After having seen their profits decline in the last year, equipment makers are expected to begin to rebound following a spending blitz from both AT&T and T-Mobile to start out the new year (lord knows that AT&T could stand to start making money again after that giant $3 billion break up fee).

From an article earlier today:

Jeff Kvaal of Barclays Capital said equipment makers close to base station vendors would benefit most because AT&T had halted “spending around September, mostly around mobility.”

“The largest vendor beneficiaries should be AT&T’s incumbent 4G base station vendors, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent. T-Mobile’s 3G suppliers are Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks,” Kvaal said.

The article goes on to cite the jump in stocks of equipment manufacturing companies, such as Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, following the demise of AT&T-Mobile. Add to this the speculation that capital spending is expected to improve over the next year and you’re probably looking toward sunnier days if you build cell phone things.

See? That AT&T-Mobile fail isn’t bad news for everybody.

Sony then wants to integrate that into its own platform of network-connected consumer electronic products.

PlayStation Network anyone?

“This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want,” said Sony President and CEO Sir Howard Stringer. “With a vibrant smartphone business and by gaining access to important strategic IP, notably a broad cross-license agreement, our four-screen strategy is in place. We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment. This includes Sony’s own acclaimed network services, like the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network.”

Stringer added that the acquisition will afford Sony operational efficiencies in engineering, network development and marketing (among other areas).

“We can help people enjoy all our content – from movies to music and games – through our many devices, in a way no one else can,” he said.

Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg said “Ten years ago when we formed the joint venture, thereby combining Sony’s consumer products knowledge with Ericsson’s telecommunication technology expertise, it was a perfect match to drive the development of feature phones. Today we take an equally logical step as Sony acquires our stake in Sony Ericsson and makes it a part of its broad range of consumer devices. We will now enhance our focus on enabling connectivity for all devices, using our R&D and industry leading patent portfolio to realize a truly connected world.”

The transaction awaits regulatory approvals, but has been approved by the “appropriate decision-making bodies of both companies”. The two companies expect the deal to close in January.

The greatest number of mobile broadband subscriptions, around 400 million, is expected to be in the Asia Pacific region, followed by North America and Western Europe with more than 200 million subscriptions each.

Ericsson says mobile broadband adoption has increased with the strong growth of smartphones, connected laptops and tablets, supported by the introduction of high-performance networks. Smartphones’ users are increasingly using applications and internet services on the go. Global mobile data traffic continues to grow rapidly, with Ericsson announcing in August 2010 that it had tripled in just one year.

Last year was also a good one for Long-Term Evolution (LTE). To date, Ericsson has signed commercial LTE (core and/or access) contracts with 11 operators worldwide.

Users’ consumption of the internet and other media is changing as a result of the introduction of fast networks and the availability of various types of devices, including smartphones. According to TeliaSonera’s survey of its LTE users, about 23 percent of them now watch more online TV, and in excess of 46 percent surf the web more frequently when away from home.

Due to increased speed and reduced latency, LTE networks enable video streaming which also attracts new professional users, for example TV broadcasters and public safety organizations.

Arranged by Parys Communications, one of 3’s PR agencies, the meeting was an informal get-together to exchange some views and hear 3’s thoughts about their plans for 2008.

I have a connection with 3 as I’m one of the group of bloggers and journalists who are trying out 3’s new Skypephone. The phone’s on free loan for three months courtesy of 3. I’ve already written a bit about the Skypephone and I may well write more in future.

So, to the meeting.

An immersion into a disruptive company’s business thinking, is how I might summarize it. We heard thinking and received detailed information on the types of handsets 3 might be offering during 2008 plus a glimpse into 3’s roadmap ahead.

Adam Davis, 3’s Head of Marketing and Product Management, is a man whom every gadget geek would envy as he pulled from his case prototype phone after phone from Nokia and Sony Ericsson that may end up in 3’s handset lineup.

Much of the talk was about the Skypephone and 3’s plans for it next year.

It’s quite apparent that 3 want this phone to be a big market success. Indeed, they said the greatest attention will be given to improving aspects of the Skypephone such as a better camera, HSDPA connectivity and maybe the ability to make and receive SkypeOut and SkyepeIn calls respectively.

The latter is extremely interesting. I wonder what we’ll see there. If you can make and receive low-cost calls via Skype to and from normal phone numbers, where’s any incentive to use the Skypephone to make regular calls via 3’s cellular network?

While we were talking about the Skypephone, I took the opportunity (somewhat cheekily, I admit) to go on a bit about the very poor coverage of 3’s 3G network where I live, which is the place where I most use the Skypephone.

