Recent Cellular News

T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700 in White on May 5th
April 16, 2010
Internal T-Mobile documentation has confirmed the forthcoming launch of the yet to be announced BlackBerry Bold 9700 in White scheduled for May 5th at a cost of $129.99 after new agreement and required BlackBerry data plan.

The Bold 9700 will also include support for calls over Wi-Fi, 624MHz processor with 512MB ROM/256MB RAM, GPS transceiver, visual voicemail support, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recorder and flash, optical directional pad, Bluetooth with stereo audio support and speakerphone.

Source: (www.phonenews.com)
Top Tier Phone Makers Working on New HD Cable for Phones
April 16, 2010
Nokia, Samsung, Sony and others have banded together to form the Mobile High-Definition Link Consortium (MHL) with the goal of creating a new unified interface to connect phones and other mobile devices to larger, high-definition home theater systems. The group originally formed in September of last year as the Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group, and now the companies have moved forward for form a Consortium, as promised. The new port will feature high-definition video at 1080p resolution and digital audio sound. Phones connected with the new technology will also be powered by the unified cable, a key difference from existing mini-HDMI ports. Like HDMI, the new MHL interface will be secured with the HDCP protocol.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Congress Moves to Outlaw Caller ID Spoofing
April 16, 2010
The House of Representatives today passed the Truth in Caller ID Act, H.R. 1258, an amendment to the Communications Bill of 1934. The Senate passed the bill this past February, so now it moves to the President for signing. The bill makes it illegal to falsify caller ID information. The tactic, known as spoofing, had become popular among criminals, and last year a criminal ring defrauded victims of $15 million using the tactic, according to Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY). The bill specifies that blocking a caller ID service is still legal, but misrepresentation over caller ID will bring civil and criminal penalties.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
AT&T Dumps Anti-Verizon Ad Campaign
April 16, 2010
AT&T has decided to cease its anti-Verizon ad campaign -- which featured actor Luke Wilson -- and is going in a new direction that will call out its own strengths rather than the deficiencies of its competitor. AT&T's new campaign introduces the "Rethink Possible" slogan, and points out how AT&T's devices can hold voice calls and data calls simultaneously, as well as offer mobile TV services. Verizon Wireless is set to debut some new business-focused commercials, but will maintain running its anti-AT&T "There's a Map for That" ad campaign, which targets AT&T's smaller geographical 3G coverage footprint. The Associated Press believes the ad war between AT&T and Verizon has cost both companies hundreds of millions of dollars, with no clear winner emerging.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
HTC Mulling Home-Grown Mobile OS
April 13, 2010
According to HTC CFO Cheng Hui-ming, the company is giving serious thought to developing its own mobile operating system. Hui-ming said, "We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify," in an interview with Bloomberg. HTC is one of the largest makers of Microsoft Windows Mobile devices and Google Android devices. It has seen success using the software of others, and has even created its own user interface overlay for both platforms. HTC announced a non-smartphone OS of its own, called Smart, which relies heavily on its Sense UI concept. HTC is said to be one of the suitors seeking to buy Palm. Purchasing Palm could be the cheapest -- and fastest -- way to bring its own smartphone platform to market. HTC hasn't commented on its interest in Palm.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Fox, NBC and Others Form National Mobile DTV Service
April 13, 2010
A dozen major players in the media broadcasting space have joined forces to offer a national mobile content service that serve programs to mobile DTV devices. The as-yet-unnamed group consists of Fox, NBC, Hearst Television, Gannett Broadcasting and Ion Television, the production company behind shows like Ghost Whisperer and Criminal Minds, among others content providers. The group will use broadcast spectrum from stations owned and operated by the various participants, and the group says it will reach nearly 150 million U.S. residents. Mobile content will include regular broadcasts, in addition to live and on-demand video, as well as local and national emergency broadcasts.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
NFL Mobile Available Now on Verizon Wireless
April 13, 2010
As promised, Verizon Wireless' now-exclusive NFL Mobile app is available for download in advance of the NFL Draft on April 22. The app is available for 13 different smartphones and 3G feature phones at launch, including the Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Eris, BlackBerry Storm 2, LG enV Touch and more. The app is free for the entire 2010 NFL season, as long as customers download it before the postseason begins in early 2011. The NFL Mobile app will offer live streaming of Sunday Night Football on NBC and the Thursday Night Football games on the NFL network. The app will also offer preseason highlights from training camps, including preseason games, and a wide variety of stats, information, news and fantasy league data. The app also provides live radio feeds from every regular season and playoff game. Later this year, the popular NFL RedZone will come to the new mobile service.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
