MobileBGR is citing a “trusted source” today as saying that AT&T and Nokia plan to retail the upcoming Lumia 900 for $99.99 on contract, which is impressive to say the least. It’s an aggressive price, seeing as most Android phones are starting at $299 now days.
Mobile RIMHere’s something that we wanted to happen a long time ago. RIM CO-CEOs Jim Baalsillie and Mike Lazaridis have stepped down from their position, and COO Thorsten Heins is taking over as CEO. According to The Verge:
There is a divide in tue mobile market between Open and Closed systems. Apple is ofcourse the first example of a closed system in the mobile market while Android boasts about being open. RIM is also another player with a closed system controlling hardware, software and user experience. Now everyone is quick to compare the mobile market to what happened between Apple and Microsoft when Windows dominated the PC market making it the way it is today.
Verizon plans on going all in on LTE, having it become a “hard requirement” for all future devices. Whether it is smartphones, tablet, or mobile hotspots, all future devices will feature 4G LTE connectivity.
Want to hear a joke? AT&T says they will have their LTE network fully built out by the end of 2013. I find this funny because it wasn’t 6 months ago when my area finally got 3G. I can imagine still not having LTE in 2020 at the pace AT&T covers the rural areas.
According to the Verge:
The 2013 timeline matches up with both Verizon’s and Sprint’s plans for LTE completion — though Sprint’s starting with a marked disadvantage, obviously, since it doesn’t yet have a single LTE market turned on.
I bet Sprint beats AT&T.
Remember when paying your bills was simple and free? All it would cost you is the price of a stamp. Verizon is ushering the era where that is no longer true. Starting on January 15th, 2012, if you pay your bill online using a credit card/debit card or over the phone using a credit card/debit card, you will pay a $2 processing fee. There are several ways you can get around paying the ridiculous fee:
According to The Verge, there are some Verizon customers currently experiencing another Data outage. There was a complete network outage just last week, and we made the point then that VZW isn’t as reliable as it used to be. From The Verge:
We’ve cross-checked that report against our own LTE Galaxy Nexus in New York City, and we can confirm that’s not working, either. Verizon’s suffered a number of high-profile LTE outages over the course of 2011 — it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing on the relentless march to 200 million covered Americans.
It looks like the outage at least covers NYC and Chicago. You can expect with a new technology for there to be problems, but this is getting kind of ridiculous. Good thing there is 3G CDMA to fall back on. Let us know if you are also experiencing the outage.
So a couple of weeks ago a XDA Developers member discovered tracking software on some Android phones. The software according to The Verge:
Carrier IQ — it’s loaded up at the kernel level on devices by HTC, Samsung, and others, and creates detailed logs of everything that happens on a phone without user intervention or control.
It was then discovered (yesterday) that this software is also on all iOS devices previous to iOS 4, but it appears as if it is only a diagnostic tool, not something that runs all the time. So what is this really? Carrier IQ is on some Android phones, and it tracks all actions on the phone all the time. What it’s supposed to do is provide analytics to manufacturers and app developers. According to Carrier IQ, its software is preinstalled on over 141 million phones. The XDA member, a security researcher, claims that the software is monitoring every single key you press on your smartphone, reading your SMS, and logging much of the personal data you transmit, too — all with an app that you can’t remove. Carrier IQ issued a C&D order to the XDA member, and then withdrew it, but it still claims that it does nothing inappropriate. There now seems to be indisputable proof that this is a rootkit, meaning that it tracks every key press, every app launched and all data transmitted.
Everyone should note that this wasn’t even that big a story until it was revealed that Apple had this on their devices too. Once that was written about this story got bigger and bigger, even though it was revealed that Apple only uses this software when it is diagnosing problems with a device. In other words, the software is not running unless an Apple employee runs it.
Jump past the break to learn why this is a huge problem for Android.
Let’s face it, Nokia is a great hardware maker. They have never really had great OSs. Symbian is just an okay operating system, and in the last few years it has gotten worse. We can also agree that Nokia hasn’t had a foothold in the United States for years. What’s their problem? Nokia has announced that their Windows Phone devices will NOT launch in North America until early 2012. Which means they will miss the holiday season, which is huge.
I don’t think we can underscore how big a mistake Nokia is making by not bringing their phones to the US until 2012. Since 2007 Nokia has been losing market share in the smartphone industry. The reason is people in developing countries can’t afford a smartphone. Between the incredibly high starting price, and the ridiculously high data rates, people can’t afford it. They buy the featured phones, in which industry Nokia is King. Nobody competes with them worldwide in feature phones. The introduction of their Windows Phone devices don’t change this. These devices will still require the data plan, and still cost a boatload up front. The only places in the world that are buying incredibly expensive smartphones, are the US, Canada, and Western Europe. Of the three, Nokia is only bringing their new phones to one. This is a mistake for both Nokia and Microsoft.
Windows Phone has not taken off. You can’t argue it. Nobody has bought it. The saving grace of this incredibly good platform was supposed to be Nokia. Matter of fact, Nokia needs saving as well. As I wrote above, their Symbian smartphone marketshare has been tanking since the iPhone and Android become hugely popular. It is obvious that the future of mobile is firmly planted in smartphones. Nokia needs to be there, or they need to find a new business to be in. The North American market is the biggest market for smartphones, followed by China. How can this launch save Microsoft and Nokia if they ignore one of the biggest markets for several months? Not only that but they lose the premier buying season. Nobody buys anything in January and February. People are too busy paying credit card bills from Christmas. Read on for more.
