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Verizon Wireless is suing rival Alltel for false advertising over a television commercial featuring a vicious guinea pig, the Register reports. In the ad, a caged rodent named Alice is compared to Verizon customers who lack the freedom to change calling plans without extending their contracts. Released from her cage, Alice goes for the jugular of a Verizon rep. Verizon says that it no longer requires customers to extend contracts.
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Phone inventor likely copied competitor's patent application
MSNBC Dec 27, 07 3:34 PM CST
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Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell ripped off the idea from his rival Elisha Gray, a new book claims. In The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secre t, journalist Seth Shulman uncovers evidence that Bell took a sneak peek at Gray's patent documents with the help of his lawyers and a corrupt patent examiner, MSNBC reports.
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Americans have 250M mobiles, 170M home lines
Associated Press Dec 18, 07 4:45 PM CST
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US households racked up bigger cellphone than land line bills in 2007 for the first time ever, analysts say. Only 6 years ago, households spent three times more on residential phone bills than on mobiles, a disparity that shrank to an average difference of only $28 by 2006. Now, with more Americans cutting land lines altogether, experts say cells reign supreme.
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Call a friend on your cell to report end of 129-year-old business
Bloomberg Dec 3, 07 12:12 PM CST
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In 1878, one of AT&T’s ancestors introduced the first pay phone—an ordinary phone with an attendant nearby to take callers’ cash. Now the company is discontinuing its pay-phone operations, it announced today, 129 years later. With roughly 80% of Americans owning cellphones, pay phones had shrunk to “a very small part of our overall business,” a spokesman said.
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Software giant likely to butt heads with Cisco in lucrative market
Fortune Magazine Oct 17, 07 11:24 AM CDT
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Microsoft is famous for ever-more-complicated programs for ever-faster computers, and now it's taking aim at an overlooked piece of hardware: the phone. Yesterday, Bill Gates launched a line of software designed for office telephones that aims to make phone tag a thing of the past. It's a multi-billion-dollar sector, Fortune writes, but one in which rival Cisco is already well invested.
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