legion125

Sorta long but a good article. I think WiMAX is done with the carriers. But with other industrys that use M2M or have other data needs, this may be a viable solution. http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/special-reports/will-wimax-2-revitalize-wimax-industry

Bloomberg, Taptu, Pulse, Soundhound, SU, Dropbox, Flixster, Barcode Scanner & Parcels

Car maker

The more I look at the numbers, the more I see how deep of a hole Sprint has dug with the iPhone and NV. Although its still a mixed bag of good and bad, I'm begining to wonder how long it will take or if Sprint can dig themselves out of this?

Looking at the map, besides Chicago, I thing Samsung will either hit the NW or upper Mid-West (Wisconson/Minnisota) next and A/L will have to have a SoCal city in the mix. Someone in either of those areas will be in the final four. I think Ericsson has filled its quota for the initial rollout.

Say goodbye to roaming on LTE if the Big Two get their way. It will never happen.

AT&T did something similar for the iPhone to keep people locked in contract up to the iPhone 4 if I remember correctly. Subsidy wise I'm sure Big Blue took a hit. Sprint would be wise to consider this or something. I've mentioned before that they will have a fire sale several months before LTE is on and/or when the LTE phones ar launched.

The next big leap will be for the chips to be able to accomodate all the different frequencies on LTE that the carriers will be using. Sprint will be using 3 in the 800/1900 and eventually 2500 spectrum, ATT & Verizon have more. If the FCC ever gets around to having the carriers make roaming agreements, then the phones can exploit the true benefits of LTE coast to coast. Otherwise the carriers will be building a lot of towers to provide nationwide coverage. Can you imagine when VoLTE becomes the standard? Once your out of network coverage you phone becomes a paperweight.

Funny, Sprint just made a passing comment about Clearwire with no details about its TD-LTE testing or planned deployment, and no mention of LightSquared at all.

With KC & Baltimore announced today, only four more to go. The east, south and midwest have been identified so far. I wonder if there will be any representation on the west coast for this summer?

There were a couple of articles out the other day that continue to comment on how AT&T is beginning to throttle unlimited users once they get past 2GB, but if you have a tiered 3GB plan, the sky's the limit until you actully reach your 3GB limit. Looks like a stealth effort to get unlimited users to give up their plans for tiered.

This was just one study and it appeared flawed once you took off the myopic spectacles. Makes since if you take a narrow economoc view that takes away market forces. Probable funded by AT&T so they could say, "I told you so" to the FCC.

I heard hit or miss statements about Anker, and mostly good about Seidio. Let us know how they work, I'm always interested in getting good battery performance although I've never been able to pull the trigger and buy a seidio due to cost.

Dance fever

Interesting article on how the iPhone sucks the life out of carrier margins and bottom lines. Do any of you think the iPhone is worth it. http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/08/carriers-hate-the-iphone/ Carriers hate the iPhone Apple’s iPhone is the most profitable product offered by the most valuable company in the world. With only three iPhone models in its lineup, the Cupertino-based technology giant shipped more smartphones last quarter than any other vendor in the world. Carriers that sell Apple’s sought-after smartphone enjoy huge activation figures each quarter as a result, but activations and unit sales don’t necessarily paint a complete picture. In fact, according to some industry watchers, carriers hate the iPhone. Read on for more. Wireless carriers trip over themselves to offer Apple’s iPhone, especially in the United States. Sprint wanted the handset so badly it was willing to guarantee Apple $15.5 billion over four years for the privilege of selling its sleek smartphone, and it certainly didn’t help matters much in the fourth quarter when Sprint posted a $1.3 billion loss. T-Mobile is still sour over failed negotiations with Apple, and the carrier has resorted to offering up free microSIM cards to iPhone users willing to come aboard and forgo 3G data speeds. “A logical conclusion is that the iPhone is not good for wireless carriers,” Nomura Securities analyst Mike McCormack told CNNMoney. “When we look at the direct and indirect economics that Apple has managed to extract from the carriers, the carrier-level value destruction is quite evident.” The site notes that Verizon Wireless’s EBITDA service margin has dropped from an average of 46.4% per quarter to 42.2% since the carrier added the iPhone to its lineup one year ago. But the iPhone is a necessary evil for carriers that some expect to pay off in the long run. Sprint on Wednesday reported its best quarter in more than six years for net subscriber additions thanks to the 720,000 new postpaid subscribers who came to the carrier for the iPhone. Some analysts also believe carriers will eventually raise their price points on the iPhone; despite the handset’s high cost to Apple’s partners, the iPhone 4S currently starts at $199 on contract to the end user while the iPhone 4 is available for $99 and the iPhone 3GS is free on contract from AT&T. Regardless of what the iPhone is doing to carriers’ bottom lines, it remains the best-selling smartphone in the world and it likely will for some time. Apple is expected to launch a completely redesigned iPhone later this year that will reportedly feature a unibody aluminum case, a 4-inch display and 4G LTE connectivity.