Not sure what will come from that although Carl Taylor, Director of Network and Application Technologies for 3’s X-Series phones, did ask me questions. Maybe a new cell mast for 3 in my neighbourhood is in the offing

Reality, though: the success or otherwise of the Skypephone will rest to a great extent on a user’s ability to just use it. If you can’t get a 3G signal most of the time – my experience, and you need 3G for Skype to log in and synchronize – this phone will not succeed.

Ken Young, a journalist and one of the bloggers who was there and who writes The UK Mobile Report, has an excellent commentary on the meeting, recounting and describing just about every aspect of it, and in some detail.

My overall focus was a bit different to Ken’s and the other bloggers, all of whom are immersed in mobile technology and the telecoms industry.

I was mostly thinking about the meeting, the people involved and what it might mean to 3 from a public relations point of view.

Better still, from a blogger relations point of view.

Since I first got to know a bit about 3 and its PR approach from being present at the press launch of the Skypephone at the end of October, two words have stuck in my mind when I think about 3:

1. Nimble
2. Disruptive

(I was going to add a few more words – poor 3G network – but that wouldn’t really be fair.)

The way in which the press event was organized, and the way in which invited bloggers like me were treated, was impressive. Professionally organized and run. I even managed to interview John Penberthy-Smith, 3’s Marketing Director, for an FIR podcast.

It is a pleasure to be involved with smart communicators in such a setting, which then sets a good framework for relationship development.

And so it also was with last week’s meeting with 3.

I gather such outreach to bloggers is a bit of a new thing for 3. It’s actually new to a lot of organizations. There’s no manual or handbook yet on how to do it. And it’s quite disruptive.

I’m doing it, too, working with one of my own clients where part of my work is doing that, ie, identifying and reaching out to influencers in the social media space.

As one being reached out to, I’m observing what 3 and their PR agencies are doing which, frankly, is good learning for me as well.

Guy Middleton, 3’s Head of Corporate Communications, and our meeting host, deserves full credit for enabling this outreach. I don’t know whose idea it was – an initiative within 3 or suggested by Parys Communications – but I think 3 will gain measurable benefit in the long term for connecting with individuals who have some influence in their own niche areas.

If this is complementary outreach to traditional outreach including media relations, which I suspect is the case, then 3 are making a good start in gaining ground in a big area of attention – ground where I don’t see much, if any, action from competitors like Vodafone or T-Mobile.

Disruptive is good.

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After the Alcatel (ALA) and Lucent (LU) deal took place, speculation over the future of Juniper Networks (JNPR) began to swirl.

Those rumors soon filtered around to the point where the Swedish tech firm Ericsson (ERICY) had to deny they were looking at Juniper with an open checkbook in hand.

Svanberg told reporters on Monday, “It’s not critical for us to own routers… We have not looked at them,” in reference to Juniper.

Hopeful investors pushed Juniper up amid that speculation, but the deflating comments by Svanberg pushed the stock price back to 18.76.

For Juniper’s part, the company continued forward with its normal business. The company announced the availability of its next-generation Secure Access SSL VPN Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) appliances, the SA 4000 FIPS and SA 6000 FIPS.

Those products are intended for government use, particularly at the federal level. Juniper does need to see significant adoption of those and other parts of its hardware lines in the wake of the Alcatel-Lucent merger.

Lucent has been one of Juniper’s biggest customers, along with Ericsson and Siemens. The business Lucent gave Juniper would likely go to Alcatel now, draining a large part of Juniper’s revenue stream, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

The Marconi Corporation plc is a descendent of the original wireless technology company founded by wireless radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi and the General Electric Company (GEC not GE).

Marconi spokesman David Beck said in a Reuter’s story, “”We do not comment on rumors and this is just another rumor,” and had no plans to issue a statement on Monday.

Although Marconi didn’t confirm the deal, it is known that Marconi has been in negotiations with a number of companies including Ericsson, Siemens, Alcatel and Chinese company Huawei. The Financial Times reported the Huawei deal could be problematic though as Marconi does have defense contracts.

Marconi ran into its major trouble spot for the current situation when it lost the British Telecom contract to Ericsson. This quickly dropped the bottom out of the Marconi share prices. They’ve been climbing as a result of the current speculation.

Many investors feel an Ericsson/Marconi deal would be a good move. Sources speculate an official announcement regarding the acquisition could come in the next few weeks.

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

And they are not alone. While Ericsson will sell its music service to wireless providers, as it does with voice mail and text services, other companies are piling on the mobile music train.

