Sr. MMS Engineer (Snoqualmie, WA) - $1,000 Referral Bonus!

Not only is Jodi Lovegrove the T-Mobile Recruiter with the coolest last name, she's also the one responsible for the nationwide recruiting activity that supports our National Engineering Operations team.

Wow, it's hard to say all that in one small breath.

Anyway, Jodi just opened an H3 campaign for one of her positions:

Sr. MMS Engineer, Snoqualmie, WA

If you are interested in this position, or, know somebody who is, please access Jodi's campaign by following the link HERE.

Please note: all T-Mobile Employees will follow the standard process (Employee Referral Program) for referring candidates. And, yes, they'll still get their big chunk of change if we make the hire.

However, everybody else can use Jodi's H3 campaign to refer someone for the job.

Did I just hear somebody say,

"Hey, what's in it for me?"

Well, if you refer the candidate that gets the job, Jodi's got a $1,000 dollar bill with your picture on it. And Jodi loves to give away money

So, c'mon, let's make Lovegrove happy,

Click on the campaign and let's get crankin'!

The Scoop On Cellphones

The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Soyia Ellison says there's so many flavors of cellphones available for the mobile connoisseur, that Baskin Robbin's should be ashamed for only offering up 31 flavors.

Want a phone to call home from the grocery store and ask your wife if you're out of milk? You got it.

Want one that'll capture video of that amazing back flip your cat does off the kitchen table when she thinks no one is looking? You got it.

Want a cellphone that will let you sync your home and work e-mail — and view it all on one tiny screen? You can have that, too.

Check out Soyia Ellison's AJC article HERE to see which phone she says is like

"Coffee (Ice Cream) with Chocolate Chunks!"

KDDI Sets its Sights on the United States Mobile Industry

KDDI, Japan's second largest mobile operator has announced its plans to enter the US market this month by launching an MVNO service in partnership with Sprint Nextel. KDDI will initially use Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network to target ex-pats and the Japanese population living and working in the US.

KDDI’s announcement to enter the US market is surprising as it will be the first time for a Japanese telecommunications company to operate mobile phone services under its own brand in the U.S.

Read Shailendra Pandy's complete article at ABIResearch.com, HERE.

Taking Wireless to the WiMax

Sprint Nextel to launch network in Chicago that will offer Internet on the go with broadband-like speed

From the Chicago Tribune:

With the digital age increasingly going wireless, Chicago soon will become one of the first cities in the country to have access to the next generation of computer communication, in which people will keep connected to the Internet wherever they go.

The new network, constructed by Motorola Inc., will be operated by Sprint Nextel Corp. and will envelop the region in a digital signal as powerful as the broadband service used by many homes and businesses.

Get the complete read HERE.

HOT JOBS: Director, Engineering - RF (Parsippany, NJ) T-Mobile

Director, Engineering - RF

Manage a regional team that consists of the following core functions:

Automatic Frequency Planning (AFP), BSS Engineering, Capacity Planning, Data Engineering and TDOA.

The job duties include but are not limited to:

Frequency Planning, BSC/TCU/PCUSN dimensioning and forecasting, Radio Access Capacity planning, New technology rollouts, TDOA Administration including Network dimensioning, New deployments and KPI monitoring.

Director will play a key role in developing and managing regional markets network performance and KPI targets, serving as the subject matter experts to the local markets.

Requirements:
High level of competency in all aspects of Radio Network Design and optimization. Includes but not limited to: Antenna theory, GSM Call processing, RF propagation theory, Field based measurement systems and interpretation, understanding of GSM Radio based call statistics such as dropped calls, BER, and Handover.

The candidate must posses a strong financial understanding, be able to create and manage departmental budgets, prepare and adjudicate business cases, as well as manage large technical projects.

This candidate will have strong leadership skills, with the ability to conceive, communicate, and implement design and operation concepts that improve the performance of the network and the efficiency of the RF teams.

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, BSEE is preferred.

8+ years Cellular/PCS industry experience.

5+ years RF Management experience in heading a team of engineers and/or technicians.

Hands on experience with GSM technology strongly preferred.

Please send your resume to Dennis @ wirelessheadhunter@gmail.com.

The Father of Wireless (and Wireless Jobs)

Martin Cooper. Just an average genius working for the man at Motorola .

But on April 3, 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper placed a call to rival Joel Engel, head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs, while walking the streets of New York City talking on the first Motorola DynaTAC prototype.

