t-mobile on SWiK

T-Mobile's Android-based phone to compete with the iPhone

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:57:06 -0700

According to the New York Times T-mobile will soon offer the Android-based mobile phone. Googles Android mobile phone platform is said to be a major competitor for Apples iPhone and will even feature an app store of it’s own. The high-end phone ...

FCC Greenlights First Android Phone (HTC Dream)

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:07:51 -0700

The only thing holding back the launch of the first Android-powered phone, the HTC Dream, was approval from the Federal Communications Commission. That approval has now come through, and T-Mobile can launch the phone. The filing asks for a November 10 release date, but (as Matt Marshall at VentureBeat points out) T-Mobile could launch it earlier.

This means that Android will be on track to debut before the holiday shopping season. The device is expected to have a touch screen, WiFi, a “jogball” (like on a Blackberry), a full Web browser based on the same WebKit as Safari on the iPhone, and Google apps like Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. It should be fab.

But don’t expect it to catch up to the iPhone anytime soon. At least Android will finally be in the game, though, and the other Android phone manufacturers and carriers will be able to learn from any missteps that the HTC Dream makes. On the other hand, if the Dream lives up to its name other Android partners might hurry up and launch their devices as well.

Update: There are also some signs that Google may be getting ready to release an updated software development kit so that apps can actually be made for the device. (That would be a good idea).

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T-Mobile Is Dreaming Of Android Riches. And It Might Have To Keep Dreaming.

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:06:21 -0700

The long wait for the first Android phone should be over this fall, when T-Mobile is expected to release an HTC phone based on the Google-backed mobile operating system called the Dream. Following up on growing rumors online, the New York Times has confirmed that T-Mobile is hoping for a pre-holiday launch. (FCC approvals seem to be the last hurdle). The Dream is expected to have a Sidekick-like keyboard that slides out, and will be the first phone to run Android apps. There is even a shaky YouTube video going around purporting to show the Dream (see below)

Originally there were supposed to be a whole slew of Android phones by the end of the year, but they were all pushed out until 2009, with the sole exception of T-Mobile. Add to this another rumor that T-Mobile is going to offer an iTunes-like App store for mobile software across all of the phones it carries, and you can start to see how things are going to change in the mobile industry. Of course, if T-Mobile does replace the conventional deck on its phones with a more iPhone-like selection of apps, the most fully-featured (i.e., Android ones) will shine.

But don’t expect the HTC Dream to outshine the iPhone. This will be the first of many Android phones, and it won’t have the benefit of being designed soup-to-nuts by one detail-obsessed company. It will take an army of Android phones across many carriers and countries to start to seriously challenge the iPhone.

And frankly, it is difficult to find mobile software startups excited about making Android apps at this point. This is a platform war. If there are no compelling apps for Android, nobody will buy the phones. All of that could change the instant that an Android phone is on the market, but my sense is that most developers are taking a wait-and-see approach. (Especially since very few of them have access to the latest Android software developer kit—a sure-fire way to frustrate and alienate them).

Last month at the TechCrunch Mobile Web Wars roundtable, nobody seemed to care much about Android. It was like pulling teeth just to get people to talk about Android. Watch the video below from that panel with Pandora CTO Tony Conrad and Michael Arrington debating how important Android is, or isn’t:

And here’s that dreamy video of the HTC Dream (or not):

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Sources: HTC's Google Android phone is "weeks away" from launching

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:16:05 -0700

The Android is coming, The Android is coming!! ;-)

GooglePhone: Will electric sheep have Android Dreams?

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:15:03 -0700

"Updated: T-Mobile USA Will Ditch The Traditional Deck To Mirror Apple's App Store" By Tricia Duryee

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:05:29 -0700

Starting this fall, T-Mobile USA will take the extraordinary step of ditching its traditional deck on the phone and replacing it with a platform that's open to almost any developer, multiple sources have told us. Think of *Apple's* App store, but for the...

