Get ready for some football Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless users, as the largest U.S. carrier has struck a deal to get live National Football League games on its handsets.

The deal is reportedly worth $720 million over four years and Verizon subscribers will be able to use their handsets to watch live games on Thursdays and Sundays – NBC’s Sunday Night Football and NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football - as well content around the clock from NFL Network. NFL Mobile will also give you access to the cool RedZone Channel, which provides live looks in to close games or scores across the NFL schedule.

“For Verizon Wireless, it is NFL content delivered over our 3G network so football fans can extend the excitement of the sport long after the last touchdown of a season,” said John Stratton, Verizon’s executive VP, in a prepared statement. “And the NFL content is customizable in that consumers have options from video to ringtones to alerts; the choice is theirs.”

The service will go live before the NFL draft in April, and it will provide live coverage of that event with in-depth videos on those drafted. The app had previously been on Sprint (NYSE: S) phones and it was bundled with the Simply Everything plans. I used it every once in a while and it was pretty solid. A Sprint representative told Phonescoop it didn’t extend the NFL deal because the third-largest carrier wasn’t sure if it was getting a great return on investment.

There’s no official word on what handsets this will come to but it’s safe to assume it will hit Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) smartphones on Big Red. There’s no word on what pricing will be but we will know in a few weeks. I hope Verizon just bundles it in with its smartphone data plans because I don’t see NFL Mobile being a feature people will want to pay extra for it. As a free, Verizon-only app, I think it could be a valuable tool for retaining customers though, particularly if it is free.

[Via The Wall Street Journal (subscription link) and Verizon]

If you’re not excited about Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s 4G network rollout, you should be. The largest U.S. carrier said its test markets using Long-Term Evolution technology were able to have peak download speeds of 40 to 50 Mbps with 20 to 25 upload speeds. Peak speeds and theoretical limits are one thing, but Big Red said its real-world speeds could be 5 to 12 Mbps download, with 2 to 5 Mbps upstream.

“Our LTE rollout plan positions Verizon Wireless to be a global leader in 4G LTE deployment,” said Tony Melone, senior VP and CTO at Verizon Wireless, in a prepared statement. “We are on track to deliver an outstanding wireless data experience to customers in 25 to 30 markets covering roughly 100 million people by year’s end.”

To be fair, these speeds were derived from trial markets in Boston and Seattle, and these were probably under ideal conditions. Still, it points to the not-too-distant future where mobile broadband will be fast enough to remove limitations on services and what we can do on the go. The easy features to look at are VoIP calling, video calling, and HD video anywhere. The exciting part is that once we have this type of speed on our smartphone, application developers will be free to come up with innovative products without having to worry about bandwidth constraints. SlingBox, for example, won’t have to strip out the best part of its app because of network concerns.

Verizon’s not the only one looking toward the next generation of mobile broadband. Sprint (NYSE: S)’s WiMax network delivers 3 to 6 Mbps right now and it will cover 120 million people by the end of the year. AT&T (NYSE: T) is waiting until 2011 to deploy LTE and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) is upgrading its network to HSPA+, which will deliver 21 Mbps to users on the go. This is all cool stuff but I’m going to throw a little cold water in your face by bringing up some potential snags. Even with Verizon’s aggressive deployment schedule, it’s going to take many, many years for a nationwide deployment – we still don’t have 100% 3G coverage. Additionally, Verizon’s 4G devices will have to be dual-mode to have fall-back coverage, so don’t expect interoperable 4G networks any time soon.

[Via Verizon]

I think Sprint (NYSE: S) may have missed the Valentine’s Day boat on this one. Still, if the standard black and silver facade of today’s typical BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) ain’t your thing, Sprint could indeed be well-served by bringing a new splash of color. Rumor has it that Sprint may have a BlackBerry Curve 8530 in the works, in red. If the Black and ‘Lavender‘ options aren’t doing it for you, red could be a welcome choice for some.

One day down the road I’d love it if you could pick and choose your device colors, or heck, even personalize it, as a service offered right from the carrier. I’m not talking about one-color options here, I’m talking full-out ColorWare style customization here. Of course, this will probably never happen for numerous reasons… So we’ll all need to continue to send our devices away to have them customized with the livery of our liking (for hundreds of dollars)… But still, wouldn’t that be awesome? Just think of the array of color schemes we’d see on devices around town if color customization and personalization was a standard option.

‘Yes, I’ll take a BlackBerry Tour 9630 with a carbon fibre battery cover, keep the stock chrome bezel, blue front color, and white keyboard with black lettering. Can you do that for me?’

One day, one day.

[Via: BerryAndroid]

Google’s European boss made it clear how important the mobile space is to the search giant, as he said smartphones will make make desktops second-class citizens in three years.

“In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant,” said John Herlihy, Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s VP of global ad operations, during a Digital Landscapes conference. “In Japan, most research is done today on smartphones, not PCs.”

