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France wants Apple to pay $55 million over strict carrier deals
Have you noticed that many carriers give prominent placement to the iPhone in their catalogs, with virtually identical marketing? That's because Apple gets to dictate some pretty strict terms to providers that want the iPhone in their roster... and France isn't happy about it. The country's competition regulators have launched a complaint against Apple that asks the tech giant to pay a total of €48.5 million (about $55.3 million) and change carrier deal clauses that are reportedly illegal. If you ask officials, these pacts are extremely lopsided.
With Free, France shows the US what an open mobile market should be
If you hadn't noticed, T-Mobile has been on a rampage lately in the US. It has offered cheaper contract-free plans, paid users cold hard cash to switch, and generally crashed other carriers' parties. The result has been a wave of new customers for T-Mobile and cheaper, me-too plans from AT&T and Verizon -- all a boon to US consumers. But over in France, an alternate-reality version of this scenario has been playing out. Until recently, old guard carriers like Orange and SFR have trundled along, milking customers while stifling innovation. Then, trampling over them on a white horse, came a Bizarro T-Mobile carrier called Free Mobile. It's been a far greater competitive threat than T-Mo in the US and, thanks to its radical plans, France has become a wireless utopia with some of the cheapest rates in the world.
Mobile Miscellany: week of November 14, 2011
This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of November 14, 2011: Sony Ericsson has teamed up with Ingram Micro, a distributor that ships phones to Amazon, Buy.com, Best Buy and Newegg, to expand the distribution of its Android lineup in the US. The deal will include a healthy chunk of the Xperia series, including the arc S. [PRNewswire] Like the Motorola Defy+ but it's just not tough enough? Check out the limited-edition JCB version of the rugged device, which adds a hardcore JCB case, a special app with handyman tools and a two-year extended warranty. And it can be yours through Clove on December 6th for £219. [TechDigest] Verizon introduced the LG Extrovert, a prepaid device with a slide-out four-row QWERTY, 2.8-inch WQVGA (400 x 240) touchscreen display, 2MP camera and expandable storage. It, however, lacks 3G data. It's all yours on Verizon's prepaid site for $110. [PhoneArena] Speaking of Big Red, the rugged Casio Gz'One Ravine 2 was launched this week, and can be yours for $150 with a two-year contract. [PhoneScoop] The BlackBerry Bold 9790, announced this week, is confirmed to show up in the UK on Vodafone and O2, likely sometime in January. [Unwired View] SFR is selling the ZTE Tania, but it appears to be sold as a carrier-branded Windows Phone. You can purchase it without a contract for €269, or with a two-year commitment for €9.99. [MobileTechWorld] Twitter for Windows Phone just got updated to be compatible with Mango. It's meant to offer a smoother experience, but doesn't bring any new features with it. [WMPowerUser] Fandango debuted a new paperless ticket system, in concert with Regal-owned theaters, which can send a scannable bar code to your phone when you want to go see a movie. The ticket-takers then simply scan the code and you're all ready to root on Team Edward in the latest Twilight movie. Just don't forget the popcorn. [Yahoo!]