And so the levers of cell phone obsession began to turn.

10 years later, the Brick was born, and those who had the cash dropped almost $4,000 for the 10-inch, 28-ounce anchor created by Coop and his team of engineers at Moto.

The differences between Cooper's Brick and today's phone? Can you say, calendar, calculator, alarm clock, gps, video, web browser, and MP3 Player?

Dahl's article offers up a bit of history that I find seriously amusing:

Analysts in 1983 predicted that by 2000, there would be 900,000 wireless users in the United States.

Reality?

There were more than 100 million wireless users by the end of 2000, and 229 million at the end of last year. My family alone accounts for four of the 229 million (I'll be adding three more in the not-to-distant future).

Yes, my Blackberry is never far from reach. I exchange text messages with my team late at night and early in the morning (cut it out, Jen!) ; )

On the chance that I've misplaced it (along with my keys), I'm irritated 'til it's safely back in my front pocket.

I glance at my messages while driving to work (just kidding, Mr. State Farm Insurance Man!). I send my wife and children secret messages throughout the day. I am always connected.

Geez, thanks Mr. Cooper. No, really, thanks! We complain about being overly-connected, but if we're honest, most of us wouldn't have it any other way.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying it's healthy. But it's our reality (and I like it).

Reality also says that about one-fourth of all wireless calls have at least one problem (2006 study by J.D. Power and Associates). Whether it's dropped calls, disconnected calls, static, or interference, the problems exist. And if we're grumpy when we can't find our Blackberry, we're even grumpier when we drop a call.

Why?

Because we can't stand not being connected! Like I said, I'm not proud of this particular mental illness, but I'm not about to change. Even if that means I have to crawl on my roof line at midnight in the middle of a thunder storm, I'm going to make that phone call, by golly!

Even the Father of Wireless (Cooper) agrees with us. He's now 79 years old, owns six cell phones, carries three and pays the bills for 20. He was even talking on his cell phone for his interview with Dahl, explaining that he understands our obsession, our need, to have a signal:

"When you've got that phone, you feel connected, you feel part of a group,"

says Cooper.

"Who's the group? It's everyone in the world, on your cell phone."

Yep, Dr. Cooper still gets it.

Because the most important thing is being able to stay connected to the most important people in our lives.

Thanks Father Cooper Wireless.

Here's to 30 more years of wireless connectivity and the jobs that make it happen.


source: McClatchy Newspapers, Melissa Dahl

ZTE Gets Order for $3.1 Billion China Mobile Network

Bloomberg writes…ZTE Corp., China’s biggest publicly listed telephone equipment maker, won orders from China Mobile Communications Corp. to equip part of the nation’s first high- speed wireless network.

The company’s stock surged.

source: wirelessnews

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Dennis

MetroPCS hoping to raise USD1 billion from IPO

I have some buddies at MetroPCS who used to ply their engineering wares at AT&T Wireless.

For their sakes, I hope their IPO just goes bananas.

Then, maybe they'll take me out to lunch, or send me a couple of Texas Lotto tickets.

Here's the story about their hopes for bringing in 1B in the IPO (courtesy of WirelessNews).

20 Most Interesting Wireless Startups

Paul D. Kretkowski (DailyWireless) brings us a nice post today:

20 Most Interesting Wireless Startups

I'll list the 20 Wireless Startups here, and you can check out DailyWireless for the specifics on each HERE.

I'll even bet that a few of these companies are on the hunt to hire some wireless geeks:

1) Admob

2) Blyk
The first free mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

3) FON
A HotSpot in every pot.

4) Futuretxt

5) I'minlikewithyou
Interesting concept, just won't apply to me.

6) Jajah
I'm liking this one - make VoIP calls from your PC or landline w/o downloads or plug-ins - even w/o having broadband.

7) Jaiku Mobile

8) Jott
Dictation turned in to email?

9) Medio
Mobile search

10) Mozes
Send and receive mobile messages to and from your fave bands, social groups, friends.

11) MyGADS

12) myMobileMedia
Giving mobile subscribers access to their PC (music, pictures, video).

13) Obopay
This just might be my fave of the 20...will allow me to make $$ transfers alarmingly ez (backed/secured by MasterCard).

4 words: Money on your phone.

14) Radar
Instant picture conversations with your favorite people and no one else.

