An Ignoble Experiment

2. T-Mobile CEO hints at new prepaid plan, says he's 'intrigued' by Dish's vision

Fresh off SoftBank's $21.6 billion acquisition of 78 percent of Sprint (NYSE:S), the operator announced new unlimited service plans that promise unlimited voice, texting and data for the life of the phone line.

Called Unlimited Guarantee, Sprint is not only giving the guarantee to new customers that sign up for service but existing customers who switch to Sprint's new Unlimited, My Way or My All-in plan. The new plans are available starting July 12.

The new Unlimited, My Way plans come with unlimited talk, text and data and Sprint customers can customize their data plans, adding up to 10 lines on one account. As a customer adds more lines to their account, they get more of a discount.

For example, first a customer selects the number of lines they want. All lines come with unlimited talk and text to any wireline or mobile phone. For one line a customer will pay $50 per month.

Second, they choose their data plan for each line. For $30 per month they can get unlimited data on smartphones or $10 per month for unlimited data on feature phones. Additional options include $20 per month for 1 GB of data on a smartphone or a basic phone.

However, if a customer wants hotspot functionality on their device, they can purchase 1 GB of data per month for $10.

If a customer chooses the My All-in plan, they get unlimited talk, text and data plus 5 GB of mobile hotspot usage for $110.

Interestingly, Sprint's announcement comes just a day after T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) introduced a new handset upgrade program, called Jump, that allows customers to upgrade their wireless devices up to two times per year after an initial six-month enrollment period. In addition, T-Mobile debuted a new Simple Choice plan for families beginning July 14 that will give them unlimited talk, text and Web and up to 500 Mb of data for $100 per month. The innovative part of this is that the operator is not requiring a credit check or an annual service contract.

Both Sprint and T-Mobile are both attempting to lure customers away from heavyweights Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) by offering unlimited data to customers. Verizon and AT&T Mobility both offer tiered data packages that charge customers more as they use more data.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg story
- see this press release

Read more about: Sprint
back to top

This week's sponsor is Intel.
	Intel® Software Adrenaline Magazine Get the latest in touch and sensory technologies. This edition explores the frontiers of touch computing, mobile lifestyles and more. Download today

By Sue Marek

Comment |

3. Samsung opens innovation center in Silicon Valley

T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) CEO John Legere hinted at a new prepaid offering from the company, called Apollo 15, that will target Leap Wireless' (NASDAQ:LEAP) Cricket-branded prepaid customer base. In addition, he said he is 'intrigued' by Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) Chairman Charlie Ergen's vision of combining the company with a wireless carrier, but added that the two companies aren't talking.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Legere said that the company isn't looking to buy Leap but will instead go after the company's customers with a new prepaid offering. "The best way to think about Apollo 15 is T-Mobile network, T-Mobile devices, Leap customers," Legere said, according to the WSJ.

Leap has long been considered an acquisition target and company executives have said they are evaluating their options. Leap and MetroPCS one were considered likely partners because of their similar focus on no-contract customers. Although the companies reportedly did talk about a possible merger back in 2010, they never reached a deal and MetroPCS was acquired by T-Mobile earlier this year.

Nevertheless, Leap executives do not seem concerned about growing competition in the prepaid space. In the past, when asked about T-Mobile US' (NYSE:TMUS) plans to significantly expand the footprint where its MetroPCS brand offers service by around 100 million POPs, Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson said Leap is not that worried. He said Leap has experienced such expansions before and has fared well historically. "We don't lack competition in the prepaid segment," he said, noting that Leap is focused on capturing a larger slice of what it expects will be an expanding pie of prepaid customers.

Leap believes 50 million U.S. subscribers will consider switching this year from postpaid to prepaid plans, two-third of which will be from AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ).

Regarding Dish Network, Legere said that he is intrigued by Ergen's vision of integrating his satellite network with a wireless play but said the two companies have not talked. T-Mobile has been widely rumored as a potential target for Dish, which owns lots of spectrum but lacks a wireless network.

For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Read more about: Leap Wireless, DISH Network
back to top

By Sue Marek

Comment |

4. Android co-founder Miner calls fragmentation fears 'overblown'

Samsung has launched a new innovation center in Silicon Valley that the company said will act as an incubator for startups. The company joins a growing number of mobile firms with innovation centers in Silicon Valley, all of which are hoping to gain access to the area's growing number of innovative startups and development shops.