SIM-based NFC gains global support from 45 mobile carriers, all huddled around GSMA's standard
You knew that NFC hardware can be embedded into SIM cards, right? Right? Regardless of whether you've been paying attention, the practice is about to become a whole lot more common, as 45 of the world's largest mobile operators have extended their support for the GSM Association's standard. Among the networks, you'll find heavy hitters such as China Mobile and China Unicom (which account for nearly 800 million subscribers between the two), along with familiar names such as America Movil, AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, KPN, Orange, Rogers, SFR, SK Telecom, Softbank, Telus, Verizon and Vodafone. Even Isis, the unholy mobile payment lovechild of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, has pledged its support... in hopes of taking your money, that is. The new standard is expected to drive the proliferation of NFC across the globe, with Anne Bouverot, Director General of the GSMA commenting, "Mobile operators, working together, are ideally positioned to roll out services based on the requirements published by the GSMA, providing proven security and interoperability, global reach and customer care for consumers and businesses and a secure platform for service providers." Now, as you'd expect, we just wanna see it happen. For a complete list of the cooperating carriers, check out the PR after the break. [SIM card photo via Shutterstock]
Vodafone exits France, collects billions while selling its stake in SFR
Even though we'd much rather be getting our paws all over a new phone, shakeups in the mobile world seem to be a trendy thing as of late, leading us to report that Vodafone has announced the sale of its 44 percent share in French carrier SFR to partner Vivendi. The €7.75 billion deal is leaving the media conglomerate with a 100 percent ownership in France's second largest cellular network, though Voda and SFR have agreed to "maintain their commercial cooperation" for the good of mankind. In case the news slipped by you, the world's wealthiest telecom has been on a selling streak recently, also divesting itself of minority stakes in China and Japan -- all while freeing up gobs of capital to focus on its more strategic markets.Considering Vodafone owns a 44 percent share in Verizon Wireless, the opportunity is ripe for speculation of what it may do next. While analysts opine that the company may attempt to sell its share in VZW back to Verizon, others see consolidation in the air, hinting that it may do the unthinkable and make a pass at Sprint. While Verizon's CEO has done his utmost to extinguish this rumor, if it were true, the last thing they'd want to do is give it merit -- the result being either driving Sprint's price up, or pushing Verizon's stock down -- depending on the whims of investors. You can now thank us for writing a business article without a single mention of regulators, options or dividends. Oh, wait... there it is.
Sagem reveals Binder white label e-reader, SFR's version comes with free 3G
Heard of the FnacBook, Telecom Italia eBook or Thalia Oyo? It's looking like they're all one and the same -- a Sagem product called the Binder with a six-inch SiPix capacitive e-paper touchscreen. It's also got the standard accelerometer, 2GB of internal flash, a microSD card slot and support for ePub and PDF, but there's one feature that sets it apart from the pack: a cellular modem that'll give FnacBook buyers free 3G service a la the Amazon Kindle's Whispernet. French carrier SFR is subsidizing that little venture, so it's not part and parcel of buying into Sagem's device, but if you find yourself holding onto a different rebrand we suppose you'll still have 802.11 b/g WiFi for your Steig Larsson downloads. Fnac's already taking preorders at €199 (about $277); devices ship November 10th. PR after the break.
Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon 'in the coming months'
And just like that, the rumor mill smirks. HP has just come clean with a device that we've been hearing more and more about over the past few weeks, and with it will come the next generation of webOS that we've been hearing about for even longer. The Palm Pre 2 will be the first device to ship with HP webOS 2.0, with the revamped and renamed (presumably to use on more than just Palm smartphones) mobile OS promising "true multitasking," Stacks (for organizing apps) Just Type, HP Synergy (links your email and social networking accounts), Exhibition (enabling users to run apps designed specifically for the Palm Touchstone Charging Dock) and support for Adobe's Flash Player 10.1 Beta. It's also bringing along a new Favorites tagging option, Skype Mobile (on the Verizon version only), text assist, integrated Quickoffice, VPN support, a redesigned launcher and full support for Bluetooth keyboards and SPP peripherals. As for Pre 2 itself? Little is being revealed at