Lookout Verizon, Sprint Rumored to Retain Unlimited Data Plan with iPhone 5

by Paul Lilly
from http://hothardware.com

Poor little Sprint stands to be the biggest loser if AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile is allowed to go through in what some fear would effectively create a duopoly with Verizon and AT&T/T-Mobile controlling the market. But regardless of what happens with that deal, Sprint has an ace up its sleeve: Unlimited data.

Sprint is the only major carrier to still offer a true unlimited data plan, one that's devoid of overage fees, data caps, or throttled service once a user goes over a certain threshold. No other wireless carrier has deemed such a plan to be financially feasible, so surely Sprint will cave in like the rest of them did, right? Maybe not. According to a Bloomberg report, Sprint will retain its unlimited data plan for the upcoming iPhone 5 launch.

Citing "people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg says the device will go on sale in mid-October, and that Sprint will be the only one offering an unlimited data plan for iPhone 5 users. If true, this could be a huge deal for Sprint as it looks to compete with all the major wireless carriers who plan to carry Apple's upcoming flagship device. Even just carrying the iPhone puts Sprint in a better position.

"It's a competitive disadvantage if your two larger competitors have the iPhone and you don't," Matthew Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC, told Bloomberg in an interview. "Getting the iPhone closes the gap."

None of this is official, of course, and Apple hasn't announced when the iPhone 5 is coming and which carriers will have access to the device. But it's believed the iPhone 5 will end up in everyone's hands (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile). With streaming video (Netflix), FaceTime, cloud-based storage lockers for music, and other data consuming services becoming commonplace, Sprint is setting itself up to be one of the more attractive carriers in the next iPhone round.

The T-Mobile Royal Wedding - Dance Procession

Uploaded by lifesforsharing

Watch the wedding entrance dance to top all wedding entrance dances. T-Mobile's Royal Wedding Dance celebrates the marriage of William and Kate with the help of a host of royal look alikes and music from East 17! T-Mobile wishes William and Kate a long and happy marriage. Join our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/tmobileuk

T-Mobile 3G Handsets to Be Rendered Obsolete by AT&T Merger

by Kevin Krause From: http://phandroid.com/

In case you have been resting under a rock somewhere, AT&T is in the process of buying out T-Mobile and merging the two companies into a singular (no, not Cingular) wireless conglomerate. As part of the deal, AT&T plans to re-purpose all of TMo’s 3G towers for the roll out of their LTE network,which should cover 95 percent of the country within two year’s time. The catch? Your 3G T-Mobile handset will be obsolete when that time comes, as confirmed by AT&T.

Seeing as how far off the problem is there is no news to share as to whether AT&T plans to compensate TMo subscribers locking into new two-year deals, but if you are a fan of magenta it may be wise to consider shorter-term contract options if you plan on picking up a new handset anytime soon.

[via Gizmodo]

Sprint complains of antitrust risk; T-Mobile out of keynote

By Electronista Staff

From: http://www.electronista.com/

Sprint warns ATT T-Mobile deal antitrust concern

Sprint and T-Mobile late Sunday quickly issued formal reactions to the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile. As expected, Sprint objected to the $39 billion deal and said it would "alter dramatically" the US cellular landscape. It would put too much power in the hands of AT&T and Verizon, making them gatekeepers for things such as backbones and roaming deals.

"If approved, the merger would result in a wireless industry dominated overwhelmingly by two vertically-integrated companies that control almost 80% of the US wireless post-paid market, as well as the availability and price of key inputs such as backhaul and access needed by other wireless companies to compete," Sprint wrote.

Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller stressed to the Department of Justice and the FCC that it was "absolutely essential" the deal be investigated. He added that the Commerce Committee would be involved.

AT&T originally insisted the deal would be competitive as 18 of 20 major cities had five or more networks to compete from. Critics, however, have responded that the added clout gives AT&T an unfair advantage in device selection. T-Mobile also has unlimited-with-throttling data and doesn't block non-Market apps on Android devices, both of which would likely go away without the FCC imposing price and openness regulations on the deal.

T-Mobile, meanwhile, has chosen to back out of the official CTIA opening keynote. It was to have participated in an event at the Orlando show on Tuesday, March 22 at 9AM alongside the heads of other major carriers AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. A statement said only that the exit was due to "extenuating work demands," though it's most likely either due to work relating to the merger or the complications of having to present after its position had suddenly changed.

A conference call discussing the AT&T and T-Mobile buyout is due to take place Monday at 7:30AM; Electronista hopes to provide live coverage.

AT&T Acquires T-Mobile, Rockets Up to More Than 130 Million U.S. Users

By David Murphy
From http://www.pcmag.com/

Breaking news in the mobile world: AT&T has acquired competitor T-Mobile, shrinking the "big four" carriers in the U.S. to a mere three. But it's a mighty three. The $39 billion purchase now summons forth the largest combined carrier in the U.S., one which already has its own nickname mere minutes after the transaction was announced: "AT&T-Mobile."

