Mobile & Wireless

Looks like T-Mobile’s plans for February 23rd are going to be a big more major than we’d anticipated. We’ve already heard of the companies plan to introduce a new Stateside International Talk and Text feature on that day. Today, we’ve heard of further plans to make JUMP! more appealing to customers on the same day. Continue Reading →

Japanese internet powerhouse Rakuten announced that it acquired Viber for $900 million. Viber has 300 million registered users and is known for its strength in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. The acquisition will no doubt reignite speculation about other mid-tier messaging apps. Behind the powerhouses like WhatsApp and LINE there is a Continue Reading →

Sony has entered negotiations with Apple to double its supply of camera components for a new iPhone slated to roll out as early as next year, taking another step in its pivot toward the mobile and imaging fields. The Japanese firm already supplies nearly all of the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensors for the current Continue Reading →

As if having a 0.6% market share wasn’t bad enough, BlackBerry is going to have to face yet another challenge in 2014. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung has just received an order for 7,000 smartphones from the United States Army, and has nearly completed another order that will send thousands more sent to Continue Reading →

LG on Wednesday took the wraps off of its new G Pro 2 handset in South Korea. It’s a large 5.9-inch “phablet” that borrows some features from last year’s smaller LG G2, while adding some nifty new capabilities like 4K video capture. The G Pro 2 has a 5.9-inch, 1080p IPS display, which works out Continue Reading →

Square Cash’s sheer simplicity has made it my go-to service for sending money to friends, and now Square’s hoping to make requesting money just as simple. Starting Thursday, you can cc request@square.com in an email (instead of cash@square.com like usual) to request money from one or more friends. The recipients of your email, assuming they’ve Continue Reading →

Verizon Wireless on Thursday launched its MORE Everything plan, which connects the tools and services consumers want and need when they use their devices to do anything that needs getting done.  The MORE program promises more data, more messaging, more storage and more Edge. MORE brings a suite of free benefits, as well as some premium ones. Some Continue Reading →

The wearables device market is still in its infancy but it’s growing fast — with more than 17 million wearable bands forecast to ship this year, according to a new forecast by Canalys. It reckons 2014 will be the year that wearables become a “key consumer technology,” and is predicting the smart band segment alone Continue Reading →

The big US carriers are currently falling all over themselves to tweak their plan offerings to be more competitive with each other. After changing the upgrade window of its Edge plans last month, Verizon is now preparing to offer more data on some plans, reduced prices for Edge customers, and more. The More Everything campaign Continue Reading →

Of Microsoft’s many challenges in mobile, none loom larger than the app deficit: it only takes a popular new title like Flappy Bird to highlight what the company is missing out on. Windows 8 apps are also few and far between, and Microsoft is stuck in a position where it’s struggling to generate developer interest Continue Reading →