Red Bend and Telit to improve software management of m2m wireless devices.

"Red Bend Software... today announced that Telit Wireless Solutions SpA., an international provider of cellular m2m (machine-to-machine) technology, has licensed Red Bend's vCurrent® Mobile client software for use in its m2m product portfolio. The non-exclusive agreement represents a significant new market opportunity for Red Bend within the growing m2m sector, which is expected to be worth $285 billion and reach 500 million modules deployed worldwide by 2010, according to market research firm, IDATE."

Sprint Nextel employs mFormation device management platform.

"Sprint Nextel will use the technology to remotely provision, configure, diagnose and manage feature phones and smart devices throughout all phases of their life. This will ensure that Sprint Nextel's 51 million customers can make the most of its innovative technologies and networks, and industry-leading mobile data services. "

Symantec to acquire Altiris.

"Symantec Corp. today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Altiris, Inc., a leading provider of IT management software that enables businesses to easily manage and service network-based endpoints – from mobile devices, laptops, and desktops to servers and storage assets."

Forrester Research: With Bitfone, HP moves to solve MDM pain.

"The acquisition shows that enterprise mobility is a major focus for HP moving forward and traditional endpoint management vendors, like Altiris, CA, and LANDesk, should take mobile endpoint management seriously."

InnoPath announces new revenue generating MDM capabilities.

"MDM is expected to save operators over $2.7 billion in 2007 from decreased customer care costs through automated firmware updates (FOTA) and decreased reconfiguration expenses. As evidence, [InnoPath's] FOTA solution saved a single Japanese carrier over $150 million in 2005."

Red Bend celebrates FOTA milestones.

Red Bend "celebrated several milestones in 2006, capturing 34 percent market share of all FOTA-enabled cell phones that shipped last year. During those twelve months, they increased the number of compatible handsets from just six to 58, demonstrating an eight-fold increase year-over-year. The same can be said about the number of actual cell phones equipped with the FOTA solution (named vCurrent Mobile), which increased from 10 million in 2005 to 80 million in 2006. They hope to further this figure to 100 million by the end of Q1 2007."

Japanese telecoms: Change is in the air.

"In Japan, however, number portability has done little to get people to switch to rival operators and reduce their monthly bills. Instead, the fear of losing customers and revenues has sent the whole industry into a frenzy of innovation, with fancy new handsets and services bombarding the market."

Oh No Moto! Profit falls 48%, job cuts.

Motorola "reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell 48 percent and the company will cut 3,500 jobs3, as it looks to improve operating costs."

InnoPath selected by the GSM Association as a Global Mobile Awards Nominee.

"InnoPath Software... has been selected by the GSM association as a Global Mobile Awards nominee for 2007 in the category of Best Network Quality Initiative. This nomination acknowledges the critical role that Mobile Device Management plays in guaranteeing a positive subscriber experience."

Synchronica cuts jobs and rewrites software.

"Synchronica Plc has cut 38 members of staff from its 86-strong workforce as the mobile device management and synchronization systems vendor narrows its focus and looks to broaden the appeal of its software."

Visa launches mobile platform.

"Visa knows that for the large-scale deployment of mobile payment services to be realized, there is a continued need for cross-industry collaboration. Some of the organizations that Visa has worked with to deliver on its mobile payments vision include:

* CASSIS International
* Ecrio
* Giesecke & Devrient GmbH (G&D)
* IBM
* INSIDE Contactless
* mFormation Technologies
* Nokia
* NXP Semiconductors, formerly Philips
* Venyon
* VeriSign
* ViVOtech"

Three companies on the move.

PricewaterhouseCoopers writes: "A variety of startups introduced innovative and potentially revolutionary technologies last year, making it an exciting time for telecom innovation. As 2007 kicks into gear, several new telecom products and services are gaining momentum. Three companies in particular--Firethorn, GrandCentral Communications and InnoPath--are offering technologies that people will probably still be talking about a year from now."

Levy interviews Steve Jobs about iPhone.

"[Jobs] finally decided to deal with AT&T’s Cingular network. '[They] were willing to take a really big gamble on us. We decided what the phone is. We decided what software would be on the phone. And so we could make the product we wanted.' ... But it’s not like the walled garden has gone away. 'You don’t want your phone to be an open platform,' meaning that anyone can write applications for it and potentially gum up the provider's network, says Jobs... Still, since the iPhone runs a full version of OS X, the operating system of the Macintosh computer, it’s reasonable to expect the device to take advantage of that power by running lots of applications, even if Apple has to vet them to make sure they won’t compromise the integrity of the network."