PayPal's iPhone app surpasses the 1 million mark
April 12, 2010
If there are any indications from the recent announcement that there were over 1 million downloads for the PayPal iPhone app, it has to be that there are plenty of PayPal users out there that call Apple's pride and joy their handset of choice. They've accomplished the feat in only a matter of three weeks after hitting the App Store – the convenience factor comes in as the app allows user to send and receive money right on their handset. One cool feature that made the app somewhat more interactive was the inclusion of “Bump money transfers” and “Split the Check.” There is no shortage in the way people are relying more on their phones to perform cash transfers; whether it be on the PayPal app or other banking software. The PayPal app is also available for Android and BlackBerry, but there have been no figures being tossed around as to the amount of times it has been downloaded for those platforms.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
When it comes to the iPad, AT&T says unlimited is unlimited
April 12, 2010
When the Apple iPad enabled with 3G is launched later this month, buyers will have two plans to choose from for their 3G coverage from AT&T. The first has a cap of 250MB a month for $14.99, and the second is an unlimited service for $29.99. Many have been thinking that with the well known network problems AT&T has had with bandwidth hogs using the iPhone, the unlimited plan would have to be capped somewhere-maybe at 5GB. It is the same kind of thinking that allows an "All You Can Eat" place to throw you out the door after your 10th plate of ribs. But Mark Siegel from AT&T says that "unlimited is unlimited". The carrier does not care what you do with your iPad, even if you are one of those users who is straining the network, asking for data constantly. Now Siegel did say that he expects iPad users to take advantage of the Wi-Fi capabilities of the device and the free AT&T hotspots. But even so, this is a nice change of pace from the carrier who had complained so much about use of its network that we had expected metered pricing to be installed by now.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
T-Mobile planning to launch a prepaid $50 Unlimited Talk & Text plan?
April 12, 2010
Over the course of the last couple of years, the prepaid market in the US has seen an increase amount of customers jumping aboard thanks partly to the enticing and aggressive price plans they offer. Market leaders like MetroPCS and Boost Mobile may have benefited the most, but now T-Mobile is looking to throw its foot into the game. Rumor has it that the number four wireless carrier is expected to launch a new prepaid $50 unlimited talk and text plan that will attempt to compete in the prepaid market. There's no arguing that the carrier offers some of the most aggressive postpaid plan offerings, but they're equally going to match it in the prepaid realm as well. The one unique thing so far that's being heard is that you can choose any device from T-Mobile's lineup to work with this unlimited plan – it's yet unclear if there will be some kind of data add-on for smartphones. We'd suspect that customers would have to purchase the devices at full cost if they opt to go with this plan. So far there is no official word from T-Mobile, but the screenshot from a survey makes it look promising. As much as we'd like to say that a $50 unlimited talk and text plan is good, dropping it down a few notches will not only make it sweeter, but place some strain on the dominant prepaid players in the market.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
Apple deletes controversial system that rates an app when you delete it
April 12, 2010
In an effort to increase user participating in the App Store rating system, starting with iPhone OS 2.2, users who deleted an app were asked to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. This became a controversial move because developers were getting ratings from people who had removed an app from their phone which would most likely lead to the download receiving a low rating. Because those who are happy with an application and keep it on their handset aren't asked to rate it, the number of stars that an application receives is skewed lower. Lower ratings equal lower sales equals unhappy developers. Thankfully, for the latter, Apple has removed the mandatory rating feature from OS 4.0 for the iPhone. This should lead to more honest ratings and improved shopping at the App Store. And some say there is no higher power.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
U.S. Steps Up Probe Of Hiring In Tech
April 12, 2010
The Justice Department is stepping up its investigation into hiring practices at some of America's biggest companies, including Google Inc., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Apple Inc. and IAC/InterActiveCorp., people familiar with the matter said.

The inquiry is focused on whether companies, particularly in the technology sector, have agreed not to recruit each others' employees in ways that violate antitrust law. Specifically, the probe is looking into whether the companies' hiring practices are costing skilled computer engineers and other workers opportunities to change jobs for higher pay or better benefits.

