Page 1 2 3 Page 1 2 3 | FRIDAY - DECEMBER 2, 2005 - ISSUE NO. 189 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging, It's funny how unrelated issues come together and become a topic of discussion in the newsletter. One of the themes in the LETTERS TO THE EDITOR section continues a friendly debate about paging terminology. At the recent EMMA conference in Helsinki, two of our colleagues from Infostream in Australia put on a skit to educate the rest of us about their country and differences in the language that they speak down under. It was hilarious and very well done. So later, when I reprinted their whitepaper on Emergency Alerting, I attempted to explain some of the different views on the use of the term Paging Terminal. Well, this week we have a submission from Ron Mercer that resolves the issue. Ron designed, built, and patented the first dial-interconnected paging encoder/terminal/switch while he was a young engineer at Bell Canada. He tells why the term Paging Terminal was chosen for this piece of equipment. So this "thread" continues on page three along with more discussion about whether a pager should be called a pager or a terminal and more reference material on Australian English. Thus far none of the Aussies have gotten angry—they have a great sense of humor. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did putting it all together. Keep smiling. This Week's Newsletter Topics:
Please join me in welcoming PSSI (Product Support Services, Inc.) to our growing list of advertisers. PSSI is running an overstocked parts liquidation. They have both cellular & pager parts, housings, LCDs, board-level parts, crystals, and test equipment. All parts Are OEM or A/M new. Check out their new ad on page 2 and call 972-462-3970. When you call them, be sure to mention that you saw their new ad in the newsletter. Now on to the rest of the news and views. |
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major Paging and Wireless Data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers—so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) MORE PAGES | |||||||||||
| AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS |
| |||||||||||||||
| AAPC BULLETIN | |||||||||||||||
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
AQUIS COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Engineering Services
Special Projects
Expense Reduction Services
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Newsletter repair prices—starting at:
**Special pricing on cellular and pager refurbishment**
Ask for Special Newsletter Pricing. Please call: (800) 222-6075 ext. 306 for pricing.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
When every second counts, manage them effectively. Messaging Business Opportunity Supplement your existing business by launching this new AssistSTAR message distribution management system. Increase your revenue without purchasing a lot of new infrastructure, by starting out with a subscription service on existing equipment. What is AssistSTAR? Subscription-based AssistSTAR to start Server-based solutions when you are ready Time-critical response When every second counts, manage them effectively. You are invited to view our emerging case study presentation by clicking here.
|
GL3000 Cards - UOE, Memory, CPU’s, QVSB’s, T1’s, DID’s, SIO, Drives…
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WIRELESS NEWS |
 Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times | |
| A BlackBerry device with a swipe attachment. Such mobile terminals are gaining in popularity as wireless networks become more reliable. |
Wireless Moves the Cash Register Where You Are
By JENNIFER A. KINGSON
Published: November 26, 2005
When Michelle Dubé, a golf instructor in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., finishes a lesson, she whips out her BlackBerry wireless device—to schedule the next appointment, sure, but also to swipe the student's credit card for payment right there on the driving range.
It takes only a few seconds, and it saves Ms. Dubé a trip to the bank to deposit a check or a fistful of cash. Plus, her clients like it. "They're just surprised—they're like, 'Wow, you're a techno-wizard,' " she said.
The novelty may soon wear off. Plumbers, limousine drivers, flea market proprietors and merchants of all sizes and stripes are beginning to take credit and debit cards in odd places, often using nothing more than an ordinary cellphone and a card swipe attachment, or a handheld device with a built-in swipe slot. Now that wireless networks span the nation and devices that tap into them are cheap and reliable, expectations for the technology are running high outside these niches.
Already in some restaurants a waiter will swipe a credit card tableside (a practice that is widespread in Europe), and some car rental companies use hand-held devices to check people out when they return cars. A day could soon come when a clerk at a large department store will ask customers in the aisle if they would like to check out there, or a shopping cart at the grocery will have a built-in scanner and card reader.
"It's a whole new world that's opening," said Doug Byerley, a senior vice president at the First Data Corporation, the nation's largest credit card processor, "and it's all being brought about because of wireless communications."
Wireless credit card acceptance is not new. But within the last year or two, as wireless companies have improved their networks and hand-held devices have come down in price, the technology has started to look like an attractive alternative to dial-up payment machines. Indeed, previous generations of mobile terminals had a reputation for losing signal connections and breaking.
Domino's Pizza has experimented with wireless terminals and has so far rejected them. "We found in the early tests it was hard for drivers to drive if they had these things on their belts," said Tim McIntyre, a spokesman for Domino's. "In the course of working in a car and a pizza store, some of these things weren't as durable as they needed to be, and once they were manufactured to be durable enough, they were no longer cost-effective."