15) Streamverse

16) Teleflip
Email on your cell phone ... for free.

17) Twitter
If you don't know what Twitter is yet, I can't explain it to you. Well, yes I can. Twitter answers the question, "What are you doing?"

Assuming somebody cares.

18) Thrrum

19) VoiceThread
Create a voicethread and collect the stories behind your pictures.

20) ZenZui
Stop surfing. Start Zooming.

YouTube to Launch Mobile Site

YouTube will launch its mobile website in June 2007 for U.S. users, according to a spokesperson. The mobile YouTube site will go live once the exclusivity clause on the company’s mobile video deal with Verizon Wireless expires.

The service will be live for European users in May. YouTube has been already working closely with mobile carriers, and handset makers such as Nokia on the mobile version of their video service.

In response to my question if YouTube is developing a mobile client, the spokesperson said that the company had been talking about it, but had no information to share at this time. Check out a preview of the blocked mobile site or this demo site, which you can see from some mobile phones.

source: GigaOM

Google Kicks Mobi Search in High Gear

Google, in response to Yahoo's oneSearch, has upgraded its WAP-based search to incorporate more data and information into results.

Check out Google's Blog where Yael Shacham gives the 411 on mobile search (HERE). Yael is the Product Mgr for Google's Mobile team).

Starting today, they've made the new mobile search openly available - take it for a spin here.

The Carnival of the Job Search @ WirelessJobs.com

I'm really not a fan of the carnival. Guess I get a little freaked out by the sideshow acts. I just can't figure giving my hard-earned money to see a woman with lots of facial hair.

Howevuh...I've been diggin' the idea of the blog carnival lately. I got my first invite a few months back to participate in a blog carnival by our good buddy Jason Alba at JibberJobber.

Of course, I was too lazy to participate (or I forgot), but I liked the idea nonetheless.

So, I decided it was time to do a "Carnival of the Job Search."

Two reasons why I like this idea:

1) It has the opportunity of connecting me with other people I might never have the chance to meet. Yep, this is really the only reason.

2) It's a lot easier than asking people to write a post. All that's required is that they send me a job posting that they'd like me to reference in my weekly "carnival of the job search" post.

So, what is the carnival of the job search? It's simply a weekly post on WirelessJobs.com that includes job postings and links from various recruiters around the planet. Well, at least those who decide to participate in the carnival.

The important stuff:

So, how do you, Recruiter, participate? Simply submit a job posting via the "Submit an Article Form" no later than Thursday @ 3:00PM CT of each week.

I will compile each of the job postings and submit in one posting on Friday afternoon of each week.

I will post at least one job from each requester, depending on the total number of submissions for that week's carnival.

Job Posting Format:

Job Posting should be in this format (no job descriptions!):

Manager, RF Engineering - Atlanta, GA,

T-Mobile USA

For more information, please email Dennis @ wirelessheadhunter@gmail.com

Note: the link to the job description is in the job title.

If the job is already posted on a blog or career site, please provide the link so that I can reference within the post.

I will preface each job posting by naming the person that submitted the job, and will reference appropriate links to their blog - company - agency - etc.

Here's the biggie:

I will provide additional love and accolades for all requests that are heavily laden with humor. Yes, yes, we've got to keep it professional.

If you've managed to miss the previous links that will take you to the carnival of the job search, click HERE.

So, it's time to get your blog on, Recruiters.

I look forward to the carnival.

GotZapp (mobile social network)

Wireless Duniya posted today about a new mobile social network site called GotZapp.

GotZapp lets users create mini-websites with the "Ziranda" mobile content creator. The "Zapps" (images, text, music) can then be rated, commented on and downloaded by other users.

Cool stuff.

First Truly Mobile Social Networking Service Launched

VelvetPuffin announced the launching of the first integrated social networking service that allows its users to instantly communicate, create and share user-generated content of all types with friends and family through a mobile phone or desktop computer.

Completely carrier independent and offered at no cost to the consumer, VelvetPuffin merges instant messaging and social networking to create truly mobile social networking.

source: The Blog Herald

Addicted to the CrackBerry You Are

T-Mobile lands the Motorola Rizr

Looks like we'll have another cool phone to add to our employee phone list soon.

Here's an excerpt from Crave about the new Motorola Rizr due out next month:

I have to tip my hat to T-Mobile lately. The carrier has been off to a good start this year by introducing a couple of high-quality phones that haven't received any carrier love so far. First it started offering the excellent Nokia 5300, and it looks set to introduce the satisfying Motorola Rizr Z3 on March 12.