Herlihy’s comments echoes those made by CEO Eric Schmidt during the last Mobile World Congress and the search giant has been making aggressive moves to establish itself on the mobile web. Google has versions of its programs and apps for nearly every mobile platform, its Android operating system is gaining traction, and it began selling its own hardware with the Nexus One. We’ve also seen this mobile-first strategy firsthand with the release of Google Buzz, which is arguably more useful on an iPhone or Android than it is on a PC.

“Mobile makes the world’s information universally accessible,” said Herlihy. “Because there’s more information and because it will be hard to sift through it all, that’s why search will become more and more important. This will create new opportunities for new entrepreneurs to create new business models – ubiquity first, revenue later.”

I write for this site because I truly believe that smartphones can have a significant impact on our daily lives. My mom, the least tech person in the world, just bought an iPhone and it has already helped her with her real estate business. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the tech industry who doesn’t agree with the main ideas Herlihy is spouting – even Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has re-christened itself a “mobile device company.”

I think the three-year timeline is rather ambitious, particularly in the United States where we still don’t have 3G ubiquity. Sprint (NYSE: S) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) are making strong pushes roll out 4G and these increased speeds could greatly contribute to the decline of desktops. But lets not go too crazy here, the desktop will always have its place due to things like screen size, work, horsepower, and other factors.

[Via Silicon Republic]

Say what you want about T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s less than ideal indoor wireless reception or their spotty 3G coverage, the fourth-largest US wireless carrier continues to prove that it really knows how to treat its customers. T-Mobile USA has, once again, topped a J.D. Power & Associates survey. This time around, the consumer survey firm is awarding T-Mobile with the trophy in their “2010 Wireless Retails Sales Satisfaction” survey. T-Mobile easily slid past AT&T (NYSE: T) and Sprint (NYSE: S) in the survey, and just barely beat Verizon (NYSE: VZ) .

The study ranked T-Mobile’s sales staff and prices/promotions for wireless service as “among the best” of other carriers – that’s the highest rank any carrier can hope to achieve on these surveys. Verizon beat out T-Mobile when it comes to the quality of Verizon’s “retailer facility” and “merchandise display,” but ultimately took a back seat to T-Mobile’s sales staff and cost of service.

According to the study, if you’re looking for top-notch facilities and shiny eye-candy merchandise displays, Verizon’s your best bet. If the sales staff and cost of service are more important, T-Mobile is the way to go. Of course, that’s not taking into account the actual quality of the wireless service – but that’s another survey for another time.

The quality of sales staff was measured by the courtesy and friendliness of the salesperson; concern that customers purchase the best service plan/phone for their calling needs, ability to answer customer questions, speed of service and length of time needed to complete paperwork. The cost of wireless service was determined by comparing carriers in the price and promotion category. The survey was based on 8,000 Internet survey interviews, which was conducted between July 2009 and December 2009.

Find carrier rankings here.

Full press release after the break.

Read the full article »

Virgin Mobile has improved its prepaid mobile broadband offerings and it’s now a legitimate option if you only need 3G data on occasion.

The Broadband2Go service offers 3G connections without a long-term contract and the prices range from $10 to $60. The $60 plan now includes 5GB of data, up from 1GB, and every plan except the $10 one has received a boost in data allotment. There are a few caveats though, as you have to use your data within 30 days of purchase (excluding the lowest-priced plan). Because there’s no contract, you also have to buy the modem yourself and it costs about $100. Still, I can see a few this being useful for small business owners, free lancers, or people who only have sporadic needs for mobile broadband.

[Via Phonescoop]

Get ready to pay more if you use a lot of mobile data, as AT&T (NYSE: T)’s Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said the second largest U.S. carrier may have to implement tiered pricing in order to better manage its network.

Speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference Tuesday, Stephenson said 40% of the company’s network capacity is being used by 3% of its smartphone users and these subscribers would inevitably have to pay more. This is actually on par with what other bigwigs in the company have been saying and I agree with it to a certain point. If you use a jailbroken iPhone to tether and torrent all day, then maybe you should be charged a bit more. What sticks in my craw is that we’re all paying for “unlimited” data even though you only get 5GB a month. A fair tiered-pricing model with proper data measurement tools could wind up saving a lot of people money, but I have a sneaking suspicion we won’t see massive price drops.

Despite all the guff AT&T gets from iPhone users in New York and San Francisco, the company has poured billions into its 3G infrastructure and this appears to be paying off. A recent performance test from PCWorld rated AT&T as the best overall carrier for mobile data and Stephenson said he expects the company’s 3G network to be “sufficient to handle data traffic for the next few years.” Rivals Sprint (NYSE: S) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) are rushing to deploy 4G networks but Stephenson said AT&T is sticking with its plans to roll out 4G based on Long-Term Evolution technology in 2011.

