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HTC Merge makes an official landing at US Cellular May 31 for $250
If we could bet on phone launches the same way we put money down on horse races or slot machines, we'd lose our shirts on the HTC Merge. Like a ghost, this elusive Android smartphone has an innate ability to pop up from out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. Over the last few months we've seen this repeated multiple times on both Verizon's and US Cellular's ends -- until yesterday, that is, when the latter finally ended its part of the charade by announcing a launch date. Taking on Facebook, the regional carrier officially committed the Merge to a May 31st launch, selling for $250 with contract before $100 rebate. Oddly, the date won't matter much since store reps have the go-ahead to sell it as soon as it's in stock (according to the screenshot below), and the Facebook post reveals that shipments should begin arriving as early as today. If you've been wanting a Merge and are up to the task, we invite you -- nay, we challenge you -- to go to your local store this morning and see if your rep got the memo. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Nearly half a million customers left T-Mobile in Q1 2011
Not even promises of a new Sidekick can keep T-Mobile from hemorrhaging customers, it seems, as the company reported significant losses in its Q1 statement for 2011. According to official Q1 financials, 471,000 contract customers either failed to re-up, or outright canceled their contracts. Stacked against a shortcoming growth of just 372,000 prepaid customers (including MVNO customers for sub-carriers), T-Mobile suffered a net loss of 99,000 users, a 29-percent increase in losses over the same period for the previous year. Ouch. The firm chalked its loss to increased "competitive pressures," which lends credence to AT&T's insistence that Sprint and Verizon are such fierce opponents that it has to acquire T-Mobile for the magenta-tinted carrier to stay in the game. You can judge the profits and pitfalls for yourself -- just hit the source link for the full financials.
The Guild Counsel: Is it time to merge?
One issue that every guild leader needs to face at some point is whether to consider merging with another guild. There are times when even the busiest recruiting guilds have a hard time fleshing out a roster that can achieve in-game goals. As a result, they turn to other guilds for outside help. But merging with another guild brings up a whole new set of issues and pitfalls, and if not handled well, it can lead to drama on a scale never before seen. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll take a look at the issue of joining forces with other guilds and discuss some ways to make it work. No, really, it can work! Don't run away!
HTC Merge launching on US Cellular on April 29th? (updated)
While we wait for the HTC Merge to maybe (or quite possibly) launch on Verizon, the phone's rolling out fast and furious on smaller carriers. Alltel's already selling it, Cellular South said it plans to, and now it seems US Cellular is gearing up to launch it on Friday. If you take a gander at that screen grab an anonymous tipster sent in, it's clear the carrier is putting the finishing touches on its plan to unveil the device in its retail stores. Just to refresh your memories, the Merge is a world phone with a slide-out keyboard, 3.8-inch touchscreen, and 5 megapixel autofocus camera running Android 2.2 with HTC's Sense UI layered on top. Still no word on whether US Cellular will match its competitors' sweet $125 price or bundle Amazon's App Store, but we're optimistic on both counts. Update: A US Cellular rep wrote in to clarify that the carrier will launch the Merge "later this spring," not this Friday. So there you have it!
