Cingular Partners For International MMS

Aicent today revealed that it will immediately begin work with Cingular to expand MMS interoperability beyond American shores. Cingular currently is one of the top US carriers in terms of national interoperability; this agreement will put them at the forefront of international interop as well. Aicent provides MMS interop to 70 operators around the world, and is adding more with agreements similar to Cingular's. In addition to MMS, Cingular partners with Aicent for international GPRS roaming


The Federal Judge presiding over the NTP vs. RIM patent dispute today took another step to guarantee the trial will start this Friday as scheduled. Judge Spencer turned down a request by the Federal Justice Department to hold a separate hearing to explore how a Blackberry shutdown could affect government agencies and offices. The hearing would have further delayed the trial, which the judge has noted he will not allow. The Justice Dept. has previously filed two briefs with the court concerning the effects of a shutdown on government and public safety agencies. It is likely those papers provided the judge with all the information he needs regarding the federal government's position and concerns.

The FCC today approved a set of accessories for Motorola that reveals plans to launch a set of remote controlled cars in cooperation with Nikko. Chances are Motorola will use this opportunity to further tie in Nextel's NASCAR sponsorship to iDen handsets. The approval was for a Zigbee dongle that can either plug into a traditional looking RC vehicle remote or into the accessory port of an iDen phone. Either the dual-joystick remote or a Java application on an iDen handset (specifically an i850), can then be used to control a Zigbee-enabled RC car. Each "Wireless Wheels" set will include a dongle, remote and car. This is not the first phone-controlled RC car. A few years ago, Sony Ericsson sold a Bluetooth car that could be controlled from any of their Bluetooth-enabled phones.

Sprint Nextel today announced a new pricing plan called Business Essentials. The plan allows companies to buy large buckets of minutes and distribute them to employees using whatever calling plan suits each particular person. It also provides free mobile to mobile calls for employees on Sprint or nationwide walkie talkie to those on Nextel. Sprint users can add Ready Link PTT and Nextel subscribers can add mobile to mobile for an additional $5 per month. Cingular yesterday launched OfficeReach, an application that allows businesses to assign each employee a single phone number and internal phone extension which will contact that employee at up to three separate telephones. The system will attempt to reach the employee at each number in a pre-defined order when the unified OfficeReach number is called. Similar services have been available in corporate PBX systems before, however OfficeReach does not require PBX equipment.