Apple Confirms AT&T Has iPhone Exclusivity Until 2012

It was speculative before given the lack of independent confirmation, but now apparently Apple has gone on record to confirm that the original deal signed with AT&T for iPhone exclusivity back in 2007 was a five-year deal. That means at least some legal hoops would need jumping through if we’re ever going to see that oft-rumored Verizon iPhone before 2012. ...

May 11, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 241 words Â· Omid Farhang

Sprint Drops Plan to Offer Google’s Nexus One

Although Google announced only last month that Sprint would carry its Nexus One phone, the carrier has since retracted from that plan. Gizmodo reports that the carrier will instead focus its efforts on the upcoming HTC EVO 4G it will be launching this summer. Both devices are Android phones, but the EVO is arguably more full-featured and will take advantage of Sprint’s 4G network — the next-generation cellular service that will be more akin to true mobile broadband with faster speeds than current 3G networks. ...

May 11, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 226 words Â· Omid Farhang

AT&T, Verizon stand against FCC's ‘Third Way,' Sprint on the fence

With Congress’ dance card already overflowing with major social and policy reforms, including in the financial sector, the likelihood that it could pass a major reform to the Telecommunications Act for Internet regulation during the Obama Administration (however long it lasts) is quite low. Faced with a pair of no-win scenarios, the FCC last week opted to propose a “Third Way” for broadband regulation that could at least get its foot back in the door — a way that literally asks judges and attorneys-general to substitute “telephone” for “broadband” in various clauses of existing law, except for those sections where doing so wouldn’t make any sense. ...

May 11, 2010 Â· 5 min Â· 1050 words Â· Omid Farhang

Droid Incredible Hits Verizon on April 29

Earlier today, a staging site for the HTC Incredible was found on Verizon’s servers with information about its release date and new name. According to the site — which is now password-protected — the Droid Incredible by HTC will launch on April 29. As we mentioned yesterday, the specs behind HTC’s latest device are pretty drool-worthy: a Snapdragon CPU, an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and video, a 480×800 OLED screen — it pretty much looks like the next great Android device. ...

April 15, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 259 words Â· Omid Farhang