After a probe that began more than a year ago, Justice Department investigators have concluded that such agreements do raise significant competitive concerns, according to the people familiar with the matter.

But the leadership of the antitrust division hasn't yet decided whether—or how—to challenge the hiring practices, these people said. About a dozen companies are meeting with top antitrust officials at the Justice Department this week and next, some to defend their practices, others to provide information.

Antitrust experts say the Justice Department could argue that an agreement between competitors that holds down labor costs is as much a violation of antitrust laws as an agreement to fix prices.

Such agreements are "very close to the line," said Melissa Maxman, an antitrust lawyer at the law firm Cozen O'Connor. "They're not agreeing on price, but they're kind of agreeing on costs." Skilled computer scientists with some management responsibilities, for instance, often make base salaries of $180,000 to $210,000. Compensation for the most sought-after workers typically soars far above that and includes bundles of stock options and bonuses.

The Justice Department hasn't confirmed the existence of the investigation, and a spokeswoman declined to comment Friday. But several companies said they have received requests for information on the way they hire employees.

"IBM is one of many companies that have been contacted by government officials in a broad-ranging inquiry of technology and nontechnology companies regarding hiring practices," said company spokesman Edward Barbini. "We are collaborating with the government's inquiry."

Some companies are defending their recruiting practices. "Since investigations of this nature are confidential, we will not comment on what the Department of Justice may or may not be doing," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. "However," he said, "we believe our hiring practices are lawful and don't harm competition."

Google declined to comment. Apple and IAC didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Behind the scenes, technology companies are making the case that agreements among companies are not anticompetitive and don't affect employees' salaries or the availability of jobs. They say such agreements are commonplace, used by companies to maintain good relationships with business partners.

Some tech companies also say the agreements under investigation only stop them from cold calling each other's employees, not from hiring them.

The technology industry makes the case that it would be harder to enter into collaborative ventures with other companies if they fear losing valuable employees.

But Justice Department lawyers could respond that such agreements distort the labor market, theoretically harming the economy by cutting incentives for other people to enter such fields.

"In the long run, this is going to distort and depress the incentives for people to actually develop the talents and skills that are useful in this market," said Salil Mehra, a Temple University law professor who formerly worked in the Justice Department's antitrust division.

Policing the labor markets hasn't been a central focus of antitrust enforcers in recent years. But the Justice Department did act against what it saw as efforts to manipulate the labor market. It brought a civil case against a group of hospitals in Utah in 1994, alleging that they had illegally conspired to hold down nurses' wages by exchanging information about their pay.

A year later, it took action against the American Bar Association for allegedly using its accreditation process to force universities to raise law-school salaries. Both cases were settled.

The current investigation is the latest by antitrust enforcers to take aim at the often close-knit relations between tech companies, particularly in Silicon Valley.

The Federal Trade Commission's ongoing investigation into interlocking boards of tech companies forced Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, to resign from the board of Apple.

Another casualty of the FTC probe was Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson, who stepped down from Google's board. He had been doing double duty as a director for Apple and Google until the FTC started asking questions.

More recently, the decision by legendary venture-capital investor John Doerr to resign from Amazon.com's board was influenced by the FTC investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Doerr—who recently declined to comment — is also on the board of Google.

Source: (www.online.wsj.com)
Would a Verizon iPhone trigger a price war?
April 12, 2010
Rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless may have some consumers in the U.S. wondering about resulting cost savings for the device. But will more competition really mean lower prices?

Six months after the iPhone market opened up in the United Kingdom for the iPhone, prices have only dipped slightly. But compared to prices from AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the U.S., Brits are still getting a much better deal than Americans.

When Apple announced its exclusive contract for the iPhone with O2 Wireless was expiring in the U.K. last September, the British press was almost giddy at the prospect of a price war.

"Orange's success in breaking into O2's exclusive deal to stock the iPhone is expected to lead to a Christmas price war with the cost of the Apple handset coming down for U.K. consumers," the Guardian newspaper wrote on its technology blog in September 2009.

But Orange resisted temptation to spark an iPhone price war. Instead, the company decided to match O2 in price in many tiers of service. Vodafone, another major wireless operator in the U.K, began offering the iPhone in January 2010. And it, too, kept prices in sync with O2 and Orange. Discounts, even modest ones, didn't appear until Tesco, a major supermarket chain in the UK, started offering the iPhone.

