Verizon to allow UNLOCKED PHONES?????

Verizon Communications Inc.'s plan to open its wireless network to any devices, not just Verizon cell phones, is partly motivated by a desire to cut costs, the company's chief operating officer said Wednesday.

The move to open access, announced last week, is a departure from cellular carriers' long-standing practice of tightly controlling what devices and services, like music downloads, are available to customers.

By opening up the network, starting late next year, Verizon hopes to carry traffic generated by third-party companies that could build in access to Verizon's data network not only into phones, but also digital cameras and other gadgets.

"We think it's a phenomenal new source of revenue for us," COO Denny Strigl said at an investor conference hosted by UBS on Wednesday.

"It is also, to be totally fair here, something which helps us reduce cost in this new business," Strigl added. The third parties will handle marketing and customer service and pay Verizon based on the network usage racked up by their customers.

"This is not something customers will buy through Verizon," Strigl said.

Last week's announcement by Verizon Wireless — a joint venture of New York-based Verizon Communications and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC — comes as some customers want more flexibility in what they can do with their phones — even though it could leave the carrier as a basic provider of wireless access rather than a value-added content provider as well.

Strigl said he did not expect Verizon to be alone in offering open access.

"My gut feeling is that our competitors will arrive at the same conclusions we did," he said.

Verizon competitor Sprint Nextel Corp. is already providing a similar service to Amazon.com Inc., which last month launched a reading device for electronic books. E-books are downloaded wirelessly through Sprint's network, and Kindle owners never deal with Sprint, only with Amazon.

Strigl acknowledged that Verizon may run into problems if too many customers try to use its data network at the same time, for instance for streaming video. But on the other hand, since Verizon plans to charge by usage, a popular video service that takes full advantage of the network would be a boon to the company.

"We'll just have to be very careful to keep our service quality up," Strigl said.

Report: Google shows phone prototype to vendors

Analyst are skeptical if this phone will even become popular with all of the hype. Check back in later months to get updates as to when Google will launch their software.

iPhone video Converters

Posted as a review from cnet.com

There's no shortage of video-to-iPhone converters on the market, but these two freeware contenders do a more-than-decent job of making individual files iPhone-ready. Don't expect much interface gloss or batch conversion with either. However, both apps quickly produce workable iPhone videos without much fuss.

Free Video to iPhone Converter tells it like it is. The rough 'n' ready app takes up minimal screen space and memory. Browsing for links and converting quickly is easy, since there aren't too many additional tabs or buttons where you can get lost. There is, however, a useful function for trimming videos before converting them.

Videora is a larger and busier, app by Red Kawa. On the plus side, Videora lets you format videos for iPhones and three flavors of iPods, including the iPod Touch. You can also browse for and convert YouTube videos online. Videora's multiple tabs and settings let you control advanced encoding and conversion details; it can also pop the finished product straight into iTunes (download,) which can in turn autosync to your iPhone.

Step-by-step prompting (which you can step down or turn off) is useful for walking you through the process, but the double-pane interface adds confusion and superfluous steps for an essentially simple program. The end product was just as good as Free Video to iPhone Converter, but took far more clicks and doesn't have the added advantage of trimming a clip. Dragging a file to the iTunes library is hardly a hardship, though Videora's autoload feature is still a convenient perk.

I currently prefer Free Video to iPhone Converter myself, though Videora will appeal to those further up the power user scale.

Nokia Offers Free Year's Worth of Music with New Handsets

Nokia revealed a new program today called Comes With Music. Nokia will offer handset users free access to music from their handset for one year. Once the year is up, users can continue or halt the subscription. Either way, they can keep all the music they've downloaded during the course of the year. The catalog of music to be available will start with that from Universal Music Group. Nokia is talking to other labels to add their catalogs as well. Nokia did not state when the program will launch, how exactly music will be browsed and delivered to the handset, which handsets the service will be compatible with, nor which countries this service would work in.

AT&T Buys Edge Wireless

AT&T has agreed to acquire Edge Wireless, a regional GSM carrier in the Pacific Northwest. AT&T already owns a minority stake in the company, and will buy out the remaining 64.3% of the firm for an undisclosed amount. It will add Edge's 172,000 existing customers to its own subscriber base and will be able to offer better in-network roaming in the areas covered by Edge.