Tough Times Ahead for U.S. Phone Companies?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:05:20 -0700

The second-quarter 2008 financial reports are in –- and the tea leaves aren’t showing a sunny future for phone companies. While their financials today look bearable, economic and demographic trends are acting as gale-force headwinds for the future. Here are some of the major issues they’re facing:

A slowing economy means people are choosing wireless phones over landlines, resulting in increased access line losses. That, in turn, is reducing the number of people the phone companies can convince to switch to their higher-speed networks and video services.
Cable’s triple-play bundles, which include higher speeds and voice, are starting to resonate with the residential customers, leading to further landline losses.
Phone companies’ own higher-speed services are starting to cannibalize their installed base instead of luring customers away from cable companies.

In broadband, cable rules for now

According to Leichtman Research, there were 65.1 million U.S. broadband subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2008, with cable companies getting a larger share of the total –- 35.3 million subscribers. In comparison, phone companies have 29.7 million subscribers.

The two big cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, continue to add broadband subscribers at a furious pace, though their growth rate is starting to lose speed. In contrast, phone companies are having trouble adding subscribers, even as they roll out video and faster networks.

Phone companies’ broadband offerings are taking the shine off their DSL services. AT&T, for example, added 46,000 new subscribers (down from 491,000 last quarter) and 170,000 U-verse subscribers. John Hodulik of UBS Research suggests that when taken together, it lost around 124,000 DSL subscribers.

Verizon is experiencing similar issues. It added 187,000 FiOS Internet subscribers, but the total broadband tally came in at just 54,000 net additions for the quarter — a loss of 133,000 DSL lines, using the UBS method.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Once you hear about a much higher speed Verizon FiOS connection in your neighborhood, why would you want DSL? Cable companies have used this “more is better” mantra to their advantage, offering up all sorts of geewgaws, like Comcast’s Powerboost.

An AT&T spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that speed is only one component of a broadband service and offered up other arguments such as shared capacity and other technical mumbo jumbo to justify that their DSL connections are better. “We offer the best broadband for the price,” he told the Journal.

I was amused, because when you sell broadband, speed is the most critical component — and all these points made by the phone company guys don’t translate too well in the winner-take-all world of consumer marketing.

The divergence between U.S. cable and telephone companies can be easily explained: Cable companies added phone service and offered triple-play service, stealing voice customers from the phone companies. Phone companies are responding to the triple-play threat by rolling out their own video networks, but it is early days and really slow going. Since voice networks are easy to roll out compared with big video networks, phone companies are finding themselves on the losing end of the equation.

Where did my lines go?

As I’ve said before, the biggest problem for phone companies is that they’re losing voice customers at a rapid clip -– either to cable operators or to wireless. Many believe that uncertainty regarding the economy is making people pick a wireless-only option — a theory supported by robust growth in the wireless additions at Verizon (1.5 million net new subscribers) and AT&T Wireless (1.3 million net new subscribers).

This continuous line loss reduces the pool of potential switchers to video and higher-speed broadband services. You want to know how bad it is? Here’s a quick rundown of second-quarter losses: Qwest saw a 10.2 percent decline in residential lines; AT&T an 8.7 percent drop; Verizon lost 8.5 percent (1.4 percent decline in residential switched access lines), and Embarq lines dropped 7.8 percent. All four percentage losses were higher than in the previous quarter.

What phone companies should do

I think between the bluster and hype, the reality is that phone companies are facing an uncomfortable today and an uncertain tomorrow.

Big phone companies should take a cue from Roseville, Calif.-based Surewest Communications, a smaller player that’s been very aggressive about offering broadband at competitive prices, offering higher speeds and, in general, meeting consumer demands. It reported a 1 percent sequential decline in voice lines for the quarter and a 2 percent jump in broadband subscribers. It’s trying hard to compensate for access line losses with VoIP services. The company said that “over 82 percent of existing data subscribers who signed up for VoIP increased their Internet speeds to enhance the overall experience.”

Maybe it’s time for the big boys to let go of their legacy and fully embrace the future — including offering better broadband, advanced services and new voice at prices that are much lower than cable. At least that way they can start to stem the tide of losses.

남쪽계단 : T-Mobile의 오픈 개발 플랫폼 계획

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:13:59 -0700

T-Mobile's Big Idea: An iPhone-Like App Store For Every Phone

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:13:59 -0700

Wireless Results Scorecard

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:14:36 -0700

The four major mobile carriers have presented their 2008 second quarter financial results, and it’s really a tough time to be Sprint. We compiled a quick scorecard after T-Mobile USA reported its numbers this morning, so for an at-a-glance view of which added the most new subscribers (Verizon) or which makes the most money off of each subscriber (Sprint), see below.