the moment, but we're told to expect a 1GHz CPU, a five megapixel camera (LED flash, extended depth of field, geotagging, and video capture), glass display and a "sleeker, streamlined design" that still combines a touchpanel with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. In other words, it's a faster, slimmer Pre, and some would argue it's what the Pre Plus should've been. At any rate, SFR customers in France will get first dibs on Friday, with Verizon and an undisclosed carrier in Canada scheduled to get it "in the coming months." Oh, and as for US-based developers? They'll be able to purchase unlocked UMTS versions of the Pre 2 (!) in their homeland, though pricing remains elusive. Update: The Pre 2 portal is now live, showcasing a 3.1-inch 480 x 320 (HVGA) multitouch display, a black enclosure, Exchange support, built-in GPS, ambient light / proximity sensors, an accelerometer, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 16GB of inbuilt storage space, a battery good for around 5.5 hours of talking and a 3.5mm headphone jack. %Gallery-105382% %Gallery-105381%
France's SFR jumps gun, announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0
It's unclear if the tiny, little shot posted on French carrier SFR's Club SFR pour Palm blog is in fact the rumored upcoming Pre 2 or just an old Pre shot, but let's put it this way: considering that we can't readily tell the difference, it better be an old one. At any rate, the sparse details in the blog post line up with everything we're expecting so far, namely that the new model will use a 1GHz processor -- presumably a TI OMAP3630 -- and will sport a full half gig of RAM on board. Between those two spec bumps, we'd fully expect the refreshed webOS 2.0 to scream... but we won't really know for sure until Palm gives us something to work with. In the meantime, SFR, thanks for the teaser. Update: Check out another shot from SFR's site after the break -- it looks like they don't have any intention to pull the news down, otherwise we have to believe they would've done so by now.
Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!)
It may have "Windows" in the branding, but Windows Phone 7 is not the desktop PC experience shoehorned into a cellphone. Microsoft tried that with Windows Mobile... and we all know how that turned out. Today, eight months after the Windows Phone 7 OS unveiling in Barcelona, we're finally seeing the official launch of the retail hardware: nine new WP7 handsets, some available October 21 in select European and Asian markets and others from early November in the US. The phones will find their way to over 60 cellphone operators in more than 30 countries this year. Microsoft tapped Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung to deliver the Snapdragon-based handsets with a carrier list that includes AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Vodafone, TELUS, América Móvil, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, and Telstra. And that's just for the first wave -- Microsoft has even more handsets coming in 2011 including the first for Sprint and Verizon in the US. Here's the lineup of 480 x 800 pixel (WVGA) phones announced today: HTC 7 Surround -- The 3.8-inch T8788 with slideout speaker for AT&T and Telus HTC HD7 -- Schubert comes of age as a 4.3-inch HD2 cousin for T-Mobile and beyond HTC 7 Trophy -- the 3.8-inch Spark headed to international carriers HTC 7 Mozart -- another heavily leaked int'l player with 3.7-inch display Dell Venue Pro -- 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider for T-Mobile we broke as Lightning Samsung Focus -- AT&T's 4-inch Super AMOLED slate we broke as Cetus Samsung Omnia 7 -- the i8700 is a 4-inch Super AMOLED jobbie for Europe LG Optimus 7/7Q -- the E900 is the official 3.8-inch global workhorse LG Quantum -- AT&T's 3.5-inch landscape slider first seen as the C900 HTC 7 Pro -- a 3.6-inch QWERTY slider for Sprint (2011) "Glance and Go," is the slogan Microsoft is using to differentiate itself from an already crowded smartphone market. Something we've already seen alluded to in that leaked AT&T ad. As Ballmer notes, "Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience - one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a 'glance and go' format." He's referring to WP7's customizable Live Tiles, of course. Xbox Live integration is another biggie with EA Games just announcing its first Xbox Live-enabled wares coming to Windows Phone 7 in the fall including "Need for Speed Undercover," "Tetris," "Monopoly," and "The Sims 3." The other big differentiators are the slick Metro UI, integrated support for Zune media and Zune Pass subscriptions, Bing search and maps, Windows Live including the free Find My Phone service, and Microsoft Office Mobile. Now quit stalling and jump past the break for the full list of handsets per carrier and country. Update: Added the official WP7 overview videos after the break.
Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 are ready to rock with Windows Phone 7
Samsung's i8910 HD-based Windows Phone 7 prototype has probably been the single most publicly-recognizable face of the platform this year, so it should come as little surprise that the Korean giant has come out swinging with production hardware today -- and fortunately, the pair of retail models look nothing (well, very little) like the proto. The Focus is the phone we've been calling the i917 Cetus in leaks, a curvy, glossy slate with a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display (presumably ripped right out of the Galaxy S line), a 5 megapixel camera, and support for microSD expansion up to 32GB; it'll be hitting AT&T in the States. The Omnia 7 is the second model, launching on Orange, SFR, Movistar, and T-Mobile across Europe with the same Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon processor (rare for a Samsung, by the way), 5 megapixel cam, and either 8GB or 16GB on board. Expect both of these to launch in time for the holidays; in fact, the Focus can be yours on AT&T come November 8 for $199.99. Follow the break for Samsung's Omnia 7 press release.
French gendarmes bust network of 'cellphone hackers'
Police in France have busted what's been described as a "mobile phone hacking ring" and arrested nine people, according to Reuters. Apparently the criminal enterprise, which has been operating for five years, purchased SIM card unlock codes from phone company employees and retailers at €3 ($4) a pop, which it then sold on the Internet for €30 ($40). According to investigators, one of the employees made something like €25,000 ($33,685) a month from the scheme, which all told cost mobile operators anywhere from about €500,000 ($667,200) to several million per month. Among the affected providers were Bouygues Telecom, Orange, and SFR, the latter of which prompted the investigation last year. A brother and sister arrested in the city of Rennes are suspected to be at the head of the ring.
Palm's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus coming to France next week
Hey, France, you really want to rub some salt in AT&T customers' wounds for no reason other than the fact that you're feeling scrappy? Well, alright then: pop open your web browsers come next Tuesday and navigate over to SFR's site, where you'll be able pick up the GSM flavors of both the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, which confirms previous chatter that an April date for these devices east of the Atlantic was a lock. Both devices will have access to Palm's Mobile Hotspot app (though there'll be additional usage charges associated with it) along with a selection of custom goodies like SFR TV and SFR Wi-Fi, which presumably helps customers identify the extensive WiFi hotspot network they're entitled to by virtue of using the phone. Oh, and if you don't want to order online, you'll be able to pick these bad boys up in-store starting May 11.
Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus could be coming to Europe by the end of this month
Time to get those speculative juices flowing again. Pre Central have unearthed the above O2 Germany promotional poster displaying a Palm Pixi stood in front of such smartphone luminaries as Sony Ericsson's X10 and Motorola's Milestone. Given that the Pixi has yet to make the hop over the Atlantic, their supposition is that we're looking at its Plus variant and that this early flier is indicative of a soon-ish release for the Euro-bound Plus devices from Palm. Can we be any more specific than that? Why yes we can, thanks to Laurent Guyot, a French PR chap, who indicates an April 27th launch date for the Pre and Pixi Plus on the SFR network. Put as much trust into this info as you feel appropriate, though it does look like a resoundingly logical time to get these handsets out into eager European hands. [Thanks, Garth]
Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger phone for France is hardly Pink
Microsoft's a pretty big company, and while we've been focused on its Windows Phone 7 Series and Pink mobile projects over here in the Land of the Free, its Live Messenger arm has apparently teamed up with French mobile carrier SFR for a branded phone. The Messenger Edition 251 handset looks to be based on Windows Mobile 6.5 (or something older), with no word on who the hardware partner is, and is taking on the youth market just like Pink will presumably be doing Stateside sometime this year. Of course, Messenger is much more popular in Europe than it is in the States, so it makes sense to brand a phone around it, but underneath that candy QWERTY shell we're sure those hapless Europeans can find plenty of legacy Windows Mobile to be desperately disappointed in. [Thanks, Bibo]
French operator SFR hooks up with Palm
France just got a lot closer today to tasting webOS' sweet, sweet nectar on news that Vodafone-owned SFR has signed a deal with Palm to launch devices locally. Quoth the company's senior VP of brand and marketing: "We started negotiating for smartphones in Cupertino... we ended in Sunnyvale." Snap!