Domino's does accept credit cards by telephone and gives customers receipts to sign at the front door, "but we haven't reached the point where we just walk up and you just swipe your card," Mr. McIntyre said.
On the other end of the spectrum is Sonic, the chain of drive-in restaurants that is halfway through an effort, begun two years ago, to install satellite-based credit card terminals at its 3,000 outlets. With the technology, customers can pull up, order meals, pay on the spot by credit or debit card, then wait for a carhop to deliver the food and a receipt.
Without the technology, Sonic customers who want to pay with plastic have to wait for two visits from the carhop, one to take the card indoors to process it and another to deliver the food and receipt, said Mitchell W. Gregory, chief information officer at Sonic, which is based in Oklahoma City. It takes 30 seconds to process a card payment using the landlines, he said, and 6 seconds using the satellite terminals.
"There's a whole step that's eliminated, plus the consumer doesn't lose control of their card," Mr. Gregory said.
Retailers of all sizes, including Sonic, have found that customers tend to spend more money when they are not limited by the amount of cash in their wallets. Greg Crance, who sells hot dogs from a boat in the Delaware River to tourists who raft and canoe there in the summer, said revenue had been higher since he bought a cellphone that accepts credit cards five years ago. And he worries less about employee theft, because his system notifies him of all card sales and gives him a daily total.
Mr. Crance, or the Famous River Hot Dog Man, anchors his concessions stand off Resolution Island in Pennsylvania. "We have a big sign that says, 'We take credit cards,' and people think we're, like, lying," he said.
Security is not a concern, because the wireless devices convey account information with the same heavy level of encryption as plugged-in terminals, if not more. And for merchants that normally phone in customers' credit card numbers for approval, there are price breaks: banks charge retailers a lower rate when the actual card is swiped and the account information is conveyed electronically.
"The average cost per merchant on a monthly basis is $20 to $30, which in most cases is less than the cost of a phone line," said Paul Rasori, vice president for marketing at VeriFone, a terminal maker San Jose, Calif.
For small merchants, a cellphone equipped with card-acceptance software can cost as little as $200 or $250, which can often be recouped through higher sales volumes or lower card-acceptance fees.
Cellphones are slower and cheaper than more sophisticated wireless systems that rely on Internet or satellite technology, but some merchants find bigger investments worthwhile. "If you run a sandwich shop in downtown New York and you have a two-hour period during the day where all your business happens, it matters to you if it takes 30 seconds for a dial-up credit card transaction, and it's important to you that wireless can do it in 2 seconds," Mr. Rasori said.
For large retailers that are still wedded to elaborate dial-up systems, the shift to wireless will take longer, but many in the industry view it as inevitable. Because wireless payment technology is faster and can move more data, retailers will be able to couple it with everything from inventory tracking systems and loyalty and rewards programs to electronic identification checks for people who are buying alcohol or tobacco.
Some retailers are already experimenting with hand-helds as a way to do what they call line-busting: making sure that people waiting in long lines for a cashier do not give up and abandon their merchandise. Apple Computer, for instance, started using them just this month in some of its retail stores to help reduce some of the holiday crush at cash registers.
"If you're buying a couple of dresses, a retail store wants the ability to walk up to you at that time, read the tags on the clothing items and create a sale right there," said O. B. Rawls IV, president of the North America region for Hypercom, a company based in Phoenix that sells payment card terminals and technology. "In a wireless mode, you can take advantage of impulse buying and line-busting, and I think that's pretty slick."
David Hogan, chief information officer at the National Retail Federation, a trade group, said members were studying the costs and benefits of upgrading to wireless checkout technology, but that such conversions would take time. Many retailers updated their payment systems right before 2000, when wireless was not that prevalent, he said, and it usually takes 7 to 10 years for a company to revisit such decisions.
Wireless terminals are among a range of payment options that are being tried in fits and starts. Visa, MasterCard and American Express have all been dabbling in radio frequency technology, letting some customers wave specially equipped credit cards in front of transponders instead of swiping them through machines that read magnetic stripes.
MasterCard's PayPass system, for instance, has been installed in places like McDonald's restaurants, Duane Reade drugstores and Giants Stadium, and J. P. Morgan Chase and Company has been heavily promoting its Blink credit card, which can work with this system.
Some municipalities, including Coral Gables, Fla., now let people pay by credit card at parking meters, though these systems do not actually have people swiping their cards instead of pumping in coins. Rather, people must register a card account number, cellphone number and license plate, and phone in to a central system when they want to park. They then phone again to indicate they are leaving.
But it is the simplicity and convenience of the wireless terminal that seems to be setting most imaginations astir. "The name of the game today is speed," said Niki Manby, vice president for market and technology innovation at Visa U.S.A. "The name of the game tomorrow is going to be all these value-added experiences that merchants want to offer to their customers."
