John at myITforum.com

Well, Verizon and AT&T announced unlimited voice plans at $99.  Looks like Sprint countered with a $99 plan that includes data:

Following the lead of its competitors, Sprint Nextel Corp. on Thursday unveiled a $99.99 pricing plan that gives customers unlimited minutes, text messages, e-mail, Internet access and other wireless service applications.

The company's "Simply Everything" plan is similar to arrangements that AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, both ahead of Sprint Nextel in the cell phone market, and T-Mobile had announced Feb. 19.

Thursday's announcement comes the same day the Overland Park-based company reported a $29.5 billion fourth-quarter loss.

"This is a bold, unprecedented move," Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said in a written statement. "Customers want these applications, but without complexity and without having to worry about their bill."

One significant difference between Sprint Nextel's plan and those of its competitors, the company said, is that the plan offers an incremental $5 discount for as many as five different phone lines on one bill in an apparent move to attract families to the plan.

Source

Sprint Nextel’s revival is going to take a long, long time.

That was apparent in the company’s fourth quarter financial results, announced this morning. Sprint reported fourth quarter revenue of $8.5 billion, down 2% sequentially and 6% year over year, and well short of the Street consensus of $9.9 billion. The company blamed the lower revenues on its wireless operations.

The company reported a loss from continuing operations of $10.36 a share, reflecting $10.42 in losses from special items; that would put the pro forma number at a profit of 6 cents, well below the Street consensus or 18 cents.

Also, the company said it will stop paying a dividend “for the foreseeable future.” Sprint also said that it borrowed $2.5 billion yesterday on its revolving credit facility “to provide greater financial flexibility and to mitigate any potential refinancing risk related to $1.25 billion in bonds that mature in November 2008,” as well as $400 million in commercial paper and $600 million of bonds that mature in May 2009. The company has $500 million left on the revolver.

Source

T-Mobile USA, Inc. (T-Mobile USA) today reported fourth quarter and full year 2007 results. At the end of the quarter, the company had 28.7 million customers, adding more than 951,000 net new customers during the fourth quarter, OIBDA of $1.33 billion, up 13.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2006, and a reduction in contract customer churn to 1.8% from 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2006.

• In the fourth quarter of 2007, T-Mobile USA added 951,000 net new customers, up from 857,000 in the third quarter of 2007, and 901,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006.
• Contract customer net additions in the fourth quarter of 2007 made up 77% of customer growth, up from 65% in the third quarter of 2007, and down from 87% in the fourth quarter of 2006.
• myFaves continues to be very popular with our customers. At the end of the fourth quarter there were 5.0 million myFaves customers, up from 3.5 million at the end of the third quarter.
• Contract customers comprised 83% of T-Mobile USA's total customer base at December 31, 2007.

Looks like both AT&T and Verizon have now committed to LTE.  Is Sprint/Nextel going to regret not supporting LTE?

AT&T, the world's largest telecoms group, yesterday threw its weight behind the emerging Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology standard as the basis for its next generation 4G wireless network.

The announcement yesterday by Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive of AT&T's wireless unit, means that the two largest US wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications and Britain's Vodafone, are both now committed to LTE.

LTE is backed by most of the leading wireless equipment infrastructure makers, including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Nortel.

AT&T had already hinted last year that it would probably choose LTE rather than rival technologies such as WiMAX, the wireless broadband technology backed by a consortium led by Intel, Motorola and others, and UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) backed by Qualcomm, the US wireless chip developer.

AT&T's commitment to the LTE standard - a natural extension of the GSM technology that underpins the majority of the world's mobiles networks - came as it gave details of its 2008 wireless network plans. These include a major expansion of its 3G network to enable it to cover nearly 350 leading US markets by the end of 2008.

Ephraim Schwartz is predicting a "looming battle" between LTE and WiMaxx, but with the two largest carriers in the US backing LTE, and:

A recent Gartner report estimates that there are 2.1 billion GSM connections worldwide (or 79 percent of the market) versus 325 million CDMA2000 connections (12 percent of the market).

I'm not sure there will be a battle.

Have you cut the landline cord yet?  33 million of us have.

As mortgage banker Michael Balberchak received raises over the last several years, the 39-year-old moved to better apartments. Each time, he had to pay an installation fee for the residential phone line, and he grew tired of the charges. So last year, when he moved to the West Hills section of Huntington, he decided to cut the cord on his home phone.

