Back in September, British carrier O2 teamed up with HTC and started an initiative to reduce the number of unwanted smartphone chargers in the United Kingdom. The carrier estimated that around 70% of handset buyers already had a charger that would be compatible with their new device, and so it started selling certain HTC devices without them.
O2 is now reporting that the initiative has been a big success. 82% of customers didn’t need to purchase a charger with their smartphone, the company claims, which surpasses its initial expectations for the effort.
AT&T could acquire a European carrier as it looks to expand its business overseas, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company is reportedly looking at way in which it can escape the growth constraints in the United States by entering a new wireless market where it can “upgrade technology and rollout more lucrative pricing strategies.”
Although AT&T is only identifying targets at this point, it’s though the company could announce a deal before the end of the year.
T-Mobile USA will finally start selling the iPhone and enforce its plan to eliminate subsidies in “three to four months,” according to the company’s chief executive, John Legere. It will be the first time T-Mobile has offered in the iPhone in the United States since the handset was first released launched in 2007.
Some carriers don’t appreciate the simplicity of the iPhone and iOS, and they slap big ugly carrier logos in the status bar that just look nasty. I use my iPhone 5 on Vodafone in the U.K., which is guilty of this very thing. Thankfully, there’s finally a way to change your iPhone’s carrier logo without jailbreaking.
T-Mobile customers are quickly jumping ship, turning to rival carriers to bag the iPhone. But on Thursday, the company announced that it will finally begin selling Apple’s immensely popular smartphone from next year, and it is hoping that the move will help it claw back some subscribers. Chief Executive John Legere wants to see it making a positive impact on the carrier’s subscription numbers by 2013.
“It is an aggressive target but we think it is possible,” Legere told reporters on Friday.
Earlier today T-Mobile announced that it will finally start selling Apple products in 2013. As the last major U.S. carrier to not offer Apple’s beloved iPhone, it’s about time T-Mobile joined the cool kids’ table.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has promised that buying the iPhone on his network will be “dramatically different” due to the carrier’s decision to abandon subsidized wireless contracts altogether. This is a huge move that could either make or break T-Mobile, and it will hopefully make buying smartphones like the iPhone a better experience for U.S. customers.
T-Mobile deal could give Apple more than 2 million extra customers in Q1 2013.
T-Mobile is now the only major carrier in the United States that doesn’t offer the iPhone, because Apple’s device isn’t compatible with its 3G network. However, that could be about to change. One analyst believes that T-Mobile will finally get its chance to offer the iPhone 5 from early 2013.
SoftBank will combine with Sprint to become one of the world’s largest carriers.
SoftBank, Japan’s third-largest carrier, has this morning announced that it will acquire Sprint in a deal worth $20.1 billion. The company will purchase $8 billion in newly-issues shares from Sprint, in addition to $12.1 billion in existing shares — giving it a 70% stake overall.
Apple is expected to sell the iPhone 5 directly in India this time around.
The iPhone 5 is expected to launch in India on October 26, more than seven weeks after making its debut in the United States. The device is also expected to come with “wider availability” than previous models, which were hard to get hold of, and should come with a similar price to the iPhone 4S when that first launched in India.
AT&T will make you change plan to use FaceTime over 3G/4G.
When Apple releases iOS 6 tomorrow, it will finally allow users to make FaceTime calls over 3G and 4G data connections. But AT&T has decided — unlike most other carriers — that it’s going to charge its customers extra to take advantage of the feature. Understandably, this has annoyed a lot of people.
So much so that the Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute have warned AT&T that they will be filing a complaint with the FCC against the carrier for violating network neutrality rules.