Nokia Acquires Avvenu

Today Nokia announced that it will purchase Avvenu, a company that enables users to remotely access their PCs from a cell phone. With Avvenu, users can access, use and share files on their PC, even if the PC is off. Nokia will add Avvenu to its Services & Software unit, and plans to offer the PC-accessing service to its operator customers.

Verizon Wireless Will Support Android

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam recently said that the company will support and use Google's Android mobile platform. McAdam noted that using Android falls in line with Verizon's announcement last week that it will permit any app, any device to access its network. He did not say that Verizon will become part of Google's Open Handset Alliance.

Nokia Promises Larger US Presence

Nokia is hoping to reverse its decline in the US with more models on store shelves starting next year, according to executives. While the company will continue to work with all of its current carrier partners, Verizon and AT&T were both singled out as Nokia has made special provisions for the US's top two. The San Diego facility once in charge of CDMA handsets has now been dedicated to devices for AT&T and designers dedicated to creating handsets up to Nokia's standards with CDMA manufacturers. Nokia is working to plan further ahead with all the American carriers in hopes of creating some lasting growth.

AT&T, Verizon Wireless Swap Assets to Meet Regulatory Compliance

In order to comply with FCC requirements concerning their recent acquisitions, both AT&T and Verizon Wireless have agreed to swap certain wireless assets. Under the terms of the swap, AT&T will receive licenses, properties, assets and subscribers from Rural Celluar. This will let AT&T improve its coverage in New York, Kentucky, Vermont and Washington. In turn, AT&T will hand Verizon its former Dobson assets in Kentucky, spectrum in several markets, and cash. Both AT&T and Verizon have pending acquisition deals they are hoping to close.

Sprint XOHM Will Soft Launch "In A Few Days"

Sprint Nextel will soft launch its XOHM WiMax network in the next few days according to Bin Shen, VP of Product Management and Partnership Development. Chicago, Washington DC and Baltimore will all go live at soft launch, and though Shen did not discuss what devices would be available, a number of data cards have been tested on the network. XOHM will officially launch in the second quarter of 2008 as will several laptops with WiMax embedded in them. Later in the year a number of special purpose devices will launch, as will dual-mode CDMA / WiMax handsets.

T-Mobile Adds to 3G Lineup with Nokia 6263

The Nokia 6263 is the second handset launched by T-Mobile that can access its future 3G network. It is a clamshell flip that is Nokia's first 1700/2100 MHz and quad-band GSM/EDGE phone that has an FM tuner and stereo Bluetooth. It has a QVGA display and a 1.3 Megapixel camera. The microSD slot can handle cards up to 4 GB in size, but ships with a 512 MB card. The 6263 runs the Series 40 platform, can browse the web with an XHTML browser and supports Java and Flash Lite content. It is compatible with T-Mobile's MyFaves service, but even though it has 1700 MHz on board, T-Mobile's 3G network has not yet officially launched.

Continental Airlines Piloting Cell Phones As Boarding Passes

Continental is the first airline in the U.S. to test the use of cell phones or PDAs as boarding passes with a pilot program at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Rather than being issued paper passes, passengers will receive a two-dimensional digital bar code on their phones. The code will be scanned and passengers will still need to show valid photo ID. If a passenger's phone loses power, they can be issued a back-up paper pass. If the pilot is successful, the use of cell phones as boarding passes could extend to other airports and airlines.

Verizon Wireless World Edition Lineup Adds Motorola Z6c

Today Verizon announced that the Motorola Z6c World Edition slider will go on sale starting December 12. The Z6c is similar in most respects to the Z6tv, but drops the V CAST Mobile TV capability for world-wide roaming. It has both CDMA/EV-DO and GSM radios on board so customers can roam when traveling overseas. It has a 2 Megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, QVGA screen and supports microSD cards up to 4GB. Verizon's international roaming rates will be either $1.29 or $2.49 per minute depending on which country you are calling from. Text messages will cost 25 cents each. The Z6c will be available for $179 after $50 rebate and new agreement.