"I said, 'You know what? Forget it. I'm just going to keep my cell phone,'" said Balberchak. "The first couple of months it was just a little weird because you like the security of a landline, just having it. But then months went by, and I didn't even miss it. I forgot that I had it."

Balberchak is among an estimated 33 million American adults who use only a cell phone, according to Yankee Group, a technology research and consulting company based in Boston. As many as 15 percent of U.S. adults used only a cell phone last year, up from 10 percent of adults in 2006.

Source

Well, are my hopes for a price war on cell service dashed? 

Now that Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile have announced plans to offer $99, all-you-can-eat cellphone service, the concern is that another player -- Sprint Nextel (S) -- might undercut them, sparking an industry-wide pricing war. Not happening, AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) execs say. Their reasoning: Their service is better, so people will pay more for it.

"We're never going to chase price for people who don't offer the same value of product that we have," AT&T's telecom head John Stankey said at Merrill Lynch's telecom stock conference today.

Stankey echoes similar remarks that Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg made at the conference yesterday.

"I think our customers are gonna look for a little more than just price," Seidenberg said. "Are we going to chase price? I don't think we have to. I don't think we ever have, and we never will."

We wish both men the best, but if Sprint cuts unlimited-access plans to $60-$80, as some have suggested it might, Verizon and AT&T could have a tough time selling theirs for $100, no matter how good their service is.

Maybe we should all switch to Sprint PCS should they drop their price.  I was a happy Nextel two-way customer for a long time...

Source

Verizon Wireless today said its upcoming Open Development Device Conference will feature the release and publication of Version 1.0 of the technical specifications for new wireless devices that will work on its “Any Device, Any App” network-only service option.

The conference, scheduled for March 19 in New York City, will focus on how traditional device and consumer electronics companies and entrepreneurs new to the wireless ecosystem can bring new wireless devices to the marketplace under Verizon Wireless’ Open Development initiative. The conference will establish shared goals of streamlining the certification and delivery of exciting new devices while preserving the company’s optimal network performance.

Anthony A. Lewis, vice president of the Open Development initiative at Verizon Wireless, said the conference agenda will focus on wireless devices, and that the initial specs will provide an important, tangible building block for device development. “Version 1.0 will provide the roadmap for wireless device visionaries and tinkerers, as well as existing device makers, to create consumer products not offered directly by the company, which can run on the nation’s most reliable network,” Lewis said.

Press Release

Windows Mobile smartphone device manufacturer, i-mate has shown off its latest models -the Ultimate 9502 and the Ultimate 8502. The Ultimate 9502 and 8502 are the latest devices from the Ultimate range, a collection of four devices in various forms to suit individual preferences, from classic PDA to a notebook replacement and were designed to provide the latest and best in phone and PDA technology.

The Ultimate 9502 represents the flagship of the Ultimate range and delivers an all in one Windows Mobile device. The phone is powered by HSDPA & HSUPA, and along with WiFI and Bluetooth connectivity, and integrated GPS functionality for navigation. There are dedicated shortcut keys all around the 9502, allowing easy and fast access to often used applications. The 9502 includes integrated support for Direct Video Out capabilities, providing you with the option to connect it to monitors or projectors and watch videos off it or even use Windows Mobile on a larger screen.

The Ultimate 8502 delivers a customised out of the box experience in a slim line QWERTY keyboard form factor. With a 2.6 inch touchscreen with 65k colour TFT backlight, it is fully loaded with Microsoft Office Mobile giving users access to applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the go. This device also comes with built-in GPS navigation functionality offering users satellite navigation. The 8502 can play video clips directly and a variety of music file formats on the inbuilt Windows Media Player 10 Mobile media player.

HBO now has a youtube channel (youtube.com/hbo) that you can watch on your mobile device as well:

Just go to m.youtube.com/hbo on your device:

Below are the instructions for installing Diarist on a PPC:

After installing WM5Diarist2.cab, you should see the Diarist 2 icon:

Double-clicking on Diarist 2 should launch the program:

Select Menu | Weblog | Add | Community Server (or another type of blog service listed if not Community Server):

It should open a similar screen:

For myitforum.com, the entry should be:

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/xxxxxxxx/metablog.ashx

Make sure the xxxxxx is set to your blog directory.  Your username and password are the blog login credentials.  Once entered, select Confirm.