Though we've grown tired of the thin phone mania, the Rizr is quite the conversation piece. Not only does it successfully pull off the slider design, it's also much prettier than both the Motorola Razr and Krzr. The feature set is squarely midrange; there's no 3G support but you do get a Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and a 2-megapixel camera.


And here's CNET's review of the Rizr:

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

This amazing video has been viral since early Feb. I picked it up from John Battelle's Searchblog.

Zlango Snags Zillions, er, Millions (12 to be exact)

Nick (Mobilecrunch) brings us some Zlango fun today:

Benchmark Capital and Accel have invested $12 million in Israeli mobile
startup Zlango.

Zlango is an icon-based mobile messaging service. Users
send short texts typed in representational images instead of typing out the
messages . It’s like a modern hieroglyphics. Users can also add images to the
basic icons of the language, as Zlango has in their press release.

Zlango is a phone based application that has grown through close
relationships with carriers, who see Zlango as a way to drive higher SMS usage
or by a flat fee. Zlango is currently partnered with Pelephone in Israel, Orange
& Cellcom in ESC, P4 in Poland, and bMobile in the Caribbean.

This is kinda fun and catchy - but you can call me crazy.

The largest bank in the United States -- Bank of America -- is about to roll out a mobile banking service to all of its 21 million online banking customers. And I would be one of those 21 mil customers.

According to Finextra.com,

"Subscribers to the free service will be able to use their cell phones and smartphones when they're on-the-go to check account balances, pay bills and transfer money."

I knew there was a reason I stuck with BOA all these years.

Top 10 Phones of 3GSM (Gizmodo)

Gizmodo's Noah Robischon brings us the coolness of the Top Phones debuting at 3GSM:

The 3GSM World Congress only started today. But like children who can't keep secrets or hold their bladders, every handset maker announced its new lineup in "me first" fashion.

Which is why we're able to bring you this top 10 list of the most outlandish, impressive and iPhone-like phones of the show. Starting with number 10...

10. Possio GRETAWhen it comes to ballsy innovation, no touchscreen or banana phone beats this combination fax machine, printer, copier, scanner and cellphone in one. Why they painted it the color of maroon nail polish is a question that can probably only be answered by a regional manager for Dunder-Mifflin.

9. Motorola Q9The Jay Leno chin is gone, the color is much, well, blacker, and it's a true global phone. Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

8. RIM Blackberry 8800The jury is still out on SureType, so RIM took all the best features of the Pearl (including the nipple-like navigator) and combined them with a full QWERTY keyboard. Crackberry-licious.Gallery.

7. Nokia 6110 NavigatorA GPS phone with 3.6 Mbps throughput will keep you one step ahead of pursuers, that's for sure. The $600 price tag, however, means that you are being chased by debt collectors. Gallery.

6. Samsung U100Two words: Wafer thin. 5.9mm. Gallery.

5. LG PradaThe LG Prada is so hot right now it could take a crap, wrap it in tinfoil, put a couple fish hooks on it and sell it to Queen Elizabeth as earrings. It's going to be break-dance fighting with the Samsung U100 later tonight. Gallery.

4. Motorola Z8A hinged slider phone that automatically switches into landscape mode? Everyone is going to want to try it once. Gallery.

3. Nokia N77The great thing about Nokia is that they can take a bunch of features that everyone has seen before—mobile tv, push-to-talk, FM radio, micro SD slot—and freshen it up by turning the phone sideways. Gallery.

2. Samsung SGH-F520This side-to-side and up-down slider with a touchscreen wins the award for the most iPhone-competitive handset at the show. Its Achilles heel? It will probably never be released outside of Korea.

1. Neonode N2This phone, which uses an open software platform, probably has a snowball's chance in hell of being used outside of the homebrew mobile phone club. But the 3-inch tall, gesture-controlled phone is also a true harbinger of phones to come.

My Jobster Widget

Click here to view my Jobster profile.

Boy Genius exclusive with the BlackBerry 8800!

Boy Genius does it again!

Source: EngadgetMobile (Michael Caputo)

"We knew our pal Boy Genius would be able to get his hands on the much anticipated BlackBerry 8800, and sure enough, he did. BG was able to obtain the svelte new RIM device by any means necessary through completely legitimate channels for preview.

