Welcome back, RCR

I got started on cellphone research back in 1996, when my advisor said that if I wanted to study standards, I should study cellphones. Since then I’ve done a fair amount of research indirectly or directly related to the wireless industry, mostly around mobile handset platforms and of course the CDMA wars.

I quickly discovered three invaluable publications for follow the industry: RCR News and Wireless Week in the US, and Mobile Communications International for Europe and the GSM world more broadly. I subscribed to all three, and I still have paper copies of these precious trade journals in my files from my research a decade ago.

Alas, publishing a magazine (like newspapers) is not as financially viable as it once was. The paper and online version of RCR (now RCR Wireless News) died on March 3. It had almost 100,000 readers a month.

Fortunately, RCR has been sold and the new owners have brought back two RCR veterans to act as editors. They plan to relaunch it as an online-only publication starting today.

I look forward to reading the new RCR as an invaluable resource for mobile phone research.