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By Wailin Wong | It may be a dirty job, but somebody has to speak up for Motorola’s phones.
The Schaumburg-based mobile phone maker has tapped Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” show, as the new spokesman for Motorola’s iDEN portfolio.
IDEN is a proprietary technology used for rugged, push-to-talk phones that run on Sprint’s Nextel service.
From The Problem Solver | Consumers have until Friday to get a $20 credit for signing up for Pioneer Telephone company’s long-distance service. After that, the break’s only $10.
Read the full story: The Problem Solver
By Wailin Wong | The first U.S. smartphone by Dell will arrive “soon” at AT&T, marking the computer maker’s long-awaited debut in mobile phones.
Dell’s efforts in phones are led by Ron Garriques, the former chief of Schaumburg-based Motorola’s cell phone unit. He was hired by Dell to lead the company’s portfolio of consumer products, which includes phones. Dell has a small office in the Chicago area dedicated to mobile phones.
From Fierce Telecom | With conditional FTC approvals in hand, Comcast Corp. is expected to complete its purchase of Chicago-based Cimco Communications, which sells phone and data services to small and midsize businesses. Comcast agreed to buy Cimco in October in a deal that could have implications for the telecommunications industry.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Get the full story: fiercetelecom.com
Associated Press | After grabbing headlines with a sign-on bonus
of more than $100 million, Motorola Inc. co-CEO Sanjay Jha has settled
down to a more pedestrian $3.77 million in annual pay.
Motorola revealed Friday in a regulatory filing that Jha received a
2009 salary of $905,769 in 2009, a bonus of $1.2 million and restricted
stock worth $1.334 million. The bonus was guaranteed by his employment
contract.
From Walworth County Today | The city of Harvard is angling to become a test site for Google’s ultra-high speed Internet project, hoping the upgrade would spur interest in the 1.5 million-square-foot former Motorola plant that once employed more than 5,000 people before closing in 2003.
Get the full story: walworthcountytoday.com
From PC World | Motorola will start loading Microsoft’s Bing search and map services onto its Android smartphones in China, bringing more non-Google services to the phones amid a row between Google and China.
Motorola will start pre-loading Microsoft’s Bing search and map services on its Android smartphones in China this quarter, or use updates to add them to phones already on the market. Motorola said the deal is a global one, though
Get the full story: pcworld.com
By Phil Rosenthal
| Comcast SportsNet Chicago plans to live stream telecasts of its Chicago Bulls games online, beginning with their Mar. 19 game against Cleveland. But the only people who will have access to the online version of the cable channel’s game coverage will be those who already receive Comcast SportsNet Chicago from a TV provider that has agreed to participate in the network’s authentication process.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
Associated Press | Anixter International Inc. said Thursday that it is redeeming senior
debt due 2014 that carries an interest rate of 10 percent.
Glenview-based Anixter will pay $1,140 in cash for each $1,000 of notes turned in by 5 p.m.
EDT on April 1. Those who turn in their notes by 5 p.m. EDT on March 17 will get
an extra $30 for every $1,000 senior note tendered.
By Sandra M. Jones |
AT&T is closing its 411 office in Chicago and laying off 84
directory assistance operators, according to a monthly layoff report
from the state of Illinois. The office at 10 S. Canal St. is scheduled to close in April.
The Dallas-based phone company has been consolidating its directory
assistance offices for years as more people rely on the Internet,
rather than 411, to look up phone numbers.
From the Daily Mail | Apple Inc. admitted that child labor was used at some Chinese factories where its iPod, iPhones and computers are made. The company said underage workers were no longer being used or became of age.
Get the full story: dailymail.co.uk
From Marketwatch | UBS downgraded Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. to neutral from buy, citing after its stock rebounded 11 percent from recent lows.
Get the full story: marketwatch.com
Tribune staff report | Chicago-based U.S. Cellular Corp. said
its president and CEO, John “Jack” E. Rooney, will retire in 2010.
Executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart is currently conducting a
search for Rooney’s replacement.
Rooney, 67, joined U.S.
Cellular as president and CEO in 2000. The company said in his 10 years
at the helm, it has grown into the sixth-largest wireless provider in
the U.S., with more than six million customers, and service revenues
have more than doubled.
Associated Press | More than half of the people in the developing world are now cell phone
subscribers, a U.N. report said Tuesday, highlighting strong global
growth in telecommunications.
There were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the
end of last year, compared with about 1 billion in 2002, the
International Telecommunication Union said in a report. In developing
nations, 57 percent of people were signed up.
“The rate of progress remains remarkable,” the U.N. agency said.
By Wailin Wong | Motorola Inc. may be moving its headquarters to California after its mobile-phone unit splits off to become its own company.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal quoted co-Chief Executive Sanjay
Jha as saying in an interview: “We’ll go where that talent is, and
right now, that looks like California.”
The interview was held last week at Mobile World Congress, an industry show in Spain.
