Author Archives: admin

More than 15 months after it launched the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010, Apple is finally ready to unveil its successor.  (AllThingsD)

Sprint Nextel has essentially bet a large chunk of its future on Apple’s iPhone, and has ordered a total of 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years for a total commitment of $20 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. (FierceWireless)

T-Mobile USA is teaming up with retail giant Walmart to offer a $30 no-contract, data-centric plan, the latest evolution of T-Mobile’s retail strategy following RadioShack’s decision to drop the nation’s No. 4 carrier.  (FierceWireless)

SMBs continue to look ahead at future growth, but a sluggish economy has them looking harder for products that help them reduce costs, according to a new survey conducted by hosted VoIP provider 8×8. Nasdaq: EGHT  (Fierce Enterprise)

How’s about a 7-inch IPS (!) panel, Gorilla Glass coating, a dual-core CPU and a chassis that weighs 14.6 ounces at just $199.  Naturally, that bargain-bin sticker explains the lack of an embedded camera and microphone, though consumers will find WiFi (no 3G, sadly) and a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.  There’s access to things you’d expect to have access to: Android Appstore, Kindle books, magazines, etc. — all stored for free via Amazon Cloud Storage. Per Jeff: “Delete it and get it back when you want.” Oh, and Whispersync now works with movies and TV shows! “When you get home, switch to your big screen TV. Your movie will be right where you left it.”  Naturally, that bargain-bin sticker explains the lack of an embedded camera and microphone, though consumers will find WiFi (no 3G, sadly) and a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. (Enagadget)

 Dish Network Corp. (DISH), the second- largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, may consider partnering with or buying a wireless carrier such as Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) or Clearwire Corp. (CLWR), Chief Executive Officer Joseph Clayton said. (Bloomberg)

Now comes a final competitor, the best-placed challenger of all: Amazon.com. The retailer is on the verge of introducing its own tablet, analysts predict, a souped-up color version of its Kindle e-reader that will undercut the iPad in price and aim to steal away a couple of million in unit sales by Christmas. (NYTimes)

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), the second-largest U.S. phone company, expects that the total market for cloud computing services will grow to $150 billion by 2020 from about $10 billion now. (Bloomberg)

You don’t need an invitation anymore to check out Google+, the search giant’s stab at social networking. Earlier this week, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) opened it up to the public, although–as it does with almost all of its projects–the company said it would continue to evolve the platform, thus the Beta tag.  You also don’t need an invite to check out what I think is its best feature: Hangouts, the group video chat that lets you connect with up to 10 people at a time. (FierceEnterprise)