So what does this have to do with the U.S. market? Well, up until December, when Orange started offering the iPhone, Britain was one of the few countries where the sale of iPhones was still limited to a single network. Today, the U.S. is the only iPhone market, out of the original four markets in which Apple launched the phone with just one operator, that still has only one provider. The German and French markets now also have more than one carrier offering the iPhone.

Looking at what has happened in the U.K. market over the past six months could provide a good preview of what American consumers might expect when AT&T's stranglehold on the much-beloved iPhone finally expires.

One competitor isn't enough

One lesson from the iPhone opening up in the U.K. market is that a single competitor might not be sufficient to result in prices dropping significantly. While it would be illegal for carriers to collude and fix prices, it's not difficult to match each other on pricing and still keep things legal.

More competitors are typically needed in a market to exert pricing pressure. This is especially true in the mobile phone market, where wireless operators are keenly aware that prices on services and technology typically head in only one direction: down. So it benefits everyone in the industry to keep prices steady.

In the U.S., Verizon Wireless, which has long touted the merits of its network, rarely competes on price. In fact, AT&T and Verizon, the two largest wireless operators in the country, have been embattled in dueling advertising campaigns with Verizon claiming a wider 3G footprint and AT&T highlighting its faster network speeds. In general, the two companies match each other on pricing.

Earlier this year, each carrier lowered the price of its unlimited voice plans in separate announcements only days apart. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, the No. 3 and No. 4 operators in the U.S., have typically competed against the two dominant players on price and value.

What this means for potential iPhone subscribers is that it's more likely that prices on service will fall if Sprint and/or T-Mobile get the iPhone in addition to Verizon Wireless.

The U.K. as an example

Adding a value-oriented competitor in the U.K. is what finally brought better deals for consumers. Once Tesco came on the scene, it began putting pressure on the major wireless companies by doing three things.

First, it offered consumers a 12-month contract with a hefty phone subsidy. The shortest contracts O2, Orange, and Vodafone offer are 18 month contracts.

The second thing Tesco has done is that it lowered the monthly price of service for the iPhone. So while O2, Orange, and Vodafone offer a 25-pound ($38.20) service, Tesco offers one that is only 20 pounds ($30.55) a month on a 12-month contract. The cost of the phone is higher. But for consumers willing to dish out more cash upfront for the phone, the cost is worth it considering the contract period is considerably shorter.

The third way in which Tesco is competing aggressively with wireless rivals is that it's offering more value to customers who sign up for longer contracts.

For example, each of the four wireless operators offering the iPhone in the U.K. offer a 24-month contract service for 45 pounds ($68.74). Plans offered by O2, Orange and Vodafone are almost exactly the same with a few exceptions.

At this price and commitment level, all four operators offer consumers the iPhone for free. And they each offer unlimited texting. But Tesco provides more value to customers by also offering unlimited data and voice minutes at the 45-pound ($68.74) price.

By contrast, O2 and Orange offer unlimited data, but they only provide 1,200 voice minutes at this price level. Vodafone also offers 1,200 voice minutes for a 45-pound plan, but it puts a 1GB limit on data usage per month.

For customers willing to spend a little more each month, Tesco offers a better value. This scenario could easily play out in the U.S. market.

Sprint and T-Mobile often compete in a similar fashion. Sprint's Any Mobile, Anytime plan and Simply Everything Plan costs $69.99 a month, and it allows subscribers to call any cell phone in the U.S., regardless of the carrier, for free. It also offers unlimited text messaging and data services. Subscribers also get 450 voice minutes for calls to landlines.

Succumbing to pressure from Sprint and T-Mobile, which has also reduced pricing on flat rate services, AT&T and Verizon have each reduced the price on their unlimited voice plans. The plans have dropped from $99.99 to $69.99 per month for individuals.

But unlike Sprint, these plans to do not include unlimited data, nor do they include unlimited text messaging. For a smartphone, like the iPhone or a BlackBerry device, unlimited data costs an extra $30 a month and unlimited texting is $20 more a month on each of these operators.

