A new round of staff cuts has begun at Research In Motion, The Wall Street Journal reports. Unnamed sources told the publication that the layoffs have hit small batches of employees numbering at least 10 each, with workers targeted in the manufacturer’s quality control, operations and parts department. The struggling BlackBerry maker cut 2,000 jobs last year.
Cricket Communications is offering customers $10 off its Muve Music plans for the rest of the month, and is offering free Muve Music phones to customers who port their numbers to the prepaid provider. The device promotion is only available at Cricket’s company-owned retail stores and premium dealers.
Nuance Communications today announced the next-generation Swype keyboard, a four-in-one keyboard that combines touch and voice input with adaptive capabilities to understand users’ preferences over time. The new keyboard is made possible by Nuance’s acquisition of Swype. The next-generation of Swype is available for OEMs supporting the Android Platform as well as via an SDK for other operating systems. End users can go to beta.swype.com to download the Swype Beta for Android today.
AT&T is buying three 700 MHz licenses in Alaska from MTA Communications, according to documents filed with the FCC last week. The two lower 700 MHz B block licenses and one lower 700 MHz C block license “will enable AT&T to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services.” If the FCC approves the sale, the transaction will give AT&T 55 MHz below 1 GHz in two of the three markets covered by the licenses.
Music discovery service Songbird has launched new apps for Android and other platforms that it says make the music discovery experience “fundamentally social” by providing personalized recommendations. The Songbird Android app, Windows and Mac desktop apps, and web app are free and can be accessed at http://www.getsongbird.com; the Android app can be also accessed within the Google Play and Amazon Android app stores. An iOS-based app will launch in the near future.
