Wall Street Journal article
MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2005
TECHNOLOGY TRADER
By BILL ALPERT
There's No Business Like Phone Business
THE FIRST U.S. VIDEO SERVICE FOR CELLPHONES was announced by Verizon Wireless Friday at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (also see Plugged In). For $15 more a month, starting February, Verizon Wireless customers will have access to several hundred daily updated videos from news and entertainment broadcasters. Music videos and 3D games will cost extra.
"This is a defining moment for the wireless industry," said Denny Strigl, chief executive of the wireless business, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. The video-on-demand offering is one of the first consumer services to come from Verizon Wireless's upgrade of its network to third-generation speeds.
Weak Start: The shares of wireless firms and chip makers each enjoyed pops, but tech stocks sold off generally in the first week of 2005 -- leaving the Nasdaq Composite Index 1.4% lower, with a Friday close of 2089.
The carrier first turned up 3G speeds in San Diego and Washington in 2003, with a 300,000-to-500,000 bits per second service for laptops. The company says its 3G coverage will reach 150 million people by year end. For the new VCAST consumer service, subscribers will need new phones, which all carry chips from Qualcomm, the developer of the radio technology that underlies the network of Verizon Wireless, as well as Sprint PCS, Alltel and Western Wireless. |