In total, AT&T and T-Mobile's combined operations will carry roughly 130 million users. Or, in layman's terms, a heckuva lot more people than now-second place Verizon and its users numbering in the mid-90 million.

But what does that mean for consumers? According to PCMag.com's Sascha Segan, expect less competition in the mobile market to hit harder on the ol' bank account. Not to mention a greater lack of device diversity as a result of AT&T and T-Mobile creating a combined (and more efficient) product line.

AT&T's paying $25 billion in cash for the acquisition, with the rest of the $39 billion purchase price coming from shares of AT&T common stock. As part of the deal, T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom will gain an eight percent ownership interest in AT&T, and a Deutsche Telekom representative will join AT&T's board of directors.

The also move creates a monopoly on U.S. GSM carriers: There's just one now, AT&T/T-Mobile, to serve as the sole rival against the CDMA networks of competitors Sprint and Verizon. The mash-up between AT&T and T-Mobile—a combination of the worst and second-worst U.S. carriers, as ranked by this year's Consumer Reports customer survey–will mash together their wireless spectrums as well. This should give AT&T a stronger footing to deploy and expand its own 4G LTE network, which the company intends to launch mid-year.

"This transaction represents a major commitment to strengthen and expand critical infrastructure for our nation's future," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, in today's press release. "It will improve network quality, and it will bring advanced LTE capabilities to more than 294 million people."

According the release, issued today, AT&T needs as much spectrum as it can get its hands on to fuel its growing wireless network. The company claims that its mobile data traffic has grown more than 8,000 percent since 2006, and the company expects its 2015 traffic to be eight to 10 times that of today's values.

"Put another way, all of the mobile traffic volume AT&T carried during 2010 is estimated to be carried in just the first six to seven weeks of 2015," reads the statement.

Doubling off of that, the T-Mobile acquisition comes at a time when AT&T is seeing good subscriber growth—the company announced in January a gain of 2.8 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2010, making for a total count of 8.9 million subscribers gained within the full fiscal year.

T-Mobile, on the other hand, has been bleeding its business as of late. The company lost more than 300,000 contract subscribers in its fourth quarter, down a net of 23,000 customers in total. That's quite a drop compared to the same time period in 2009, when T-Mobile was actually in the black by around 371,000 total customers.

A March report by Bloomberg's Tara Lachapelle and Rita Nazareth indicated that T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom has been shopping around T-Mobile for some time now—especially since the $28.5 billion the company invested in the American carrier has since shed its value by approximately three-fifths. Deutsche Telekom was allegedly in talks with Sprint to pawn off T-Mobile, but whatever deal was possibly in the works clearly didn't come to pass.

But that's not necessarily bad for T-Mobile: Instead of shacking up with the third-place carrier, it's now teamed up with the big dog in the park.

For more information on the transaction, consumers can check out the new AT&T/T-Mobile information site at www.mobilizeeverything.com.

The new Heathrow Airport Flashmob by T-Mobile

by admin

from http://www.hecklerspray.com/

If you were watching TV last night you will have found it hard to miss T-Mobile’s latest flashmob-based ad, which took place in Heathrow’s Terminal 5, in London.

The ad was shown simultaneously on 86 channels at 10.15pm, meaning that around one in six people in the UK will have seen it. In the event that you didn’t, here it is:

The mobile firm has a history of inviting people to flashmobs for a spot of public dancing. It then films them and turns them into ads. This one was filmed, edited and broadcast within 36 hours.

Hecklerspray hates hanging around in airports, but this would have provided some light amusement, in a Bobby McFerrin kinda way.

The T-Mobile flashmob ads have been seen by more than 26 million people on YouTube. What do you think of the latest one?

T-Mobile: Every Phone is Free June 19

• By: Geoff Duncan
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/
  

It's true: every phone in every T-Mobile store in the U.S. will be free on June 19...but folks will have to pay for the required two-year service plan.

Those rumors that T-Mobile would be giving away phones for free for Father’s Day weekend, June 19? They’re true. T-Mobile has announced a first-of-its-kind promotion wherein every phone in every U.S. T-Mobile location will be free on Saturday, June 19. Getting those free phones will mean signing up for a qualifying two-year family plan…but folks looking to buy a smartphone are staring those two-year contracts in the face anyway.

“For this very special day celebrating dad and the entire family, T-Mobile is thrilled to offer an industry-first promotion that helps families stay connected,” said T-MObile USA marketing VP Adrian Hurditch, in a statement. “This unprecedented event champions dad and helps families stick together with the latest phones—all for free.”

T-Mobile’s promotion comes just a few days ahead of Apple’s much-anticipated retail launch of the iPhone 4, which hits Apple stores and retail partners on June 24. T-Mobile is, of course, using the promotion to tout its own smartphone lineup, including the Android-powered Garminfone (with premium navigation features), the HTC HD2, and the myTouch 3G Slide. T-Mobile also carries phones from RIM, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Sharp, and HTC.

