wireless

The Apple blogosphere is buzzing with what seems to be solid evidence that finally Verizon will be offering an iPhone to run on its network. The long-expected announcement would be the biggest thing to hit the wireless business since the first iPhone itself. Here are five things it would mean.

In a move to help it target tablet computers, cell-phone-chip designer Qualcomm has reportedly offered $3.5 billion to buy Atheros Communications, which has developed chips that connect wireless computers to the Internet.

Now broken up, the new Motorolas have distinct corporate personalities: the riskier but higher-growth potential Motorola Mobility, which includes Droid smartphones, and the duller but steadier Motorola Solutions, which makes things like bar-code scanners.

If you want to know how the rural developing world could get cheap, easy wireless Internet access, just follow the money: Remittances to those regions total tens of billions each year, and the money flow isn't very efficient. The profits from micro-telcos taking over the business could prime the pump for an information revolution in the hinterlands.

A broad array of technology news helped define 2010, from the launch of Apple's iPad to the arrival of the app to a supernova of Internet stock gains. Here's a look back at those major stories -- and a glimpse of some highlights you can expect next year.

Nokia Siemens's planned acquisition of the bulk of Motorola's wireless-network business likely won't happen this year. Chinese regulators are still reviewing the deal, and Nokia Siemens now expects approval -- and the completion of the purchase -- will have to wait until the first quarter of 2011.

Here's one reason why U.S. teens and young adults are luckier than their international counterparts: Unlike in many other countries, most American youths don't have to pay their own cell-phone bills.

After 80 years of tech achievements, Motorola has run into a nemesis unlike others it has overcome in the past. And it's not for lack of trying. Even as Motorola restructures and launches new products, it keeps getting upstaged by the iPhone.

In a breakup that's been in the works for the last two years, Motorola says it will officially split into two companies -- Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions -- on Jan. 4.