Hyderabad, India-based mobile content distributor IMI Mobile is buying Mobytec, the operator of mobile backup and content sharing service Mobyko, intending to pitch it to carriers as a consumer social media aggregation service. No acquisition price was disclosed. Mobyko is a bit like Zyb, which Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) bought in…

Carmel, Ind-based ChaCha, which helps people search for answers over mobile phones using SMS, confirmed it has raised $12 million in new capital. The investment was first reported in January, but only confirmed by the company yesterday in a press release. The company said the capital will go towards expanding…

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) plans to eliminate 1,700 jobs globally, as the world’s largest handset maker tries to adapt to the economic downturn and falling consumer demand for its phones, the company announced today. The cuts will hit its handset unit, as well as its marketing division, its corporate development office…

When it comes to content, Sprint Nextel has had some spectacular deals. It owns the mobile rights to the NFL, and for as long anyone can remember, Nextel has been synonymous with Nascar. But the third-largest carrier’s commitment to content is in doubt after mocoNews learned that its product and…

More layoffs as the industry tries to grapple with waning consumer demand for mobile phones. The UK’s mobile phone retailing giant Carphone Warehouse is expected to cut around 400 jobs mainly among its support staff as part of its cost savings drive it outlined in January, according to the Guardian.co.uk,…

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) confirmed today that it will cull 500 job from its UK operations, a move that represent around 5 percent of its UK staff and is part of its cost cutting drive to save £1 billion ($1.4 billion) by 2011. According to BBC News, all of the unit’s…

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) will slash “hundreds” of jobs at it UK operations on Tuesday to reduce costs and protect earnings as the global slowdown drags on, according to Bloomberg, citing two undisclosed sources. In February, when Vodafone reported its latest earnings, CEO Vittorio Colao said the global telecoms group had…

Global handset leader Nokia (NYSE: NOK) said today it was scaling back production and closing one of its research and development plants in an attempt to rein in annual costs as global demand for handsets continued to cool. On the chopping block is Nokia’s research and development site in Jyväskylä,…

THQ (NSDQ: THQI), the global game developer and publisher, told employees yesterday that it plans to restructure its wireless division based on plans announced in November to return the company to profitability. As part of the restructuring, the company will close some offices, focus its efforts on developing games only…

Yesterday, reports circulated that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) laid off 77 employees in Plantation, Fla., and that the facility will no longer conduct new Windows mobile development there. The report by The South Florida Business Journal led others to question Motorola’s commitment to Microsoft’s mobile operating system, especially with the knowledge…

Sprint Nextel is shedding 8,000 jobs in the next three months as the struggling wireless and wireline carrier tries to weather the recession, the company said today. The cuts—which will affect 14 percent of the company’s 60,000-person workforce—are expected to be completed by the end of March with the aim…

Telecom equipment giant Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) reported a 31 percent drop in Q4 profit today, blaming its mobile-phone joint venture Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson, which faces restructuring charges and quarterly losses, Dow Jones reports. And, even though Ericsson saw its own sales increase by 23 percent, the Swedish company unveiled…

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) announced today that is shedding another 4,000 jobs on top of the 3,000 announced last quarter, and reported preliminary fourth-quarter results that hinted that they will be worse than previously expected. Of the 4,000 job cuts, about 3,000 will come from its mobile device business. To put…

Update: So, we can all have a collective sigh of relief. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is not only going to have one booth at CTIA, it’s will have two! Show organizers were quick to correct today that the original report that said Motorola may be cutting back on such things as…

In addition to the1,500 job cuts already disclosed, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) said today that it was cutting another 400 employees across the board, according to a document filed with the SEC. In total, the company will have pre-tax charges of $189 million in the fourth quarter. The first batch of…

Best Buy reported Q3 earnings today, and outlined a number of cost-cutting measures, including asking for voluntary employee departures to deal with the most “challenging consumer environment” the company has ever faced. The company said it earned $52 million, or 13 cents a share, which was far less than the…

Hands-On Mobile, the San Francisco-based mobile game maker known for Guitar Hero and Texas Hold ‘Em, confirmed today that it cut an undisclosed number of employees. CEO David White declined to say how many people were affected during the cuts, or how many employees the company will have going forward.…

AT&T (NYSE: T) is shedding 12,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its workforce, as it seeks to rein in costs in the face of the worsening economy. With the cuts starting this month and continuing into 2009, the carrier expects to take a $600 million charge on severance payments and…

Palm (NSDQ: PALM), the maker of Centro and Treo smartphones, said it is trimming its workforce as it faces stiff competition from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Blackberry’s Research In Motion and now even Google (NSDQ: GOOG). Reuters reported that Spokeswoman Lynn Fox said the layoffs began last week, but declined to…