AT&T is considering a new system in which mobile app developers and publishers would pay for the wireless bandwidth associated with using the apps and downloading content. “A feature that we’re hoping to have out sometime next year is the equivalent of 800 numbers that would say, if you take this app, this app will …

Sony completed its buyout of the Sony Ericsson brand today and renamed the venture Sony Mobile Communications. The new effort aims to “integrate the mobile phone business as a vital element of its electronics business, with the aim of accelerating convergence between Sony’s lineup of network enabled consumer electronics products, including smart phones, tablets, TVs and PCs,” the company said …

LightSquared suffered a possibly fatal blow today when the FCC said it would indefinitely suspend the company’s effort to build a national wireless broadband network using satellite spectrum. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Department of Commerce agency tasked with overseeing military and government spectrum use, determined that LightSquared’s interference with other devices, including GPS devices, was unavoidable. “Based …

It looks like the Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 might soon be getting a low-end sibling. The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500–codenamed Jenna–could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image sent to GSMArena. The specs attached to the image shows some improvements over the original; the new device sports …

Triple-digit iPhone sales growth catapulted Apple up two spots to become the world’s third largest mobile phone manufacturer. iPhone sales increased 128 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the same period in 2010, according to data released today by research firm IDC. The firm identified the iPhone 4S, which was introduced on October, as the primary reason the …

China Telecom may begin selling the Apple iPhone 4S as early as next month, the carrier reportedly announced today. A CDMA version of the phone could launch on China’s third largest wireless carrier as early as late February or early March, China Telecom subsidiary Beijing Telecom said in a press release cited by China Daily. “China Telecom has already started …

Research In Motion’s co-chief executives have resigned their positions as part of a management shuffle, the company announced this evening. Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who will also relinquish their positions as co-chairmen, are stepping aside to allow Thorsten Heins, currently one of the company’s chief operating officers, to become chief executive, effective immediately. “There comes a time in the …

Dell is planning to re-enter the tablet market later this year with a consumer-oriented device, according to Reuters. The company previously tested the tablet waters with its enterprise-focused Dell Streak, an Android-powered device that was met with mixed reviews and that met its demise last month. But the once-dominant PC maker has learned from the mistakes of other tablet makers …

WebOS was destined to fail from the beginning, according to former Palm employees who spoke with The New York Times. The mobile operating system, which powered Hewlett-Packard’s famous flameout TouchPad, was intended to compete with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. But people involved in its creation say the platform was doomed from conception. “Palm was ahead of its time in …

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today he does not support a proposal to prohibit drivers from making hands-free cell phone calls. “The problem is not hands-free,” LaHood told reporters at the department’s headquarters, according to a Detroit News report. “That is not the big problem in America.” The pronouncement came a week after the National Transportation Safety Board urged states …