Sprint to cut plans on WiMax…

Following the departure of CEO and chairman Gary Forsee, Sprint may soon be forced to give up its extensive (and expensive) WiMax plans, according CNET. Not that WiMax–a technology that could blanket whole cities with wireless Internet access–is a bad idea, it’s just too risky an idea for a company performing so poorly. Two years after merging with Nextel, Sprint shareholders have yet to see any payoff, which has them worried that a risky new technology that faces plenty of competition could put the company deep in the hole.

Unfortunately, Sprint has already dumped more than a billion dollars into WiMax, and it needs to make a decision fast, having pledged a further $2 billion investment in the next year to get WiMax coverage to 100 million people by the end of 2008. In total, the company has pledged $5 billion over the next three years to the project. “They should stop the WiMax rollout immediately,” said Patrick Comack, an equities analyst with Zachary Research. “They need to get back to the basics and learn how to run a wireless company. This means focusing more on the present rather than the future.”

That said, the wireless industry hasn’t been kind to Sprint–whose long-term mobile prospects look “bleak” according to CNET–because cell phone penetration is reaching a saturation point, which means the company would have to steal other carriers’ customers to grow, and without a single iPhone or 3G killer on its menu.

Source — CNET.com

Dominoes can now be ordered on your cell phone…

The company will promote mobile ordering with tags on TV spots and print ads as well as via the Web, including its own site, and by sending e-mails to its customer database. Domino’s is targeting its core audience–the 18-35 age group–with the mobile ordering option, “but the broader target audience is anyone who has a Web-enabled cell phone and who likes pizza,” says a spokesperson.

Walt Disney turns off mobile phone service for families…

Walt Disney Co. is shutting down its mobile phone service that enables parents to monitor their children’s phone usage or restrict the times of day or the days of the week when the phones work. The phones also use a global positioning system that enables parents to track a child’s whereabouts. Launched in June 2006, Disney Mobile will close at the end of the year.

The decision — coming a year after Disney suspended a similar niche offering, Mobile ESPN — illustrates the challenges of competing with national wireless carriers that own their networks. Disney leased its network capacity from Sprint Nextel.

Disney was counting on its brand name to attract customers, but a rapidly changing market eclipsed its added services. Major carriers — such as Verizon Wireless and even Sprint — stole its thunder by rolling out similar child-finder services and other family-friendly features. It also struggled to get broad retail distribution of its phones.

AT&T Rescinds Text Message Block…

This morning, after news broke that AT&T had refused to allow the abortion rights group Naral Pro-Choice America to send text messages to supporters, the telecom changed its position. Now, the company says it will allow Naral to send text messages.

Even though AT&T reversed itself, the incident shows what can happen when Internet access providers pick and choose which content to allow over their networks. As last night’s Times article pointed out, that power is at the heart of the debate over whether to pass net neutrality laws, which would prohibit Internet access providers from refusing to transmit certain content or degrading service to some publishers.

Here, AT&T undoubtedly was concerned about the bad press it was receiving for prohibiting a group with a sizable opt-in membership from sending text messages, but it’s not clear how AT&T or telecoms will treat other, less well-known groups. For that matter, it’s also not clear how many nonprofits or political groups AT&T has blocked from sending text messages in the past.

The next time AT&T and others go to Washington to lobby against net neutrality laws, they should be called to account for how they’ve addressed such issues in the past

New cell phone will make international call cheaper…

Cubic Telecom, a small Irish company, is releasing what it’s calling the first global mobile phone in early October. It makes calls to or from 214 countries for 50% to 90% off what the big carriers charge. Cubic is also offering a service at MaxRoam.com, where consumers can obtain phone numbers in up to 50 cities that overseas friends can use to call their cell phone at local rates.

Cubic’s cheap global dialing has nothing to do with the $140 phone. The magic is in the SIM card, the memory card that determines a customer’s account information. For $40, they can buy the card without the phone and slip it into any “unlocked” GSM phone, such as those used in the U.S. by T-Mobile or AT&T phone.

Cubic’s plans are ambitious, disruptive and incomplete. Several pieces of its system have yet to be slipped into place, including tech support, customer service, documentation, data plans and domestic calling rates.

AT&T rolls ou tnew orange campaign…

AT&T is roiling out a new corporate ad campaign, with creative aimed at showing the younger, edgier style of its wireless services. The effort, themed “Your Seamless World,” wants to speak to the on-the-go lifestyle of today’s consumers and businesses.It includes

six TV spots from Wes Anderson, director of films including “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

The company says it will now use orange as its primary corporate color with a color makeover in store for ads, signage and online. “The new initiatives are designed to highlight how AT&T helps connect people to their worlds wherever they live and work,” says AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson. “We want to ensure this message is reflected in our brand.”