Hasta La Gadget!

It almost goes without saying that Sprint has probably been opposed to AT&T’s recent proposed purchase of rival cell phone carrier T-Mobile.

Now it’s official.

On Monday afternoon, Sprint issued a press release publicly condemning the potential merger between the two carriers, asking the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. In the release, the company claims a takeover of this proportion “would reverse nearly three decades of actions by the U.S. government and the courts that modernized and opened U.S. communications markets to competition.”

The argument cites an approval as very bad news for Sprint, which would rank in last place in U.S. wireless providers behind Verizon and AT&T if the deal went through:

AT&T and Verizon are already by far the largest wireless providers. If approved, the proposed acquisition would create a combined company that would be almost three times the size of Sprint in terms of wireless revenue and would entrench AT&T’s and Verizon’s duopoly control over the wireless market. The wireless industry moving forward would be dominated overwhelmingly by two vertically integrated companies with unprecedented control over the U.S. wireless post-paid market, as well as the availability and price of key inputs, such as backhaul and access needed by other wireless companies to compete.

But the statement reads as an appeal almost as much to the general public as it does to the government agencies monitoring the case. The company claims the “Ma Bell duopoly” created by the potential takeover will harm consumers “at a time when the country can least afford it.”

AT&T’s statement of intent, issued on March 20, defends the deal in a more attractive appeal to rural cellular subscriber, claiming the extension of coverage to “95% of the U.S. population,” or an “additional 46.5 million Americans, including [those] in rural, smaller communities.”

The deal is still being reviewed by the DoJ and the FCC.

See Also:

• AT&T’s Purchase of T-Mobile Will Face Opposition, Thankfully …
• AT&T to Buy T-Mobile, Becomes No. 1 U.S. Wireless Company …
• With AT&T/T-Mobile, Wireless Net Neutrality Should Be Back on the …
• Ingenio to Keep its NSFW Holdings in AT&T Deal?
• Verizon ‘Not Interested’ in Sprint: CEO

According to an analyst, Apple could be working on a connected HDTV

Gadget Lab Notes is an eclectic roundup of gadget news briefs and intriguing products that catch our eye.

Does Apple Have a Smart TV in the Works?
According to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty they do. She expects Apple to out a “Smart TV” with DVR, gaming, and FaceTime capabilities sometime in 2012 or 2013. Asian component suppliers suggest that they’re in the process of building a prototype. An Apple HDTV set could be capable of snagging a big portion of the connected television market; even if Apple only captured 1% of the TV market by 2013, they’d make about $4 billion in profits.

Analysts See Apple Branded Television Set in 2012 [9to5 Mac]

Anonymous FCC Agent About T-Mo/AT&T Merger: No Way
An unnamed FCC official said there’s “no way” the FCC would approve AT&T’s proposed buyout of T-Mobile. The agency hasn’t begun formally evaluating the proposal, but they plan to look at whether the merger is a benefit to the public. Similar deals have gone through in the past despite such warnings from agency officials.

AT&T Deal May Face ‘Steep Climb’ at FCC [WSJ]

XGear Smart Cover Enhancer Protects the Back of Your iPad 2
For those that want a bit more protection for their new tablet, the XGear Smart Cover Enhancer could be the answer. It is a thin protective case that snaps onto the back of the iPad. It’s easy to install and remove, and ensures your tablet won’t get nicked as it slides across a table or gets transported in a backpack. It’s available in black or clear for $35.

Smart Cover Enhancer Snap Case [XGear via Slashgear]

A Trump-Worthy iPad of Diamonds, Gold, and… T-Rex Bones?
Why settle for a regular old iPad 2 when you can get an $8 million 24 ct gold model? The “iPad 2 Gold History Edition” includes 53 flawless diamonds, a 24 ct Apple logo and 24 ct gold back weighing 2,000 grams (so much for the new iPad’s weight-loss). But that’s not all: the main front frame is made of Ammolite, the oldest rock in the world, with shaved in portions of a 65 million year old T-rex thighbone. It’s finished off with more diamonds inlaid on the front.

iPad 2 Gold History Edition [Stuart Hughes via Oh Gizmo]

Mobiado Concept Aston Marton Phone Is See-Through
The Mobiado CPT002 Aston Martin concept Android phone would feature a capacitive touchscreen on top of solid sapphire crystal. Platinum sidebabars would house the battery, SIM card, and electronics. Fancy! And of course, it’d have integration with your Aston Martin car—it would hook up to the display, showing parking spots, points of interest, automatically update social media sites with photos and stats when you’re on road trips (should you choose), and help control the responsiveness of the airbag and other safety deployments should a crash occur.

