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Time to call in the wireless waahmbulance. LightSquared’s billionaire backer Phil Falcone made his television debut on CNBC’s Power Lunch to cry foul at the behind-the-scenes lobbying drama that could put the brakes on his 4G dreams. The hedge fund manager pointed his finger at AT&T and Verizon, claiming both are trying to “stomp out innovation” and competition by working in cahoots with the Save Our GPS Coalition. The soon-to-launch LTE network continues to encounter significant opposition from the group, as its tests have shown LightSquared’s planned 40,000 stations will transmit signals “up to 800 billion times” more powerful than low-powered GPS, effectively blocking it out. Falcone insists that all parties involved knew of the potential interference issues back in 2003, when the FCC first mandated the network’s build-out, and promises a switch to the company’s lower block of spectrum will remedy 99 percent of the problem. Whichever side of this he said / they said brouhaha you believe, one thing’s for sure — the 4G race is getting pretty ugly.

Continue reading LightSquared’s Phil Falcone talks to CNBC, airs his feud with Verizon and AT&T (video)

LightSquared’s Phil Falcone talks to CNBC, airs his feud with Verizon and AT&T (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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US carriers were quick to acknowledge their allegiance to Voice over LTE (VoLTE), a 4G VoIP-related technology first demonstrated in February. Ever since that time, however, talk of deployment plans have been replaced by crickets. MetroPCS was the first to break the silence, as CEO Roger Linquist announced at this morning’s quarterly earnings call that his company’s “planning to begin introducing VoLTE-capable handsets early next year to move voice as well as data traffic to [its] LTE network.” The outfit’s wasting no time making the full transition to 4G, as it’s already begun migrating its SMS and MMS services to this service. An increasing sense of urgency is likely hitting the company hard, as implementing VoLTE will ease some of the burden of its limited spectrum by devoting more bandwidth to 4G. What’s better, the anticipated timeframe may even allow MetroPCS to beat Verizon to market — which has also targeted 2012 as a launch date for its equivalent service — as well as AT&T, currently aiming for a 2013 takeoff. No matter what, we’re ecstatic to soon be flooded with more HD-clarity calls than we care to take.

MetroPCS will begin transition to VoLTE early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone 4 launched on Verizon in Feburary, but many customers are waiting to switch to the iPhone with the iPhone 5

Of Verizon customers planning to buy an iPhone in the future, many will skip the iPhone 4 and go straight for the yet-to-be-released iPhone 5.

According to a small survey by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, 74 percent of Verizon subscribers are holding out purchasing an iPhone until the iPhone 5 comes out.

“We believe that many Verizon customers made the decision to wait and purchase the iPhone 5 when it launches instead of buying the mid-cycle iPhone 4,” Munster said with regards to initial sales figures for the Verizon iPhone earlier this year.

The survey was conducted across 216 Minneapolis-based mobile phone users across multiple carriers.

Trends for the past year have shown that Android is up in popularity over the iPhone, despite the latter smartphone’s launch on Verizon. But perhaps as this survey indicates, a good deal of subscribers simply weren’t ready to jump on the iPhone bandwagon until the iPhone 5’s release.

Currently, rumors of the iPhone 5 are all customers have to go on. The phone is purported to feature a speedy A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera, a flat metal back and curved glass front, and possibly NFC technology.

Most of the latest iPhone 5 rumors have pegged its launch sometime in September. But according to AllThingsD, we may not see the iPhone 5 until October.

Other results of the Piper Jaffray survey include a high iPhone-user retention rate (94 percent of current iPhone users expect to buy another Apple-branded handset in the future), and split feelings amongst Android users — 47 percent plan to stick with Google’s OS, while 42 percent plan to switch to iOS.

Obviously, 216 mobile phone users is a very small sampling, but if the pattern is consistent across Verizon customers, that could mean big news for Apple. “The iPhone’s market share could more than double throughout the next round of phone purchases,” Munster said.

As reported previously, close to 35 percent of consumers plan to purchase the next iPhone sight unseen, according to a recent poll. As far as Wired readers go, that figure was closer to 20% based on results from a Facebook poll.

What phone do you want to buy next? Sound off in the comments section below.

Let the speculation begin! It may not be a sign of an iPhone refresh, but we’ve received multiple tips today about an imminent price drop for Apple’s flagship smartphone. According to a pair of trusty tipsters, Radio Shack is prepping to cut the cost of AT&T’s 16GB iPhone 4 to $169.99, with a two-year contract, from $199.99. The 32GB version will likewise take a $30 plunge at the Shack, ringing in at $269.99, and the price of the 8GB 3GS will drop to $19.99. Phone Arena is likewise reporting on Target slicing up the old Apple price tag, but lists varying numbers based on carrier. If all this talk turns out to be true, those prices should be ripe for the picking starting tomorrow.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPhone price cuts hitting Radio Shack, Target tomorrow? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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