Rumor has it that Apple will be scheduling its annual iPod event for mid-September, which is a little bit later than in years past. This contradicts rumors from just last week that the event would be held in mid-August. Apple has held these iPod events every year since 2005. Last year, they announced their September 9 “Let’s Rock” event on August 31. With only a few days of shelf life left for this rumor, we’d expect invitations to start going out in the next few weeks.However, as a rumor recap, w...

It appears that U.S. Cellular has become quite smitten with the “Androids” these days. Today, the company announced that the HTC Desire will be available to its customers in stores and online on August 27. The Desire will join four other Android-powered smartphones in the US Cellular line-up, including the Samsung Acclaim and the Samsung Galaxy S, which will arrive in October. “For us, it’s not just about delivering this array of cutting-edge phones that our customers want and deserve […] We love ma...

Guest post by a “connect” in the wireless industry. Absolutely dread going to your location wireless provider’s store and having to be social? If it’s one of your worst nightmares, hopefully this will help you change that. Here are a few tips that might help you get a better deal on a phone and keep the hurt off your wallet. After all, if you’re like us… you’ll be buying a new phone every 6 months anyways. (more…)

Dear New Yorkers,It has come to our attention that you lucky bastards are able to purchase pre-release Blackberry Bolds for a mere $1,300 right there in Manhattan. While this price is nothing short of egregious, we’re a little jealous that you can walk to your local mom and pop Blackberry shop and pick one up (sort of). BlackberryBusiness.com is selling pre-release Bolds at a “special offer” of $1,299.99 on their web site. According to Joe at Blackberry Business, who was holding the last one...

Here in the United States, there are not legal limits on what carriers can charge for roaming, and things can get pretty pricey if you’re on a regional plan (which most people are not). This gets to be more of a problem if you’re a social butterfly on a continent with a lot of small, densely clustered countries. Last year, the European Union introduced caps on what European carriers are allowed to charge customers who roam in the EU. The current limit is 49 euro cents per minute for outgoing calls...

Hear that loud ringing around the world? Can you feel the good vibrations? The Beach Boys are pleased. The Wall Street Journal’s Adam Ewing reports that there are an additional 305 million mobile phones sold in Q2, 2008, representing 12% growth from the year before. That means there are nearly a third of a trillion more phones in the world interrupting theater productions and Bar Mitzvahs everywhere.Even though the growth seems substantial, it represents a slowdown from last year’s 21% rate. Much ...

A less-than-classy move by Verizon Wireless will put them in the AT&T Rebate league … AT&T currently sends “rebates” in the form of those impossible-to-ring horrid orange prepaid debit cards — after about two months. Verizon, which has historically been excellent at processing of rebates in less than a month and as of now issues rebate checks, is switching next week to AT&T’s prepaid debit card system. Leaked future rebate forms show text stating:“Your rebate wi...

In an ethically-questionable business move, Canadian carrier Telus is pushing customers off of an “unlimited” data plan – with force. Reports note that the carrier is discontinuing it’s $75 “no-cap” plan used with data cards and moving them to a $65 1GB package. This is a huge problem for users in rural parts of Canada where only dial-up internet service has been available. Telus is citing its Terms of Service as a reason to discontinue customers who are on the plan.The TOS...

Five parcels of Johnson County, Kansas land, belonging to none other than Sprint, have unpaid property taxes this year. Sprint is delinquent to the county to the tune of $18,216.54. If you notice a sudden drop in Dorothy and Toto’s readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic scores, you’ll know who is responsible. According to Sprint, the mistake is due to an oversight by their unnamed property-tax-paying department. Sprint continues to be committed to education, which is why they ensure th...

The iPhone 3G must have a lot of frequent-flyer miles, because it’s certainly getting around. Today, over 21 additional countries including: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia and Uruguay have launched the iPhone 3G. This brings iPhone availability up to 43 countries total, and an expected 70 by the end of 2008. Worry not – many more...

Apparently the iPhone 3G isn’t the only hot new data device that is suffering some 3G issues. The Blackberry Bold, which has not yet been released in the United States, is reportedly losing its 3G signal and falling back to technology from the days of yore EDGE in lots of places. That’s a little better than the iPhone is faring, which according to the report stays in 3G with very low signal strength. Can you hear us now? Well, so much for everyone thinking it was an AT&T network problem.Note f...

The iPhone may be looking a little shaky with all of those cracks and dropped calls (yeah, we totally went there), but it appears that an Apple a day keeps the… buyer’s remorse away. The University of Michigan’s National Quality Research Center found that Apple was the number 1-rated in customer satisfaction on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Apple’s score of 85 was a full 11 points above the industry average, and 10 points above the score of Dell, the number 2-rated c...

Showing some love to the GOP, Sprint used a press release to boast shamelessly (no, seriously – they’re really darn proud) about the exciting network enhancements that residents of the Twin Cities will benefit from as a result of the Republican National Convention. In short, “the Twin Cities are awash in expanded capacity”, says Sprint. Further, “Sprint is not just prepared for the three-day convention; it’s prepared for any unfortunate emergencies that might crop up.”...

If you aren’t planning to catch the Hogwarts Express when it leaves on September 1, you might want to use the time you’ll save packing between now and then to run over to a Verizon store. It seems as if they’ll be discounting select data devices through the end of this month. Prices of discounted devices are as follows:LG enV2 – $79.99 (reduced from $99.99)LG Voyager – $99.99 (reduced from $149.99) Blackberry Curve 8330 – $99.99 (reduced from $149.99)Blackberry 8830 World E...