Early Monday, telecom giant Verizon Communications (VZ) named Lowell McAdam president and COO, which would put him in line to eventually succeed longtime CEO Ivan Seidenberg. McAdam currently serves as the CEO of Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between the U.S. company and Vodafone.
One day after a digital startup vowed to drop T-Mobile over a forthcoming fee hike, another texting company has sued T-Mobile for blocking its service. The reason? Apparently T-Mobile "did not approve" of a company called EZ Texting, which does business with a website that provides information on the location of legal medical marijuana dispensaries in California.
Mobile startup ChaCha, which provides answers via text message, is threatening to bail on T-Mobile over a proposed fee increase on texts. The move has aggregators, publishers and at least one consumer group raising the alarm. T-Mobile calls it business as usual.
How can you tell that smartphones aren't just for tech geeks and corporate types tethered to their email anymore? When Oprah Winfrey gives Motorola Defys to her whole studio audience, and Wal-Mart says it's launching its own mobile service, you have to say the devices have gone mainstream.
Wal-Mart Stores is partnering with T-Mobile to introduce Wal-Mart Family Mobile, the first cell-phone plan to use the retail giant's own branding.
AT&T and Verizon Wireless are planning a big move into wireless electronic payments, a sector currently dominated by PayPal, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. The plan comes as mobile carriers look for more ways to make money in the U.S. as subscription growth slows.












