Verizon Wireless on Wednesday confirmed that it will soon begin charging subscribers a $30 upgrade fee when they purchase new wireless equipment on contract. Verizon is currently the only major carrier that does not charge customers a fee when upgrading their devices on a new two-year contract — AT&T and Sprint each charge customers $36 to upgrade to a new device on contract, and T-Mobile charges an $18 upgrade fee. ”On April 22, Verizon Wireless is implementing a $30 upgrade fee for existing cus...

Microsoft’s Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, & Operations Group (SMSG) may be enforcing a new policy to prevent employees from using corporate funds to buy Apple products, ZDNet reported on Tuesday. An alleged email from Alain Crozier, the chief financial officer of SMSG, informs employees of the new policy. “Within SMSG we are putting in place a new policy that says that Apple products (Mac & iPad) should not be purchased with company funds,” the email reads.  A Microsoft spokesperson d...

AT&T on Thursday announced a revision to its smartphone data throttling policy, which impacts users who have chosen to retain the unlimited smartphone data plan AT&T discontinued some time ago. AT&T’s policy had been ambiguous until now, with the carrier stating simply that the top 5% of smartphone users would experience slowed data speeds until a new billing period began. It was unclear how much data a subscriber had to use in order to approach the top 5%, however, and a number of reports c...

Regulators with the European Union have asked Google to stop rolling out new privacy changes that the company originally introduced earlier this month. “Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states,” the European wrote in a letter to Google’s CEO Larry Page. “We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citize...

Microsoft has started to run anti-Google newspaper ads in a clear effort to sway people from using Google’s services. On Monday, Google announced that it was combining its individual privacy policies to make privacy “more intuitive” for its users. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee was worried that Google was actually collecting more information under its new rules, but Google responded to those claims and said it was not actually collecting more data. Microsoft isn’t convin...

Verizon Wireless began alerting its customers of changes to its official privacy policy on Friday. The carrier confirmed it will now use information for “private business and marketing reports” and “making mobile ads more relevant.” Verizon Wireless will share the URL of websites you visit, the location of your device, as well as app and device feature usage. It will also share information on data and calling features and your demographic so that it, and outside firms, can create repor...

Earlier today, Research In Motion announced its intentions to bring its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) its mobile device security and administration services to both Android and iOS. Through its acquisition of ubitexx, the Canadian company is looking to expand the portfolio of mobile devices its BES solution supports. “The single web-based console is being designed to provide IT administrators with a simple and efficient way to distribute software and manage policies, inventory, security and ser...

On Tuesday, we reported that Sony’s eBook reader app for iOS had been rejected by Apple. The reason Apple gave for the rejection was that Sony’s app violated an app store policy — one that has historically not been enforced — dealing with apps that offer content for sale through means other than Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism. By using their own distribution systems, developers have been able to sell content from within iOS apps without having to pay Apple’s 30% commission cha...

Way back on the 20th, we told you that Sprint would be tweaking its customer loyalty rewards program – lovingly known as Premier. Recently, Sprint contacted BGR to clarify a few details about exactly what has to happen for customers to qualify for the program’s restructured incentives.Gold LevelA gold level member will receive 25% off the purchase of 2 or more accessories, customer news letters, “just because” perks, first to buy offers, and the ability to upgrade one device after 12 months...

We reported on Friday that Verizon Wireless would be doing away with mail-in rebates on its high-end devices. Instead the carrier will begin applying instant rebates to all smartphones priced at $150 and above. This means a customer will pay the final subsidized price when purchasing a high-end smartphone instead of paying an extra $50 and waiting to be reimbursed by mail. Today, the policy change is reaffirmed by a new Verizon Wireless rebate sheet provided to BGR by a tipster. As can be seen on the new shee...

Apple has made changes to its internal screening process pertaining to iPod liquid damage, a source told BGR. Apple builds a series of Liquid Contact Indicators (LCI) into its iPod line of devices. When these LCIs come in contact with moisture, they become activated. In the event of a warranty claim or other repair, the LCIs indicate to Apple that the device in question may have been affected by a liquid. Employees of Apple Stores and AppleCare Repair Centers then have specific guidelines used in the event li...

We haven’t really covered Blockbuster’s DVD-by-mail service since this past March when a string of policy changes finally culminated in our exclusive scoop covering the elimination of Total Access’ one competitive edge over Netflix — the ability of subscribers to enjoy their free in-store rentals while they awaited new DVDs to be delivered by mail. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones appalled by the move. The following is pulled from the company’s latest 10-Q filing:a $40....

There has been quite a bit of movement recently as far as T-Mobile’s plans are concerned and if you haven’t been keeping your eye on the ball, you probably missed something. For the most part, T-Mo has added plans and options that are pretty favorable for subscribers but word just came in from one of our ninjas regarding a few more upcoming changes some might not be happy about. The first concerns smartphone users: We know that all you BGR fans out there obviously have data plans but there are ple...

Ahhh Blockbuster. As rumors of a possible bankruptcy filing for the movie rental giant swarm throughout the blogosphere, we’ve learned of a new policy change for Blockbuster’s Total Access program that may help the company finally concede victory to Netflix and the barrage of streaming video options currently available. For those who are unaware of the service, Total Access is Blockbuster’s movies-by-mail service that competes directly with Netflix. Queue desired rentals online, receive betw...