AT&T tells FCC just how important T-Mobile is, in 381-page redacted document
AT&T has many strategies for trying to convince the US government to let it buy T-Mobile, but the one it emphasized was this -- it would attempt to make remaining carriers Verizon, Sprint and even a handful of rural entities look like "intense competition." Well, it seems that tack hasn't quite had the impact that the board of directors was hoping for, because it just delivered a gigantic new document to the FCC, which portrays itself as the victim of its own success. AT&T says it had to deliver 8,000 times percent more mobile data in 2010 than it did three years prior -- over 10 petabytes per month these days -- and foresees that it will deliver that same amount of data "in just the first five to seven weeks of 2015." Meanwhile, T-Mobile is the knight in shining magenta armor to save AT&T from those "severe capacity constraints," but since AT&T can't let regulators think that T-Mobile's departure from the arena will result in less competition, Ma Bell simultaneously bashes its prospective conquest for having a "diminished market role" in the telecom industry and "no clear path to deploy LTE" -- even as it says that acquiring T-Mobile would result in the means to spread speedy Long Term Evolution across 97.3 percent of the general population. In case you're keeping track, that's up from the 95 percent the company last prognosticated. The seeming contradictions here are certainly amusing, but we have to admit the promised giant LTE network tempts us quite a bit. But is it worth building a GSM monopoly to do it? Envision the repercussions for yourself -- both good and ill -- by studying the following links. Update: Fixed a few math errors -- AT&T processed over 10 petabytes per month (not year) in 2010, and that was 8,000 percent (not times) the amount of mobile data it carried in 2007. For comparison's sake, the entirety of YouTube was said to have streamed 31 petabytes per month in 2008, and Hulu did 17 petabytes per month over the same time period, according to a Cisco study.
HTC Merge coming to Alltel, preloaded with Amazon Appstore on Cellular South
The elusive HTC Merge has been on our radar since last fall, and while it's been officially announced, played with, and FCC approved, carrier availability has been all but a mystery -- until now that is. Alltel is presently taking pre-orders for the Merge with a price of $125 on contract (after $50 mail-in rebate) and a ship date of April 5th. Meanwhile, Cellular South is launching the Merge "next month" for an undisclosed price, but will offer the handset pre-loaded with the Amazon Appstore for Android -- a world first. Strangely, there's still no indication when (or even if) the device will emerge on Verizon. Just a quick recap: the Merge is a global smartphone (dual-mode CDMA / GSM) with a slide-out keyboard, 3.8-inch touchscreen, and 5 megapixel autofocus camera, running Android 2.2 with Sense UI. Hit the source link below for Alltel's pre-order page, and jump past the break for Cellular South's press release. [Thanks, Chase M.]
Senator asks DOJ and FCC to do their jobs, provide friction for AT&T / T-Mobile tie-up
There's always one. Back in the winter of 2009, Senator Kerry made public his request for Fox and Time Warner to keep the Bowl Games online, and one Chuck Schumer took to writing an open letter to Steve Jobs regarding the iPhone reception woes that eventually led to a dedicated press event (mostly) disputing the matter. Now, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is urging the FCC and DOJ to "take a close look at the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger," noting that the outcome would undoubtedly have a huge impact on consumer choice, price and service in the wireless industry. Of course, it's not like these two wouldn't be doing just that in the coming months, but it's good to see a fire starting early in Congress to make sure due diligence is done. Having a carrier that provides service to 42 percent of all US wireless subscribers has the potential to seriously shift the economics of things, and potentially more interesting are the implications of a rejection. In fact, many are suggesting that AT&T will likely have to sell off major assets and promise expansion to rural / poor areas in order to gain approval, which ties in nicely to Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead's own comments regarding concessions. We're also hearing that regulators could take as long as 18 months to fully investigate, and you can bet we'll be following the play-by-play as it all unfolds.
HTC Merge rolls into FCC with mentions of Verizon
It's not much of a secret that the Merge is destined for Verizon -- but for some reason we can't put our finger on, HTC has been very careful not to mention the carrier by name since the phone's reveal last week. Maybe Verizon's not yet 100 percent certain it wants to launch this one yet? At any rate, just in case there was any lingering doubt, the FCC filing for the Merge includes a user manual plastered from start to finish with Verizon logos and mentions of Verizon services. That's kind of funny considering that they went to all the trouble of carefully taping over the logo in the handset's external photos... but don't worry, FCC lab engineer -- we've had those kinds of days before, too. Keep your chin up!