From the initial pictures, the 8800 is thicker than we anticipated, only beating the current 8700 by a marginal amount.

This device is setup for Wi-Fi, so it only makes sense that T-mobile might be getting this version. We should know more when the device launches later on this month on the orange splat."

What the Zune Phone Needs to Beat the iPhone (Gizmodo)

from Gizmodo (Jason Chen):

Now that we're pretty sure the Zune Phone is coming, what do we want to see in it? Well, even though Microsoft's been leaving a lot of features out of first-generation products—especially when compared to Apple's feature-rich phone—here's a list of stuff that we think the Zune Phone needs to have to beat the iPhone.

• Touchscreen: This probably isn't going to happen, but if you're going to compete with the iPhone's fancy multi-touch system, you're going to need to come up with something similar. It's either that or have a phone with loads of buttons.

• MP3 Ringtones: You can do this on current Windows Mobile phones, but you can't do this on the iPhone. Why? Because the ringtone and music industry don't want to give up another source of revenue. Being able to use songs you downloaded off of Zune's marketplace as ringtones would be great.

• Wi-Fi syncing and downloading: Let's use the Zune's Wi-Fi to grab songs on the go and to sync up with the PC when you're in range.

• 3G syncing and downloading: How about being able to access any song from the Zune store wherever you are? Now this would be a killer app.

• Live Anywhere over 3G: Being able to communicate or even play with your buddies on Xbox 360 and the PC from your Zune Phone would make gamers really happy.

• Gaming: Not PSP or DS level gaming, but a bit above the current iPod games would be nice. Possibly tied into the Xbox 360 arcades as well.

• Streaming media from your Media Center or Xbox 360: How about a Slingbox-esque ability to watch your Vista Media Center's recorded shows or your Xbox 360's downloaded shows wherever you are?

• Vista Sideshow capability: Using this as a remote sideshow so you can keep track of your PC and use Vista Gadgets on the go? Sweetness.

• Open application interface: Let us install anything we want on the phone. Apple's strict iPhone policy really irks power users like us who know what we're doing.

• OS X Compatibility: Yeah, right.

• Not carrier-locked: Cingular's going to make a killing on the iPhone, but we'd like to see the Zune Phone be open to all four.

Of course, we'll be lucky if we see even a quarter of these features implemented on the first Zune Phone, but if we had to design one, this is what we'd want to see. – Jason Chen

Mobile phone operators mull creating rival to Google

Some of Europe's biggest telecoms groups are to hold talks next week about creating a mobile phone search engine which could challenge US giants Google and Yahoo!.

Vodafone, France Telecom, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Hutchison Whampoa, Telecom Italia and American network Cingular will come together for talks at the industry's annual trade show in Barcelona, Spain, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported.

The operators believe that creating their own search engine could help them to "retain a greater share of advertising revenues", it added.

"There is a big play in mobile search that we need to be part of, and we are exploring those options at a very high level," an unnamed British executive at one of the companies involved told the paper.

The implications for existing deals between the networks and the US search companies are not clear -- Google has signed up Vodafone, Hutchison's 3 and T-Mobile, while Yahoo! has signed up Vodafone and 3.

Source YahooNews

Verizon Wireless raising texting rates

Verizon Wireless is raising the text messaging rate for customers without a monthly texting plan to 15 cents per message sent or received, an increase of 5 cents.

The increase, slated for March 1, comes soon after identical price hikes by Sprint Nextel Corp. and AT&T Inc.'s Cingular Wireless, which raised the rate for pay-as-you-go texting from 10 cents per message to 15 cents.

T-Mobile USA still charges 10 cents per message sent or received for users without a texting plan.

source: msnbc

China tests next generation of mobile phones

China has launched a trial of the latest in wireless phone technology, despite government restrictions that have delayed internet-ready mobile phones from being offered in the country.

The Shanghai-based trial will use home-grown fourth-generation mobile technology, which will allow faster speeds than currently available phones offer, as well as better image quality for visual data and the potential to offer services such as high-definition television broadcasting.

"It testifies that the technology we've developed is feasible and brings us one step closer to put it into commercial use," said the China Daily, quoting You Xiaohu of China's 4G development program, the Future Project.

The 4G trial will cost 150 million yuan, or $22.8 million, and eventually lead to a commercial trial in 2010.

source: cbc.ca

Presenting, the MOTORAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge

Motorola, Inc. presents today the new MOTORAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition, a perfect marriage between the style of Ferrari and the technological innovation of Motorola.