Nexus One hitting France at €450 contract-free?
Maybe you, like us, are a little disappointed at how the Nexus One fared in our review. It may not be the ground-breaker we'd all hoped for, but it's still a mighty important handset, and while we're expecting to know the full details for its American release later today it seems someone may have tipped their hat on European availability details a little early. According to Le Point, the phone will be available in France and elsewhere in Europe within the next "several weeks," with prices at €450 for a contract-free device. However, if you don't mind signing two years of your wireless independence away to Vodafone that price is said to drop to €200. Again, we're still waiting to learn about pricing here in the States, but we'd expect a similar ratio here. [Thanks, Lopez]
SFR becomes second Euro carrier to launch femtocell service
Following Vodafone's lead, France's SFR has now become the second network operator in Europe to launch femtocell service for its signal-strapped customers. The Ubiquisys-sourced unit is being sold under the SFR Home 3G brand and runs €199 ($300), so you'd better really need a couple extra bars before you take the plunge -- though the good news is that they're not laying down any arbitrary restrictions requiring you to use it with SFR's DSL service. Coincidentally, SFR is minority-owned by Vodafone, so the move makes some sense -- so whether femtocells take off in Europe among any carriers without Voda interest remains to be seen.
The end of exclusivity leading to big iPhone sales in Europe
Go figure, right? You get a relatively hot phone out onto more carriers, and just like that, sales increase. It ain't rocket science, buster. As AT&T grins happily while enjoying a death grip on Apple's cash cow here in the States, things are a lot more wide open for consumers across the pond. In both France and the UK, the iPhone has been given the all-clear to be sold on multiple carriers, and according to research from Bernstein, the "widening of the distribution has boosted Apple's value market share to 32 percent in the latest quarter from 21 percent just three months earlier." The notes also mention that Apple's increase is coming at the expense of RIM, with over 600,000 iPhone handsets being sold during Q3 2009 in France alone. The point to all this madness? Oh, not much -- just to tell Sir Jobs that he can count on quite a bit more dough should he decide to sell this elusive "iPhone" device on Verizon in the US of A.
Android turns up on MIDs from Eston, SFR
Two more MIDs were spotted running Android recently, and the kids over at Pocketables were kind enough to clue us in on the developments. First off, Eston's MID-02 (also known as the M4301) is a dual Windows CE 6.0 / Android device that boasts a 4.3-inch touchscreen, a Marvell XScale PXA300 (624MHz) CPU, 128MB DDR-RAM, 256MB Flash (supports up to 16GB) and a screen resolution of either 480 x 272 or 800 x 480, depending on whose product page you believe. Apparently one of the company's main markets is Europe, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested. And why not? The keyboard is "almost entirely in English." But that ain't all! There's also an interesting video making the rounds of the SFR's Intel-powered M! PC Pocket at least booting the open source OS -- not necessarily compelling evidence that the rumors are true, but if the French wireless carrier isn't developing an Android device of their own at this very moment, it isn't a stretch to believe that they're toying with the idea. See for yourself after the break.Read - Eston MID-02 slider runs Android and Windows CE 6.0Read - SFR M! PC Pocket caught on video booting Android
Samsung B7610 Louvre rematerializes, spec'd and caught on camera
It's been some time since we've heard a word about Samsung's enigmatic QWERTY slider, the B7610 Louvre. Now it looks like we've got on our hands a new, decidedly more clear pic of the phone care of GPSAndCo, along with a list of technical details. According to the site, we're looking at a quad-band Windows Mobile 6.1 device (upgradable to 6.5) with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, FM radio, miniUSB, 1GB built-in memory, and a microSDHC slot. Still not official, but should this pan out, Orange and SFR business customers can look to it sometime in July with the price lining up somewhere between €250 and €500. [Via WMPoweruser]