If the entries are correct, you should see the name of the blog:

One of the features of Diarist, similar to the Smartphone version, is the ability to take pictures and post them directly from your phone to your blog (Insert image from file).

Let's hope that this is the truth, and it starts a price war for unlimited plans.

No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider Sprint Nextel Corp is expected to offer flat-rate calling plans at up to a 40 percent discount to its rivals, hurtling the industry into a price war, analysts said on Wednesday.

The two largest U.S. mobile service providers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc, on Tuesday unveiled $99.99-a-month plans for unlimited calls. T-Mobile USA went a step further by including text messaging in that price.

Sprint has yet to respond and spokeswoman Leigh Horner declined comment on any plans for future offers, but analysts say the company could be considering an unlimited calling plan for as low as $60 a month to stem customer defections.

Wall Street is worried about a looming price war, even though Tuesday's new plans were not seen in and of themselves to have a big impact on service revenue as only about 5 to 10 percent of consumers now pay more than $100-a-month for calls.

A response from Sprint may force AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, to cut their prices or face losing customers.

SIIA has released their 2007 Year in Review.  Some of the interesting stats:

The largest states, naturally, are home to the largest number of piracy cases. California leads with 18%. Texas and New York follow with 12% each. Colorado and Florida trail close behind with 9% and 8% respectively.

Is it a surprise at all that Adobe Acrobat is the second highest pirated software?

There's also an interesting section on punishments given out in 2007.

Will the Palm Centro hold Palm together long enough for their other new phones to hit the market?

Some of you have probably already read the news. Microsoft's Senior VP over their mobile business has left Microsoft to lead Vodafone's new Internet Services business.  Andy Lees will be replacing Pieter.

Andrew Lees serves as senior vice president of Microsoft’s Mobile Communication Business, which includes Windows Mobile software and Live mobile services. His responsibilities include guiding Microsoft’s global mobile communications strategy for business and consumer customers. In that role, Lees oversees the development, marketing and sales of Microsoft software and services for mobile devices worldwide.

Get the new 16GB iPhone at the Apple store for $499, and the 8GB version for $399.  Hard to believe that we paid $200 for for our 8GB version that I can now spend for the 16GB iPhone.

If you have a new Palm Treo, Windows Mobile or Palm OS, and want to ensure your getting the most out of your phone, you may want to watch the new eLearning video's on the devices.

Clicking on the device that you have launches the training video for that particular phone, and includes Setting up you phone, Email, Tips & Tricks and Resources.

Launch eLearning here.

According to BusinessWeek:

There’s a week to go before Apple’s commitment to release the iPhone Software Developers Kit in February runs out of room. I’m hearing from one source that its going to be late. I’m not yet hearing any reasons why, and it’s sounding like the official release date could slide by anywhere from one to three weeks.

Apple had no comment, and as yet there’s no word on any events related to an SDK release next week. However I’m also hearing that the situation is fluid, and a lot of last-minute decisions are close to being made about what precisely will or will not be disclosed next week, if anything. There are, apparently, a lot of moving parts to something this complex.

Remember if you will that BusinessWeek broke the story of Apple’s plans to release an iPod SDK in October, a day before CEO Steve Jobs announced the company’s intentions himself via a statement on the “Hot News” section of Apple’s Web site.

So will they make it to the finish line in time or will they have to fudge it a little? We’ll all be watching next week.

How dare Yahoo deprive shareholders...

Two Detroit pension funds have sued Yahoo Inc. and its board of directors, saying they breached their duties to shareholders in trying to thwart a takeover by Microsoft Corp.

The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday by lawyers representing Detroit's police and fire retirement system and general retirement system, as well as "all other similarly situated public shareholders."

According to the lawsuit, Yahoo's board is pursuing "value-destructive" third-party deals in an effort to fight off Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, which on Feb. 1 announced a takeover bid of $31 per share in cash and stock, a 62 percent premium over Yahoo's previous day's closing price.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, whose shares closed unchanged at $28.42 on Friday, rejected Microsoft's $44.6 billion takeover bid as inadequate, but indicated that it might be willing to negotiate if the price was right. Yahoo is believed to want at least $40 per share, or about $56 billion.

