Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been to this rodeo before (a few times, actually), but the smoke that leads to fire is getting far harder to ignore. Following a Bloomberg report in June that a Verizon iPhone was on track for a January 2011 release as well as independent confirmation from John Gruber, Yukari Iwatani Kane from The Wall Street Journal is now sounding mighty confident that the aforementioned plans are true. According to various people “briefed by Apple,” Jobs and Company will begin “mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that would allow Verizon Wireless to sell the smartphone early next year.” It’ll rely on a key Qualcomm chip as well as a CDMA radio, but curiously enough, there’s nary of a mention of LTE in this report. In closely related news, it’s bruited that Apple is also developing a separate iPhone model, though it’s unclear how soon VZW will be able to grab the fifth generation edition. ‘Course, it’s not exactly the shocker of the year to hear that Apple’s toiling on a new iPhone without a dubious antenna design, but the real question is this: will the Verizon iPhone beat AT&T’s elusive white iPhone 4 to market? Inquiring minds would love to know.

Update: The WSJ udated the story to be more clear, “Apple Inc. is making a version of its iPhone that Verizon Wireless will sell early next year.” So it’s not just a generic CDMA iPhone that may or may not end up on Verizon Wireless. The WSJ also added that the CDMA iPhone 4 variant will be built by Pegatron and would only work on a CDMA network (i.e., it’s not a dual-mode GSM/CDMA device). Also, according to one source, VZW has been working with Apple to test its network and adding additional capacity to avoid being overwhelmed a la AT&T.

WSJ: Verizon to sell iPhone in 2011, fifth generation iPhone is in the works (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Last week’s Switched On looked at some of the reasons that a Verizon iPhone might not bring seismic shifts to the cell phone market or the balance of power between the two largest carriers in the U.S., focusing more on the AT&T incentive. This column discusses the carrier’s current CDMA network and its multi-year transition to LTE, which could lower some obstacles to a Verizon iPhone.

While reports have asserted that a Verizon iPhone may ship as early as January and that a CDMA version of the phone will go into production in September, there are reasons to doubt that Apple will create a CDMA iPhone for Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless is a large carrier, but it’s subscriber base is relatively small compared to the one that is served by having a single GSM device that Apple can sell around the globe. That massive audience creates certain scale advantages for Apple.

Continue reading Switched On: Getting real about a phone that’s not (part 2)

Switched On: Getting real about a phone that’s not (part 2) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you have a Verizon phone sans data plan, but get billed for data anyhow? Verizon Wireless is dropping $90 million to make things right next month. The company will refund 15 million cellular customers who were wrongly charged for internet use, in the form of $2 to $6 credits on their next bill — unless the fiasco already caused you to leave, in which case you’ll get a similar check in the mail. The New York Times reports that the FCC pressured Verizon into this settlement following hundreds of complaints, so it looks like the squeaky wheel may have won this round. If you can call Verizon treating you to the equivalent of a latte a “win,” of course. Read Verizon’s full statement after the break.

Continue reading Verizon agrees to refund customers $90 million for wrongful data charges

Verizon agrees to refund customers $90 million for wrongful data charges originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, so now we understand Verizon’s intentions to hastily roll out LTE service to NFL cities. The NFL, which has sided with Sprint over the years when it comes to cellular distribution of content, is apparently in even deeper talks with newfound partner Big Red in order to get its prized content into even more hands. As the idea of watching NFL games on-the-go because more and more sensible, the league is apparently mulling the decision to distribute games (and potentially more) on the next big thing. You know, tablets. Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s senior vice president of media strategy, recently said the following: “The NFL will be on a tablet. It’s a question of what shape or form. We are currently talking to Verizon about it.” VZW declined to comment on the rumblings, but it’s really not a shocker — the carrier’s doing everything it can to get a live LTE network here in the States, and inking a deal with America’s most popular sporting league would obviously bring in boatloads of revenue. The real question is this: what tablet is the NFL eying, and if it’s not the Samsung Galaxy Tab, what’s Verizon’s second tablet going to be? Inquiring minds would love to know.

NFL ‘currently talking’ with Verizon to distribute programming on tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Fascinate’s ride at the top of Sammy’s Android lineup for Big Red might be a short one — a very short one. Feast your eyes on this monster, said to be the rumored SCH-i400 Continuum, whose biggest claim to fame would be the addition of a secondary OLED display below the main. What might you use it for? Well, it’s called the “Ticker,” and it’ll show notifications and RSS updates (and judging from that picture, weather conditions, too). Naturally, one of the selling points is that you can access basic phone functionality and information without having to fiddle with the normal UI or turn on that big, power-sapping primary display; in fact, the Ticker will automatically turn on when you grasp the bottom of the phone. The Continuum’s also got a microSD slot on the side (accessible without a battery pull) and a dedicated camera button, and judging from one of the shots we’ve got, it might be Galaxy S-branded. Follow the break for a couple more shots!

Continue reading Exclusive: Samsung Continuum for Verizon has double the displays, double the fun

Exclusive: Samsung Continuum for Verizon has double the displays, double the fun originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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