Our long, dark, and frequently-ridiculous Verizon iPhone rumor nightmare is over. Verizon this morning at a press event here in New York City confirmed longstanding rumors that AT&T has lost their exclusive arrangement with Apple, and that Verizon will be getting the iPhone. According to Verizon, the device will appear next month and will be CDMA/EVDO only not LTE. According to Verizon, this is the culmination of two years of discussion between the two companies. “We have enormous respect for the company this team has built and the hard-won loyalty they’ve won from their customers,” Verizon COO Tim Cook proclaimed on stage. “This is just the beginning of a great relationship between Apple and Verizon.”

Link to the original article…

Buried in what occasionally reads like a love letter to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Fortune is the latest to proclaim that the iPhone is headed for Verizon, despite Seidenberg himself all but shooting down the possibility last month.

That so many Americans covet Verizon iPhones “is partly a testament to the efforts of Ivan Seidenberg,” insists Fortune, though in really it’s mostly a “testament” to AT&T’s inability to complete phone calls in the New York and San Francisco markets. Between blowing kisses, Fortune reconstitutes rumors already seen elsewhere, such as Apple and Verizon fighting over control, and the fact this first Verizon iPhone will be CDMA, not LTE:

…people familiar with its development say it is a fait accompli. Verizon, sources say, will sell its own version of the iPhone 4, which will work on Verizon’s CDMA-based 3G network. Unfortunately for globe trotters, the first version of the phone likely won’t be built to work outside the U.S. it probably won’t carry a special chip that can turn it into a “world phone.” However, it may have some of the features on the iPad distributed in Verizon’s stores, like live TV for customers of the FiOS cable service.

Apple supposedly won’t even consider an LTE iPhone until 2012, preferring to wait until initial headaches and battery life issues can be negotiated into the iPhone’s traditionally slim form factor.

That may not be a bad thing for say unhappy AT&T iPhone customers that just signed a long term contract to get the iPhone 4. Given AT&T’s new $325 ETFs are pro-rated (slowly reduced each month), waiting for an LTE Verizon iPhone would make more financial sense; assuming you’re an AT&T iPhone customer that can actually make phone calls with the device.

In other words, if Verizon does get the iPhone, expect the subscriber hit AT&T takes to be staggered and more pronounced in 2012, and expect AT&T to repeatedly proclaim the loss as “no big deal” during 2011. AT&T’s remaining confident in the face of non-exclusivity in part due to their new higher ETF, but also because they believe many subscribers are on family and business plans and can’t (or won’t) defect.

Link to the original article…

Out with Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, a 30 year Nokia vet and in with Steven Elop, former president of Microsoft’s Business Division. Due to leave September 20th for his new digs as the Nokia CEO, no replacement has been announced at Microsoft to replace Steven Elop quite yet. Steve Ballmer has released a letter (see below) that announces Elop’s resignation and how Microsoft will continue forward.

CNET – In a late night press release, Nokia said it has hired Elop to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who will leave his position on Sept. 20. Kallasvuo, a 30 year Nokia veteran, will also leave the company’s board but remains non-executive chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks.

“The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success,” Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila said in a statement.

I wonder how this will effect the upcoming Nokia N8, Nokia N9 and MeeGo plans.

[ Links: CNET, Ballmer's Letter to Microsoft Employees ]

Bamboo, Microsoft Windows Phone 7 and a seriously sweet design that makes the Apple iPhone look like a dinosaur… do want.

Following the success of original S-series Bamboo Phone I, Enever Design has developed a modern sophisticated version that uses bamboo casing to imbibe organic aesthetic that compliments the subtle detailing of an ordinary design. The S7 has been outlined with special emphasis on two things. Firstly, the unique camera oriented shape shape which also happens to be the best part of the phone to facilitate handy clicks and secondly, the ability to meet the demands of the soon to be launched Window Phone 7 mobile operating system.

Sporting microSD, micro SIM and micro HDMI, this little mobile monster comes with a 8 megapixel with Xenon flash and is due to come out later this year. Price is not known yet though.