Nokia will reportedly partner with Microsoft and Loudeye to bring about a mobile music service. No timeline for that service has been announced yet.

And Motorola has been long rumored to have an iTunes phone in development. Even though that project was announced about a year ago, and was due in March, that phone still hasn’t hit the market yet.

But the second leading maker of handsets claims the iTunes phone will be available this summer. A spokesperson for Motorola said the project “is on track.”

With Yahoo and Rhapsody, and service providers Cingular and Verizon, sitting quietly on the sidelines, one analyst expects those businesses to enter the fray as well.

Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research in San Francisco, thinks Cingular and Verizon also will likely be partners in music-phone ventures. That’s because carriers have a lot of power over a phone’s features.

And, the iTunes phone, which will require a computer to download songs, will not be a desirable partnership for carriers. Wireless providers want to be able to tack a fee on to each over-the-air download, which they could not do if consumers use PCs to acquire music from iTunes and then sync their phones.

Napster likely needs mobile music to take off, as competition from Real’s Rhapsody and Yahoo! Inc’s music services have put a great deal of pressure on what they can charge for music.

And a rumored Microsoft entry into the digital music subscription space, plus the contention that Apple could easily implement a similar service, makes finding new markets a must for the one-time standard-bearer for music trading.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

The Swedish telecom equipment company Ericsson already sells services like voice mail and text messaging to wireless providers. The newly licensed Napster branded music service will be made available in the same way.

As phone makers have been adding music players to their equipment, wireless carriers fear losing out on the mobile music market. New phones from companies like Motorola will let a user sync the phone with their computer to update music purchased from places like Apple’s iTunes.

Motorola has announced its iTunes phones will be available later this summer, while Sony Ericsson announced its music playing Walkman W600 phone would be available in the fourth quarter.

Testing of the music service will begin in Europe, and should roll out to other parts of the world over the next 12 months. Napster needs to find new markets for its service, in the wake off Yahoo’s entry into digital music subscriber services. Yahoo entered the market and promptly undercut Napster and Real’s Rhapsody To Go on pricing.

And rumors of a possible Microsoft entry to the digital music field could complicate the market as well.

Phone carriers will hope to charge a fee each time content is downloaded from Napster, as it does with other downloadable content. Napster hopes its over-the-air service will give it an edge over iTunes.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

The two companies plan to go live in Europe first, in the next twelve months and will be offered to selected services in Europe. North and Latin America, Asia, and Europe will all have operators in selected markets. The press release said it would accommodate mobile operator participation in all revenue streams.

Chris Gorog, Napster’s Chairman and CEO said, “Ericsson’s world-leading wireless and telecommunications solutions experience, along with their exceptional client base, make them the ideal partner to deepen Napster’s presence in the global mobile arena”.

Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson, agrees with Gorog’s statement: “With Napster we are uniquely positioned to deliver the easy to use, complete suite of music offerings our customers are asking for”.

“We gain access to the biggest digital music brand in the world and exposure to the largest music catalog available, which will not only increase our customer’s consumer offerings and revenues, but substantially strengthen their own brand image as well,” he says.

The service will allow mobile operators to seize growth opportunities for personalized digital entertainment on the mobile phone and PC and will also encompass ring tones, master tones, images, wallpaper and video content.

One of the biggest questions is whether or can and will take advantage of these services. The incentive will certainly be there on one level as iTunes teams up with Motorola and Nokia has announced support for the iTunes format on some of their new phones.

Wireless providers will certainly want a piece of the pie but the real question would be whether or not it would be more profitable to go with a service like Napster or approach the music industry themselves. Ericsson themselves already offer a service of sorts and the new service will be built with that design in mind.

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Carl-Henric Svanberg can be forgiven his enthusiasm. Speaking at Singapore’s CommunicAsia 2005, Ericsson was in the wake of announcing its now-widely reported partnership with Napster for over-the-air music download services.

Ericsson provides voice mail and other services to wireless providers. The Napster product will be one more offering it can bring to its provider clients.

But Mr. Svanberg was very excited about the advanced markets in Asia, where a penetration rate of 90 percent reigns in parts of the continent for mobile services. He sees mobile music and television services driving the development of broadband mobile capabilities.

“There is a new media channel emerging to millions of consumers. Both music and television are entering handsets as the technical capability for this is developing rapidly,” said Mr. Svanberg.

Another Ericsson executive acknowledged the unique characteristics of the Asian market, where it ranges from emerging to bleeding-edge in terms of mobile adoption. For the latter markets, Ericsson sees the challenge as creating new services and content to push 3G broadband deployment.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.