iPhone 5 to be 4G? AT&T Launches 4G LTE Network

ATT has finally launched is highly anticipated 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network in the U.S., according to Zacks.com, an investment research website.

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This new network will provide ATT customers with greater wireless capabilities and speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

The company launched the service in five U.S. cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

By the end of the year, the network should cover around 15 markets which includes 70 million Americans.

The rest of American ATT customers will have access to its 4G network by the year 2013.

ATT is the second largest U.S. mobile service provider next to Verizon. Its 4G services use both High-Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) and LTE technologies. But the company is still behind the competition as far as LTE is concerned.

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Verizon has launched the LTE network in 102 markets which gives 160 million people as of July 21 access to 4G speeds and capabilities.

Verizon hopes to expand its networks to 185 million people by the end of this year.

Sprint was the first service provider to launch a 4G network last year and the company expects to have 130 million users by the end of this year.

MetroPCS also provides its customers with 4G LTE services in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and New York. The company intends to expand its 4G network through this year.

ATT is expected to introduce 20 4G devices by the end of 2011 which will include tablets, smartphones, modems and mobile hotspots.

There are currently four 4G devices available through ATT including the HTC Jetstream tablet, USBConnect Momentum 4G, Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G and USBConnect Adrenaline.

Customers have long waited for a better alternative to 3G and it looks like ATT is finally ready to provide that for them with this 4G LTE network.

Article source: http://global.christianpost.com/news/iphone-5-to-be-4g-att-launches-4g-lte-network-56047/

Apple’s iPhone 5; Microsoft’s Dividend

The U.S. Manufacturing Myth: Why China’s Rattled!

China is losing its edge. It’s now cheaper to make something in Baltimore than Beijing. U.S. manufacturing is surging back! A top analyst at TheStreet has identified a small company at the epicenter of this long-term megatrend. Get its name in our free report called, “The Little-Known Industrial Stock With Huge Upside Potential.“

Article source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11254902/1/apples-iphone-5-microsofts-dividend.html

October iPhone 5 Release Could Crush Sinking BlackBerry

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Meanwhile, in a filing Tuesday, RIM noted that the company already has a 50 percent year-over-year decline in U.S. revenue, largely because consumers are moving away from the BlackBerry to Apple’s iPhone and Android-based smartphones.

RIM’s customer concentration in the U.S. has also declined, and the company no longer has at least 10 percent of its revenue with either ATT and Verizon Communications — currently the two U.S. carriers of Apple’s iPhone. Thus, for RIM, it’s become wherever Apple’s iPhone is sold sales of its BlackBerry smartphones have declined the fastest.

Apple’s iPhone, launched in 2007, is the bestselling smartphone in the world. Previously, RIM’s BlackBerry was the top smartphone, before the iPhone came along, soaring to become the world’s leading smartphone.

RIM, based in Canada, reported the information in a 6-K filing released Tuesday.

One analyst says RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) faces long-term challenges, while another said Tuesday the company must release innovative products in time, while restoring investor confidence with credible earnings forecasts.

Citigroup’s Jim Suva said in a note Tuesday that RIM’s drop in revenue, which is spread across all regions but worse in the U.S., comes despite the fact that the August quarter the previous year was “soft” for RIM. Therefore, the suggestion is that RIM’s year-over-year comparison shouldn’t have been so weak.

But as ATT and Verizon had pushed iPhone and Android products in the past year, RIM has been unsuccessful at gaining “meaningful share” elsewhere, Suva said.

“We see material challenges ahead for RIMM including a continuation of carrier promotion commotion that favors Android Apple compared to a historical support for Blackberry, iPhone 5 launch that importantly should be a global phone for Verizon, developer confusion as to which Blackberry operating system to design for (BB6, BB7, QNX), and continued erosion of the company’s enterprise business due to sandboxing and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device),” Suva wrote in the investor note.

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Article source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/217635/20110921/iphone-5-unveiling-release-october-apple-blackberry-sprint-research-in-motion-smartphone.htm

iPhone 5 Unveiled October 4 And T-Mobile May Not Be Getting Device

New Apple CEO Tim Cook will take the stage October 4 to unveil the new iPhone 5, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The source (likely Apple itself) tells the paper that the device will go on sale a few weeks after it’s announced. Previous leaks have suggested that while the device will undergo a number of minor aesthetic changes, it won’t be a major redesign. While it is rumored to be a dual-mode CDMA/GSM device, the new iPhone likely won’t support LTE due to battery/design constraints and under-deployed LTE networks.