T-Mobile will open its doors at 8:30am on Saturday June 19. The free phones promotion will only be taking place at locations owned and operated by T-Mobile, and mail-in rebate and restrictions may apply to some purchases. To get a free phone, folks will have to sign up for two years on a qualifying family service plan; there’s a limit of five lines on T-Mobile’s family service plans.

The Ultimate Cell Phone Plans Comparison

Tony Adam

From: http://www.billshrink.com

On Friday, Verizon Wireless announced pricing plan restructuring that would reduce the cost of voice usage. AT&T Wireless quickly followed suit and unveiled their updated cell phone plans as well. Today is the day that those changes go into effect.
While both carriers announced these changes as efforts to simplify plans, the real truth behind the story is that the profits are in the data: Verizon’s revenue is now up 24% (they reported $15.8 billion in Q309), with 17% coming from data services.
I think that there is still a long way to go before it gets to a point where picking a cell phone plan is simple, even after these various many attempts by the carriers in 2009. There are still way too many plan combination.
This is our best attempt to simplify all of the plan combination and it was painful, but here it is, The Ultimate Cell Phone Plans Comparison:

Click Image to Enlarge

BillShrink can help you find cell phone plans that save you money and fit your needs, without sifting through the madness!

T-Mobile Lets Consumers Put Its Pricing To The Test, Courtesy Of BillShrink

by Robin Wauters on May 20, 2009

T-Mobile USA announced today a new campaign dedicated to helping people save money on their wireless service, and the carrier is not only using the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones as the face of the campaign again, they’re also giving a huge vote of confidence and a heap of exposure to Redwood City, CA-based startup BillShrink.

BillShrink launched in April 2008 as a way for people to compare the value they are getting with their current wireless provider against other national carriers. It has since raised an additional $8 million on top of a $1 million round it secured back in 2007 and expanded its technology to other products and services, like helping you find the cheapest gas in your neighborhood or the ideal credit card based on your profile.

People can now visit the T-Mobile website or one of its retail stores for a so-called “Mobile Makeover”: free, unbiased and personalized savings recommendations for wireless plans, powered by BillShrink. That’s a big boost for the fledgling company, especially considering the first television spot featuring Zeta-Jones will air tonight during the American Idol season finale on FOX (that’s a lot of eyeballs). It’s also a bit of a risk for T-Mobile, although they seem pretty confident of the outcome of the comparison engine:

“Providing great wireless coverage at a great price is at the heart of what T-Mobile offers,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA, Inc. “We’re so confident that T-Mobile provides the best overall experience for a majority of Americans, we’re willing to put our value to the test by pointing people to an independent source. And while we may not come out on top each and every time, we believe a majority of people will see T-Mobile offers them the value they want, and the best experience in wireless.”

Billshrink is headed by CEO Peter Pham, a former Photobucket executive who joined the company in February last year.

(Via Trading Markets)

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CrunchBase Information

BillShrink

Website:	billshrink.com
Location:	Redwood City, California, United States
Funding:	$9M

BillShrink provides a free, online service to help consumers make better purchase decisions for complex product categories. It takes a scientific, highly-personalized approach which identifies the products that best fit users’ individual… Learn More

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Samsung Memoir 8-Megapixel Cameraphone Lightning Review

By Jason Chen
The Gadget: Samsung Memoir, which is the 8-megapixel upgraded version of the Samsung Behold—both of which have Samsung's TouchWiz-based touchscreen interface. It's also got a Xenon flash that works quite well.

The Price: $250 with two-year contract, $50 rebate and qualifying data plan

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The Verdict: A pretty damn good cameraphone. The TouchWiz UI is pretty much the same as the version on the Samsung Behold. In short, it's more usable as a touchscreen phone (keyboard is fairly decent) than Windows Mobile phones, but not quite as good as say, Android or the iPhone. It does have haptic feedback, meaning there's a slight rumble as you press down on the screen. And yes, that implies that the Memoir doesn't have capacitive touch. You still have to press down when you want to click things. Let it be known that Jesús Diaz does not like some Samsung touchscreen UIs.

The front of the phone looks like a Samsung touchscreen phone, but the back actually looks a lot like a Samsung camera. Which is kind of the point. The 8-megapixel camera is very good. So good, in fact, that it's (give or take) about as good as my Samsung NV3 point and shoot from a few years ago. The gallery below has comparison shots.

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And here's how well the Memoir's Xenon flash works in complete darkness. Spoiler: Pretty damn well.

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I haven't had enough experience with Nokia's high end N-series cameraphones to say whether or not the Memoir is better. We've already established that more megapixels isn't always better, but if the Memoir can take photos that are just about as good as Samsung's NV3 (which doesn't take FANTASTIC images, we have to admit), it's a great alternative for a point and shoot camera.