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Bell MiFi 2372 Deactivated, Recalled

James Kendrick — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:45:44 +0000

Novatel may not get enough public airtime, and news coming out today is probably not the kind they want. The MiFi is often touted as one of the greatest innovations for mobile workers, but Bell customers may be questioning that today. Novatel MiFi 2372 owners have been notified by Bell Mobility that a potential danger exists due to swelling batteries and a recall has been issued. The issue is considered serious enough that Bell Mobility shut MiFi accounts down yesterday to prevent the usage of the MiFi 2372.

MiFi owners are being provided a USB stick modem to use for the 6 to 8 weeks it will take Bell Mobility to exchange the battery and battery cover for affected MiFis. It’s good that Bell is providing an alternative modem, although the USB variety requires a computer to use. This shuts out those who might have been using the MiFi to connect the iPad to the web.

Note that other MiFi models are not affected.

Image credit: Engadget

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Vid-Biz: NBC Olympics, 3-D Movies, Livestation

Ryan Lawler — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:18:51 +0000

NBC Is Losing Money on the Olympics Because It Paid Too Much for Them; GE predicts NBCU will generate $250 million less in advertising revenue than it cost to license and produce the games. (TV by the Numbers)

Hollywood Rushes Out 3-D Movies In Wake of Avatar; more than 20 3-D releases are scheduled already for 2010, and additional titles are expected to be announced. (Wall Street Journal)

Livestation Finally Hits iPhone With Live TV Streams; 20 months after previewing an in-development app that would bring its live TV news service to iPhones, Livestation is finally taking its streaming offering mobile. (paidContent:UK)

Epix Shows Mobile Hand; the joint venture of Viacom, MGM and Lionsgate has provided a look at the mobile version of its premium, on-demand movie service that will deliver hundreds of movies to subscribers’ mobile devices. (Multichannel News)

Cablevision Skates Out Interactive TV Mosaic for Olympics; the MSO’s “Olympic Showcase” mosaic presents six video tiles on the screen, five of which show live looks at NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network and Universal HD, with the sixth highlighting an Olympics video-on-demand section. (Multichannel News)

Poland’s Largest Online Portal Selects ExtendMedia for On-demand Video Service; Onet.pl’s OnetVOD has ad-supported and pay-to-view movies, TV series and programs, including more than 2,100 titles available at launch. (press release)

Bell Connects Remote PVR in Time for Vancouver Olympics; Bell has rolled out a national service driven by technology from Sling Media that enables subscribers to schedule their TV recordings from Bell Mobility smartphones or any Internet connection. (Multichannel News)

Exclusivity Ending: iPhone Coming to Bell, Telus in Canada

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:30:15 +0000

First it was Orange and Vodafone in the UK announcing plans to offer the iPhone, thus ending O2′s exclusive deal with Apple, and now another member of the Commonwealth is following suit. In Canada, where Rogers is currently the sole iPhone provider, two of the the other three major carriers, Bell Canada and Telus, have just announced that they, too, will offer the iPhone.

As was the case in the UK, Rogers saw a huge sales surge thanks to the iPhone when it was first introduced in Canada last year when the iPhone 3G was released. Telus and Bell have been playing catch-up ever since, in a market that has traditionally been pretty evenly split.

Too evenly split, if you ask people who live in Canada (i.e., me). Virtually no competition exists in the wireless market because only Rogers, Bell and Telus are allowed to offer service (relative newcomer Virgin is also involved, but they remain a low-cost provider and don’t mess with the big boys too much). As a result, the three rarely make any big moves to try and win away subscribers from the other two, so prices and contract requirements stay high. Very high.

Both Bell and Telus will be adding GSM capabilities to their existing CDMA 3G networks, in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games. The fact that Rogers experienced 7 percent growth over the past year despite the recession, and that iPhone users spend on average one and a half times what the normal wireless customer does per month, probably also had something to do with the addition.

Bell will launch its GSM network beginning next month, and will begin selling the iPhone at the same time, according to sources speaking to The Globe and Mail, and an official release early this morning. It isn’t yet clear when Telus will begin offering GSM service, but the source reports that they will officially announce partnerships with Apple as early as today or tomorrow, and will begin selling the device in time for the launch of its new networks.

Clearly, Rogers hadn’t worked out any kind of exclusivity deal with Cupertino following the launch of the iPhone 3GS, probably owing to the fact that neither of its competitors even had the correct technology in place to allow the iPhone to function. As far as I know, this is the first instance of mobile providers changing the nature of their network rather than just asking a hardware manufacturer for a CDMA version of a device, something which I doubt Apple would respond favorably to anyway.

As of now, Rogers’ pricing for the iPhone is in line with U.S. pricing, but the subsidy is actually heavier because of the exchange rate. The provider does require a 3-year contract from new subscribers, though. It’s unclear yet whether Bell or Telus will offer a better deal. If either did, the iPhone could be the first step towards a drastically changed Canadian wireless landscape.

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Apple Could Partner With Verizon, Rack Up Sales

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:17:25 +0000

More rumors are making the rounds that Apple will soon be breaking up the sweetheart deal that has held until now with AT&T and do some seriously flagrant cheating with rival Verizon Wireless. Sources for the information are cited as “Apple deepthroats” by one outlet, which, while suitably mysterious sounding, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the accuracy of the information. That said, there are plenty of other reasons to suspect that this deal might be very real, not the least of which are the amazing gobs of cash Apple stands to rake in by tapping other providers.

There’s also the corroborating evidence that Apple has been looking specifically for EVDO-CDMA engineers, which is exactly the standard Verizon uses for its wireless network. This upcoming June it will also be exactly two years since the iPhone’s original release, which some said at the product’s launch was the term of the exclusivity deal between Apple and AT&T. Were Apple to announce Verizon availability alongside a new iPhone product launch in June, they would stand to sell a lot more handsets than if they stuck with AT&T, where many customers locked into long-term contracts might be unwilling to upgrade just yet.

If Apple invests in developing a CDMA version of the iPhone, they don’t only stand to gain in the U.S. market, either. International carriers like Bell and Telus in Canada also use the CDMA standard, and would jump at the chance to offer an iPhone since it would allow them to better compete with Rogers (and their subsidiary, Fido), which has seen tremendous gains since adding Apple’s little miracle worker to their lineup. Apple is such a contender in the smartphone arena that the breakdown of exclusivity could even lead to more competition among service providers in terms of data plan pricing, which benefits consumers most of all.

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