Characterized by a modern, elegant design and the ease of use of its technology, the MOTORAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition is a unique handset with HSDPA capability and offers a series of exclusive features:

*the Ferrari emblem on the exterior glass

*the roar of the Ferrari F1 eight-cylindre engine accompanies the switching of the handset on or off,

*images of the Ferrari F430 engine on the mini external display and the image of the Ferrari emblem on a grey Ferrari in the internal display.

excerpt: HULIQ.com

Cheaper Mobiles Boom, Chipmakers feel Squeeze

Mobile phone sales may be booming worldwide but many suppliers of component chips aren't happy.

Chip makers are complaining that strong demand for affordable cellphones in emerging markets has begun to hurt their sales and profits because cheap phones contain fewer chips than expensive smartphones.

The sudden pain among chip makers is significant because the world's biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia, has been feeling the impact of the shift to cheaper phones for years, without it apparently impacting its main chip suppliers.

Analysts point out that rich consumers in developed nations are not buying expensive phones the way they used to.

With the notable exception of Japanese-Swedish Sony Ericsson , which had a stellar fourth quarter with its expensive Walkman music handsets and Cybershot camera phones, Motorola, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics all reported a shift to cheaper phones and price pressure in medium and higher priced models.

Sony Ericsson is proving that consumers will buy more expensive models only when there is a clear benefit, for instance because they contain a high quality digital camera, said analyst Niels de Zwart at Rabo Securities.

source: Yahoo!News

Mdog - Blogging Mobile Search

Mdog is a new blogging search mobile offer. Users can simply point their browser to mdog.com and search blogs or browse mobile sites. But, the aim of the company is to encourage sign-up to the service and personalisation.

With over 55 million blogs in the world, finding what you are looking for can be a headache. Mdog’s Bingo mobile search allows users to add their blog URL to do a search or to select a search category by type of blog… Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress etc.

Source: GoMo News

Double-Digit Growth for Mobile Phones

In 2006, unit sales of mobile handsets around the globe increased almost 20%, and according to a study from In-Stat, double-digit growth will continue for at least the next five years.

Overall, In-Stat predicts that global penetration of handsets per population will increase from 25% to 50% by 2011.

Currently, the size of the global wireless handset market is over $144 billion, and by 2011 it will increase to $200 billion.

Growth will be driven by penetration within developing countries, the popularity of prepaid service plans and the continued rollout of higher-speed data networks.

In addition, for the first time the replacement handset rate now exceeds the new handset market.

source: eMarketer.com

The Telecom Conundrum (not for the faint of heart)

It's almost as if John Madden is responsible for creating the diagram that sent this whole Telecom-thing in to a tailspin.

Ok, we need some clarity, and Stephen Colbert is just the guy to do it.

Honestly, if somebody explained the evolution of Telecom to you back in 1956, would you have believed 'em?

Click below and be prepared to crack up.

Job Hunters Pound the Job Search Pavement

Those that know say job-seekers have been slammin' the job boards big-time as 2007 gets under way. Maybe it's the recovery from the year 2000 slump, or, maybe the ice-cream man is collecting on our holiday purchases.

Either way, the job-hunt is on as job-seekers appear to be looking for opportunities to increase the cash flow.

According to Hitwise, market share for visits to the job boards rose 31% for the week ending January 6th, 2007, as compared to the prior week.

CareerBuilder took 14 percent of the job board traffic, followed by Monster at 11.5 percent, and Yahoo's HotJobs at 5 percent.

Source: WirelessJobs.com

On Cell Phones and Wireless Payments

After seeing the demonstration that Visa just gave me at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I'm pretty sure it won't be too long before many of us will be paying for everything from our groceries to our Dunkin Donuts wirelessly with our cell phones. Visa had a "pod" in the Near Field Communications [...]

CES: Wireless payments at the register with your cell phone are around the corner

by ZDNet's David Berlind --

iPhone Engineering Jobs @ Apple

I got an email from Paul Galli at Apple asking for help to spread the word about iPhone engineering jobs at Apple .

Click HERE to check out the link.


source: WirelessJobs.com

Need a Job? Don't Call 1-800-SPRINTJOBS

Sprint Nextel, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, plans to lay off about

5, 000 employees in the coming months, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The company suffered a net loss of about 300,000 wireless subscribers in the last quarter of 2006, said company officials on Monday. They projected lower sales for 2007 than analysts has anticipated.

