FCC Takes On Apple And AT&T Over Google Voice Rejection.

"The Federal Communications Commission is looking into the Apple’s rejection of Google Voice, and has sent letters to AT&T, Apple, and Google to find out what’s going on.

The newswire report notes that this is part of the FCC’s ongoing investigation into wireless handsets and their exclusive deals with carriers."

Led By India, WiMAX Growing Fast.

"Some interesting facts from Infonetics’ report:

• Brazil will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers in 2013 vs. 184,000 in 2008.
• In Central and Eastern Europe, 20 operators are offering VoIP-over-WiMAX.
• Russia currently has 10 WiMAX networks either under development or currently in operation.
• There are more than 80 WiMAX networks currently active in more than 35 African countries."

Led By India, WiMAX Growing Fast.

"Some interesting facts from Infonetics’ report:

• Brazil will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers in 2013 vs. 184,000 in 2008.
• In Central and Eastern Europe, 20 operators are offering VoIP-over-WiMAX.
• Russia currently has 10 WiMAX networks either under development or currently in operation.
• There are more than 80 WiMAX networks currently active in more than 35 African countries."

With PrePaid Customers In Mind, Sprint Buys Virgin Mobile USA For $483M.

"Sprint said today that it’s agreed to buy Virgin Mobile USA, a provider of prepaid cell phone service that runs on Sprint’s EVDO network, for $483 million in stock. With this deal, Sprint will get some 5.2 million prepaid customers, though its position as the No. 3 U.S. cell company will remain unchanged."

Palm’s brazen Pre hack back into iTunes.

"Palm’s latest Pre software deliberately identifies the device as manufactured by Apple, in order to let the Pre connect to iTunes on PCs and Macs."

AsiaInfo to Develop Device Management Platform for China Unicom.

"AsiaInfo Holdings... a leading provider of telecom software solutions and IT security products and services in China, today announced that it has signed a contract with China Unicom to build out a Device Management System (the 'system') that will allow China Unicom to remotely diagnose and manage mobile devices."

iPhone security “broken” - business users take note.

"An Apple expert and hacker has shown that the iPhone, in all its various forms and moltings, is child’s play to compromise. This comes despite assurances from Apple regarding the 3GS’s encryption feature. Bad news for businesspeople of the 21st century, who have glommed onto the iPhone and its service halo like no other device. The wonder-phone has certainly changed the way smartphones and other devices are made, but this isn’t the first time Apple’s security measures have been described as being seriously lacking."

Is Apple Succeeding in Pushing the iPhone Into the Enterprise?

"Apple COO Tim Cook gave some valuable statistics in the analyst Q&A during the company’s quarterly conference call yesterday:

[W]e are seeing growing interest with the release of the 3GS and iPhone OS 3.0, due in part to the new hardware encryption and the improved security policies. The phone is particularly doing well with small business and with large organizations that allow people to purchase the phones for individual use, and this is both in corporate and government settings. Specifically, to give you some numbers, almost 20% of the Fortune 100 have purchased at least 10,000 units or more and there’s now multiple corporations and government agencies who have purchased in excess of 25,000 each.

AT&T May Love M2M, But Show Me the Data Plans.

"AT&T said today that it will provide wireless service for an eagerly anticipated e-reader from Plastic Logic, and that it’s inked an agreement with Jasper Wireless to provide 3G service to a variety of consumer devices such as cameras and navigation systems in cars. The two announcements, in light of the carrier’s stated goal of providing wireless service to a variety of devices as a way to boost revenue and profits, has folks all abuzz. But when it comes to the success of these efforts, the proof is in the payment plans."

Palm: Report Sees Pre Defects Hitting Earnings.

"Despite being enamored with Palm’s (PALM) Pre smartphone, analyst Kevin Dede with boutique investment banker and brokerage Jesup & Lamont this morning initiated coverage of Palm shares with a 'Sell' rating. Dede thinks the shares are worth $12.50.

