May 5, 2008

T-Mobile USA launched its first commercial high-speed wireless service in New York City, and plans to expand the service to 20 to 25 other major U.S. markets by the end of the year.

April 23, 2008

The battle over cell phones in schools ended with the state's appeals court voting to uphold a ban on cell phones in public schools in New York city.

April 15, 2008

Cuban government has eased restrictions on buying cellular phones for the first time and also allowed registering those they had held illegally.

April 10, 2008

The FCC has approved a new nationwide alert system that will send text messages to cell phones to alert Americans when an emergency, disaster or attack occurs. The plan itself will deliver three different types of charge-free text alerts to mobile phone users.

April 8, 2008

The European Union has approved in-flight cell phone use for all of its 27 member nations. An on-board base station will relay phone signals to either a satellite or ground towers.

April 2, 2008

AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said that AT&T was expecting a 3G iPhone within the next few months., when asked about plans to sell a third-generation (3G) iPhone.

AT&T, Samsung Launch Napster Phone

AT&T unveiled the SLM by Samsung, a lightweight clamshell cell phone that's designed for music and multimedia. The phone is AT&T's first to include Napster Mobile, a new service that allows subscribers to search a catalog of five million songs, preview snippets of songs, and download them wirelessly.

AT&T's SLM by Samsung is a durable clamshell-shaped cell phone packed with music and multimedia features. The SLM is a moderately sized, light (3.96 by 1.99 by 0.51 inches, 3.17 oz.) flip phone, with generally mid-range specs. It is equipped with 2-megapixel camera, high-speed 3G data, and 176-by-220 screen.

The SLM doesn't need to be connected to a PC?though it can sync with Napster or Windows Media Player just fine if you hook it up with a USB cable. Buried in a music menu on the handset is an option to sample and buy songs from Napster's 5-million-song catalog. You don't need to be a Napster member to do this, and in fact you can't access your own Napster library through the phone.

AT&T initially announced its plans to roll out the mobile service with Napster in October. Subscribers interested in using the service have a choice of downloading five tracks a month for $7.49 with the Napster Mobile Five-Track Pack plan or purchasing songs for $2 each without the plan.

The carrier has been ambitiously rolling out various music capabilities on its phones in hopes of attracting a large group of mobile users. Earlier this month, AT&T also made available a popular Internet service called Pandora on select cell phone models. The service allows subscribers to find music and create personalized radio stations on their phones.

(November 19, 2007)