It's difficult to say exactly what effect competition will have on data prices for the iPhone when AT&T's exclusivity contract with Apple ends. But consumers can be sure of two things: the more competition there is for the iPhone, the more likely it is that prices will fall. And if prices don't come down, it's very likely more value will be added to existing plans.

The other thing that we know for sure is that American iPhone subscribers are paying far more today than their British counterparts on plans with fewer options. Just take a look at the comparison chart in this story.

The chart doesn't even list all the options available to subscribers in the U.K. British subscribers get the choice of pay-as-you-go service, 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month contracts. The subsidy on the iPhone varies based on the contract length and monthly expenditure. And in some cases, the iPhone is free for longer contracts.

In the U.S., AT&T offers a two-year contract and it just recently allowed customers to buy the phone at full price and pay monthly for service without a contract. But it doesn't offer a pre-pay option for the iPhone. And regardless of how much a customer spends each month on the service, the subsidy for the iPhone is the same.

What's more, in the U.K., unlimited texting is almost always included in the monthly price of service. In the U.S., unlimited text messaging from AT&T costs $20 extra a month.

So the for bargain hunters who really want the iPhone, the best option may be moving to the U.K. or some other market that charges less than AT&T.

Source: (www.news.cnet.com)
FCC, Verizon Quarrel Over Spectrum Plans
April 12, 2010
The FCC and Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg are exchanging barbs over the agency's plan to reclaim spectrum from broadcasters.

Seidenberg said the FCC should not ask broadcasters to give up their spectrum for the wireless industry. He argued the FCC's broadband plan overestimated the industry's need for spectrum and that market forces and technological advancements would solve potential shortages of spectrum.

Seidenberg's comments were made during a talk this week with the Council on Foreign Relations. "...confiscating the spectrum and repurposing for other things, I'm not sure I buy into the idea that that's a good thing to do," he said, according to a transcript of his comments.

Seidenberg also questioned why the FCC wanted to reclaim spectrum from broadcasters instead of cable companies.

"Cable companies have bought spectrum over the last 10 or 15 years that's been lying fallow," he said. "So here the FCC is out running around looking for new sources of spectrum, and we've got probably 150 megahertz of spectrum sitting out there that people own that aren't being built on. I don't get that. This annoys me."

FCC Chief of Staff Ed Lazarus shot back at Seidenberg in a post on the agency's official blog, calling Seidenberg's comments "rather baffling."

"The fact is, Verizon played a major role in building an overwhelming record in support of more mobile broadband spectrum, consistently expressing its official view that the country faces a looming spectrum crisis that could undermine the country's global competitiveness," Lazarus said, citing multiple filings by Verizon detailing the need for more spectrum.

Seidenberg's comments go against the industry consensus. CTIA asked the FCC to free up an additional 800 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband and has lauded the agency's decision to allocate 500 MHz to wireless under the Broadband Plan.

Neither Verizon nor the FCC returned requests for comment by press time.

Source: (www.wirelessweek.com)
Palm Said to Tap Goldman, Quattrone to Find Buyers
April 12, 2010
Palm Inc., creator of the Pre smartphone, is seeking bids for the company as early as this week, according to three people familiar with the situation.

The company is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer, said the people, who declined to be identified because a sale hasn’t been announced. Taiwan’s HTC Corp. and China’s Lenovo Group Ltd. have looked at the company and may make offers, said the people.

Palm, which helped pioneer the market for personal digital assistants, would offer suitors the WebOS software that competes against mobile operating systems from iPhone maker Apple Inc. and Google Inc. For Elevation Partners LP, the firm that owns about 30 percent of Palm, a sale may end the volatility of an investment in a stock that surged more than 10-fold since December 2008 before erasing most of the gain.

“Palm still has quite a good brand in the U.S. market, and some strong technology, so you can do something with it,” said Frank He, a technology analyst at BOC International Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The shares have gone down a lot and the company may become attractive to anyone looking for a turnaround play.”

The Sunnyvale, California-based device maker surged 32 percent last week on the Nasdaq Stock Market on renewed speculation of a takeover bid. Before the rally, the stock had plunged more than 60 percent this year, dragged down by disappointing sales of the Pre and Pixi phones.

Missing Estimates

Palm rose 71 cents, or 14 percent, to $5.87 at 9:38 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Earlier the stock jumped as much as 16 percent.

Chief Financial Officer Doug Jeffries last month forecast sales in the quarter ending in May will be less than $150 million, compared with the $300 million average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg at the time.

