The competition in the US wireless market is getting fierce. Just ask T-Mobile (NYSE: DT). Citing increased pressure from other carriers offering innovative handsets, T-Mobile USA today reported a net loss of 77,000 customers in Q3 2009. The loss is striking, compared to the same quarter last year, when T-Mobile reported a net addition of 670,000 customers. Still, T-mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT), reported a 7.2% bump in quarterly profit, increased to $1.4 billion for the quarter.
T-Mobile USA’s average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped in the third quarter, causing operating revenues to decline to $5.38 billion from $5.51 billion in the same period in 2008. As it stands, T-Mobile USA boasts 33.4 million subscribers, which is still an increase from last year. Even with a customer loss, T-Mobile USA is closing the gap with No. 3 US wireless carrier Sprint (NYSE: S).
We’ll have to wait and see how the upcoming Samsung Behold II and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 launches affect T-Mobile’s bottom line.
The T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) (NYSE: DT) BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 isn’t quite launched just yet, but we’ve already gotten friendly with RIM’s newest hardware. The Bold 9700 looks and feels a lot like the original BlackBerry Bold 9000, with some significant under-the-hood upgrades. Cosmetically, the biggest difference is the missing trackball; in it’s place is a new optical trackpad. It’s a subtle design update that makes a lot of sense – the Bold 9000 was a big hit for RIM, of course they’re going to stick with a recipe that everyone loves.
My bud David over at TMoNews has managed to get his hands (from a trusted ninja) on a video look at the Samsung Behold II’s TouchWiz interface. The custom UI ‘Cube’ is certainly a different take on the traditional Android UI. Check it out.
Last I heard the Samsung Behold II will be announced at T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) on November 12th… with availability coming November 18th. Pricing is said to be around the $249.99 mark on a 2-year contract. Would you spend that much for a spinning cube, WiFi, 16GB of storage, and a 5MP camera with auto-focus and flash? Check out the video above if you haven’t already, and leave your thoughts in the comments.
What do you think? Awesomely awesome? Or colossal FAIL?
T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) is making big moves in the Android space. When it comes to Android phones, T-Mobile offers more than any other carrier. And, with the Samsung Behold 2 scheduled to be unveiled next week, T-Mobile’s Android lineup is going to become that much more formidable. So, to make the Android experience even better for its customers, T-Mobile will soon launch carrier billing for the Android Market. T-Mobile USA CTO Cole Brodman confirmed the carrier billing rollout today at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, adding that the carrier will soon add a custom “T-Mobile Channel” to the Android Market.
By the end of the month, T-Mobile customers with Android phones can download premium Android apps from the Android Market and have the cost of the apps charged directly to their monthly phone bill. The T-Mobile Channel will offer customers customized content for their Android phone.
Carrier billing is a convenient way to pay for Android apps, but will it be enough to sway customers away from Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid? T-Mobile’s upcoming Samsung Behold II might have something to say about that…
November is shaping up to be quite the month for unveiling Android smartphones. With the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid already official and the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) XPERIA X10 getting some time in the limelight, the Android space is looking fairly attractive. Next up? Samsung’s Behold II. As you can see from the invite that just hit our inbox, Samsung and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) are gearing up to unveil the Behold 2 in all its AMOLED glory on November 12.
Details are scarce at this point, but we are expecting to see the Samsung Behold II going live on T-Mobile USA on November 18. Word on the street has the Behold 2 launching with a $249.99 price tag (with 2-year contract, of course). In exchange for your hard-earned cash, the Samsung Behold II will put a 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen capacitive, 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, aGPS, WiFi, 3G and 16GB of built-in storage in your pocket.
Sound the air raid sirens, duck under your desks, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s wireless network is undergoing a pretty hardcore service interruption. From their Twitter account:
All – We’re aware of the current service disruption. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates as more information is available.
Hoboy. Those T-Mobile customers out there, feel free to leave a comment with your own technical problems, how long they’ve lasted, where you’re located, and if/when service has been restored. We’ll update this post as soon as we hear more about the issue.
Despite app discovery services like Chorus for iPhone, the AppStore is a really tough place to eek out a living. That may have prompted one Dutch teen to find a new way to make money from the iPhone – hold them for ransom! That’s what happened yesterday when some T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) iPhone users in the Netherlands found a hacked message on their jailbroken iPhones. The message asked the user to secure their iPhone by paying $4.95 for instructions to remove the message prompt. The hacker didn’t disable the iPhones in any way, but he essentially wanted a ransom for peace of mind (and not seeing an annoying pop-up message at boot). It was an interesting (not ethical, or commendable, but interesting for sure) money-making scheme for all of a day, before the hacker got shut down.
The jailbroken iPhone community comprises no more than a small minority of all iPhone owners out there, but with many millions of iPhones spread around the world, that’s still a sizable community. Seeing as how most of those jailbroken iPhones are still going about their day with the default SSH password, it was only a matter of time before someone tried to make money from jailbroken iPhones.
This is what the hacker posted to his website:
“Dear iPhone user,
Your iPhone is not secure. That’s the reason your visiting this page, isn’t it? Well you can pay me $4,95 at my paypal account PureInfinity92@mailinator.com, and I’ll mail you very easy instructions on how to secure your iPhone. You can also contact me at PureInfinity92@gmail.com
If you don’t pay, it’s fine by me. But remember, the way I got access to your iPhone can be used by thousands of others. And they can send text messages from your number (like I did..), use it to call (or record your calls), and actually whatever they want, even use it for their hacking activities! I can assure you, I have no intention of harming you or whatever, but, some hackers do! It’s just my advise to secure your phone (: Have a nice day!”