AT&T reported Q2 earnings on July 23:

Wireless revenue: $12 billion
Wireless operating income: $3.1 billion
Churn (postpaid only): 1.1 percent
Net adds: 1.3 million
Total subscribers: 72.9 million
Data revenue: $2.5 billion
Average ARPU: $50.60

Verizon reported Q2 earnings on July 28:

Wireless revenue: $12.1 million billion
Wireless operating income: N/A
Blended churn: 1.12 percent, postpaid 0.83 percent
Net adds: 1.5 million
Total subscribers: 68.7 million
Data revenue: $2.6 billion
Average ARPU: $51.53

Sprint reported Q2 results on August 6:

Wireless revenue: $7.7 billion
Wireless operating loss: $142 million
Churn (postpaid only): “just under” 2 percent
Net loss: 901,000
Total subscribers: 51.9 million
Data revenue: N/A
Average ARPU: $53.47 (excludes wholesale customers)

T-Mobile reported Q2 earnings today:

Wireless revenue: $4.85 billion
Wireless net income: $452 million
Blended churn: 2.7 percent, postpaid 1.9 percent
Net adds: 668,000
Total subscribers: 31.5 million
Data revenue: N/A
Average ARPU: $52

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Mobilize — Mobile Web Today and Tomorrow

iPhone | Das neue Apple iPhone 3G im T-Mobile Shop

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:05:25 -0700

fscklog: WLAN-Flat: Tipp zur Nutzung der T-Mobile-Hotspots

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:47:50 -0700

fscklog: WLAN-Flat: Tipp zur Nutzung der T-Mobile-Hotspots

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 08:46:50 -0700

T-Mobile iPhone site

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:06:26 -0700

teltarif.de News: T-Mobile stoppt wegen Lieferengpässen Werbung für iPhone 3G

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:53:12 -0700

Use your music (MP3's), photos, pictures, and animations to create ringtones and graphics for free: online, without needing software for your computer. Supports most popular cellphones, including the new Apple iPhone! (Mobile17 is a ringtone maker).

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:57:54 -0700

<sep/>without needing software for your computer. Supports most popular cellphones, including the new Apple iPhone! (Mobile17 is a ringtone maker).

On WiFi, T-Mobile, Starbucks & AT&T Make Up, Drink Coffee

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:19:49 -0700

Now that was fast! T-Mobile which had sued Starbucks last week over the coffee chain partnering with AT&T and offering free WiFi has settled with the Seattle-based coffee giant. The terms of the settled were not revealed, though I think the iPhone 3G launch might have made AT&T push some buttons and get this whole thing resolved. We are hardly surprised by this out of court settlement: 53% (62 out of 111 votes) of the respondents to our poll basically picked “out of court settlement” as a likely outcome.

TMobile Minutes Used Firefox Extension

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:02:11 -0700

T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over Free Wifi

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:54:58 -0700

What do they say – one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Looks like that was for T-Mobile USA that has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, which had recently switched over from T-Mobile to AT&T.

AT&T offering free WiFi at Starbucks locations is putting the hurt on T-Mobile’s WiFi business, prompted the lawsuit. (Hey Ma Bell, thanks for listening to our suggestion about free Wifi. ) At the time of the original WiFi announcement all three parties – Starbucks, T-Mobile and AT&T – made polite noises about getting along and impacting each other’s business.

Predict The Outcome Of T-Mobile Vs Starbucks Suit

Even though, only two markets (San Antonio, TX & Bakersfield, Calif.) have switched to AT&T, T-Mobile is chagrined that Starbucks & AT&T are offering a free WiFi promotion. ( Rest of the Starbucks’ stores still use the T-Mobile network. As a result the free offer breaches most of the agreements put in place between the three parties.

“Our wifi business is a key component of our strategy as we are looking at it to build our TMobile@Home offering,” Peter Daobrow, spokesperson for T-Mobile said in conversation this morning, The company plans to have about ten T-Mobile@Home devices by end of this year. He wouldn’t say how much his company is going to lose because of Starbucks actions. “After six plus years of our relationship this was quite a disappointment. They didn’t involve us even though it does impact us financially.”