Visualized: the HTC keyboard slider family
Clockwise from the top left, that's the Sprint Arrive, the likely-for-Verizon Merge, the Sprint Evo Shift 4G, and the T-Mobile G2. If we had to rate them, we'd say the Arrive has the best key feel, followed by the Merge, the Evo Shift, and finally the cramped G2 -- although the super cheap-feeling hinge on the Evo Shift knocks off several points. We'd also say the physical keys on the G2 feel better than the mushy keys on the Merge, but the G2's cramped layout doesn't do it any favors. In any event, picking one of these is a pretty great problem to have, don't you think?
HTC Merge first hands-on! (video)
HTC just rolled in to set up for our San Francisco reader meetup tonight, and what's this? They brought a brand-new HTC Merge with them. No one's talking about what carrier this interesting Android slider is going to launch on yet, but that Verizon-red earpiece and search button aren't exactly coy. Apart from that, it's pretty much exactly the device we've seen leaked all over for months now -- a really nice landscape Android slider with a solid keyboard. More pics in the gallery, and a video after the break! %Gallery-117639%
HTC Merge official, coming to 'multiple' US carriers this spring
Boy, we've had so many leaked materials relating to the HTC Merge that we kind of assumed the handset was official by now. Never mind, HTC is taking care of that little oversight now, admittedly much later than we expected the phone to show up, by announcing that the Merge will arrive on multiple US carriers in the spring. It brings Android 2.2, skinned with HTC's Sense UI, a 3.8-in touchscreen plus that slide-out keyboard, and a 5 megaixel autofocus camera with 720p video recording. Not bad, now let's see how those carriers decide to price this mid-range contender.
Droid Bionic and HTC Merge hit Best Buy website, accessories galore
Prices and release dates for the HTC Merge and Droid Bionic are still eluding us at the moment, but we have at least found a place where you can load up with add-ons. Best Buy's mobile accessories site is listing both phones, complete with pictures, and while there's no information provided about the handsets themselves, this certainly would seem to point to a release in the very near future. Oh, and if you had any doubts these handsets would be compatible with the many and myriad Bluetooth headsets on offer at BBY, you need worry no more. [Thanks, Matt]
Gamigo buys Black Prophecy, buys into Reakktor Media
When it comes to free-to-play games, we don't often see the licensing companies buying titles outright. Normally, we're prone to seeing licensing agreements until a game has launched or when two companies have a history of working together quite a lot. Nonetheless, today gamigo proved that it really believes in how much players are going to enjoy its upcoming space dogfighter, Black Prophecy, by buying all rights and trademarks related to the game from Reakktor Media. The other interesting piece of news is that at the same time as the Black Prophecy acquisition, gamigo also opted to pick up nearly 20% of Reakktor Media. All remaining shares of Reakktor Media remain under the control of the company's CEO, Kirk Lenke, which effectively puts all development control moving forward between Reakktor and gamigo. If you really don't care about corporate merges and buyouts, then there's still a nugget of news to be gleaned for you. In amongst all the happy congratulations and notes about how this will make things better and easier for the two companies was a note that we should "[look] forward to seeing Black Prophecy go live in the very near future." (Emphasis theirs.) Whether it will simply mark open beta or something more, we'll have to wait and see.
HTC Merge accessories in the wild -- nope, still not official yet
Here's what we know about the HTC Merge: it's also been known as the Lexicon, it's a dual-mode phone with GSM and CDMA heading to Verizon, it's got a slide-out QWERTY, an 800MHz processor, Bing and Bing Maps (a popular trend these days), and now we know, too, that it has a Body Glove snap on cover available to protect its metallic exterior. Here's what we don't know: why no one's yet to officially acknowledged this phone.
XM, Sirius finally announce plans to merge in Canada
Ready to have your mind blown? XM and Sirius never merged in Canada. Even after the two companies joined forces in the United States, they continued to operate as separate entities north of the border, with XM Canada wholly owned by Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings, while Sirius Canada operated through a partnership of CBC Radio, Slaight Communications, and Sirius XM in the US. That's now finally set to change, however, with the two companies today announcing plans to merge in an all-stock deal valued at $520 million (including $120 million in long-term debt). Assuming the deal is approved by the CRTC, the combined company would boast a total user base of 1.7 million, and Canadian Satellite Radio chairman John Bitove promises that the new entity will deliver an "exceptional value to subscribers."