Interesting facts. More in depth comments may come later as more delve into it. Sprint sold 1.8 million iPhones; 40% from new customers. Sprint added 161,000 subscribers while analysts predicted 272,000. What direction do you think Sprint is going? http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-sprint-idUSTRE8170UH20120208 Sprint loss widens on iPhone costs (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel (S.N) posted a bigger loss, reflecting the higher costs of selling Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone. But the loss was smaller than expected because its signed up fewer subscribers than expected. Since Sprint subsidizes the cost of some of its phone sales, its costs rise and profit dwindles the more customers it wins. But since subscriptions fell short of expectations, its loss was smaller than expected. Sprint's loss was 35 cents per share excluding unusual items compared with Wall Street expectations for a loss of 37 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Its profit margin based on operating earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) fell to 9.5 percent from 16 percent a year earlier but beat expectations for 8.6 percent, according to eight analyst estimates Reuters compiled. "It's still unbelievably depressed and subscribers were below expectations," said Roe Equity Research analyst Kevin Roe who also noted that Sprint's targets for the full year were not particularly impressive. The margin decline was hurt by the hefty cost of selling the iPhone. Sprint's rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc (T.N) also struggled in the fourth quarter with rising costs. Sprint added 161,000 total net subscribers in the quarter compared with the average expectation for 272,000 additions from eight analyst estimates compiled by Reuters. But it sold 1.8 million iPhones in the quarter, 40 percent of which to new customers. Sprint's loss widened to $1.3 billion, or 43 cents per share, from $929 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $8.72 billion from $8.3 billion and was slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations for $8.69 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sprint forecast full-year net service revenue growth of 4 percent to 6 percent and forecast 2012 adjusted OIBDA between $3.7 billion and $3.9 billion.

Maybe AT&T was right? http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/study-fewer-wireless-carriers-may-be-better-consumers-if-spectrum-scarce/2012-02-07