Palm, which had a market value of $870.8 million before today, ranked sixth in the North American smartphone market during the three months ended Dec. 31 with a 4.3 percent share, according to Gartner Inc. Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry, led with 44 percent, followed by Apple’s 24 percent, according to the Stamford, Connecticut-based research company.

Chief Executive Officer Jon Rubinstein, who developed Palm’s latest operating system, was counting on the Pre and Pixi smartphones to attract customers. The company has patents from mobile hardware to software and power-saving technologies.

Lenovo, Dell

Lynn Fox, a Palm spokeswoman, declined to comment. Qatalyst’s Sally Palmer and Goldman’s Andrea Rachman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Chen Hui-Ming, the chief financial officer of HTC, declined to confirm or deny the company’s interest in Palm.

Wong Wai Ming, Lenovo’s chief financial officer, also declined to comment on the company’s acquisition plans. In January, Lenovo paid $200 million to purchase Lenovo Mobile Communication Technology Ltd., letting it re-enter the market for handsets. The company had sold the mobile-phone unit in 2008 to focus on personal computers.

Palm shares have been buoyed in the past on speculation the company would be bought by Nokia Oyj. The Finnish company today declined to say if it might be interested.

“We never speculate or comment on market rumors,” said Arja Suominen, a Nokia spokeswoman.

Dell Inc. looked at Palm, though it decided against an offer, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. Jess Blackburn, a spokesman for the Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker, didn’t respond to a call for comment.

Burning Cash

Unlisted Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., China’s two biggest makers of phone equipment, may be more likely bidders for Palm than HTC or Lenovo, said Lu Chia-lin, a technology analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. in Taipei.

Chinese companies “have been quite eager to expand their international markets,” said Lu.

Palm may burn $80 million every three months for the next five quarters as competition in the smartphone market intensifies, Berenberg Bank analysts including Adnaan Ahmad wrote in a March 25 report. The company held $592 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of its fiscal third- quarter, according to the report.

Ross Gan, a spokesman at Huawei, said the company is always open to opportunities, though he declined to comment on speculation about mergers and acquisitions as a matter of policy. Margrete Ma, a ZTE spokeswoman, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Market Pioneer

After Palm introduced the Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2009, the stock jumped 80 percent in two days to $5.96. By September, the shares had climbed as high as $17.46.

The stock then dropped 79 percent over the next six months as Palm’s sales growth was outpaced by marketing costs, and the company lost market share to Apple and phones equipped with Google’s Android. Palm has posted 11 straight quarterly losses.

Founded in 1992, Palm helped pioneer the market for handheld organizers with its PalmPilot devices. The company was acquired by U.S. Robotics, which was in turn purchased by 3Com Corp. 3Com spun off Palm in 2000.

Rubinstein joined the company after leading development of Apple’s best-selling iPod media player. He was recruited to Palm by Fred Anderson, Apple’s former finance chief and a co-founder of Elevation Partners.

The Pre was Palm’s first phone based on WebOS. It went on sale in June 2009, followed by the smaller, cheaper Pixi in November. The phones let users send e-mail, surf the Web, stream video and run multiple applications at the same time.

Both devices were sold in the U.S. exclusively by Sprint Nextel Corp., the country’s third-largest carrier, until Verizon Wireless began offering enhanced versions in January.

Source: (www.bloomberg.com)
Apple to drop support for 1st gen iPhone
April 12, 2010
You could see the writing on the wall when Apple announced iPhone OS 4. Apple said most of the features will run on the iPhone 3G, and all would run on the iPhone 3GS. At no point did they mention the first generation iPhone. Steve Jobs has now confirmed what many assumed.

MacStories has published an email a reader sent to Jobs asking if Apple will supply updates to the first gen iPhone in the future. Steve's answer? "Sorry, no." So unless Apple releases another minor point upgrade to iPhone OS 3 before OS 4's release, original iPhone owners can expect to be running iPhone OS 3.1.3 for as long as they keep the device.

