The wireless industry is revving its lobbying machine as it attempts to influence policymakers in Washington on a slew of key issues. Much of the association’s firepower is in the hands of Steve Largent, a former Congressman from Oklahoma and a Hall of Fame NFL wide receiver. Since taking over as president of CTIA in …

Google admitted in a blog post Friday that it has been snooping on Wi-Fi users as its Street View cars have been riding around neighborhoods throughout the world collecting data for its mapping service. In a blog post, the company said it has parked its Street View cars and stopped collecting data after it realized that it has been inadvertently …

Sprint Nextel is teaming up with Wal-Mart to offer a new prepaid mobile phone service for consumers who don’t use their cell phones much. On Thursday the No. 3 wireless operator in the U.S. announced the new Common Cents prepaid mobile phone brand. This new plan charges customers 7 cents per minute for phone calls and 7 cents per text …

For Research in Motion, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, staying No. 1 isn’t about apps or fancy hardware, it’s about cost effectiveness. For all the hoopla surrounding Apple’s iPhone and the various Android smartphones that have hit the market recently, many forget what is still, by a healthy margin tops in the market: RIM’s modest BlackBerry. And RIM …

NEW YORK–Microsoft is going after the corporate customer with its new Office 2010. But the company is also giving some goodies away for free to consumers and mobile users, who will gain a new level of access to its Office and Sharepoint products. Microsoft officially launched the new Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010 products to its corporate customers at an …

Verizon Wireless could make good on its promise to get 4G wireless broadband to rural America. The nation’s largest wireless provider is in talks with rural wireless operators to expand its 4G network to consumers in hard to reach areas of the country, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Verizon is building its next-generation wireless network using $4.7 billion worth …

Google’s Android operating system edged out Apple’s iPhone operating system for the No. 2 spot in the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter, research firm NPD Group reported Monday. According to NPD, devices running Android accounted for 28 percent of the units sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2010. BlackBerry devices made by Research In …

A year after taking over the CEO job from Clearwire co-founder Ben Wolff, Bill Morrow is confident the company is on the right track with its 4G wireless network despite continued financial losses. Morrow, 50, said he is confident about Clearwire’s prospects even as competitors, such as Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, begin to deploy their own faster networks. The …

Updated at 9:28 a.m. PDT with comments from Comcast and information from the chairman’s statement. Updated at 11:45 a.m. PDT with comments from Verizon Communications and statements from companies, such as Google and Amazon, in the Open Internet Coalition. The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday detailed plans for its so-called “third way” to reclassify broadband service as a telecommunications service, …

The Federal Communications Commission released detailed plans Thursday to ensure that it has authority to craft new rules to keep the Internet open. Figuring out exactly what the FCC is proposing and how it will affect the industry and consumers is confusing. The procedure the FCC has chosen to shore up its authority is complicated and requires some legal gymnastics. …