AT&T details transition for acquired Alltel customers
Yes, Verizon got the lion's share of Alltel's peeps post-merger, but AT&T is reaching out to the handful of customers it scored as a result of Verizon's divestitures and offering them deals on handsets in an effort to get them switched over to GSM in a smooth, timely fashion. Though owners of different Alltel phones are getting mailings offering different replacement devices (a Tritan owner is getting dumbphone promos and a Hero owner is getting what you see above, for instance), it would appear all upgrade deals apply to all customers making the transition, regardless of device
Categories: BlackBerry, htc, Mobile Phone Tags: acquisition, all-customers, Alltel, BlackBerry, engadget-mobile, entry, lion, make-the-switch, mobile, Switch, Transition
Google exec calls Android acquisition its ‘best deal ever’
It's easy to forget at this point, but Android wasn't a Google creation. Google bought the company in 2005 for an undisclosed sum (estimated to be around $50 million) and, well, let's just say things worked out pretty well for them
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: acquisition, attendees, david-lawee, engadget, entry, exec, initial, result, rubin, skepticism, undisclosed, vice, vice president
Sprint’s Hesse commits to phasing out iDEN
Echoing sentiments of Sprint's senior VP of networks from last month, CEO Dan Hesse has said that the company will be saying goodnight to its aging push-to-talk network -- iDEN -- that it inherited from its Nextel acquisition several years ago, "just like 1G was shut down." Of course, the difference between 1G cellular and iDEN is that iDEN still holds a very unique position in the wireless marketplace: even though it sucks for data, it's really the only popular, successful way to route push-to-talk over a cell network of any kind. To that end, the company is actively soliciting bids to build out CDMA 1X Advanced right now, which may allow the company to have another go at moving its PTT services over to a CDMA-based technology (the first attempt, QChat , already failed).
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: acquisition, already-failed, ceo, efforts, engadget, entry, hesse, marketplace, ptt, result, sentiments, services
BlindType acquired by Google, Android typists grin uncontrollably
The note's short and sweet, but it confirms that Google 's buying spree is still on -- BlindType was just acquired by the Big G.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: acquisition, bigwigs, blindtype, google-android, googleandroid, guess, imagination, industry, innovation, intelligent, ipad, keyboard, spree, touch typing
Intel gobbles up Infineon’s mobile unit in $1.4 billion deal, looks to ‘accelerate 4G LTE’
Infineon , the company behind the baseband chips inside your super-duper new phone , is about to cash out from the wireless industry courtesy of Intel's insatiable appetite . The Wireless Solutions Business (WLS), which accounted for nearly a third of Infineon's €3 billion ($3.83b) revenue last year, is being sold to the American chipmaker for a cool $1.4 billion. For its part, Intel is quick to reassure the world (and its antitrust authorities) that WLS will continue to operate as a standalone business and continue to support ARM-based devices.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: acquisition, baseband chip, basebandchip, connectivity, insatiable, intel, laptop-products, mobile connectivity, mobileconnectivity, news, not-neglecting, result, the-processing, wireless, wirelesssolutions
LightSquared does LTE and satellite connectivity wholesale, Nokia Siemens to do the heavy lifting (video)
Chances are you're a little sick of different carriers having different qualities of service in different areas of the country, and have probably wondered at some point: "Can't we all just get along?" The answer is no, we can't, but LightSquared is looking to launch something of an alternative. It's starting a multi-billion dollar wholesale LTE deployment that will run coast-to-coast in the United States, covering 90 percent of the population by 2015.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: acquisition, heavy, lightsquared, network, networking-bits, networks, population, siemens, states, united
Apple, RIM, Google all bid on Palm?
We're having a hell of a time believing this, but BusinessInsider's Dan Frommer is citing "a source familiar with the negotiations" as saying that RIM, Google, and Apple -- yes, Apple -- were all in the mix for Palm at one point or another as the bidding war went on earlier this year. We all know how that story ended up playing out , but prior to HP's winning bid, RIM allegedly made a generous offer and could've ultimately come away with the prize had it not failed to re-up the bid (and may have even reduced it, looking at Palm's SEC filings) after HP made its move. For its part, Google apparently made some not-too-serious moves, primarily in a perceived head game with Apple.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: acquisition, apple, been-interested, entry, game, iphone, research-in-motion, rim, sizable-patent, source-familiar, takeover, web os
Sprint’s Hesse: there’s ‘logic’ to a T-Mobile merger — if they both move to LTE
Sprint's riffed about the possibility of migrating to LTE in the past -- as has its 4G partner, Clearwire -- so it's no big surprise to hear CEO Dan Hesse tell the Financial Times today that he's still open to the idea down the road, possibly side-by-side with the company's existing WiMAX deployment thanks to its deep spectrum holdings. What's far more interesting, though, is his concession that there's "logic" to exploring a merger with T-Mobile USA in the event that they both move to LTE for their next-gen networks
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: 2008-on-grounds, acquisition, ceo, dan, dan hesse, danhesse, entry, financial, hesse, past, surprise, telekom, usa
Palm files 8-K with SEC on merger, VP of PR Lynn Fox leaving
Okay, we've got lots of Palm news tonight, so take our hand and let us walk you through it. For starters, the company filed a 8-K report with the SEC today, which is a requirement when major changes (e.g. a merger with HP ) are happening.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: acquisition, caitlin spaan, engadget, entry, jon-rubinstein, lynn fox, palm, palm-though, paperwork, public-relations, relations, rubinstein
AT&T seals deal on Verizon’s divested Alltel markets
It took a good, long while, but AT&T has finally closed on its acquisition of the markets Verizon was required to divest in order to get the government to agree to its purchase of Alltel early last year. For most customers, the move has no practical impact -- the markets are mostly rural -- but for affected folks, it means that they'll be able to "select a device comparable to their existing device at no additional cost" as markets get upgraded over the course of the next 12 months. Interestingly, all of the markets will be getting the 3G treatment, a sharp departure from AT&T's typical strategy of keeping unpopulated areas on EDGE -- but it probably makes sense to get them up and running on 3G since the network's got to be built up from scratch anyhow
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: acquisition, affected-folks, Alltel, deal-on-verizon, entry, existing, government, markets, network, rural cellular, verizonwireless