Source: (www.tuaw.com)
iPhone OS 4.0 Links Gamers with Social Gaming Hub
April 10, 2010
One of the pillars of iPhone OS 4.0 will be new multiplayer gaming capabilities. Apple's gaming software will automatically link players of like abilities, and provide information such as leaderboards and achievements. Players will also have the ability to invite friends to gaming sessions.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Not All iPhones Will Get iPhone OS 4.0 Features
April 10, 2010
During today's presentation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3rd Generation will have access to all the features of iPhone OS 4.0 when it launches this summer. The iPhone 3G (2008) will not be able to support multitasking. Apple says that the iPhone 3G isn't capable of running the new multitasking powers in iPhone OS 4.0. All other features will be supported, though. The recently released iPad will have access to iPhone OS 4.0 this fall. The original iPhone (2007) will not support iPhone OS 4.0.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
AT&T Preps Network for Looming Battle with Verizon
April 8, 2010
AT&T is racing to beef up its network by reducing dropped calls and speeding up Web-surfing before Apple releases a new version of the iPhone that runs on Verizon's network.

In recent years, the Atlanta, Ga.-based carrier has taken a beating from customers who have complained about poor network reliability and data congestion in urban cities such as New York and San Francisco where quarters are tight.

But now, with a Verizon-compatible iPhone slated for mass production as early as September, AT&T is rushing to make improvements to its much-criticized network for the looming battle between the two juggernauts.

In December, AT&T began a 100-day plan to drastically improve its network in densely-populated areas -- by readjusting antennas to improve signal strength in office buildings, opening new spectrum frequencies to better manage data traffic and wiring towers with speedier wireless technology.

The company said it plans to spend an additional $2 billion on roll-outs -- putting in new radio boxes, building more cell towers, and adding new sites in high-density areas like transportation hubs -- resulting in twice as much capacity as it had last year.

"We'll continue improvements in those markets in the coming months," said John Donovan, AT&T's chief technology officer. "We're managing volumes that no one else has experienced."

AT&T has gained millions of new subscribers from its exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone in the last three years, and has had to handle significant growing pains in the process, which the company argues has positioned it to offer better service than any competitor picking up Apple's device for the first time.

Last year, when its network came under heavy strain from iPhone usage, the carrier flew two network experts out to Apple to give designers a crash course in wireless networking. Apple then reconfigured the iPhone to better communicate with AT&T's towers and put less load on the network during simple tasks such as finding the closest tower or checking for text messages.

Afterwards, the company lifted its network ban on Internet calling services, such as Google Voice.

Aside from Verizon's device, Apple is also developing a new version of the iPhone for AT&T to launch this summer. Both versions, rumored to be called the iPhone HD, will feature an A4-class chip, a 960 by 640 pixel touch screen display, a front-facing camera and run iPhone OS 4.0 software with third-party multitasking.

Apple's new iPad, a tablet computer that focuses on Web surfing and Internet, is also set to hit AT&T stores later this week.

Source: (www.mobiledia.com)
Apple Plans Two New iPhones, One for Verizon
April 8, 2010
Apple is developing a version of the iPhone for Verizon as well as a new device for AT&T to launch this summer.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has launched a new iPhone every June or July since introducing the device back in 2007. But the new model for Verizon, with CDMA capability, is notable because AT&T has long had an exclusive deal for Apple's popular device, giving it a competitive edge over other rivals including Verizon for the last three years.

The deal is set to expire in 2010 but AT&T was in discussions to get an extension until 2011.

But now sources familiar with the situation say Verizon's iPhone is being produced by Pegatron Technology, the contract manufacturing arm of Taiwan's ASUSTeK Computer. The other iPhone, a GSM-based device, is being manufactured by Hon Hai Precision Industry, which assembled Apple's previous iPhones.

Both Verizon and AT&T versions, rumored to be called the iPhone HD, will feature an A4-class chip, a 960 by 640 pixel touch screen display, a front-facing camera and run iPhone OS 4.0 software with third-party multitasking, differing only in frequency technology.

Pegatron is planning to start mass production on the Verizon iPhones this September, but it is unclear when the carrier would launch the handset.

Apple, which doesn't actually make most of its products, hires manufacturing specialists who have extensive operations in China to assemble its gadgets based on its iPhone designs. The arrangement frees Apple from running complicated, labor-intensive factories, and cuts production costs, which help lower prices over time.

AT&T has gained millions of new subscribers from the iPhone. But complaints about the carrier's network reliability have given Apple reason to seek additional distribution from rival operators.

Source: (www.mobiledia.com)