It’s what’s inside that counts. That’s the statement Apple Inc. is making with the new iPhone 4S.

It may look exactly the same as the iPhone 4, but the new iPhone 4S is rocking a re-engineered interior that Apple hopes will keep the iOS train humming along well through the next product cycle.

Apple is taking a gamble, albeit a safe and proven one, by not changing the design of the new iPhone. After the longest break yet between new iPhone releases (almost 16 months), public and industry expectations were set for an iPhone 5 — in other words, an iPhone that looks different and works different.

The iPhone 4S is coming to AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and for the first time, Sprint Nextel Corp. It goes up for pre-sale Friday and hits store shelves on Oct. 14. iOS 5 will be available as a free upgrade on Oct. 12. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

When I think of Steve Jobs, feelings of wonder and absolute awe rush over me. Jobs is without a doubt, the most iconoclastic creative mind of the modern age. If that makes me a fanboy, so be it. If liking Apple Inc. products makes me a fanboy, I’m fine with that too.

Jobs is in a league of his own. No one has done more to disrupt mobile technology, consumer electronics and entertainment in such a short span of time. His personality, brilliant mind and business acumen commands respect, fear and unbridled attention. When Jobs says something or does something, it matters. People take note and react. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

PHILADELPHIA — To football fans everywhere and especially natives of this sports-saturated city, Vince Papale is a hero. But on stage here this morning at the APCO International Annual Conference and Expo, Papale wanted to shine attention on the hundreds of heroes here in attendance.

“Every day you make decisions that help people. You work together as a team,” he said. “People in this room face life and death decisions every day with poise and cool.” Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

NEW YORK CITY — Mobile broadband is being delivered outside the carrier framework to this city’s brass and dozens of of city agencies. After being solely reliant on carriers for mobility before, the city began making moves in 2006 to launch a private wireless network for police, fire and dozens of government agencies with the support of Northrop Grumman Corp.

The New York City Wireless Network, or NYCWiN for short, was officially launched in May 2009 and now has more than 380 radio sites installed (mostly on rooftops) throughout all of the city’s five boroughs. The city claims 99% reliable coverage on the simulcast network and dozens of city agencies are already up and running on the system today. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

The cause of mobile giving is relatively new, but it doesn’t take much to grasp the power that the untethered medium of mobility can bring to philanthropy.

Carriers and new companies are coalescing around charitable giving to build a new revenue stream for nonprofits, disaster relief and a growing host of causes.

MobileCause is one of those companies that’s evangelizing for the space of mobile giving while also making the case for a different system that aims to be more transparent and less cumbersome. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

NEW YORK — I finally got my big break! I’ve written thousands of articles and columns over the span of at least a decade and all it really took to get noticed was me sitting next to John Oliver.

My family, friends and colleagues don’t really care about what I wrote last week or this column I’m writing now, do they? Television is what matters — I should know that. It turns out, if you’re not on TV or in the movies you’re just another wannabe.

I’m still a wannabe, but at least I can say I was on “The Daily Show.” Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Like many journalists just returning home from a hectic schedule at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, I spent part of my weekend and Monday morning scrambling to arrange travel to New York to cover Verizon Wireless’ iPhone announcement.

The event was announced last minute on Friday afternoon, which doesn’t help matters much. But then again, practically everyone was preparing for the most anticipated news in all of wireless to finally get announced so I had to be there. This is how I did it all on my phone once I landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Looking south over the Los Angeles landscape from a balcony adjoining his top-floor suite, Jamie Foxx says he has some big plans for mobile.

It’s hard not to take him at his word, especially considering the crowd of mobile marketing leaders that were hanging around his press room the day before his keynote at the Mobile Marketing Forum.

After getting his start in comedy in the early ‘90s — think back to LaWanda from his “In Living Color” days — Foxx has gone on to become the quintessential superstar. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SEATTLE — Less than a block from the waterfront and ferry terminal, Swype Inc. is still settling into its new digs near this city’s historic Pioneer Square. Having moved in to its new headquarters just a few weeks ago, there is plenty of room for the company to grow into its space that takes up the entire second floor here at Columbia Street and Western Avenue.

With 42 employees on board now, the company shows all the signs of a startup on the verge of that coveted next phase of growth (and profitability). The team includes engineers, computational linguists, a sales staff and a group of executives and founders with an impressive background in mobile.

“We’re today’s media darling and tomorrow we’re just another included feature,” CEO Mike McSherry told RCR Wireless News during our visit last week. Read more

**As published at RCR Wireless News**

CERRITOS, CALIF. — The faithful began lining up earlier this week, according to some overheard chatter, but whether you arrived 24 hours before or right when the doors opened today, you still walked out of Apple Inc.’s newest store with an iPhone 4.

The overall wait-to-iPhone ratio skewed many hours longer for those who unfolded camping chairs, unfurled blankets and blew up air mattresses anytime before sundown last night, but such is the price that will be paid to be a super early-adopter. The crowd went wild, as is traditionally the case, when the first customers came out of the doors with their new iPhone 4s in hand. The extra stamina and willpower also afforded them less time in the baking morning sun, but they also slept overnight in a mall parking lot. Read more