InnoPath nears enterprise MDM partnerships.

"Mobile device management developer InnoPath Software Inc will shortly announce partnerships with companies to add enterprise-specific functionality to its offerings, enabling it to offer centralized control for things like backup and restore for push email services."

Visa, Nokia turn cell phones into credit cards.

"Visa, the credit card giant, has launched a global system to turn mobile phones into wallets for millions of customers in a deal with the world's top handset producer, Nokia... IBM helped create the mobile payment system."

related: Visa invests in mFormation

AT&T to replace Cingular brand Monday.

"AT&T Wireless was once an independent company that had been spun off from AT&T Corp. Cingular Wireless bought the wireless operator and eliminated the AT&T Wireless brand. Then SBC, one of the owners of Cingular, bought AT&T, adopting the AT&T brand for its landline services. More recently, AT&T bought BellSouth, the other owner of Cingular, spurring the switch back to the AT&T brand for the wireless service."

HP's lagging smart-phone business eyes boost from startup acquisition.

"'The iPaqs are very competitive today, and we're going to do more in the future.'... The more in the future starts with Bitfone. Its technology lets companies add or change software on handsets over the air via wireless networks... While the iPhone targets consumers, the iPaq and Bitfone target businesses."

Apple, Cingular, service creation and operator requirements.

"At the moment, operators put out lengthy requirements documents for the handset suppliers. Maybe this is the first instance of a handset supplier turning the tables and putting out requirements for the operator to adhere to. 'Support Visual Voicemail, or we won't sell our product through you, and your customers will buy it from someone else instead & churn'."

GigaOM: iPhone and the end of PC era.

"'From this day forward we're going to be known as Apple, Inc. We've dropped the computer from our name.' And then [Jobs] quoted ice skating legend Wayne Gretzky. '"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it's been." That’s what we try to do at Apple.'

That also might be the epitaph of the PC era. And it is sweet irony that the company that sparked off the desktop computing revolution is the one announcing its passing."

Move on, rumormongers: The iPhone is finally real.

"As you'd expect, it's flashy and a little bit different: a 3.5-inch hi-res screen that covers the entire face of the device -- and it's a touchscreen, so there's no standard keypad or keyboard. The music, video and photo functionality looks pretty great, and if the iPod's anything to go by, syncing the device with a computer should be pretty simple. It also features a version of the Safari web browser, and it's integrated with different Google and Yahoo services in what appears to be a pretty nice way. Some basic specs are out -- GSM/EDGE support, two-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and WiFi -- but plenty of questions linger, especially for some details about Jobs' statement that the device runs OS X... dialing a phone is no longer the straightforward tapping of a keypad; it requires calling up a virtual keypad, then tapping on the screen, with no tactile feedback... it's going to cost at least $500 and a two-year contract for service from Cingular when it's launched in June."

... technical specifications and demos now at the Apple iPhone Page.

A personal computer to carry in a pocket.

"The data revenue for American cellular carriers grew at an annual rate of more than 70 percent in the first half of last year. In the third quarter, Verizon Wireless, Cingular and Sprint each crossed $1 billion a quarter in data revenue for the first time. They were ranked fourth, fifth and seventh in the world in data revenue for the first nine months of the year... 'We’ve basically caught up with Europe,' said Roger Entner, a telecommunications industry analyst with Ovum Research."

The enterprise MVNO challenge.

"So the issue isn't that we're waiting for an enterprise MVNO to ride in on a white horse to save the day. The issue is who will address those enterprise requirements and how they will do so. I believe that there are companies today working on these very issues, and their business models are far more contained (and far more achievable) than the broad strokes of an enterprise MVNO. By working at the margins, these competitive providers will satisfy focused enterprise requirements and will help the carriers to offer a more complete set of services."

IDC study identifies 10 emerging mobile players to watch in 2007.

"The companies that IDC has chosen to highlight as emerging players to watch for 2007 are (in alphabetical order) Dexterra, Firethorn, GoGoMo, GrandCentral Communications, InnoPath, iSkoot, JumpTap, mFormation Technologies, Sonic Branding Solutions, and TeleNav."