The fact that a coffee seller has become a key pawn for two telecoms is amusing. First, the free WiFi is vital for AT&T, which might be facing the worst kind of network usage with the launch of 3G iPhone. They need to offload as much traffic off the 3G network to WiFi networks, whether at home, work or at Starbucks. T-Mobile on the other hand seems to make a considerable amount of money from its WiFi network, which also compensates for its current lack of 3G network. [Full lawsuit embedded below the fold.]

T-Mobile Vs Starbucks Lawsuit - Upload a Document to Scribd

T-Mobile, Sprint Together? Just Say No…Now

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:42:29 -0800

Merrill Lynch analysts suggest that because of a strong euro and looming price wars, Deutsche Telekom might make a bid for beleaguered Sprint and add it to its T-Mobile USA unit. In theory it may seems like a wonderful idea. In reality, if this deal happens, then it is going to be worse than a Las Vegas wedding after a night-long binge! The combined company will operate four different kind of networks — iDen, CDMA, WiMAX and GSM. Did these analysts forget that the iDEN-CDMA integration has been one of the major reasons for Sprint-Nextel’s troubles?

T-Mobile Backs Femtocell Startup

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:50:52 -0800

T-Mobile International, which is currently using Wi-Fi for its convergence offering in the U.S., has disclosed an investment in Ubiquisys, a maker of femtocells. T-Mobile also said it was trialling the startup’s femtocells in Europe. Femtocells, which plug into an existing broadband connection to provide a signal in places where mobile network coverage is poor, are getting their day in the sun. Google, Accel Partners and Advent Ventures are also investors in Ubiquisys, which has raised $37 million.

Nokia Has Doubts About UMA

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:46:44 -0800

Nokia is uncertain about the future of UMA and may not develop any more dual-band handsets for the standard, according to George Fry, director of technology alignment for the Finnish company. “We’re not seeing use diminishing, but we are seeing deployments level off,” Fry said earlier this week at the Personal Computing and Communications Association meeting.

Fry said that in cases in which an operator such as T-Mobile is trying to fill holes in its coverage without spending more to build out the network, UMA makes sense. But he said he wasn’t aware of any new deployments in the last six months or so. Indeed UMA, a standard that allows for secure hand-off between a cellular and fixed network, has proved somewhat polarizing.

Meanwhile Steve Shaw, associate VP of marketing for Kineto Wireless, notes that UMA is also a key component of femtocells, which are currently en vogue in the telco world. Again, there’s no sense of how wide any sort of femtocell deployment might be, but Shaw, whose company bills itself as the UMA company, isn’t counting the standard out.

While admitting that current UMA deployments requiring dual-mode handsets are few, he points out that Orange does have plans to deploy a dual-band network in the UK, Spain and Poland to augment its program started in France. Maybe UMA will become a useful but limited standard, in a manner similar to the way Infiniband was hyped as a replacement for Fibre Channel and Ethernet, but instead was only adopted by the smaller market for high-performance computing.

Cellular Biz & Its $99 Problem

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:47:35 -0800

I’ve been watching the mobile industry commit hara-kari over the past few days. US Cellular is the latest to join this mad dash to the bottom. Their new $99 unlimited calling plans make me wonder if they have actually thought through this move and its long-term implications.

A friend of mine, a veteran of the long-distance wars who’s worked with the phone companies, both the wired and the wireless kind, described the big three mobile carriers — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — as dumb, dumber and dumbest.

These moves remind him of the crazy 1990s, when Sprint, MCI and AT&T fought over long-distance minutes by offering lower prices and thus slowly destroying their ability to make money to support their bloated infrastructure. It’s pretty much the same situation here — but the pain is going to be felt much sooner.

Here is why: I am one of the high-end customers of AT&T, locked into a 2-year contract for my iPhone. I’ve been paying $99 a month (plus about $40 for data and messaging) for 2,000 rollover minutes, free weekends and evenings.

It’s never been tough for me to go over the 2,000 minute-limit, since my mobile is my primary phone. Result: I end up paying between $25 to $150 in overages, depending on the amount time I spend on the phone. I am the perfect customer, the kind that makes up for the ones at the bottom of the pile who either don’t spend enough money or didn’t care to get big buckets of minutes.

