4:55 PM
India's Supreme Court has *revoked* every single of the 122 GSM licenses that were granted by India due to the questionable method in which the licenses were awarded. Current wireless providers in India would have to rebid to be able to operate in India and the competition for the licenses could be fierce. Telanor has invested more than $3 bil in the Indian mobile sector and is threatening to completely withdraw from the Indian market. If this revocation is enforced, it could mean that everyone in India would lose their cellular access for awhile...so I think some compromise will be made because I cannot imagine India completely losing all mobile phone service!
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=48434&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Harbinger Capital paid dearly for betting their company on LightSquared--Harbinger invested $3 bil in LightSquared, 62% of their main fund...and they had to cut their valuation of LightSquared by *59%* so investors in their main fund lost 47% of their money last year:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-03/falcone-s-harbinger-capital-lost-47-last-year-on-lightsquared-venture-bet.html
Remember the dispute in the German courts over what royalty rate Apple will pay Motorola Mobility (soon to be part of Google) for the patents it was found to be in violation of? We now know the royalty rate that Motorola is asking for that Apple is trying to reduce--Motorola Mobility is asking for 2.25% of all of Apple's iPhone and 3G-iPad sales...that seems high to me but it is interesting to see the actual number made public:
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2012/02/motorola-wants-225-of-apples-sales-in.html
Google never hired a senior person away from Apple until Apple's senior director of product integrity started at Google today. Prakash was responsible for product quality across ALL of Apple's products, from iPhones to Macs...and now he'll be working for Google on a secret project that will apparently be run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/04/google-hires-a-senior-director-at-apple-for-a-top-secret-project-exclusive/
Study found that 48% of smartphone owners have Android smartphones but 57% of first-time smartphone buyers purchased Android phones while just 34% purchased iPhones. This could be the explanation of how Android's market share has been increasing so significantly and having 91% of first-time smartphone buyers get an Android or Apple phone explains why BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian's market share has been dropping so quickly while the smartphone market increases rapidly...the new smartphone owners are choosing Android and Apple and not leaving room for the other options:
https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_120206
Google's Fiber organization is apparently asking the FCC to let them test 802.11ac gigabit WiFi technology inside residential gateways. This could allow Google to build a network that offers Gbps broadband anywhere within their current fiber areas (Palo Alto, CA and Kansas City):
http://gigaom.com/broadband/is-google-asking-the-fcc-to-allow-gigabit-wi-fi-for-its-gigabit-network/
Cablevision's patent shows that they developed technology to offer WiFi-based mobile phone service, allowing the cable company to offer a mobile phone bundle. Cablevision already has a WiFi network that covers almost all of the NY metropolitan area and roaming agreements will provide coverage when the customer does not have a WiFi connection. Cablevision's patent covers how to handoff calls from WiFi to cellular networks:
http://www.fiercecable.com/story/cablevision-develops-technology-wifi-based-mobile-phone-service/2012-02-03
Apps like Carrier Coverage rely on users to provide them with signal strength data and location to enable consumers to compare what the wireless network coverage is for all wireless carriers in the areas that they spend the most time and in the areas where they may move to. If they get enough users, the results can be useful to many...and hopefully they don't abuse the privacy of the participants providing the data:
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/02/06/carrier-coverage-wants-your-network-experience-to-be-optimal-but-it-needs-everyones-help/
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=48434&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Harbinger Capital paid dearly for betting their company on LightSquared--Harbinger invested $3 bil in LightSquared, 62% of their main fund...and they had to cut their valuation of LightSquared by *59%* so investors in their main fund lost 47% of their money last year:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-03/falcone-s-harbinger-capital-lost-47-last-year-on-lightsquared-venture-bet.html
Remember the dispute in the German courts over what royalty rate Apple will pay Motorola Mobility (soon to be part of Google) for the patents it was found to be in violation of? We now know the royalty rate that Motorola is asking for that Apple is trying to reduce--Motorola Mobility is asking for 2.25% of all of Apple's iPhone and 3G-iPad sales...that seems high to me but it is interesting to see the actual number made public:
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2012/02/motorola-wants-225-of-apples-sales-in.html
Google never hired a senior person away from Apple until Apple's senior director of product integrity started at Google today. Prakash was responsible for product quality across ALL of Apple's products, from iPhones to Macs...and now he'll be working for Google on a secret project that will apparently be run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/04/google-hires-a-senior-director-at-apple-for-a-top-secret-project-exclusive/
Study found that 48% of smartphone owners have Android smartphones but 57% of first-time smartphone buyers purchased Android phones while just 34% purchased iPhones. This could be the explanation of how Android's market share has been increasing so significantly and having 91% of first-time smartphone buyers get an Android or Apple phone explains why BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian's market share has been dropping so quickly while the smartphone market increases rapidly...the new smartphone owners are choosing Android and Apple and not leaving room for the other options:
https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_120206
Google's Fiber organization is apparently asking the FCC to let them test 802.11ac gigabit WiFi technology inside residential gateways. This could allow Google to build a network that offers Gbps broadband anywhere within their current fiber areas (Palo Alto, CA and Kansas City):
http://gigaom.com/broadband/is-google-asking-the-fcc-to-allow-gigabit-wi-fi-for-its-gigabit-network/
Cablevision's patent shows that they developed technology to offer WiFi-based mobile phone service, allowing the cable company to offer a mobile phone bundle. Cablevision already has a WiFi network that covers almost all of the NY metropolitan area and roaming agreements will provide coverage when the customer does not have a WiFi connection. Cablevision's patent covers how to handoff calls from WiFi to cellular networks:
http://www.fiercecable.com/story/cablevision-develops-technology-wifi-based-mobile-phone-service/2012-02-03
Apps like Carrier Coverage rely on users to provide them with signal strength data and location to enable consumers to compare what the wireless network coverage is for all wireless carriers in the areas that they spend the most time and in the areas where they may move to. If they get enough users, the results can be useful to many...and hopefully they don't abuse the privacy of the participants providing the data:
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/02/06/carrier-coverage-wants-your-network-experience-to-be-optimal-but-it-needs-everyones-help/