[ Links: Enever Design S7 Windows 7 Phone via The Design Blog ]

Nearly every major global telco plans to embrace LTE, a number of high profile major global WiMax supporters have either shifted from WiMax to LTE or shut down and WiMax’s poster children here in the States, Sprint and Clearwire, have both clearly stated they’ll jump to LTE if the wind blows that way (and it is).

That’s of course not stopping the WiMax 2 (802.16m) standard from being finalized by the IEEE this November, with initial deployments potentially in 2012. Earlier this year Clearwire stated they were in no rush to test the new standard. WiMax 2 can deliver 120 Mbps downstream and 60 Mbps upstream by using a 4X2 MIMO antenna configuration with a single 20 MHz TDD channel.

Link to the original article…

A company, creatively named PS Jailbreak, has come out with what’s called the first USB based jailbreak/hack to allow for the Sony PlayStation 3 “fat” and slim models.

PS Jailbreak is a USB plug and play solution that installs in seconds, keeping your valid warranty seal in tact.

Easy to use installer and GUI takes you step-by-step.

Compatible with all production models “fat” and slim PS3. Supports all regions: USA, JAP, PAL and KOREA

PS Jailbreak disables forced software updates and will never brick your console.

Supports all games (it does not allow backups of Blu-Ray movies, DVD movies, or past consoles games)

Backup games to your internal hard drive or external hard drive through USB and boot directly off GUI. Eliminating the need for expensive Blu-Ray burners and costly blank media.

Play backups off your hard drives 2X as fast as off the Blu-Ray drive. This eliminates lags and glitches to provide you with smoother game play.

Open up your console to a new generation of homebrew applications. Load homebrew apps/games off any USB hard drive/flash drive.

Fully updateable with new features/updates by connecting PS Jailbreak to any computers USB port.

I remember products like this being shown about for the Japanese PlayStation 2, which never came out if I remember correctly. This USB based hack, which promises to work with all existing games, will allow for downloading, backup and installing games to the hard drive. Which reminds me, aren’t Blu-Ray disks about 25GB or so each? That means barely 12 games for a 320GB hard drive.

Better hope they come out with a terabyte drive for laptops very soon. Retails for ouch $125.

Last thought… where is there a homebrew community for the PS3? There are some serious holes in the logic around this device; but it warrants for more research. You know this will get blocked by an upcoming Sony PS3 firmware update. Still interesting though…

[ Links: PS Jailbreak ]

As noted back in January, MagicJack was gearing up to offer a new femtocell product that will allow users to make cheap calls using a GSM-based mobile phone. There’s still very limited technical details about the product, outside of the fact it detects a compatible phone within eight feet of the USB femtocell device, and allows users to make VoIP calls with it.

Back in January MagicJack said the device was supposed to go on sale right around now (present time) for somewhere between $20-$40.

More recently the company started telling blogs that the product is still expected to come out this year but with a new wrinkle: the company’s partnering with an as-yet-unnamed mobile carrier. Except given the technology is GSM based, here in the States obviously the company would have to partner either with AT&T or T-Mobile.

But according to a new article by Peter Svensson of the AP, the project is now “on hold” as finding that partner has apparently proven difficult:

Borislow said plans for the device are now on hold. The device had to use low signal power levels to get around legal restrictions on the use of licensed spectrum, but that also shortened the range and reduced sound quality. He’s now looking for a carrier partner that would allow him to turn the power up.

In other words, neither AT&T or T-Mobile were interested in promoting a technology that could cannibalize their own business models. Of course MagicJack creator Dan Borislow has something else cooked up: he’s launching a software version of MagicJack this week called MagicTalk that offers free calls to landlines or cellphones in the U.S. or Canada.

Link to the original article…

It’s been already noted that Motorola is building an Android-based tablet to be sold by Verizon later this year, with functionality tied to FiOS TV. Now come reports that HTC is building a Chrome-driven tablet computer for Verizon that will launch on November 26.