But now I am going to get an unlimited plan. And that is the big question: Why would you as a company limit the amount of money spent by some of your best (and I mean high-spending) customers? I suspect most of the people who are going to sign up for these $99-a-month plans are going to be folks like me — existing customers who are looking to bring their wireless bills under control.

These are particularly attractive options for small biz, startups and web workers. Now your communication costs are pre-determined, which is a good way to budget. I am asking the GigaTEAM to switch to a $99 plan (on offer from whatever mobile operator they use) and also putting the PBX-land line option on hold…forever.

Microsoft Buys Sidekick Maker, Danger

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:45:25 -0800

Update: That Yahoo thing is going to take some time, but acquisition-hungry Microsoft isn’t sitting idle. They have snapped up Palo Alto, Calif.-based Danger Inc. for an undisclosed amount of money. While they are not giving reasons as to why they are buying Danger, I am guessing that the user experience on Danger is a key factor. Danger, as you might recall, is the company behind T-Mobile’s Sidekick device, and was started by Andy Rubin, now leading the Android charge over at Google. The company raised over $134 million in venture funding from the likes of Mobius and Redpoint Ventures. It had planned for an initial public offering, but the recent downturn in financial markets might have prompted a decision to sell out to Microsoft.

I have followed Danger from its early beginnings, back in the day when I was a reporter at Red Herring. Despite having a great solution, the company never became a big player, highlighting the challenges facing a mobile startup, especially one with consumer ambitions. Of course there was the problem of being a closed environment and not fostering an application ecosystem.

The company still gets about 92 percent of its revenues from T-Mobile USA, and has been losing money. For its financial year ending Sept. 30, 2007, Danger had sales of $56 million and losses of around $28 million.

“The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered around individuals and what they like,” said Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, in a statement. Microsoft didn’t outline its plans or the price it paid for Danger when I contacted them.

Update: I just got off the phone with Scott Rockfeld, Group Product Manager at Microsoft’s Mobile Communication Business. I tried to pin him down on why they were buying Danger and what kind of synergies were they expecting. All he would say was “In the short term we will continue the current product lines and we will work on trying to integrate the two platforms.” The motivation, as suspected was Danger’s consumer focus and consumer expertise. Clearly, Microsoft needs help and Windows Mobile has been relegated to the Business segment

T-Mobile Internet on your Laptop, PocketPC, Smartphone, Blackberry, or PDA (using T-MobileWeb & T-Zones) - Gruups.com

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:11:11 -0800

connecting via nokia 5300 [Archive] - Internet Tablet Talk Forums

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:11:27 -0800

N800 Tmobile Internet Help Please [Archive] - Internet Tablet Talk Forums

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:11:17 -0800

T-Mobile Denies Blocking Twitter, Just A Bug

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:26:36 -0800

Over the weekend, bloggers were up in arms over T-Mobile blocking Twitter, prompting some to incorrectly use the network neutrality argument. The company officially noted that there was a technical problem with their third party SMS aggregator. The drama continued, so I asked T-Mobile: Are you really blocking Twitter? Here is what they have to say:

Twitter users are welcome to stay connected through T-Mobile service. Rumors that T-Mobile blocks the service are false. T-Mobile confirmed with Twitter that there was a technical issue between the two companies’ systems that temporarily prevented some customers from utilizing the service this past weekend. That issue has since been resolved and the companies are working to prevent such incidents from re-occurring.

TMobile Minutes Used Firefox Extension

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:36:03 -0800

T-Mobile Will Swap Faulty Sidekick Slide for Sidekick LX

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:43:08 -0800

T-Mobile launched the new Sidekick Slide earlier this month amid much fanfare, only to discover some major design flaws that got the device to reset itself. That really charged up the customers.

The Motorola-made device from Danger Inc. was quickly pulled from the market. T-Mobile today announced that Motorola (MOT) has identified the problem as an “issue relating to the battery contacts.Motorola also has identified and tested a solution which it will implement for existing devices, and incorporate into newly manufactured ones.”Meanwhile, if you bought the admittedly handsome device, then T-Mobile is giving you three options: Exchange it for Sidekick LX (for no extra charge), return it and use the money towards any other phone, or just wait for the fix from Motorola.