Hasta La Gadget!

The Wall Street Journal reports that satellite TV giant Dish Network tried to purchase MetroPCS before T-Mobile stepped up and bought the prepaid cellular carrier. Dish Network reportedly offered $4 billion in August report people familiar with the deal. The four billion dollar offer valued MetroPCS at $11 per share.

Dish Network would’ve paid 30% in cash and 70% in stock according to a MetroPCS SEC filing. Talks between Dish and MetroPCS fell apart in late August, and MetroPCS later announced that it was being purchased by T-Mobile USA in early October. T-Mobile buying MetroPCS meant that the fourth and fifth largest carriers in the US would be combining.

Dish Network is looking intently at entering the wireless phone market. The satellite TV provider has billions of dollars of airwave rights to spectrum to carry wireless phone signals that it has purchased since 2008. Some speculation has hinted that Dish Network might simply sell off its spectrum to turn a tidy profit.

However, the satellite provider’s serious bid for MetroPCS signals that Dish Network wants to become a wireless provider. Dish is also waiting for the FCC to decide whether it can use some of the spectrum it owns for a ground-based cellular network. The FCC is expected to approve Dish Network’s request with a caveat that the satellite provider has to restrict a portion of its airwaves to provide a barrier against interference on neighboring bands.

[via WSJ]

Dish Network tried to buy MetroPCS before T-Mobile is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Tuesday evening everyone. We had so many big posts today that it’s hard to know where to start. Kicking things off, we’re live at Microsoft Build 2012, bringing you the latest on Windows 8, Surface, and Windows Phone 8. We also went hands-on with the Samsung Nexus 10 and the LG Nexus 4 today, so be sure to check those out if you’re thinking about picking up either (or both!) when they launch next month. Today we found out that Disney is buying out LucasFilm and that Star Wars Episode VII is in the works – both of those were major announcements for the millions of Star Wars fans out there.

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer told us that 4 million Windows users have upgraded to Windows 8 since it launched last week, and today the company release the Windows Phone 8 SDK for eager developers. Twitter outed its Windows 8 app a few months ahead of launch, while Microsoft confirmed that apps like PayPal and Dropbox will be hitting the new operating system shortly. Microsoft also responded to complaints about Office 2013 on Surface, so if you’ve got one of the company’s new slates, you might want to hold off on using Office until these problems are fixed.

The fourth generation iPad has been benchmarked, showing a 1.4GHz A6X processor and 1GB of RAM, and one analyst was spotted predicting massive sales for the iPad line up. Apple delayed the roll out of its new iTunes overhaul today, while Google said it will be pushing developers to make extraordinary app experiences for Android tablets. Hurricane Sandy knocked out a number of big sites like Gawker and The Huffington Post over the weekend, and Modern Warfare 4 was outed by one excited voice actor.

Shortly after announcing that Disney had purchased LucasFilm, George Lucas talked about the deal and the future of Star Wars in a new interview, and today the Pentagon clarified that it will still be using BlackBerry phones in addition to iPhone and Android handsets. Grand Theft Auto V has been confirmed for a Spring 2013 release, and we received quarterly reports from both MetroPCS and ASUS today, the latter of which did particularly well in its third quarter.

Before we go, we want to remind you that our reviews for the iPad Mini and the fourth generation iPad went live not too long ago, so check those out if you’re interesting in buying one! That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 30, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

MetroPCS might be the smaller of the two parties in the proposed merger with T-Mobile, but it certainly knows how to coin a profit in difficult times. The carrier recorded a massive $193 million net profit this quarter, $44 million more than it made in Q2, despite losing 312,000 subscribers in the three month period. The reason behind the rosy numbers was a combination of cash-saving exercises and canny investments in securities, pushing total revenue to $1.3 billion. The network now has just under nine million customers, with more than a million of those subscribing to one of the company’s LTE packages. It’s also managed to reduce churn down to 3.7 percent, a reduction of 0.8 percent since Q3 2011. CEO Roger D. Linquist remarked that the next quarter will see the business “re-energize” subscriber growth at the expense of its bottom line — probably wise, given that it’s lost just over half a million customers in the last six months.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

MetroPCS breaks 1 million LTE customers, makes $193 million profit despite losing 312,000 users in Q3 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shopping for a smartphone can be an exciting and arduous experience. Along with the promise of something new and fantastic, it brings the fear of commitment, and even worse, the prospect of saddling yourself to a lousy device for two years. Fortunately for you, Engadget spends tons of time playing with the latest gear and we’re constantly on the lookout for what’s coming next. If you’re wanting to take the pain out of shopping for a smartphone, you’ve come to the right place. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: your one-stop resource to finding the best and most exciting handsets on the market today.

Before you dive in, however, we’ve introduced a few changes to the buyer’s guide, so take a minute to prepare yourself for what’s in store. First and foremost, you’ll now find alternate selections to supplement our top picks. This should already be familiar to many of you, which is the same format we use for our seasonal gift guides. The next one is a biggie: we’ve dropped the QWERTY selection. By and large, manufacturers and carriers alike have shifted their focus away from keyboard-equipped smartphones, and you’ll rarely find more than one option on any given carrier. That said, if you still insist on the tactile experience, you’ll always find everything you need to know in our reviews. Finally, whenever possible, you’ll now find prices from Amazon Wireless, which allows us to provide you with more compelling budget selections and highlight the substantial savings that you can score by circumventing the carriers. It’s not like they need your charity, anyway.

If you’re curious to see how it all unfolded — and we know you are — join us after the break, where we round up the very best smartphones of the season.

Continue reading Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: fall 2012 edition

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, Google, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, LG, T-Mobile

Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: fall 2012 edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We got tipped off way back in August and managed to get a little hands-on time with the variant, and now that October is well under way, MetroPCS is offering up some more info on its Galaxy S III offering. The popular Samsung handset will be hitting the carrier’s stores and site on Monday, October 22nd. Off-contract pricing for the Android smartphone’s gonna run you $499, on top of $30 to $70 a month for one of the carrier’s LTE plans. Spec-wise, you’re getting a 4.8-inch SuperAMOLED display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM. More info on the offering can be had in the press release after the break.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III hitting MetroPCS next Monday for $499 off-contract

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S III hitting MetroPCS next Monday for $499 off-contract originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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