Rumors & Releases: iPhone Coming to Verizon?
Verizon's coverage is generally perceived to be larger and better than that of AT&T's
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PrintWhile AT&T has been pulling out all stops to keep the iPhone exclusive for an extra year - extending the deal to 2011, which is now scheduled to expire next year - it might not be enough. The rumors are that Verizon and Apple are talking, and this could mean a Verizon version of the iPhone sometime next year.
USA Today reported this week that Verizon was engaged in high-level discussions with Apple management for some time, meaning that AT&T might be not be able to get that extension. Of course, even if Verizon is a go it won't be a matter of just switching service exactly. Apple's iPhone was built for AT&T's GSM network, while Verizon's is CDMA.
To date, the iPhone has been a huge success for AT&T, bringing in about 1.6 million customers in the final quarter of last year, and according to reports about 40 percent of those customers were new to AT&T. And while the phone would be expensive to replace, should a customer decide to make the jump from AT&T to Verizon; that is a serious possibility.
Verizon's coverage is generally perceived to be larger and better than that of AT&T's. And even that Apple fans are usually happy to shell out for the newest and latest, which could mean a lot of customers jumping ship, especially if the Verizon iPhone has any significant features or improvements. We'll be watching this development very closely.
British Android Invasion
In the 1960s America faced the "British" invasion, which wasn't armed troops, but rather mop-topped musicians who followed the footsteps of The Beatles. But now the U.K. is facing its own invasion of sorts, and this time it is of the Android variety. That might be fitting given that our friends in the U.K. have always had a keen interest in all things science fiction dating back to H.G. Wells and extending to the likes of Doctor Who (and for the record I do think British sci-fi is superior to the American variety).
But back to the point: the T-Mobile G1 has sold nearly 100,000 units in Britain in the last six months, surpassing sales of all other T-Mobile UK handsets. And while we stateside have to wait and hope for the Samsung i7500 to arrive, T-Mobile rival Vodafone will begin selling the Magic, the second Android-enabled phone from HTC, the Taiwan-based handset maker of the G1. Likewise, T-Mobile has confirmed that it will be unveiling a second Android phone this summer, likely the i7500. The Android invasion appears to be in full swing.
Opera-Mini Usage up 157 Percent
Here is a bit of trivia for today. It was on this date in April of 1994 that engineers at Opera Software began work on the first true Web browser. And while Netscape and Internet Explorer would overshadow this and other early browsers, such as Mosaic, the Internet has become such a part of our daily lives that we seldom take the time to think about it. Likewise, it was just 15 years ago that the Internet was something few knew about, and fewer even used.
And while Opera Software remains a niche player today, some 40 million people still use its desktop browser software. More importantly, the company is a much more significant player in the mobile space, and has seen 157 percent year-over-year growth of its Opera Mini browser.
Some key findings of the Opera State of the Mobile Web report:
USA Today reported this week that Verizon was engaged in high-level discussions with Apple management for some time, meaning that AT&T might be not be able to get that extension. Of course, even if Verizon is a go it won't be a matter of just switching service exactly. Apple's iPhone was built for AT&T's GSM network, while Verizon's is CDMA.
To date, the iPhone has been a huge success for AT&T, bringing in about 1.6 million customers in the final quarter of last year, and according to reports about 40 percent of those customers were new to AT&T. And while the phone would be expensive to replace, should a customer decide to make the jump from AT&T to Verizon; that is a serious possibility.
Verizon's coverage is generally perceived to be larger and better than that of AT&T's. And even that Apple fans are usually happy to shell out for the newest and latest, which could mean a lot of customers jumping ship, especially if the Verizon iPhone has any significant features or improvements. We'll be watching this development very closely.
British Android Invasion
In the 1960s America faced the "British" invasion, which wasn't armed troops, but rather mop-topped musicians who followed the footsteps of The Beatles. But now the U.K. is facing its own invasion of sorts, and this time it is of the Android variety. That might be fitting given that our friends in the U.K. have always had a keen interest in all things science fiction dating back to H.G. Wells and extending to the likes of Doctor Who (and for the record I do think British sci-fi is superior to the American variety).
But back to the point: the T-Mobile G1 has sold nearly 100,000 units in Britain in the last six months, surpassing sales of all other T-Mobile UK handsets. And while we stateside have to wait and hope for the Samsung i7500 to arrive, T-Mobile rival Vodafone will begin selling the Magic, the second Android-enabled phone from HTC, the Taiwan-based handset maker of the G1. Likewise, T-Mobile has confirmed that it will be unveiling a second Android phone this summer, likely the i7500. The Android invasion appears to be in full swing.
Opera-Mini Usage up 157 Percent
Here is a bit of trivia for today. It was on this date in April of 1994 that engineers at Opera Software began work on the first true Web browser. And while Netscape and Internet Explorer would overshadow this and other early browsers, such as Mosaic, the Internet has become such a part of our daily lives that we seldom take the time to think about it. Likewise, it was just 15 years ago that the Internet was something few knew about, and fewer even used.
And while Opera Software remains a niche player today, some 40 million people still use its desktop browser software. More importantly, the company is a much more significant player in the mobile space, and has seen 157 percent year-over-year growth of its Opera Mini browser.
Some key findings of the Opera State of the Mobile Web report:
- Page views have increased by 17.4 percent since February
- Year-over-year page views have increased by 255 percent
- In March, Opera Mini served 148 million MB of data to handsets
- Nigeria edged into the top 10 countries with Opera Mini usage, again suggesting that in remote parts of the world the mobile handset is the primary device for accessing the Web
- The mobile Web is seeing major growth in Latin America, where the number of unique users increased by 164 percent, while page views in the top 10 countries listed increased by 673 percent!