After rebuffing Microsoft, Yahoo reportedly began discussing a possible Internet partnership with media conglomerate News Corp., which owns the popular MySpace Web site, and exploring an advertising partnership with Google, its biggest rival.

Full Story

There are two separate posts now on the Palm blog discussing the recent RIM outages.  But, poor Mark (Mark C. - Senior Manager, Enterprise Solutions)  is taking some lashing in the comments.  I honestly think those who are taking potshots are missing what Mark is trying to say.  His post:

Why risk a network outage?

As many of you are aware, the Research In Motion (RIM) Network Operations Center (NOC) had a nationwide network outage yesterday - for the second time since April 2007. That means Blackberry email came crashing to a halt for many BlackBerry customers. The impact of that network outage on productivity, business and communications was tremendous - millions of emails were delayed. All of this made me wonder whether the majority of people out there even know what a NOC is, let alone realize that their email is going through one. All email (business and personal) sent through RIM"s servers are routed through a NOC. When the NOC fails, your email stops working.

If a NOC does crash, users, IT departments and carriers who are using Blackberry devices have to sit and wait for the NOC to be fixed. They don't control the situation (or the fix). Let's not forget to mention the added costs of subscribing to the service.

Better to switch than fight?

We believe that the best solution is to eliminate third-party email servers, hassles, and costs, while maintaining simplicity and control. For instance, Microsoft Exchange Server provides a reliable foundation for a smart wireless deployment that leverages an organization's existing infrastructure - no middleware or third-party servers. Simply add a Palm smartphone and you have a voice and email solution that will keep you in touch and productive, without the NOC hassles - or the NOC outages.

This post, and several advertisements taking shots at RIM (like a full page ad in the WSJ), are trying to capitalize on the RIM outage.  So I ask, has anyone seen the Mac vs PC commercials?  Anyone seen the advertisements where Vista is being based?  What's the difference?  It's competition folks.  RIM and Palm are obvious competitors, and Palm is trying to capitalize as competitors (just as Apple does, or any other company for that matter).

Why don't folks read the post and comment on what he wrote and discuss it intelligently rather than bashing Palm products in return?

I've been looking for a policies matrix to determine what mobile phone policies you get out of the box with Exchange.  Trying to determine what you need internally to support Exchange ActiveSync, and what you may need from 3rd party tools, or additional Microsoft products (like SCCM or SCMDM) has been somewhat of a challenge.  I finally found it:

 For the Matrix below:
E2K3 SP2 - Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2
E2K7 - Exchange 2007
E2K7 SP1 SCAL - Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 with Standard Client Access Licence
E2K7 SP1 ECAL - Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 with Enterprise Client Access Licence

T-Mobile has an update for Shadow owners:

To find the Handheld Software version:

1. From the Home Screen, press “Start”.
2. Select “Settings”.
3. Continue selecting the “More” option until you see “Device Information”
4. Select “Device Information”.
5. Check the ROM version. If your device software version is not 1.11.531.5, then please download the most recent software version and follow the upgrade instructions.

This software release includes:

1. Five free ring tones from popular movies and musicians.
2. Two free full length songs.
3. An assortment of free phone wall paper images.
4. Audio Postcard, a fun new myFaves connecting experience.
5. Enhanced myFaves and menu graphics.
6. Improved text entry experience.

Get the update here:

http://www.t-mobileshadow.com/update.asp

For the first time in a few weeks, the news is not actually sour for RIM...

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion raised its forecast for fourth quarter net subscriber account additions, putting them about 15-20% higher than the 1.82 million net subscriber account additions it projected in December.

The Waterloo, Ont. company said its BlackBerry subscriber account base is expected to total about 14 million at the end of the fourth quarter.

Research In Motion said the seasonal slowdown in net subscriber account additions that it had expected in the new year didn't occur.

Source

On Thursday, T-Mobile will start offering wired phone service for $10 a month, plus taxes and fees, to its wireless subscribers in the Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

The service, called Talk Forever Home Phone, will provide unlimited local and domestic long distance calls. It will piggyback on the customer's high-speed Internet connection, in much the same way voice-over-Internet providers like Vonage Holdings Corp. sell phone service.

Customers will need to buy T-Mobile's Internet router for $50 when signing up. The router has two phone jacks where standard corded or cordless home phones can be plugged in. An existing home number can be transferred to the new service.

Subscribers will also need to be signed up for a wireless plan costing at least $39.99 a month.