The good news is that PayPal suspended his account with haste, making sure that the ill-intentioned teen couldn’t make any money from his scam. The hacker then posted a follow-up to his site, apologizing for his scam and offering his instructions to remove the message (and secure jailbroken iPhones) for free.
The lesson here? Change your jailbroken iPhone’s SSH password. Find out how to do that here.
The Motorola CLIQ is hailed as Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s first stab at reclaiming some of their lost mobile phone market share, and it just might be able to live up to expectations. Motorola and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) announced the CLIQ a little over a month ago, showing off the Android phone’s innovative MOTOBLUR interface and its ability to magically update its homescreen widgets with information from your social networks and news feeds. Today, T-Mobile has gone all official with the Motorola CLIQ in the US. No more pre-order, folks – the CLIQ is live!
T-Mobile’s CLIQ has the distinction of being Motorola’s first comeback handset as well as the company’s first Android phone to hit market. The CLIQ is decidedly more curvy than its evil brother, the Motorola DROID, but it packs a cutesy-punch. The CLIQ sports a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, GPS, WiFi, 3G data, 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot. But, the CLIQ’s highlight feature is its MOTOBLUR UI. Motorola created its custom MOTOBLUR Android UI to work with special MOTOBLUR servers to constantly monitor your social networks and news feeds. When something new happens or someone posts an interesting (sometimes not so interesting) tidbit to their profile, MOTOBLUR pushes that information to one of your homescreen widgets. Social butterflies, take note, MOTOBLUR will help you stay connected!
And, to help celebrate the Motorola CLIQ’s launch, Motorola and T-Mobile have announced a contest for college students. The college to sign-up the most Facebook fans to T-Mobile’s fan page will win a free campus concert by Weezer, and up to $25,000 for their school. Even better, you don’t even have to buy a CLIQ to enter the contest! Find out more here.
Fans of Motorola’s curvy Android phone can walk into any T-Mobile USA retail store or go online to nab their very own Motorola CLIQ for $199.99 with new 2-year contract and mail-in rebate. The CLIQ comes in your choice of White or Titanium color schemes.
Last we heard the T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700 was coming November 16th. Now it looks like my bud David (over at TMoNews) has another Bold 9700 launch rumor for us today. The latest word is the second-coming of the Bold will hit us on November 18th. Apparently training on the new device has already begun for employees… but please treat this as a rumor, for now.
Interestingly enough, the Bold 9700 already seems to be featured on the T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) site here. I suspect T-Mo plans to throw down a little pre-order action… or it could be that the launch is coming sooner than we think. We’ll see.
Side Note: The official release package has been spotted by the folks at BlackBerry OS. Check out the goodness below. Looks like everything is there… Me thinks we’re going to see the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold 9700 on T-Mo really soon!
The Motorola CLIQ is hailed as Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s first stab at reclaiming some of their lost mobile phone market share, and it just might be able to live up to expectations. Motorola and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) announced the CLIQ a little over a month ago, showing off the Android phone’s innovative MOTOBLUR interface and its ability to magically update its homescreen widgets with information from your social networks and news feeds. Today, T-Mobile has gone all official with the Motorola CLIQ in the US. No more pre-order, folks – the CLIQ is live!
T-Mobile’s CLIQ has the distinction of being Motorola’s first comeback handset as well as the company’s first Android phone to hit market. The CLIQ is decidedly more curvy than its evil brother, the Motorola DROID, but it packs a cutesy-punch. The CLIQ sports a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, GPS, WiFi, 3G data, 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot. But, the CLIQ’s highlight feature is its MOTOBLUR UI. Motorola created its custom MOTOBLUR Android UI to work with special MOTOBLUR servers to constantly monitor your social networks and news feeds. When something new happens or someone posts an interesting (sometimes not so interesting) tidbit to their profile, MOTOBLUR pushes that information to one of your homescreen widgets. Social butterflies, take note, MOTOBLUR will help you stay connected!
And, to help celebrate the Motorola CLIQ’s launch, Motorola and T-Mobile have announced a contest for college students. The college to sign-up the most Facebook fans to T-Mobile’s fan page will win a free campus concert by Weezer, and up to $25,000 for their school. Even better, you don’t even have to buy a CLIQ to enter the contest! Find out more here.
Fans of Motorola’s curvy Android phone can walk into any T-Mobile USA retail store or go online to nab their very own Motorola CLIQ for $199.99 with new 2-year contract and mail-in rebate. The CLIQ comes in your choice of White or Titanium color schemes.
The competition in the US wireless market is getting fierce. Just ask T-Mobile (NYSE: DT). Citing increased pressure from other carriers offering innovative handsets, T-Mobile USA today reported a net loss of 77,000 customers in Q3 2009. The loss is striking, compared to the same quarter last year, when T-Mobile reported a net addition of 670,000 customers. Still, T-mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT), reported a 7.2% bump in quarterly profit, increased to $1.4 billion for the quarter.
T-Mobile (
Despite app discovery services like Chorus for iPhone, the AppStore is a really tough place to eek out a living. That may have prompted one Dutch teen to find a new way to make money from the iPhone – hold them for ransom! That’s what happened yesterday when some T-Mobile (