Mobiado CPT002 Aston Martin Concept Promises Transparent Touchscreen [Android Community]

Concept Pacifier Would Discretely Deliver Medicine To Your Baby
The Dr. Shuuuuuut pacifier seems like a pretty clever way to effectively deliver medicine to your sick wee one (and nope, my U key did not get stuck). There’s a special chamber within the pacifier that can hold a capsule of medicine. Place a capsule in and twist the cap to release the medicine. As junior sucks, very small amounts are slowly swallowed—theoretically, such small amounts they won’t even notice or taste it.

Dr. Shuuuuuut [Yanko Design]

This is out of left field, but bear with us — it all makes sense, in a creepy, business-y sort of way. First, the facts: a Samsung SGH-T959P just got FCC approval with 3G support on the 850 and 1900MHz bands (it might also support 2100MHz, but we can’t tell from the documents we’ve skimmed in the filing — and since it’s not a US band, the FCC doesn’t really care anyway). T-Mobile’s original Samsung Vibrant was the SGH-T959, and the Galaxy S 4G was the SGH-T959V — so you can imagine that this is another device in the same vein. Samsung SGH product codes that start with “T” and end with “9” are T-Mobile devices… but if this is for T-Mobile, where’s the AWS 3G support?

So here’s our wild theory: T-Mobile and AT&T may have fast-tracked a T-Mobile-branded device — in this case, an offshoot of the Galaxy S 4G — with HSPA+ for AT&T’s bands. AT&T has mentioned this week that one of the first fruits of its planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA will be a roaming agreement that allows T-Mobile customers to use AT&T’s network, and naturally, that would require devices that support AT&T’s spectrum; interestingly, this roaming agreement is going into effect whether the acquisition completes or not, so these guys have to deal with it. We’d doubt that either of these carriers would be keen on releasing yet another variant of the original Galaxy S as we move toward mid-2011 here, but it’s entirely possible that T-Mobile and AT&T employees could be getting these to test the network integration over the course of the year. Crazy, yes… but just crazy enough to be plausible.

Update: Here’s another thought. This could be an HSPA+ device (a la Galaxy S 4G) for a Canadian network, since several of those guys have also deployed Samsung devices that start with “T” and end with “9” — the model number exclusivity to T-Mobile is strictly within American borders. We’ll find out soon enough!

Samsung Vibrant passes FCC again with AT&T 3G bands: a pre-acquisition tester? (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s always one. Back in the winter of 2009, Senator Kerry made public his request for Fox and Time Warner to keep the Bowl Games online, and one Chuck Schumer took to writing an open letter to Steve Jobs regarding the iPhone reception woes that eventually led to a dedicated press event (mostly) disputing the matter. Now, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is urging the FCC and DOJ to “take a close look at the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger,” noting that the outcome would undoubtedly have a huge impact on consumer choice, price and service in the wireless industry.

Of course, it’s not like these two wouldn’t be doing just that in the coming months, but it’s good to see a fire starting early in Congress to make sure due diligence is done. Having a carrier that provides service to 42 percent of all US wireless subscribers has the potential to seriously shift the economics of things, and potentially more interesting are the implications of a rejection. In fact, many are suggesting that AT&T will likely have to sell off major assets and promise expansion to rural / poor areas in order to gain approval, which ties in nicely to Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead’s own comments regarding concessions. We’re also hearing that regulators could take as long as 18 months to fully investigate, and you can bet we’ll be following the play-by-play as it all unfolds.

Senator asks DOJ and FCC to do their jobs, provide friction for AT&T / T-Mobile tie-up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer passes through the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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