Regulators perturbed by Comcast's executive reshuffling, NBC Universal takeover to blame
Hold your horses, Bubsy. While it looked like there were but a few Is to dot and Ts to cross before Comcast's takeover of NBC Universal was official, folks in high places are now shaking their heads at a recent decision by the carrier. As the story goes, Comcast and NBC Universal are still in talks with the government over the proposed takeover, and it seems that a few wires were crossed in recent days; Comcast decided to announce a new management slate for NBC Universal just a few days ago, despite the fact that the takeover hasn't actually been green-lit. According to an inside report over at The New York Times, one unnamed official in Washington had this to say: "For a deal this large, and one that hasn't been approved, Comcast's behavior is presumptuous and arrogant." Of course, it's not like this trigger-pulling in and of itself is reason for the whole deal to collapse, but it certainly won't make things any easier on either company. So much for taking on those new roles (and accompanying raises) prior to Turkey Day, huh?
HTC Merge emerges on Verizon site a little early
Far be it from us to tell Verizon how to do a product launch, but showing off a 360-degree view of the HTC Merge before the phone's even been announced doesn't seem like the soundest strategy to us. Of course, we doubt anyone intended for this Flash module to have become public knowledge like it has, but sure enough, a forum member over at Android Central spotted it among VZW's web properties and now we can all take a multidimensional look at this upcoming Android handset. Yes, that includes seeing it with its sliding QWERTY keyboard open -- you can find more imagery of that after the break -- though the pivotal questions of when, for how much, and "can you disable Bing?" remain unanswered for the time being. Ah well, let's just enjoy the eye candy.
The Tattered Notebook: Merge this!
Server mergers are coming this week to EverQuest II, and with it come some serious questions about what stays, what goes, and who gets stuck with a name with a lousy X at the end. But sometimes mergers are a good thing, and I think since we're on the subject, it's worth looking at what else could be merged in the world of Norrath. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I'll consider how merging tokens, towns, classes, gods, guild halls and more could benefit EQII. Join me past the cut!
Verizon pricing Droid Pro at $179, Samsung Continuum at $199?
Well, here's some good news -- we just received an internal Verizon pricelist confirming that the Droid Pro will sell for $179 when it hits on November 9th, a far sight lower than the $299 we'd originally heard. That's a pretty tempting price for Moto's Android-with-a-Blackberry-keyboard handset, although we're assuming that it'll be $279 with a $100 rebate at launch. We're also seeing that the dual-display Samsung Continuum Galaxy S phone will hit for the usual $199, while the Droid 2 indeed fell to $149 last week in order to make room for the now nearly-mythical Droid 2 Global, which will come in two colors for $199. We're also separately told that the HTC Merge won't arrive until after the 17th, so those reports of a launch on the 11th might be premature. Either way, it looks like Verizon's going to have a pretty loaded holiday lineup -- and it looks like we've got some serious reviewing to do.
HTC Merge / Lexicon prototype previewed, 800MHz processor produces sweet scores (video)
Here's a little something to make your weekend fly by -- Android Central scored a hands-on look at Verizon's dual-mode CDMA / GSM worldphone, the HTC Merge (or is that Lexikon?) and it's looking like one hell of a handset. Though the prototype's Android 2.2 build is saddled with HTC Sense and Bing for search, the hardware's reportedly superb, with a "clicky and responsive and very well spaced" slide-out QWERTY keyboard with no Desire Z hinge nonsense, and a weighty, solid feel. There's also a 5 megapixel shooter that does 720p video, a likely 2GB of on-board storage and 512MB of RAM, not to mention an 800MHz processor that'll surely help derail the megahertz myth with superb benchmark scores. See it pull a 1,500 in Quadrant after the break, and start dropping those nickels into your piggy bank.
