Hasta La Gadget!

Back in October, it was announced that T-Mobile would be acquiring regional carrier MetroPCS, but the deal isn’t final just yet. It obviously has to pass through several government barriers before it can officially happen. However, there’s one less hurdle to jump now, as the Department of Justice has given the merger the green light.

Now that the Department of Justice is out of the way, the acquisition deal now needs to make its way through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Committee on Foreign Investment, and MetroPCS shareholders, who are scheduled to vote on the merger on April 12, as previously reported a couple days ago.

MetroPCS is obviously encouraging shareholders to vote yes, and they say that voting for the merger has the same effect as voting against it. T-Mobile says that if shareholders vote against the merger, “there is no assurance that MetroPCS will be able to deliver the same or better stockholder value.”

Executive boards at both carriers have already approved the merger, and T-Mobile aims to migrate all MetroPCS customers over to T-Mobile’s system by 2015. T-Mobile is the US’s 4th-largest carrier, with MetroPCS being the 5th largest. While the merger may not put T-Mobile in third place, it certainly give the carrier quite a boost that it’s been wanting.

[via eWeek]

T-Mobile, MetroPCS merger gets approval from Department of Justice is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

MetroPCS has moved the date of its shareholders meeting back to April 12th. The special meeting will allow MetroPCS stockholders to vote for the pending T-Mobile merger. Following the meeting and the votes, MetroPCS believes that its merger with T-Mobile will be completed shortly after. MetroPCS encourages all of its shareholders to vote in favor of the proposal using their GREEN proxy card.

The MetroPCS/T-Mobile merger has been negatively perceived by many of MetroPCS’s shareholders. They believe that the merger will only land them more in debt, and that there isn’t enough value in it for MetroPCS. P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, an investment adviser that owns 2% of MetroPCS’s shares, believes that the company should stay a stand-alone company and wait for a better offer to arrive.

Paulson & Co., MetroPCS’s biggest shareholder with 8.7% of the company’s shares, stated that it’s going to withhold its vote until it sees the final proxy statement, which will be submitted by MetroPCS at the meeting. Paulson & Co. also echoes the concerns of P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, and says that the merger would result in too high of a debt for MetroPCS, and that the company should explore alternative options.

T-Mobile is gunning for this merger with MetroPCS because doing so will help it expand its 4G LTE network. This would also make them the best, cost-friendly service providers in America, with both companies offering unlimited 4G data, and T-Mobile soon to be offering contract-less service plans like MetroPCS. The two companies will continue to operate as separate entities, but they will combine to make a fierce, value-oriented competitor to the other 3 major carriers.

[via MetroPCS]

MetroPCS moves back shareholders meeting to April 12th is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re a big fan of Nokia smartphones on the T-Mobile network, a screenshot showing up revealing a roadmap for the carrier. The roadmap shows the smartphone called the Nokia Flame 4G with the date of April 24. The device is believed to be a Windows Phone 8 smartphone.

We don’t know a lot about the hardware inside the smartphone at this time, but there were some rumors of a Nokia smartphone of the same name that made the rounds in 2012. Rumors at the time claimed that the Flame was a low-end device. A low-end device from Nokia would make sense considering the company has a difficult time competing in the high-end of the smartphone market.

Other specifications for the Flame that were tipped in the rumors last year included a four-inch screen, 512 MB of RAM, and a 1 GHz dual-core processor. The device was also said to include a five-megapixel camera and have 4 GB of internal storage. The smartphone is supposed to have a microSD card slot for expanding storage.

Considering that none of those features are particularly appealing, the expectation is that this will be a very inexpensive device. While there is no indication of price, if this low-end device could be offered for free or at a very low price it could win some users to the Windows Phone 8 platform. It might also make for an interesting pre-paid smartphone.

[via Tmonews]

T-Mobile roadmap surfaces showing new Nokia Flame 4G smartphone is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Up until now, Google was only selling the Nexus 7 with AT&T SIM cards bundled with it, but since the device is unlocked and runs on HSPA+ cellular technology, Google decided that there was no harm in offering T-Mobile SIM cards with the 7-inch tablet, so customers can now buy a Nexus 7 for T-Mobile on Google Play right now.

Google added a new page for the Nexus 7, specifically for the new T-mobile version. It’s the same 32GB unlocked version as before, but this time it comes with a T-Mobile SIM card. So, just as with the AT&T version, you can now open up your tablet the minute you get it and connect right away to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network.

Sadly, though, a 32GB version is only available for those wanting a T-Mobile variant, but we’re hoping a 16GB version will come to T-Mobile eventually. Google has a special relationship with the carrier, offering the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 only on T-Mobile, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the company brought more versions of their products to the carrier.

In related news, T-Mobile announced today that the Nexus 4 will be more widely available in its larger retail stores across the US, and the device will eventually reach all of the carrier’s retail stores in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the Nexus 4 will become available once again from T-Mobile’s website starting January 23.

[via Phone Scoop]

T-Mobile Nexus 7 now available on Google Play is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While RIM is gearing up to launch BlackBerry 10 at the end of the month, the company is still hard at work launching other phones in the meantime. Case in point, the company officially announced the BlackBerry Curve 9315 on T-Mobile’s network. It’s not a high-end device by any means, but it’s only $49 plus $10 per month for the Equipment Installment Plan.

The phone features a 3.2 MP camera, microSD memory card expansion and a full, physical QWERTY keyboard. RIM will launch on January 23, just seven days before the company unveils its first BlackBerry 10 phones. Pre-sales for the Curve 9315 begin on January 16, and the phone will be priced at $49 on top of a 20-month Equipment Installment Plan for $10 per month.

In case you were curious, the Curve 9315 runs off of BlackBerry 7.1 and includes 3G connectivity as well as a built-in FM radio. The phone itself isn’t anything new, since it looks like a classic BlackBerry device, but either way, those on T-Mobile wanting to get a cheap BlackBerry device now have a reason to do so.

RIM is set to launch BlackBerry 10 on January 30, and have a handful of devices ready to unleash. We’ve already taken a peek at some of the handsets thanks to a few leaked shots, so we already have an idea of what to expect, but nonetheless, we’ll be excited to see what RIM’s new operating system has to offer.

RIM and T-Mobile announce the BlackBerry Curve 9315 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.