Sprint is expected to finally get the iPhone next month, and rumors suggest they’ll be sticking to unlimited data in the hopes of setting themselves apart from ATT and Verizon. The company’s ads featuring Sprint CEO Dan Hesse use their unlimited offerings as a lure, and recent studies suggest Sprint users consume more data and get more bandwidth for their dollar as a result.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile has shot down rumors that they’ll also get the device, a leaked internal document quoting T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman as saying “we are not going to get the iPhone 5 this year.” It’s possible T-Mobile (and perhaps Sprint) may both be getting the iPhone 4 this year, but that the iPhone 5 is a limited carrier exclusive through the rest of 2011.

The LTE version of the device likely isn’t far behind, and could arrive sometime in the spring of 2012, giving ATT a little more time to catch up to Verizon in terms of upgraded LTE markets. By the end of this year, Verizon will have 175 running LTE markets to ATT’s 15 — making the lack of an LTE iPhone this fall a marketing gift to ATT, who would have been pummeled by LTE deployment comparisons.

Article source: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/iPhone-5-Unveiled-October-4-116234?nocomment=1

Google Wallet mobile payments here (but not for NFC iPhone 5)

By Richi Jennings (@richi ) – September 20, 2011.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has finally launched its much-rumored Google Wallet mobile payments platform. It’s initially available only on the Nexus S 4G, with Sprint (NYSE:S). So no love for a possible NFC-enabled iPhone 5, then. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers pay it forward.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Feel the Force (Yoda Remixed)…

Matt Hamblen reports, without rambling:

[It] launches initially for Citi MasterCard credit card holders, but Google also said…Visa, Discover and American Express will [work in] future.
…
[It] works with MasterCard PayPass payment terminals…via wireless Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Users must enter a PIN [for] each payment [and then] pass…the Nexus S phone close to the payment terminal. … Visa said…that its has licensed Google to use Visa’s PayWave technology…[but] didn’t describe a timeline.   

  
Casey Johnston adds:

What Google’s NFC and Google account integration will bring to the fight is…the opportunity to track customers even more closely. … Google can track the offline…habits of its users as closely as those online. … Google could offer even more seamless ad integration. … This has been referred to as the “closed loop,” where no consumer purchase escapes…to the delight of retailers, market researchers, and everyone in between.
…
Google Wallet also arrives under the shadow of a lawsuit from PayPal…[which] sued Google…saying it stole “trade secrets,” as well as key employees…including then-senior executive at PayPal Osama Bedier.   

Google’s Osama Bedier is fed up of the jokes about his name:

We’ve been testing it extensively, and today we’re releasing the first version of the app. … Google Wallet enables you to pay with your Citi MasterCard…and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of your existing plastic.
…
[W]e’re adding a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid Card if you set it up in Google Wallet before the end of the year. … Our goal is to make it possible for you to…say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets.   

But Frederic Lardinois pours cold water on the idea:

After introducing the service in May and launching a limited trial at the time, Google…launched it nationwide. … [But] today’s “launch” is really more of an expanded field trial…most of us won’t be able to use it anytime soon.
…
I’m not sure the market in the U.S. is really ready for NFC. … For most users, paying by phone is also more of a hassle than just swiping a credit card. … Using an NFC-enabled electronic wallet…isn’t significantly more convenient than just using a credit card.   

Although Greg Kumparak offers a more nuanced view:

Google Wallet is…in theory more secure than…plastic. … If your phone’s screen is off, the transmitter chip can not be powered. … When Wallet works (as it did for nearly all of the transactions I tried)…it works really, really well. It’s lightning fast, ultra-intuitive. … The merchant simply sees it run through their point of sales machine as any other card might.
…
[The] application…display[s] all compatible retailers near…any location. … The list of compatible retailers within a 5-mile radius of my home was…almost entirely made up of Jack In The Boxes, CVSes, and 7-11s. [This is] one of Google’s biggest challenges: getting these card readers everywhere.
…
Google Wallet is great, magical, impressive. … But today’s launch is just a small, but meaningful, first step.   