For now, retailers using wireless devices are primarily focused on the practical advantages. Consider 1-800-GOTJUNK?, a business based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that sends trucks to people's homes to remove their clutter. The company, which has franchises across North America, has spent the last year equipping its drivers with hand-held terminals, reducing the amount of time and energy it must spend collecting unpaid bills.
"In the past if you wanted to pay by credit card, we'd have to take a carbon copy of your card and take it back to our office and process it that way, and sometimes it would come back as declined or not approved," said Sentwali Lewis, a manager there.
Even some small businesses are carefully mapping a future that depends on wireless payments. Kerri Evans, who runs a mobile dog-grooming business in Mountain View, Calif., has hired a technology consultant to set up a BlackBerry-based system that will both track appointments and handle card payments; she hopes to have her four groomers geared up within six months.
"Because I'm based in Silicon Valley, I definitely want people to think I'm technology-forward," Ms. Evans said. "And wireless credit cards are coming."
Source: The NY TimesJudge Nixes RIM Settlement
Invalidation of the BlackBerry maker’s $450-million settlement with patent-holding firm could force RIM to pay more.
November 30, 2005
A U.S. judge in Virginia on Wednesday invalidated Research In Motion’s $450-million settlement with patent-holding company NTP in their patent infringement dispute, moving RIM closer to having to pay NTP more than $1 billion to avoid a shutdown of its BlackBerry wireless device service in the United States.
The two companies had settled on the $450-million figure back in March before the deal fell apart and NTP backed out of the deal.
Aside from invalidation of several of NTP’s patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, RIM has suffered a series of legal setbacks since that time, with U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer’s Wednesday move the latest blow.
The company has faced rejections of a stay on the proceedings and a rehearing from both a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court after RIM sought to avoid an injunction on its service from Judge Spencer (see Supreme Court Snubs RIM and RIM BlackBerry Threatened).
Judge Spencer could now reissue his 2003 injunction against the Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry maker, although revived negotiations with NTP are more likely. Those will probably bring a higher settlement amount and continued licensing fees to be paid to the Arlington, Virginia-based patent-holding company.
The federal government has signed a deal with NTP that would enable government workers to continue to use their BlackBerry devices, but the rest of RIM’s 4 million users, who include President George W. Bush, could face a shutdown. In addition to the shutdown, RIM could be forced to halt sales of the wireless email device.
Shares of RIM were halted around 10:45 am. Earlier in the day, shares rose $0.36 to $65.28. After trading resumed, shares were down $4.25 to $60.67 in recent trading.
Settlement Unenforceable
Judge Spencer ruled that the March settlement term sheet between RIM and NTP was not enforceable. Other details of his ruling were filed under seal, and RIM said it could not comment further on the details of the decision.
“Valid patents would be rendered meaningless if an infringing party were allowed to circumvent the patents’ enforcement by incessantly delaying and prolonging court proceedings, which have already resulted in a finding of infringement,” wrote Judge Spencer in his ruling.
The court also denied RIM’s motion to stay further proceedings until the Patent Office reaches a final decision in its reexamination of the NTP patents, so further proceedings will continue in the district court. The judge plans to set up a briefing schedule and hearing date for these proceedings.
The federal appeals court had vacated the district court’s 2002 injunction and damages award and remanded the case back to the district court. The federal circuit also reversed or vacated the lower court’s infringement finding on nine of the 16 patent claims.
RIM, however, still plans to file a request that the U.S. Supreme Court accept an appeal of the federal circuit’s August decision over its affirmation of infringement on seven of the patent claims.
While RIM admits that a Supreme Court review is uncommon, the company continues to insist that the “case raises significant national and international issues warranting further appellate review,” according to a statement issued Wednesday.
RIM said it expects NTP to ask the district court to issue a new injunction barring RIM from providing BlackBerry service and from using, selling, manufacturing, or importing its handhelds and software in the U.S.
The court will schedule briefings and a hearing before it decides on these matters. However, RIM continues to maintain that an injunction is “inappropriate” given the rejection of several NTP patent claims in “office actions” issued by the Patent Office.
RIM also noted that the Patent Office is expected to begin issuing additional office actions in the coming weeks that will take into account NTP’s responses to the initial office actions.
In addition, RIM cites the Supreme Court’s November 28 decision to hear the appeal in the case of MercExchange v. eBay on questions relating to the propriety of injunctions in patent litigation.
RIM also points to public interest concerns relating to any suspension or interruption of BlackBerry service in the U.S.
“RIM believes these factors should hold significant weight in any decisions relating to an injunction,” said the company. “However it will ultimately be up to the courts to decide these matters and there can never be an assurance of a favorable outcome in any litigation.”
As a contingency, RIM has also been preparing software workarounds that it intends to implement to maintain BlackBerry services in the U.S.
RIM also plans to review any potential accounting implications of the latest developments and said it will “provide a further update as soon as practicable.”
