**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Each and every jump from one network technology to another presents wireless infrastructure vendors with a chance for new business. And sure enough, changes are afoot in the infrastructure space again today as mobile operators make their climb to fourth-generation networks.

While recent newcomers are making significant wins outside the United States, it’s mostly the incumbents that are winning the biggest network contracts here in a country that has arguably become the early leader in 4G technology deployments.

LTE has presented telecom gear makers with a window of opportunity to shake up the space and see market shares slide every which way between competitors new and old. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Vertical markets present wireless carriers with a host of new opportunities and challenges. Just because wireless technology and enterprise infrastructure should work together doesn’t mean they do. As carriers target these new customers and encourage them to move from a wired to a wireless world, they’re adapting their business strategies according to the trends and problems that businesses face in each market.

Carriers Climb the Vertical Ladder (PDF)

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Maybe time really does heal all wounds. The theory seems to at least ring true for Apple Inc. and its troubled past with Google Voice.

The company today approved the first in what many expect to be a series of third-party apps for the popular service from Google Inc.

Google Voice has faced a rough go at making its way onto the iPhone and other iOS devices like the iPad and iPod Touch. Meanwhile, BlackBerry and Android users have enjoyed a vastly superior Google Voice experience on their mobile devices for well over a year now. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SEATTLE — Mobile broadband usage has grown an astounding 5,000% over the last three years on AT&T Mobility’s network, Fred Devereaux, the carrier’s president for the western region, said this morning at Mobile Future Forward.

Meanwhile, the carrier is preparing for mobile broadband connectivity to leap 40% to 60% during the next five years, he said. Read more

Although I hate to admit it and try to cover my tracks as much as possible, I probably belong in the Apple fanboy camp — at least one of the lower echelons of fanboydom. I’ve owned all three generations of the iPhone. I’ve returned them, exchanged them, passed them on and even sold them when my relationship with each of them reached an anticlimactic end. I waited in line at multiple stores for the iPhone 3G launch in summer 2008. I know, it’s a problem.

But after following Apple’s news about it’s “latest creation,” the iPad, I think I’m finally on the road to recovery. Sure, I wish I was in San Francisco for the announcement on Wednesday, just as I was for a few previous Apple press events, but now that I know more about the iPad I’m not convinced I missed much of anything.

Apple will undoubtedly sell more of its latest gadget than just about anyone predicts in the short run, but I’m not sure we’ll reach a point where all of our friends have one or wish they had one in the long run. Read more

Dan Lyons has done it again — and he should be applauded for his unique humor, not chastised because some people don’t get the joke. Sparking all kinds of geek-love and vitriol in one fell swoop, he’s having way too much fun with “Operation Chokehold,” a suggestion fed through his alter-ego: “Fake Steve Jobs.”

He hit the right nerve this time, encouraging iPhone users to systematically give AT&T the biggest data suck possible. By attempting to collectively drain on AT&T’s network with systematic force at the same time, Fake Steve’s followers have pushed AT&T’s recent network woes into a new dimension. Someone like Fake Steve wasn’t necessarily required to drum up this kind of anti-AT&T fervor, but he certainly acted as the conduit for at least some of their outward aggressions today.

Reports from the ground however don’t seem to indicate any major catastrophe occurred on AT&T’s network as a result of Operation Chokehold. Love it or hate it, AT&T’s network is what it is. All those iPhones sure haven’t helped things over the years, particularly since each of them are just screaming to be used constantly, thereby driving dramatic wireless data usage. If anything, Operation Chokehold merely reminded some people that AT&T’s network sucks royally in some places and does pretty well in others. If you’re used to horrible data speeds and dropped calls, things probably stayed that way today. Read more

While Verizon Wireless may have been the first carrier out of the gates with a major announcement leading up to CTIA in San Diego, AT&T Mobility didn’t wait long to throw its hat into the ring.

Just hours after Verizon Wireless announced some bold plans for a new partnership with Google — one directly aimed at Apple and AT&T nonetheless, AT&T said that it will no longer prevent VoIP apps from running on its network, the The Wall Street Journal reports.

Apps that were previously stripped-down to appease AT&T’s wishes can now be made to actually do what they were first intended to: make voice calls over the Internet. AT&T’s about-face on the issue will surely leave many iPhone users hoping for better apps from VoIP providers like Skype, however AT&T’s decision alone doesn’t not guarantee that Google Voice will ever have its day as an app on the iPhone. Apple has already admitted that it chose not to approve the Google Voice application on its App Store for its own reasons. Read more

**As published by RCR Wireless News**

On the surface, there isn’t much to suggest that this newly Democratic-led FCC will make any radical regulatory changes in the wireless industry. There is a loud camp cheering for new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to take a more heavy-handed approach in wireless affairs, but popular opinion inside the Beltway paints a different picture.

While the President Obama appointee is digging into wireless matters such as competition, innovation and third-party application control perhaps more swiftly (and publicly) than his predecessor, the Federal Communications Commission is only asking questions at this point. Questions are cheap. Policymaking is an entirely different matter that must measure political fallout against results. And more important: the nation is still digging out of the greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression. Read more

Once I saw the BlackBerry Tour for Verizon selling for $99 at Best Buy, there was no turning back. I’ve been using an unlocked BlackBerry 8900 on T-Mobile for almost a year and it was time for a change. I wasn’t even using minutes on T-Mobile. Instead, my BlackBerry had become a data-only device.

Only $50 to cancel the remainder of my 1-year contract with T-Mobile? Done. Did I mention that I’ve been using an unlocked device (purchased elsewhere) and never should have been forced to sign a contract with T-Mobile to begin with? Oh well, that’s how carriers roll here. So long as they know dinosaurs will always die … someday.

Anyway, this was my first time purchasing a phone under carrier contract at a third-party store. After a couple hiccups, everything went pretty smoothly. All in all, the entire process took 45 minutes and most of that time was spent training my customer service rep. Read more

Generally, it isn’t kind to kick someone when they’re down, but AT&T and Apple deserve it in this case. Word came out today via TechCrunch that Apple has pulled a pair of third-party Google Voice-enabled applications from the App Store. Apple also blocked Google’s official Google Voice app from ever seeing the light that is App Store glory.

After waiting probably two years for my GrandCentral invite request to come through, I was finally green-lighted for a new and improved Google Voice account earlier this month. I’ve been toying around with the service for a few weeks now and it is remarkable.

For starters, it begs the question: Why pay AT&T $5 a month for 200 text messages when I can receive unlimited SMS for free on Google Voice via the monthly $30 data plan I also pay for on my iPhone 3G S. I’m all about getting more for less these days. And I sure as hell don’t like paying for duplicate services. SMS is data no matter how you slice it and I want it included in my data plan. That’s why I was so thrilled to see Google Voice applications launched for BlackBerry and Android earlier this month. That paired with talk of an iPhone app in the works was all I needed to hear. Read more