Verizon Wireless turned in another strong quarter with total revenues up 9.1% to $17.7 billion. The carrier ended the quarter with 107.7 million total connections, marking a 6.5% year-over-year increase. It also banked $7.2 billion in net income, increasing 7.5% from the year-ago period.

Verizon Wireless added 1.3 million total connections in the third quarter, including 882,000 retail postpaid customers, and 367,000 wholesale and other connections. By contrast, AT&T added 2.1 million wireless subscribers during the same period, lead heavily by M2M and other connected devices. Read more

SAN DIEGO — The heads of the three largest wireless carriers in the country shared the big stage but no news this morning at CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2011. The 90-minute opening keynote session was “full of platitudes” and signified nothing new, Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum, remarked in a tweet.

Sprint Chairman and CEO Dan Hesse took the role of industry cheerleader as this year’s chairman of the CTIA board, adding: “Those of us in the wireless industry should be thankful that we’re arguably in the most important industry in the world.” Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Verizon Communications Inc. added 2.2 million net subscribers on Verizon Wireless’ network during the recently closed quarter, bringing its total to 106.3 million connections, including 89.7 million retail customers.

The company’s wireless business saw a 10.2% year-over-year increase in revenues to $17.3 billion and data revenues were up 22.2% to $1.1 billion. The company close the quarter with $1.61 billion in profit. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for retail postpaid customers grew 1.9% from the year-ago period to $54.12 and data ARPU jumped 15.2% to $21.26. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

I switch smart phones like they’re going out of style. Mostly because they are always going out of style. I’ve broken more carrier contracts and paid for more devices at full retail price than I care to admit.

Last month, it all happened again. I’m one of those defectors who ditched their iPhones with AT&T Mobility and switched to Verizon Wireless.

I’ve been an on-again, off-again iPhone customer with AT&T Mobility through every version that Apple Inc. has released since the summer of 2007. I’ve had many ups and downs with the device and the quality of service AT&T Mobility provides. As a result, I have been tempted away various times along the way to other carriers and devices. But I kept coming back for more. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

I did it again. I bought another iPhone. This time it’s the same iPhone that I already own. Less exciting. Nothing new. Just the same old iPhone 4, but this time with Verizon Wireless.

Instead of waiting in line for maybe 10 grueling hours to get my hands on Verizon’s iPhone 4 today, I decided that having it in my hands before Mobile World Congress wasn’t worth it, so I pre-ordered online.

Sure I have to wait another week, maybe more, and I might even miss the multiple delivery attempts and have to pick it up in person at some shipping facility in a far-off industrial park. Either way, the money has been spent and the process has begun. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

NEW YORK — I finally got my big break! I’ve written thousands of articles and columns over the span of at least a decade and all it really took to get noticed was me sitting next to John Oliver.

My family, friends and colleagues don’t really care about what I wrote last week or this column I’m writing now, do they? Television is what matters — I should know that. It turns out, if you’re not on TV or in the movies you’re just another wannabe.

I’m still a wannabe, but at least I can say I was on “The Daily Show.” Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Like many journalists just returning home from a hectic schedule at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, I spent part of my weekend and Monday morning scrambling to arrange travel to New York to cover Verizon Wireless’ iPhone announcement.

The event was announced last minute on Friday afternoon, which doesn’t help matters much. But then again, practically everyone was preparing for the most anticipated news in all of wireless to finally get announced so I had to be there. This is how I did it all on my phone once I landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Read more

**As published in digiday:DAILY**

Publisher: Verizon Wireless Price: Free Platform: Android
Advertising: None
Functionality: B
Fun Factor: A
Overall: A-

Ending a multi-year exclusive deal with Sprint Nextel Corp., Verizon Wireless scooped up a major win earlier this year when it landed a deal with the National Football League to exclusively carry the brand on mobile for the next four years.

Although the regular season is still four long months away from kickoff, the nation’s largest carrier took advantage of the off-season hype by launching its marquee NFL Mobile app less just in time for the 2010 NFL Draft, which ran from April 22-24.

The carrier admits the app is still in the growing phase, but most of the must-have features for any NFL fan – news and information, 2010 season schedules, player profiles, draft prospects, team updates, and analysis – are already in play. What really sweetens the pot though, particularly for millions of cable TV subscribers still locked out of access to NFL Network, is a live 24/7 stream of the all-things-football channel. Read more

Verizon Wireless took another firm step toward opening its network today after paying lip service to the idea for more than a year. In a joint announcement featuring the top executives at the carrier and Google, Verizon announced plans to begin selling devices that run on the Android operating system.

For the time being, T-Mobile USA has had the exclusive on Android devices in the U.S., but other carriers are quickly coming to the table. After holding off since the first Google-powered device launched last October, it appears there will now be a close match to see which of the top four carriers will adopt the Android ecosystem last.

The two companies didn’t offer many details about the forthcoming Android devices, but said a pair of devices will be released in the coming weeks. Verizon and Google said they will also work together on developing a suite of Android-powered products, including phones, netbooks and other devices. Read more