T-Mobile

The Cellular industry is a very fast moving and highly aggressive market. While it is very profitable the devious tactics employed by wireless carriers and phone manufacturers keeps advancing towards the point of tipping a legal alarm. This latest bit of news is no different. Apparently AT&T is crippling some Blackberries to please Apple.

If you aren’t familiar with what AT&T has done to carry the iPhone then allow me to fill you in. Besides spending $50 Million on upgrading the EDGE network, supporting Visual Voicemail which is an iPhone only feature, forgoing a subsidized version and sharing monthly revenue there is no question AT&T would rather steer you towards an iPhone, after all if they put so much dedication and money into a phone it can’t go wrong right?

Unfortunately for Research In Motion, the creator of the Blackberry (or Crackberry if the coworker next to you gets a 300 page bill) may have a steep slope to cross if they want to continue offering unrestricted phones on AT&T.

Essentially the GPS function of the upcoming Blackberry 8820 will be crippled due to RIM being a direct… more...

Apple Insider reports that mention of Apple’s iPhone has made its way to T-Mobile Gemrany’s website. Does this mean that T-Mobile has finally worked out a deal with Apple for the iPhone?

Image courtesy of Apple Insider

Via: Apple Insider

There has been reports lately of T-Mobile being the frontrunner for the exclusive contract with Apple to provide iPhones in Europe. The reports cite “sources” saying that Apple has narrowed the search down to Vodafone and T-Mobile. And if that is the case, then surely T-Mobile will prevail as there is no way Apple will sync up Vodafone’s Live! Portal with the iPhones iTunes. But I firmly belive that is not the case.

I believe there is no way that Apple would narrow the scope down to these two companies. T-Mobile has a very small presence in Europe and has little or no presence in Italy, Spain, and France. Even though every analysts has publicly stated how foolish it would be for Apple to sign with only one provider, especially in the more competitive European market, even if that were to happen, it wouldn’t be with T-Mobile.

Choosing one provider may be slightly foolish in the U.S. but it would be suicide in Europe and simply seppuku in Asia. Not to mention the internal strife… more...

Damon Darlin in an article about breaking cell phone 2 year contracts for the New York Times said, “The companies will waive the early termination fee if you die. Pretending to be dead, however, does not work well as a way to break a contract. Sprint Nextel, Verizon and Cingular, for example, may ask for a death certificate. T-Mobile says it does not. ‘They want to take people at their word,’ said Graham Crow, a spokesman for the company.

I have heard some stories of really stubborn cell phone providers who simply will not budge for anyone when it comes to breaking a contract. It must be the Golden Rule when you become a cell phone employee. My current providor is Verizon Wireless so I decided to see if they would ask for a death certificate should I “die and can’t fulfill the rest of my 2-year contract.” I called my local Verizon Wireless branch. In retrospect, I should have scripted this out before i called because basically, I did myself in.

Verizon Wireless: Hello, can you give me your full name… more...

I only found out the other day that the U.S is still predominately using 2.5G standard over 3G standard and, along with trying to keep the cost down, is the reason Apple haven’t included 3G technology on the iPhone.

However over in Europe and especially in the U.K, a phone without 3G is like a new car without iPod integration, it just doesn’t happen (although only 80% of the U.K has 3G active). As it stands companies such as O2 and T-Mobile are hoping to get their mobile internet speeds up to 3.2MBps at the end of this year, although I’d say that was aimed primarily at business users over home users. So how will the iPhone, with it’s 2.5G standard, fit into 3G Europe?

To query this Mad4MobilePhones.com went and asked T-Mobile how the iPhone, not due to be released until October in the U.K and Europe, would fit into their plans. They apparently have strong interest in the iPhone, as do other network operators around here, but are curious to see whether or not Apple would introduce the iPhone with 3G technology, as “It would be… more...