Most of the planned layoffs will be completed by early April, they said, and will be spread throughout the company, whose total employees are about 64,600.

Sprint and Nextel Communications merged in 2005 with the hope that the two wireless companies would become a vibrant force offering attractive new products and services. But the firm has struggled to manage its networks, and customers have increasingly turned to such rivals as Cingular and Verizon Wireless.

The company also said it plans to eliminate 300 retail stores and kiosks as well as one million square feet of leased space by the end of the year. Last year it relinquished two million square feet of office space.

source: People's Daily Online

10 Predictions for Wireless in 2007

Dean Bubley (Disruptive Wireless) put together a nice list revealing his 10 predictions for wireless in 2007.

Get the complete list with his commentary HERE (from Wireless.SeekingAlpha.com).

Here's a quick run-down:

1) Increased focus on manufacturers selling multiple "diverged" devices to users.

It only makes sense that Nokia (NOK), Apple (AAPL), Motorola (MOT) would want to offer multiple, simple, well-designed devices....strong margins should follow.

2) A lot of noise about VoIP over 3G.

Sure to steal much of the spotlight in '07.

3) Emergence of corporate-focused MVNOs

Dean says that he's waited forever, but that this could finally happen in '07.

4) Continued uptake of various dual-mode services & handsets, but they won't change the world

Dean posted last week about UMA/non-UMA developments and gave his predictions (I hope he's wrong). But he's predicting that this is still too much of a niche game.

5) Spectrum lobbying noise, regulation momentum and lawsuits ratchet up several notches.

Dean predicts that the lawyers will stay busy (2.5GHz licenses - spectrum neutrality - getting 900Mhz GSM ready for UMTS, etc....)

6) IMS confounds both its critics and its evangelists, but needs to improve integration ASAP.

The key lesson for IMS advocates to learn during 2007 will be integration - come down from your ivory towers & learn how to blend IMS with non-IMS - the real Internet, enterprise networks, SDP's, music & TV platforms and so forth. If the IMS community doesn't wholeheartedly embrace these areas of integration, in both the network and on devices, it will stagnate in 2008 and die in 2009. Isolation and "purity" is doom.

7) Navigation becomes rather more important on mobiles. Mobile search doesn't.

Handset-based navigation will become more prevalent (I agree).

Mobile search is going to take some time.

8) The City WiFi bubble bursts

Deano's not a fan of the muni-wifi. Seeing how I'm a fan of the T-Mo Hotspot, I guess I'm not either.

9) Flat-rate data becomes the norm, with browsing the killer app, driven by high-res screens

All Dean comments in numbers 9 and 10 - too interesting to summarize:

I'm still waiting for my trial X-Series phone, but I've been increasingly impressed with browsing experience recently. While cheap data tariffs are one critical driver, another has been largely overlooked - increasing screen resolution. The standard for mid-to-high end phones is now QVGA (320x240 pixels). This will increase, either with Nokia's weird 416x352 (or something like that) or more standardized full VGA (640x480). I'm a firm believer that there is no "Mobile Web," and that most people would much prefer a mobile broadband ISP experience, accessing the one, real, Internet. And of course, that means their favorite web brands & downloadable add-on client software too. The signs are already there at the end of 2006, but 2007 will be the year the mobile industry stops fantasizing about beating Google and Yahoo and Skype, and instead just gets on with optimizing their performance for their customers. Long live the Smart Pipe strategy . . .

10) No, No, No, No, No

OK, this post is already long enough, so I don't have time to detail my reasons for all of these, but I'm sure they'll crop up on the blog in coming months. Mobile IM won't replace SMS (sorry VoIP fans . . . ). Laptops with built-in HSDPA won't sell much (and even where they do, the cellular bit won't be activated by most owners). WiMAX will get a few more major operator advocates, but still won't be seen as a threat to "normal cellular." Mobile TV won't make much headway. Web 2.0 stuff like social networking really won't be a big deal in mobile outside Japan, Korea & maybe the US, unless carriers work out a way to give decent Internet access & capable devices to prepay users.

Oh, and maybe Apple's Phone-i (hey, Linksys got the iPhone brand . . . won't play music at all, but will be "just a phone." See point 1.

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