**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SAN FRANCISCO – Although millions of fanboys and industry watchers have already seen what turned out to be the new iPhone 4 today, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs still had a few surprises up his sleeve to share during his keynote at the company’s annual developer gathering.

If there is any less excitement or anticipation for Apple’s game-changing mobile device, that sure wasn’t apparent this morning. Lines began forming around the building at 6 a.m. this morning and when the gates to the main hall were finally raised for Jobs’ keynote there was a mad dash for seats (press included). The whole experience felt very rock concert in typical Apple fashion. Read the full story

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – To hear Comcast Corp.’s chairman and CEO Brian Roberts tell it, the cable industry is on a collision course with destiny. The seemingly neatly divided world of entertainment that Roberts first jumped into as the son of Comcast’s founder Ralph Roberts is no more.

If all goes his way, the family-run business will pass all regulatory hurdles and close its $30-billion dollar deal to snatch up the controlling interest in General Electric’s NBC Universal by the end of the year. Surely few, if any in the audience here for Roberts’ keynote could have dreamed two decades ago of a cable operator becoming so powerful and flush enough with cash that it could take control of a content juggernaut like NBC. Read the full story

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. – For all the momentum Google’s Android operating system is enjoying of late, there are some key areas that many executives believe Apple has it beat on with the iPhone OS. These differentiating features – billing, user interface, development ease and scale (for at least the time being) — are nothing to scoff at either.

Now, with the iPad already surpassing 1 million units sold in as many months, there’s a reinvigorated sense of interest and easy-to-understand business reasons for placing more focus and investment in Apple’s mobile flavor.

A crowded panel of eight representing big media and publishers at Digital Hollywood yesterday spent considerable time heaping praise and wonder on Apple’s latest gadget. Later on, the OS offerings from BlackBerry, Google, Microsoft and HP-Palm got their fair shake, but Apple kept cropping up as the main draw. Read the full story

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 the full story

Google’s handling of the incredibly hyped Nexus One unveiling at its headquarters today is yet another reminder that Google is no Apple. And that’s not a bad thing. Google knows its purpose and most importantly, what brought it to the powerful position it enjoys today.

Google is playing the mobile space from the inside out. It’s building software — both the locally stored and cloud-based variety. It’s made its plans pretty clear from the outset, but for some reason most of us can’t take Google at its word. We are always expecting Google to pull an Apple. Is this really it? The Google Phone?

The timing couldn’t have been more prophetic. Circle back to the same week in 2007 when Apple pulled out the iPhone. It absolutely sucked the air out of CES that year. In true Apple fashion it proved that it was right to go against the grain — indeed it paid off with incredible success. By comparison, Google’s news today hit a flat note. Read the full story

I’ve had the pleasure of attending a handful of 49ers home games in San Francisco this season and it’s not just my team that’s gone through ups and downs over the past four months. Using a cellphone at these games has been hit or miss at best.

Slouching against a car, tailgating way out deep in the parking lot there were never any problems. But as we approached the pearly gates with thousands of football fans in top form, the problems began to emerge.

Things were especially bad last Monday night. A group of us got split up in the mad dash from the parking lot to the gates and we had to rely on ancient forms of communication (sight and sound) to find each other. No big deal. It’s a football game. There’s no crying in football.

If you’ve ever tried to place a call or send a text message in the midst of Monday Night Madness at Candlestick you know what I’m talking about. Right when we arguably needed our phones most (tickets had to be distributed, before yours truly could enter), all of our non-working smartphones made us look pretty dumb. Luckily, we all made it inside without incident and with even more luck the 49ers beat the Cardinals with many incidents on the field. Read the full story

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 the full story

**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 the full story

I have serious commitment issues when it comes to my mobile phone. Early termination fees don’t scare me as much as a phone that’s just gotten plain old boring for me. And believe me, I always find a way out.

It might be dropped calls, crap voice quality and pathetic download speeds that drive me to the edge one time. The next time, I might just get sick of the color or maybe I don’t like the way it looks at me or fits in my pocket. Either way, I’m bound to jump and run — it’s just a matter of when. Materialistic? Sure. Overindulgence? You bet.

Like any commitment-phobe, I’m all about multiples. Whether it’s the carrier(s) I do business with or the mobile device(s) I carry, I just can’t settle down and tie the knot with one or the other. I’m one of those types who has two phones usually. Although I try to keep them from knowing about each other — work and personal don’t always belong together — they inevitably cross paths. Read the full story

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 the full story