Motorola Opus rechristened to i1
Motorola Opus is expected to make an official announcement at the CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas next month. The iDEN based device is attracting people because of its name. Instead of Opus, Motorola will be calling it i1. This gives a hint that even i2 and i3 are in development.
It’s likely that i1 will run Android 1.5 and will be loaded with various features including 3-megapixel camera. Since it’s an iDEN device, it surely will be having push-to-talk functionality.
Motorola is expected to make easy money with this iDEN-based Android smartphone. Though it’s not a large market but at the same time the product lacks competition, which is a positive sign. As it is Motorola is ruling Nextel’s offering and by adding an Android device the brand could at least bring their margins to some higher level. The i1 is expected to be a bit more expensive than some other MOTO phones sold through Sprint-owned networks, Nextel and Boost Mobile included.
Nextel Mexico’s 30% stake bought by Televisa
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Stakes in local unit of NII Holdings’, the mobile operator Nextel Mexico, will be bought by pay-TV provider and media group Televisa at a price of USD 1.44 billion cash for an initial 30 percent equity stake in Nextel Mexico. 70 percent stake in Nextel Mexico will be maintained by NII along with the management.
An additional 7.5 percent stake in Nextel Mexico can also be acquired by Televisa from the third or fourth anniversary of the completion of the initial transaction.
The services will be cross sold to each other customers base. The companies have also planned to use the Televisa media and distribution channels to market Nextel services and work on bundling services and developing a quadruple-play offering.
NII contracts Nokia to manage network in five countries
www.WirelessFederation.com/news:? Nokia Siemens Networks has been contracted by Latin American mobile operator NII Holdings to manage its network operations across its regional footprint. 1,000 NII Holdings employees will transfer to Nokia Siemens Networks under the terms of the deal.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru are covered in the contract where NII operating under the Nextel brand, will hold its operations.
According to Alan Strauss, chief technology officer at NII Holdings, the focus of the company to deliver differentiated wireless service is strengthened by this partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks, as it allows NII to increase the operational flexibility, improve the cost efficiencies, and improve the service quality.
Nextel’s stake to be acquired by Televisa (Mexico)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: CFC’s approval has been seeked by Mexican media group Televisa to acquire a stake in the local unit of mobile operator NII Holdings. Both the companies have notified the Federal Competition Commission regarding their intention to undertake this acquisition.
The CFC has 30 days to approve or deny the acquisition.
There are 2.9 million customers and 3.6 percent mobile market share of NII Holdings operating in Latin America under the Nextel brand name, in Mexico at the end of September 2009.
Nextel Chile and VTR win 3G spectrum
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: After winning 60MHz of the 3G spectrum in a closed tender, Nextel Chile has announced that it will invest USD300 million in the mobile network. VTR, a local cableco, an arm of Liberty Global and Nextel both submitted bids for three bands of 30MHz of 3G wireless spectrum. Nextel, offering USD14.6 million for the two bands was the highest bidder, while VTR will pay USD3 million for a single 30MHz band. The contracts are yet to be signed. Both the companies have twelve months to build their 3G networks and start offering services nationally.
Nextel and VTR will compete with Chile’s three main mobile telephone companies Entel PCS, Telefonica (Movistar) and America Movil (Claro), that already have the 3G spectrum.
Motorola one of the most trusted wireless brands in U.S.
What kind of cellphone do you use? If you’re in the majority, it’s a Motorola handset. Motorola now has — by far — the largest share of the handset market in the U.S. and appears to be making a global run at Nokia to try and regain the top global spot for the first time in a decade. The jury is still out on whether Motorola can do this, but if the ultra-popular RAZR phenomenon continues — and it does almost two years after release — then Motorola will continue to make headway. It’s rare that a single product carries a company like this, but just like Apple’s iPod, Motorola’s RAZR re-defined the category.
But it does not stop there. According to Forrester Research, Motorola is one of the top trusted brands in the wireless market, which includes hardware manufacturers and wireless carriers alike, from Motorola and Samsung to Sprint Nextel and Cingular Wireless. Samsung and Sprint Nextel rank among the least-trusted brands in the U.S., while Motorola and Verizon Wireless coming in at most-trusted levels, with Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile also pulling the same score. Just slightly off was Sprint Nextel, but that slightness was enough for a “least trusted” rating.
How about wireless handset manufacturers? In what I consider more perception than actual reality, handset makers Palm scored 4.3 and a B+ overall, while Motorola — maker of the RAZR and other popular offshoot handsets, scored 4.2, for an overall grade of B. LG Electronics and Samsung fared the worst, both scoring 4.0, for overall grades of C- and D-, respectively. The “aura” around the Treo line of smartphones and the RAZR line of phones is probably due to the enormous loyalty customers have to both brands when such a subjective topic of “trust” comes along.
Samsung and LG and other makers have wireless handsets that topple the Motorola RAZR and other phones in terms of features and ease-of-use, but the sheer popularity and loyalty Motorola users have cannot be underestimated. If you create the market — like the RAZR did for slim phones and the Treo did for on-the-go productivity — then customers will always have “trust”. MOT shares seem happy these days as a result.
Source- http://www.bloggingstocks.com
Technorati : LG, Motorola, Samsung, USA, Verizon Wireless, operator