Dede thinks Palm’s August-ending Q1 will reflect a high cost for returned units of the Pre owing to manufacturing defects. Dede bases his analysis on a survey of Pre buyers at an enthusiast Web site, www.precentral.com. According to that survey, he concludes, 40% of initial Pre sales are returned."

Study: Mobile web a throwback to the '90s.

"Researchers at Nielsen Norman Group put people to the test to try to look up everything from movie listings to product reviews on their handsets. The conclusion: The mobile web is about as tough to navigate as traditional websites were 15 years ago."

Google Voice is calling, but will wireless carriers answer?

Mike Dano writes: "Google Voice highlights what I think are some very important developments. First, the voice services provided by wireless carriers are archaic when compared with Google Voice and other VoIP-based offerings. I mean, I still have to 'press 1' to listen to my voicemails, while Google Voice users are getting transcripts of theirs. And I can't think of any wireless carrier that offers call routing of any kind, much less a service that can be managed based on the identity of the caller.

But what makes this all the more remarkable is Google's widespread activity on the mobile front. The company already offers a mobile phone operating system--Android--that enjoys support from a broad range of handset makers. And the company's mobile applications, including maps and search, are must-haves for many smartphone users. Add a comprehensive management system for voice calling and what need is there for a carrier, other than transport?

GigaOm's Om Malik flatly states that 'the Google Voice app essentially reduces the cell phone carrier to a dumb pipe.' And his assertion involves a voice-based service, not a high-end, data-centric one (where many of the dumb pipe arguments typically reside).

Google Voice--both the application's potential and the company backing it--should give entrenched wireless operators pause. They've based their businesses on providing voice calling to millions, and if they can't at least stay on top of the innovations in that segment, what hope do they have of remaining relevant in a mobile broadband future?"

Researcher: Middle East BlackBerry Update Spies on Users.

"A BlackBerry update that a United Arab Emirates service provider pushed out to its customers contains U.S.-made spyware that would allow the company or others to siphon and read their e-mail and text messages, according to a researcher who examined it."

InnoPath Demos Over-the-Air Customer Care to Open Mobile Alliance Standards Group.

"InnoPath Software... led the first ever OMA-DM interoperability demonstration at the recently completed OMA meeting in Boston. The company successfully demonstrated its next-generation OMA-DM ActiveCare server with handsets from Nokia running Symbian S60 and from HTC running Windows Mobile 6.1, highlighting interoperability across devices and networks as well as broad industry support."

HTC/Windows Mobile component of the demo is here. Nokia/Symbian component of the demo is here.

Orange Group Device Management Evolves with Sicap.

"Orange Group has signed with Sicap to upgrade its Sicap Device Management Center (DMC).... Sicap DMC also supports advanced DM functionalities such as mobile application management, remote control and diagnostics, wipe and lock, and other security features. ARPU gained from marketing advanced DM services provides a rapid return on investment and cover the configuration and troubleshooting costs associated with today’s handsets."

And Yet More Proof Of Why AT&T Needs To Keep That iPhone Exclusivity.

"What’s crazy about all this though is that while many people were expecting the iPhone 3GS launch to pale in comparison to the iPhone 3G launch, it actually exceeded it in just about every way when it came to actual sales (at least through AT&T’s stores and online). The lines may have not been as long at stores because of pre-sales, but sales overall exceeded the 2008 launch day numbers, and all of the heavy holiday shopping times. And apparently iPhone 3GS sales exceeded the iPhone 3G launch day sales by noon Central time."

iPhone for the enterprise? It's possible, says Sybase.

Paul Mah writes: "What sparked my interest was how Sybase recognized the limitations of consumer devices like the iPhone to operate in an enterprise environment, and attempts to address these limitations via a sandbox approach.

Essentially, information that is corporate owned and delivered is clearly demarcated from what belongs to the employee, creating a natural separation between the two types of data. Any security policies configured by enterprise IT is enforced only within the enterprise sandbox, leaving the 'consumer' half of the device untouched."