As for the iPhone, Stephenson expects it to be a strong part of AT&T’s business for a long time but wouldn’t definitively say it will remain exclusive over the long haul. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s smartphone has poached away millions of lucrative customers over the last few years, so if I were AT&T, I would bend over backwards to keep Steve Jobs happy.

AT&T will also be the exclusive provider of U.S. mobile data for the upcoming iPad but Stephenson expects the majority of users will use the tablet on WiFi. This makes a lot of sense because the WiFi-only version will be about $130 cheaper and the iPad isn’t the most portable of devices.

[Via AppleInsider]

As a former Helio Ocean owner, it’s a sad day for me because Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) said it would be cutting off its postpaid services.

The prepaid provider had purchased the tattered remains of Helio in 2008 because it was really cheap to do so, and it wanted to have more postpaid users. Sprint (NYSE: S) bought Virgin last year for its success in the prepaid market, so there is now no need for Virgin to have its own postpaid subscribers. Virgin said its postpaid service would end May 25 and these customers would be given incentive to switch to Sprint.

“Current postpaid customers are being given $50 towards the purchase of a Sprint postpaid handset with a new two-year agreement,” Virgin Mobile said in a statement. “This credit is in addition to any applicable rebates that may apply. Postpaid customers moving from Virgin Mobile to Sprint will also receive $150 off of handsets as part of Sprint’s standing new customer offer. Activation fees will also be waived.”

For those who don’t remember, Helio was a joint venture between SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) and Earthlink that was supposed to bring 3G goodness to the United States. They had decent all-you-can-eat data plans and I thought the Ocean was cool beans. Unfortunately, the MVNO business proved to be a joke and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone essentially killed any chance Helio had.

[Via MobileCrunch]

Get ready for 4G folks, as Verizon (NYSE: VZ) said it is on schedule to roll out its next-generation mobile broadband network using Long-Term Evolution technology.

In an interview with Network World, Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone said the company has been “pleasantly surprised” by the readiness of the infrastructure, and that deployment is “looking better each day, not worse each day.” He reiterated that Verizon will have commercial 4G services in up to 30 markets by the end of the year and it will follow an aggressive deployment schedule.

“Fifteen months after our initial launch we’re planning to double the number of markets that have LTE,” Melone said. “Then by the end of 2013 we’re going to have our entire current 3G footprint covered by 4G. So in other words, everywhere we have 3G coverage today we’ll have 4G coverage. And we’ll also have places where we don’t have 3G coverage today that we’ll have 4G.”

Melone said he is “bullish” that the ecosystem will be ready on day one, so we can look forward to some LTE handsets by the end of the year. Verizon will most likely won’t have voice over LTE until the network is built out fully, so expect many of its 4G devices to be dual-mode. He didn’t give exact speed expectations but look for up to 10 times more throughput and 80% less latency with the LTE network.

This is really cool stuff because we’re starting to see mobile broadband speeds that could change the we work and play. Sprint (NYSE: S)’s WiMax network is growing and I actually saw a 4G-only commercial on TV last night. AT&T (NYSE: T) is reportedly getting its act together with its 3G network and it should start deploying LTE in 2011. Even T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) is pushing out HSPA+ later this year and that promises to deliver 21Mbps on the go.

[Via Network World]

Google sure seems pleased with its Nexus One “superphone,” as the search giant’s Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said the handset is the “benchmark setter” in the mobile world.

During a Morgan Stanley conference Monday, Pichette said the Nexus One has raised the bar for the industry and showed consumers that there are legitimate alternatives to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone juggernaut. After freely distributing the Android mobile platform to various handset makers for about a year, Google began selling the Nexus One directly through its online store in January. This can be seen as somewhat of a risky strategy because it could alienate Open Handset Alliance members like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and HTC but Google must have felt it needed more hardware integration in order to control the Android experience. A few of the IntoMobile staffers have the sexy handset and they seem to love it, but it would be a stretch to say the Nexus One has been a blockbuster success.

Getting into a physical business isn’t as easy as getting into a digital one. Sales haven’t been that strong compared to devices like the iPhone and Droid, users have complained about 3G connections and the Federal Communications Commission publicly questioned why the search giant charges an equipment-recovery fee when U.S. customers are already subject to an early-termination fee from T-Mobile. Like most Google products, the phone selling business appeared to launch in beta form and it is slowly getting better. The company has implemented a customer assistance line, slashed its ERF and it could begin selling a Verizon (NYSE: VZ) version of the Nexus One as soon as March 23. The Verizon version could be quite popular because Big Red has more than 90 million users and a large 3G network.

I still have some misgivings about Google’s phone store because I believe the intent is better than the outcome for U.S. consumers. Because of the lack of true interoperability between networks, Google just becomes another pricey middleman between consumers, mobile service and the devices. Hopefully, Google’s open vision for its store will have a positive impact on how AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint (NYSE: S), T-Mobile and Verizon do business.

[Via ZDNet]