Samsung said the innovation center will feed into various Samsung divisions like mobile and semiconductors and will include four segments including mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, venture funding and an accelerator specifically for startups. Samsung said it is looking for entrepreneurs that will help develop products and services for areas such as TVs, mobile phones, tablets, cameras and more.

Interestingly, Samsung's new innovation center is just down the road from AT&T's Foundry and a 10 minute drive from Nokia's research center.

This isn't the only presence Samsung has in Silicon Valley. The company's investment arm, Samsung Ventures America, which has $1 billion in assets, is also nearby, as is Samsung Semiconductor, which opened a new facility in San Jose, Calif. In addition, the company has a Strategy and Innovation Center in Menlo Park, Calif. Samsung announced earlier this year that this center would invest $1.1 billion in new technology.

For more:
- see this Forbes article

Related articles:
Samsung to plow $1.1B into venture funding, open Silicon Valley innovation center
Innovation centers: Carriers search for solutions in the sandbox
Nokia to pump $250M into mobile venture capital fund
Mobile games dominate VC investment in November
VC money flows into mobile app tools, analytics and testing
VC investment in mobile tops $360M in October, led by Braintree, Netbiscuits

Read more about: samsung, Silicon Valley
back to top

By Jason Ankeny

Comment |

5. Verizon's FamilyBase lets parents control their child's wireless usage

Rich Miner, co-founder of Android--the Silicon Valley mobile software startup that originated the open-source operating system of the same name--contends that discussion of Android platform fragmentation is disproportionate to the reality of the situation.

Rich Miner

"I think [fragmentation] is a bit of an overblown issue, frankly," Miner said Thursday at a tech forum hosted by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, Xconomy reports. Miner--who joined Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) in 2005 with its acquisition of Android and helped lead development of the Android OS and ecosystem before signing on as a general partner with Google Ventures in 2009--argued that the size and scale of the Android market makes some fragmentation unavoidable: "Don't forget, there are 1.5 million Android phones being activated every single day," he said. "There are 900 million devices out in the market."

According to Miner, Google continues to improve its working relationships with Android manufacturers and carrier partners, in turn strengthening the platform as a whole. He pointed to Google's quick response to an Android security vulnerability identified last week by mobile security solutions firm Bluebox that allows hackers to modify APK code without breaking an application's cryptographic signature, creating malicious Trojans that go undetected by the app store, device or consumer. Earlier this week, Google began distributing a patch to manufacturing partners to fix the flaw.

"Clearly, in the early days of Android, there was some learning that had to be done between Google and the ecosystem--the handset OEMs," Miner said. "I think Google is much better, as we've seen with the latest security release. Google got a patch out... very quickly to the OEMs."

Miner also believes that most consumers are unaware which version of Android powers their device. "Us techies read the blogs and know what features we may be missing," he said. "I think if you asked a consumer 'Do you feel like your phone OS needs to be updated today?' they're pretty happy with the results and the performance they're seeing. So I'm not sure it's a major issue."

Google's Android Developers dashboard reveals that as of July 8, 37.9 percent of all Android devices run versions 4.1.x and 4.2.x, jointly nicknamed Jelly Bean, up from 33 percent in early June. Version 4.1.x, released in July 2012, powers 32.3 percent of devices, with 4.2.x (issued last November) making up the remaining 5.6 percent. Android 2.3.x now fuels 34.1 percent of devices worldwide, down from 36.5 percent last month. Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich, issued in October 2011, now powers 23.3 percent of devices, slipping from 25.6 percent a month ago. The remaining Android versions, including 2.1 Éclair, 2.2 Froyo and 3.2 Honeycomb, make up the remaining 4.7 percent of the current Android ecosystem.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook blasted Android fragmentation during the company's annual Worldwide Developer Conference last month: "This isn't just bad for users… this version fragmentation is terrible for developers," Cook said.

A recent Juniper Networks report also blames Android fragmentation for the operating system's security vulnerabilities, noting that the vast majority of devices run older versions of Android, preventing them from receiving new security measures delivered by Google and leaving users exposed to threats.

At Google's own I/O conference in May, Android engineering staffers said they are working diligently to ensure that operating system updates are rolled out in a more efficient manner, reducing the fragmentation that has plagued the platform since its inception. "[Fragmentation] is something we think about a lot," said Dave Burke, engineering director for the Android platform. "And we're working internally to streamline the development process and make the software more layered."

For more:
- read this Xconomy article

Read more about: Android, fragmentation
back to top

By Sue Marek

Comment |