Source: Red Herring
Telefonica Moviles, RIM To Launch BlackBerry Service In Latam
MADRID—(Dow Jones)—Spanish mobile phone operator Telefonica Moviles SA said Wednesday it will launch Research in Motion Ltd.'s wireless BlackBerry platform in 13 Latin American countries.
Telefonica Moviles, which is 93%-owned by Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica, said in a press release that it will offer the BlackBerry in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela early next year.
Telefonica Moviles is the world's second-largest mobile phone company with 89 million clients in 15 countries. It has 65.6 million subscribers in Latin America.
Telefonica Moviles strengthened its position as one of the largest wireless operators in Latin America with last-year's EUR4.7 billion purchase of BellSouth Inc.'s units. It is locked in a continent-wide battle for dominance with Mexican rival America Movil SA.
Company Web site: http://www.telefonicamoviles.com
—By Santiago Perez, Dow Jones Newswires; 34 91 395 8125; santiago.perez@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Source: Cellular-News.com
Mexico's 3Q Telecom Sector Growth Is Fastest In 5 Years
MEXICO CITY—(Dow Jones)—Mexico's telecommunications industry grew at its fastest pace in five years during the third quarter, the sector regulator said Monday.
The Federal Telecommunications Commission, or Cofetel, said activity measured by its telecommunications production index expanded 26.5% from the like 2004 period.
Incoming long-distance phone traffic from the U.S. contributed the most to growth in the quarter, while mobile telephony also expanded at a healthy rate with the number of wireless subscribers up 27.2% to 44.6 million.
The number of fixed lines at the end of the quarter was up 8.5% from a year earlier at 19.2 million. Cable television subscribers grew 11.2% to 3.2 million, and satellite TV subscribers rose 5.8% to 1.1 million.
Paging, outgoing international long-distance calls, and satellite services declined from the third quarter of 2004.
Telecommunications services have long been growing at a faster pace than the overall economy. The gross domestic product grew 3.3% in the third quarter, and was up 3% in the first nine months of the year.
—By Anthony Harrup, Dow Jones Newswires; (5255) 5080-3450, anthony.harrup@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Source: Cellular-News.com
| FEATURED ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING THE NEWSLETTER |
GTES has recently made the strategic decision to expanding its development activities to include wireless location technologies; a market that researchers forecast could reach $3.6 billion by 2010. In support of this new strategic direction, GTES has developed SHERLOC™ a complete one-stop wireless location service, providing the flexibility of being protocol neutral and network agnostic. Targeted at business customers who need to track their high-value shipments or better manage their service or delivery fleets, SHERLOC™ is a hosted application that combines configuration flexibility with ease of use. GTES is offering SHERLOC™ services both directly and through authorized resellers. If your company has an interest in finding out how location services can enhance your revenue stream, and has the contacts and expertise to make you successful in the location marketplace, please contact us for further information at www.sherlocgps.com and select “Reseller Opportunities,” or call us at 770-754-1666 for more information. www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the Paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. Continued Support Programs CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS
|
Wireless Communication Solutions
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wireless Messaging Software
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
The Paging Industry expects quality, reliable, and high performance paging products. We at Unication have listened and delivered.
About Unication Co., Ltd.
|
 Prism Message Gateway Systems Your Choice of Options
Popular Choice for Domestic and International
Logical Choice
Go ahead . . . be choosy . . . choose Prism Systems International
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
eRF Wireless
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
 | NEWS | ||
| Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 | News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 | ||
| This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). | |||
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 28, 2005 | NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: Daniel Gonzalez at (202) 418-1000 | ||
Today, Federal Communications Chairman Kevin J. Martin announced that Nancy J. Victory will serve as Chair of the Commission’s Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks. The Panel, composed of public safety and communications industry representatives, will review the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the telecommunications and media infrastructure in the affected area and will make recommendations to the Commission regarding ways to improve disaster preparedness, reliability, and communication among first responders. Nancy J. Victory is the former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she served as President George W. Bush’s telecommunications advisor and the manager of the federal government spectrum. She recently authored “Homeland Security and Communications: A Compendium of Federal Programs,” which provides a detailed review of ongoing federal efforts to address public safety and homeland security needs of the country. Ms. Victory is a partner at the Washington law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP. Chairman Martin said, “The destruction that Hurricane Katrina caused to communications facilities, and therefore the services upon which first responders and citizens rely, was extraordinary. We must review the disaster’s affect on the infrastructure and determine ways to minimize such destruction in the future. Nancy Victory is particularly well qualified to Chair of this important Panel, and I appreciate her willingness to serve in this capacity. I look forward to working with Nancy and the Committee on this vitally important issue.” | |||
Source: FCC | |||
News, opinions, opportunities, and products to help your business grow. |
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION 
CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE
