17-21 March,2003 17 March Today marks the opening of the CTIA's annual cellular trade show in New Orleans; RIM has taken advantage of the opportunity to make several key announcements. The company said it has formalized a technology licensing program, dubbed "BlackBerry Connect" which will allow handset developers to incorporate BlackBerry client software into their devices. RIM said that Taiwan's High Tech Computer has enrolled in the program and will add BlackBerry capabilities to its line of Microsoft PocketPC and Smartphone-based devices. Finally, RIM and Symbian announced that they are working together to provide BlackBerry services on handsets which use Symbian's OS, although the companies did not specify when such products would become available. US CDMA carrier Sprint PCS said it will launch a sales and marketing effort aimed at providers of wireless telemetry services. The company said it has signed contracts with several providers who it says will offer services to a diverse array of end user companies over Sprint's cellular network. Verizon will launch CDMA 1X EVDO services in Washington DC and San Diego later this year. An article in today's Washington Post said that the company plans to offer service at airlink data rates of up to 2.4Mbs starting in "late summer." 18 March Good Technology announced that it has made a beta version of its GoodLink Server software available to enterprises which are testing Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003. Good described the upgraded software as being able to take advantage of the increased performance of Exchange 2003. Good's client devices and software are available on Cingular's Mobitex network in the US. Chris Galvin, Motorola's CEO, told the audience at the CTIA show in New Orleans that the cellular industry should by improving voice services rather than developing more data services. "Just because we can do something doesn't mean we have to do it," he said during yesterday's keynote address. According to an article on CNet he added, "We really have to look at the relevant problems [such as poor coverage and reliability] that consumers want solved." The incoming CEO of Ericsson, Carl-Henric Svanberg, has named two company veterans to his top executive team. Karl-Henrik Sundstrom, who has been the general manager of the company's growing services group, has been named CFO, replacing Sten Fornell. Per-Arne Sandstrom, an 18-year veteran of the company, has been named first executive vice president and deputy CEO. 19 March Industry analysts at The Yankee Group predict the user population for corporate wireless email will grow to over 9M users in the US alone by 2007. Gene Signorini said that as prices for devices come down and ease of use, support and installation rise deployment will spread beyond key employees. "Ultimately, enabling wireless e-mail will be only one part of a corporate mobility strategy," he said. US GSM/GPRS/TDMA operator AT&T Wireless said it has formed a program to work with large system integrators to sell wireless products and services. The company said it has signed agreements with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Deloitte Consulting, Fujitsu Consulting and HP to participate in the program. RIM unveiled its long-rumored CDMA-based BlackBerry at the CTIA show in New Orleans. The company is working with US carrier Verizon to bring the new device, dubbed the 6750, to market, and said it expects Verizon to begin selling the devices during Q2. NTT DoCoMo's data ARPU on its WCDMA network is lower than ARPU on its PHS network, according to the Financial Times Deutschland. The paper quoted DoCoMo board member Takanori Utano as saying, "Data revenues per customer are below those that we have with the systems of the second generation. The attraction of developing applications is not large enough given the low customer total." 20 March Wall Street Journal reporter Jane Spencer has written an excellent article about how well Cingular's Mobitex network and Mobitex devices, specifically RIM's 950 and 957 handhelds, performed during the terrorist attack on the US in September 2001. She notes that newer models of BlackBerry operate on the same cellular networks which failed during the crisis and that the US Congress has adopted Mobitex devices for mobile email. "The original RIM BlackBerry models operate on a data-only network called Mobitex that is known for its ability to penetrate buildings and rarely jams," she writes. [A subscription is required to access the article. –Ed. Hutchison said it has 60K subscribers on two of its European UMTS networks. Managing Director Canning Fok announced that 50K of the users are in Italy with the remaining 10K in England. He also reiterated the company's goal of having 1M subscribers in Europe by year's end. 21 March GoAmerica subsidiary Wynd said it will launch a specialized wireless retailer for the deaf and hard of hearing market. Deafwireless Superstore will debut on the Web tomorrow and will also have a presence at more than a dozen trade shows in the US this year. Wynd will use the site and shops to sell Mobitex and other products to hearing impaired customers. At the CTIA show Microsoft made several announcements about its intentions to provide more developer services for wireless application development. The company's chairman, Bill Gates, said that next month's release of Visual Studio.Net development tool will include a version of its .Net Framework especially configured for developing mobile applications on the company's Pocket PC OS. Support for the Smartphone platform will come at some future point. Microsoft also issued a press release highlighting four companies, including HP, who are using Microsoft MapPoint to embed location services into their mobile applications. The CTIA announced that its fall trade show, formerly known as Wireless IT, will now be called Wireless I.T. & Entertainment. The show is scheduled for 21-23 October in Las Vegas.