  
And Finally…
Feel the Force (Yoda Remixed)
[Stick with it -- it'll grow on you]
  
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He’s the creator and main author of Computerworld’s IT Blogwatch — for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij‘s friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi’s full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Article source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/18966/by_richi_jennings_richi_g_september_20_2011_google_nasdaq_goog_has_finally_launched_its_much_rumored_google_wallet_mo?af

iPhone 5 Release Date Rumors & News: Case Mate Posts New iPhone 5 Case Photos

We’ve seen plenty of Chinese case manufactures post cases of un-released before in the past, and even now with the iPhone 5. So what happens when larger U.S companies start posting pictures of their iPhone 5 cases?

They pulled the page, apparently. As reported by BGR, Case-Mate posted pictures of their own cases based on the rumored re-design. The case showed a rounder, more tapered profile, along with the mute switch being moved to the right side of the device from the left.

So what does this mean? It doesn’t really confirm anything, if anything the cases are probably based on the same leaked document used by all the other Asian manufacturers. That being said, it’s interesting to see a U.S-based case manufacturer invest in designs for this form factor.

The iPhone 5 has been rumored to be getting a complete redesign, while the iPhone 4S (N94) is believed to use the same design as the iPhone 4. This is all just rumors at this point however, obviously we’ll have to wait until Apple announces the new devices to see what’s true and what’s not.

[via MacRumors]

Article source: http://theappera.com/2011/09/18/iphone-5-release-date-rumors-news-case-mate-posts-new-iphone-5-case-photos/

Apple Pie: The Tastiest Rumors About The iPhone 5 And More

Leaked Parts

A number of leaked parts purporting to show the partly disassembled guts of an updated iPhone have surfaced online. Key among the components are what looks like an updated A5 Apple-brand ARM CPU and a slightly different battery to the iPhone 4 (helping differentiate the product from very similar earlier components). 

Some question that this device is actually an updated iPhone, citing the oddly retro-looking grille in front of the screen proximity sensor, but others think the general design tallies with what we’re expecting from a new iPhone. Whether they’re from an iPhone 5 (and whether that version will get an all-metal back, as per our rendered impression, above) or not is the big question…

iPhone 4S

…with the conclusion being that the device, while possibly a highly polished prototype or in-field testbed, is more likely to be the iPhone 4S–what seems to be the launch name for the long-rumored iPhone “lite.” Most thinking currently has it that the iPhone 5 will be a new design, with a radically different shape (see “Cases” below) and the revamped 4S will break with Apple’s tradition of keeping the previous-gen iPhone on sale at reduced prices.

The “4S” name has shown up in store inventories ahead of the product’s launch, and the JP Morgan posted a high-profile article that underlined Apple will be bringing two phone products to its upcoming launch event–not one.

We’re expecting the 4S to be a slightly uprated iPhone 4, with an improved antenna (because other rumors suggest Apple’s ditching its rubber “bumper” case) and world-phone capabilities thanks to a GSM/CDMA chip from Broadcom. It’ll likely have smaller flash RAM, making it cheaper and maximizing the opportunities offered by iTunes-iCloud’s streaming options, and it’ll hopefully be a lot cheaper off-contract–because Apple’s had well over a year to optimize the production line–and thus aimed at developing markets as well as pre-pay fans. 

Cases

Few concrete details have leaked yet about the iPhone 5′s redesign–unsurprising perhaps, because after Gizmodogate and bearing in mind Apple’s hiring security experts, the firm is likely to be keeping the fifth iPhone really close to its chest. 

So far the most believeable description has come from ThisIsMyNext, which has the iPhone 5 in a fatter but much thinner front-to-back chassis, with a tapered profile and a larger screen that approaches the edges of the phone more than in the iPhone 4′s shape. This is the design that an increasing number of “leaked” cases from Eastern manufacturers agrees with–and while it’s not proof positive, these firms were pretty accurate before the launch of the last iPhone and iPad 2.

White iPod Touches

Stepping on some theories that Apple’s abolishing the iPod Touch in favor of its low-price iPhone 4S, and also other rumors the iPod Touch would get a data-only SIM option like the iPad has, recent indications in terms of leaked info and components suggests that Apple’s updating the iPod Touch and keeping the design largely the same. There’s proof it’ll come in a white skin for the first time, like the iPhone does, but we may also expect an uptick in its internal power and storage. Other than this gentle tweak, it looks like Apple is paying less RD time to what is, undeniably, an increasingly less important product in its stable.

Chat about this news with Kit Eaton on Twitter and Fast Company too.

Article source: http://www.fastcompany.com/1781564/the-apple-pie-the-tastiest-rumors-about-the-iphone-5-and-more