Source

Joshua Karp over a BRG reports:

This is getting a little bit ridiculous, folks. We here at BGR have trouble putting our Blackberries down. Seriously. It’s a problem. That said, we’re getting a little bit frustrated with RIM following the 3rd service interruption in 9 months, and the second in a week. It’s poor form. Following the notorious blackout last year, RIM promised that it would never happen again. Hollow promises, as around 80% of all Berry devices in the continental US have been affected by a service outage that began around 3 am this morning. No carrier has been spared, with reports of crippled devices from Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Nextel, and Sprint. It seems that some users are finally getting back up online, but there’s been no official word from RIM regarding a projected time of resolution. Forgive us, but we’re beginning to question the reliability of our beloved BlackBerries. So sad, they’ve turned into Sidekicks.

At this rate, RIM is becoming their own worst enemy.  If you look at the press reports over the last month or so, it's either lawsuits or outages.

This just arrived:

Dear Sir,

I know that this message will come to you as a surprise. I am the Auditing and Accounting section manager with African Development Bank, Ouagadougou Burkina faso. I Hope that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.

I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($39.5)million to your account within 10 or 14 banking days. This money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim.I want the bank to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer late Mr.George Small who died along with his supposed next of kin in an air crash since October 31st 1999.

I don't want the money to go into government treasury as an abandoned fund. So this is the reason why I am contacting you so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer. Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will give you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 30% of the above mentioned sum if you agree to handle this business with me.

I am expecting your urgent response as soon as you receive my message.

Best Regard,

Mr.Migolo ouedraogo

I'll obviously be contacting him right away.

Microsoft is giving away an 8GB Zune a day...registering to win is easy...and free...through March 31, 2008

Go here

Now if we can only get a price war started...I knew it wouldn't take long...

T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Tuesday it would offer unlimited text messaging and voice calls for $99.99 a month, starting on Thursday February 21.

The company's current offerings include unlimited text messaging for $14.99 and 5,000 minutes of calls for $129.99, according to spokesman Peter Dobrow.

The fourth biggest U.S. mobile service unveiled the plan hours after its two biggest rivals AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless announced unlimited voice plans for $99.99.

Source

Well, I just blogged how long will it take for other carriers to launch their own version of the unlimited calling plans to match Verizon, and AT&T has already announced one.

$99.99 Plan Available Feb. 22 for New and Existing Customers

San Antonio, Texas, February 19, 2008

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today new unlimited voice plans targeted to wireless users who want the predictability of flat rate pricing for unlimited minutes. The plans will be available to new and existing wireless subscribers for $99.99 a month for unlimited U.S. calling on all devices with no domestic roaming or long distance charges. The plans can be combined with any current wireless data plan to give customers the ultimate in wireless freedom.

The new plans, available Feb. 22, can be ordered at one of AT&T's 2,200 company-owned retail stores and kiosks, at www.att.com, or at one of the thousands of authorized AT&T retail locations. Existing customers can choose unlimited calling without extending their contract. New customers have the option of a month-to-month, 12 or 24 month contract.

As with other voice calling plans, AT&T customers can choose from a variety of data and messaging plans to meet their needs. For example, customers with standard wireless phones* can choose a data plan such as $5 for 200 text, picture, video and instant messages or $35 for unlimited messaging and MEdia Net access.

"We are pleased to offer our customers these great new plans that deliver value and simplified pricing," said Ralph de la Vega, president & CEO, AT&T Mobility. "This is a highly competitive market and we're committed to moving fast to meet customer needs."

AT&T customers benefit from the nation's largest digital voice and data network, with 3G broadband available in more than 260 major metropolitan markets. The company recently announced plans to expand its 3G network to 350 markets, including all of the top 100.

For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com

*Standard wireless phones do not include smartphones or PDAs or the iPhone.

I'll post better pictures later today, but I just received a Sprint PCS Samsung Ace today to test.  I like it much better than the AT&T Samsung Blackjack II.  The keyboard is better (much easier to type on and find the right key), and my much missed scroll wheel is back.  I was disappointed when A&T updated the Blackjack and took off the scroll wheel and added the shiny case that holds fingerprints like no other phone I've used.  The Sprint PCS version has the scroll wheel and is a much better casing.  The multi-directional button in the center is also better on the Sprint PCS version.