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NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC rekindle love and LTE partnership, Samsung and Panasonic left in the rain
The fractious on-again, off-again love affair between NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC has taken another turn. After dissolving a partnership to build a common LTE platform that included Samsung and Panasonic, the trio have rekindled their love over a candlelit dinner. The gang are stumping up the cash to bankroll Access Network Technology, a venture to build, wait for it, LTE platforms for smartphones and tablets, with each party bringing its own R&D and IP knowhow to the table. There's no word on how jilted lovers Samsung and Panasonic feel about the team-up, but we wouldn't be surprised if they didn't shed a private tear and think about the good old days.
Rumor: AT&T outbid Verizon for the iPad data plan
Fox News writer Clayton Morris was also wondering just why Apple went with AT&T yet again for the iPad data plan, but it turns out things between the two companies weren't quite so cut and dry as Jobs made us believe on stage. He says that inside sources at Verizon still insist that they've been talking with Apple about handling some of the data service, and he even says that they've mentioned not only an iPhone set up to work with Verizon later this year, but an iPad as well. Rumor also has it that AT&T simply outbid the other cellphone providers for becoming the official iPad data service, and that makes sense: that $29.99 unlimited plan is a heck of a deal for consumers, but then again, it'll bring in a heck of a lot of business for AT&T (who should have already been in hot water for their service outages, and will probably end up in more, despite their promises that their network can handle the data). Of course, Verizon is really the only source saying they're still in the game at the moment -- most analysts believe Verizon won't see Apple hardware until they bring out their next-generation LTE service, and even then having a bunch of different plans to choose from doesn't really sound like Apple's kind of thing. But it is interesting to hear that AT&T is willing to take a dive in price to keep Apple's business. Wonder what might happen if their network dives as well. [via Apple Insider]
Ericsson unveils M700 LTE platform for mobile devices
The same week that Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled its LTE solution for North America comes a little nugget from Ericsson: the M700. Hailed as the "world's first commercially available LTE-capable platform," it promises peak data transmissions of 100Mbps down and 50Mbps up, which will undoubtedly be the next best thing since sliced bread. Reportedly, initial devices based on the unit will be ExpressCards, USB modems, etc., and of course, it supports bandwidths between 1.4 and 20MHz and the oh-so-exciting 700MHz bands. Unfortunately, a commercial release isn't set to happen until 2009 -- with products "based on the platform" not scheduled until 2010 -- but to its credit, samples of ASICs will be ready to roll sometime this year.