Tablet mania has clearly infected many ISPs, who will either be offer TV Everywhere Internet video apps for tablets (Comcast, Cablevision, AT&T, Time Warner Cable) or offering tablets themselves later this year. Much like the recent netbook craze, expect ISPs to give these things away at a subsidized price point if you sign a long-term wireless broadband contract.

Update: Verizon today also expanded on their iPad application ambitions today in great detail.

Update: Seems like this was a hoax. Damn.

Link to the original article…

It all started with Microsoft registering “arctouchmouse.com” in March of this year that started the speculation that Microsoft had indeed conjured up a touch variant of their Microsoft Arc Mouse. Now just a few months later, it seems like Microsoft has a bit of a leak and some of the product pictures have surfaced on the Internet, showing their upcoming multi-touch Arc Touch Mouse.

The unconventional looking mouse sports touch-based scrolling, replacing the scroll wheel with a sensor running between the buttons, and like a traditional mouse it can glide over flat surfaces using BlueTrack technology. As its name implies, the device has an arching palm rest to comfortably fit your hand, but the real kicker is that it can also flatten out for easier transportation. There’s also a battery level indicator and ultra-compact nano-transceiver for 2.4GHz wireless connectivity that disappears when not in use in the battery compartment.

Set to go on sale in October – looking like it might be released in Europe first, then the US – for around $69.95, the same price as the Apple multi-touch Magic Mouse.

[ Links: TechSpot, I Started Something ]

Last May leaks emerged that Apple was starting to get serious about their next incarnation of Apple TV which is expected to be a much smaller, simpler broadband-connected device that will cost somewhere around a hundred bucks. Subsequent leaks indicated that the service will be co-launched with a rental service providing TV shows for 99 cents down from the $1.99 Apple charges now for standard-definition programs and the $2.99 it charges for high-definition programs.

Now Engadget has a little more detail, and says the unit won’t be capable of anything higher than 720p. Oh and Apple’s also going to change the name of the unit (which will of course be tied tightly to iTunes and have an app store) from Apple TV to iTV.

Link to the original article…

Back in June, the long-standing, to the point of being utterly ridiculous, rumor that Verizon was finally going to be getting the Apple iPhone popped up at Bloomberg with the outlet claiming “two people familiar with the plans” had confirmed a January launch. Now Techcrunch now claims the rumor may be true, given Apple has ordered a massive number of baseband CDMA Qualcomm chips. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is giving the keynote at CES this year in January, and it would certainly give him something to talk about.

That said, if the Apple iPhone hits in January, battery issues likely mean it won’t be dual mode and won’t be able to run on Verizon’s upcoming LTE network, which by January is expected to be available in 30 markets.

Link to the original article…

An insider recently told Engadget that the company would be ditching unlimited wireless data pricing to shift to a billing model more like AT&T’s as soon as next week. While that wouldn’t be surprising given Verizon’s repeated hints at their interest in such a model, Verizon has also repeatedly said such a change would likely come with the launch of LTE service.

To hear Verizon CFO John Killian tell it, Verizon’s not making any data plan price changes anytime soon. Said Killian on Verizon’s recent conference call:

Our business is continuing to perform extremely well. You have not seen us rush out to make any kind of a change. We will continue to monitor the situation, of course, and look at opportunities that will say what is the best equation for us to drive long-term shareholder value, and we will be very focused on that. I cannot say enough, though, about the opportunity we see ahead given where we are today with smart phone penetration.

Killian then goes on to talk about 4G and note that tiered pricing will, as they’ve consistently said, likely arrive with LTE:

We have indicated in the past, as we move to an LTE world and LTE pricing, we will probably look very hard at tiered pricing, and that continues to be our thinking right now. So more to come on that. By the way, I should say that all of our efforts, all of our plans on getting LTE launched in the fourth quarter are on schedule.

The original Engadget rumor pegged July 29 as the date for the change, so we don’t have long to wait. Verizon LTE isn’t expected to launch anywhere until November 15.

Link to the original article…