The industry has moved beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Sprint sold 1.8 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, or just a quarter of the number of iPhones that AT&T did. But it’s actually good news for the nation’s third-largest carrier, which announced its quarterly earnings Wednesday. Read more »
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Sprint isn’t the only new U.S. carrier allowed to sell the iPhone this year. On Wednesday, regional carrier C Spire (formerly known as Cellular South) announced pre-order instructions on its website to buy Apple’s latest smartphone, which means T-Mobile was once again passed over. Read more »
Open Signal Maps has put together an interactive map showing data from thousands of carrier speed tests combined with information known about the iPhone 4S’s chipset. AT&T is the fastest in 31 states, but does that include your state? Check out the map for more details. Read more »
Sprint should be getting the new iPhone when it arrives, and according to a new report, the company is paying for the privilege. Sources close to the deal report that Sprint will pay around $20 billion for 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years. Read more »
Apple may be on the verge of opening its Japanese iPhone sales to another cellular service provider, ending SoftBank’s exclusive hold on the popular smartphone. It’s the latest in a series of exclusivity-ending deals from Apple, and it’s the culmination of an elaborate marketing plan. Read more »
Sprint’s CEO says he doesn’t want to talk about whether the carrier is getting the iPhone. But he’s not exactly going out of his way to deny it, despite several reports that indicate Sprint will be U.S. customers’ third carrier option to buy Apple’s upcoming smartphone. Read more »
Imagine buying your SIM-free mobile phone from a local electronics store, logging in as soon as you turn the phone on for the first time and having the phone ready to use immediately. In the future, even the phone number itself will disappear. Read more »
The shift in networking and the hype around the OpenFlow protocol has led to a a lot of confusion and overinflation of what OpenFlow can do. To get a bit more grounded in reality, I spoke with NEC about what its customers are doing. Read more »
When it comes to the iPhone, the main element that is still out of Apple’s control is the carriers. Jean-Louis Gassee proposed Apple solve this problem by just scooping up a carrier. But patent filings indicate Apple has other plans. Read more »
Carriers are struggling to address the gap between mobile data usage and revenues even as their networks approach capacity. Here’s how they can innovate to better monetize in the era of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
iOS 5 introduces a lot of changes for Apple’s mobile operating system, but iMessages is one of the most significant. It lets iPad, iPhone and iPod touch owners send rich and group messages free of charge. It’s borrows from RIM’s playbook, but also challenges network operators. Read more »
Apple’s next iPhone will be called the 4S, and won’t offer much beyond minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, an A5 dual-core processor and HSPA+ support, according to Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek. The info comes from industry checks performed by the investment banking firm. Read more »
Apple unveiled the iPad 2 today, and I was surprised by at least one thing: Unlike its predecessor, the iPad 2 looks to be locked to a single carrier, even in at least one country where carriers use the same mobile network technology. Read more »
The selling strength of Apple’s iPhone appears not to be waning very much at all with the passage of time, if the Vodafone UK launch of the device is any indication. The newest iPhone provider in the UK, which joins recent entrant Orange and original exclusive […] Read more »
Ask Phil Asmundson what his duties are at Deloitte & Touche and be ready for an earful. As the vice chairman and national managing partner of Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications (TMT), Asmundson helps set the overall TMT strategy for the firm, advises clients directly, […] Read more »
Carriers who fear devolving into dumb pipes have pinned their hopes on becoming “smart enablers,” leveraging assets such as network data and billing systems to keep pace with other players in the value chain. But for that to happen, operators will need to attract the attention ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Handset manufacturers reported disappointing fourth-quarter and end-of-year 2008 results, and carriers are being impacted, too. Despite the bleak current environment, however, the mobile industry is thinking toward the future, and bright spots exist with growing smartphone sales and continued evolution toward 4G ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Oracle’s (ORCL) unsolicited $6.67 billion bid for BEA Systems (BEAS), deemed not enough by the prey, is a sign that the era of mid-sized software companies is coming to an end. Ben Worthen, who writes the wonderful Wall Street Journal’s The Business Technology Blog, sums it […] Read more »