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Sprint has signed up Elevate partners for new MVNO and will provide voice and data services to consumers and businesses as well as the latest Android and Windows-based devices to over 274 million consumers on both a prepaid and postpaid service basis. Sprint appears to be in a growth period with it resigning and bringing new business to its network. I'm sure Hesse is happy with the new revenue streams although we may feel it short term with the additional traffic on the network. I'm hoping with these compaines bringing revenue, Sprint wil lay off nickel and diming we the consumer. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120207005618/en/Elevate-Partners-Sprint-Offer-Nationwide-Mobile-Telephone Elevate Partners with Sprint to Offer Nationwide Mobile Telephone Service and Best in Class Devices SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elevate, Inc. (OTCBB:ELEV) today announced an agreement with Sprint Nextel Corporation whereby Elevate will sell mobile voice and data services to consumers and businesses using the Nationwide Sprint Network. Elevate’s MVNO agreement, which was executed at the end of December, will enable the Company to provide mobile network connectivity and the latest Android and Windows-based devices to over 274 million consumers on both a prepaid and postpaid service basis. “We’re excited to offer our customers exclusive Elevate rate plans, reliable coverage and innovative products through our new relationship with Sprint,” says Wright Thurston, Elevate CEO. “This contract makes it possible for us to bundle Elevate branded mobile voice and data connectivity with our other digital services in such a way as to offer additional savings off our already competitive Stack service plans.” As a digital services integrator, Elevate is able to provide comprehensive service ‘Stacks,’ or product packages that are customized based on a consumer’s particular needs. Unlike other popular bundled offerings, the component services in an Elevate Stack aren’t exclusive to any single delivery network or partner provider. In other words, Elevate customers can save even more on their home automation, digital television, wireless broadband Internet, and digital telephone services by signing up for Elevate mobile. In addition to rounding out the Company’s digital services offering, the Sprint contract also provides a key benefit to current Elevate home automation subscribers. Through Elevate’s mobile application, Smart Home customers can access their security and monitoring systems, they can view recorded and live video feeds; arm and disarm door and window sensors; lock, unlock and open access points like windows, doors and garage doors; and view intruder or status alerts. Rod Place, Elevate COO, explains, “Our mobile application and in-home technology give our customers a lot of control over their homes, even when they are not in them. That control, however, is subject to the quality and consistency of the network over which the application communicates. Sprint’s network is massive, reliable and affordable. It makes our Smart Home product that much better.” Velocity Internet, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Elevate, Inc. is the contracting party

I don't know if Amazon would allow a carrier to sell the Kindle Fire. I haven't heard of any plans to make the Fire 3G compatible and Amazon likes to route all its traffic through its site and not other channels. Fire consumers are also not seen as power users as yet, and they mostly use its Wi-Ficonnection for video streaming and web browsing which we all know 3g sucks for video, so I don't know if there is a market for expanding. However, Amazon is considering opening a brick & morter store so who knows, it may be ready to open other channels.

I'm curious about what timeline MS will use in debuting WP8. Hopefully more will be forthcoming at the MWC. So far, I'm not impressed with MS's release schedule. The Mango update was extreamely late and MS in my eyes has a lot to prove in keeping promised updates and support. So far, I would lump them in with Samsung. A lot of talk and promises, but poor execution. IMO Google is not far behind.

Rooting certainly eliminates the need to get better phones as long as the phone can support all the new ROM flavors out there. Every once in a while you see a phone you must have, and this would be an inexpensive way to get it. I may consider it if Sprint ever offers it and if the T&C is reasonable.

I think the all white GSll and iPhone looks a lot better. Perhaps it's just me, but a white back cover and a black front and bezel just doesn't work for me. The Nokia 800 is coming out with a similar design and looks a little better than the GN. http://www.bgr.com/2...ter-this-month/ http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/06/samsung-announces-white-galaxy-nexus-available-february-13th-in-the-uk/

You can see several reports on HTC's 4th quarter ernings failing to meet analysts expectations. HTC admits it made mistakes and is reformulating its mix and expects to turn things around during its next product cycle. Do you think HTC can pull it off? http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/06/htc-admits-its-bulky-quick-dying-lte-phones-kinda-suck/ HTC admits its bulky, quick-dying LTE phones kinda suck After a long streak of skyrocketing earnings, HTC's climb towards the stars seems to have stalled. Q4 was not kind to the company and CFO Winston Yung thinks he knows the reason why. During the today's earnings call Yung admitted that HTC "dropped the ball" with its selection of LTE devices. He conceded that the bulky handsets simply failed on a design and spec level -- especially when it came to battery life -- and were not selling nearly as well as expected. Unsurprisingly, the company promises to turn its fortunes around with the next product cycle, which is rumored to kick off at MWC with the Ville.

RIMM has to do something. If they can't get any traction from the developer side, its just another nail in the coffin. MS has been providing cash incentives for developers to work on WP and it appears to be working. I think MS is ahead of RIMM in the app department by 20,000.