T-Mobile To Launch Google Phone In July
Story from USA Today

Following huge introductions of the Palm Pre and new iPhone 3G S, T-Mobile on Monday announces July availability of MyTouch 3G, the second phone on Google's Android operating system.

It's the first of 18 new Google-powered phones coming worldwide by the end of the year, Google says, declining to provide specifics. Tech and telecom analysts expect Sprint to have an Android phone by year's end.

T-Mobile has sold 1 million of its first-generation Google phone, the G1. That's tepid compared with the 21.2 million iPhones sold in the last two years, but T-Mobile says it's thrilled with the response. It expects the new phone to sell at a faster clip, and to outpace the competition in mobile SEO.

The MyTouch is smaller, can sync with Microsoft Outlook and has an improved battery, T-Mobile says. "We've addressed some of the concerns from customers," says Andrew Sherrard, T-Mobile vice president.

Current T-Mobile customers can order beginning July 8 for delivery later in the month. General retail availability is planned for early August.
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The touch-screen phone — made by HTC — sells for $199 with a new two-year contract. Sherrard says T-Mobile will offer a discounted rate for current customers but hasn't finalized pricing.

T-Mobile's selling point is personalization, with customizable menus, wallpapers and icons. A new program called Sherpa learns your favorite locations and preferences and makes recommendations accordingly. The phone also has instant access to Google services.

Even though the Android platform hasn't taken off in public consciousness as the iPhone has, "It's important to remember that globally, this is a market of billions and billions of users," says Andy Castonguay, a Yankee Group analyst. "There's plenty of room for lots of different players."

Google first announced Android in 2007. It gives the operating system to manufacturers for free. Google product manager Erick Tseng says getting phones from idea stage to manufacturer is an 18- to 24-month process. "What you're seeing now is the outcome of the development."

Google has 5,000 applications available for Android from its network of developers, and the list is growing, says Tseng.

Apple has a huge lead, with more than 50,000 applications available from about 20,000 developers, says Forrester Group analyst Charles Golvin. "But in the United States, there are probably more developers working with Google, after Apple, than any other mobile platform."

MetroPCS Wireless Users Climb

MetroPCS Communications Inc. said Monday that it added 249,000 net subscribers in the third quarter, a sign that the low-cost wireless carrier is benefiting from customers tightening their belts and cutting their land lines.

Releasing highlights from its third-quarter earnings ahead of time, the Dallas-based company said it ended the quarter with 4.8 million subscribers, up from 3.7 million a year earlier. Customer turnover, or churn, fell to 4.8% from 5.4%.

MetroPCS has prereleased some of its results for the past two quarters in an effort to stand out from the crowd as the economic downturn pressures telecommunications providers. "There's been so much concern about the macroeconomic environment and its impact on wireless," said J. Braxton Carter, the company's finance chief. "We felt it was really important to get out there as quickly as possible with our numbers."

The carrier's customer gains were greater than many analysts expected, particularly as wireless-subscriber growth has slowed in the U.S. The company, which offers low-cost, prepaid cellphone plans and VOIP phones, has been expanding into new areas, including Philadelphia, and recently announced a roaming pact with fellow regional provider Leap Wireless International Inc.

As people drop their home phones and pricier wireless subscriptions, said Romeo A. Reyes, a telecom analyst at Jefferies & Co., they are opting for less-expensive offerings from carriers such as MetroPCS. "There's definitely a 'trade-down' going on in telecom," he said.

In June, MetroPCS launched MetroFlash, which allows people to reactivate some types of non-MetroPCS cellphones on its network. The initiative helped the company gain subscribers, but not without controversy. Virgin Mobile USA Inc., another prepaid carrier, sent a cease-and-desist letter to MetroPCS in July, saying that "reflashing" Virgin-branded cellphones would violate trademarks and tamper with its customer agreements.

MetroPCS responded with a pre-emptive lawsuit in September. Mr. Carter said that MetroFlash isn't targeting competitors and that customers are required to sign a statement that they own the phone before it is added to the network.

"We feel very strongly that what we're doing is right for consumers, that nothing we're doing is inappropriate for the marketplace," he said.

A Virgin Mobile spokeswoman said the company will "vigorously" contest the suit.

By: Andrew Lavallee
Wall Street Journal; October 7, 2008

Getting Mobile Novices to Check Email

A Simple Gadget Lets Users 'Peek' at Their Messages

Are you a member of the "I-check-my-email-constantly-even-when-I-know-no-one-has-emailed-me" club? If so, your mobile email device is never far and you've found yourself wondering how other people can leave unread emails sitting in their inboxes all day. On the other hand, those seemingly unplugged people are likely puzzled by BlackBerry addicts, wondering what could possibly be so urgent that they need to know about it the second it happens.

This week, I tested Peek, a device that might bridge the gap between these two camps. It's made for those who don't intend to become consumed with mobile email, and don't need a combination phone, Internet, digital camera and email gadget. Yet from time to time, these people wish they had a better way to check emails without going home and turning on their computers.

Since I fit the constantly-checking-email description, I enlisted the help of someone who falls squarely into the category that Peek is targeting: my mother. Mom is constantly on the go, working on one project or another, and she doesn't have time to consistently check her email. On more than one occasion, I've had to call her to talk about emails I sent that she didn't yet read.

Stylish and Simple

Peek is a stylishly thin device that, to a mobile email novice, could pass for a BlackBerry. It receives and sends email, period. Peek doesn't have a Web browser, phone or built-in digital camera. It's sold for $100 at Target and GetPeek.com, and costs $20 monthly for contract-free service. Most email accounts work with this gadget, including Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and AOL, and up to three accounts can be set to work on each device.

Peek Inc., a New York company that was started by former Virgin Mobile USA employees, mailed a Peek to my mom in Pennsylvania, and she has been using it for about a week with positive results.

I, too, tested a Peek, but I was more interested in my mom's feedback since, prior to this test, she hadn't used a mobile email device and I use two different ones -- regularly. Overall, I'd suggest waiting until November to buy a Peek due to a handful of improvements that the company plans to add by then.

Winning Over a Novice

My mom got the hang of Peek almost instantly and found it both helpful and relatively easy to use. She liked its full keyboard and the way most of its keys lit up and were familiarly placed like those on a computer keyboard -- a feature I take for granted on my BlackBerry. Its price and stylish, thin look appealed to her, too. She tested an Aqua Blue Peek -- though the device also comes in Black Cherry and Charcoal Gray. I knew Mom was catching on when she casually sent a message from her Peek late one night using the subject line, "What's Up?"

My mom suggested a few improvements, and I agreed with all of them. The Peek can vibrate, chime and glow blue when new emails are received, but none of these indicators are particularly noticeable. For example, the chime sounds only once and neither my mom nor I could always hear it -- even at its loudest setting -- especially if it was in a purse. A blue indicator light on the Peek glows once every 10 seconds for 10 minutes after an email is received, but goes idle after that.

The font used on the Peek's screen could stand to be a little bigger. My mom found words typed in all capital letters were easier and faster to read than the regular font, but she thought most people wouldn't have too much trouble while using their glasses.

Peek Inc. says that by November, it will have added a louder chime, a constantly blinking indicator light and a larger font to the device. Also in November, people who purchase 12 months of service at once will get an extra month free.

Compared with my BlackBerry Curve, the Peek was thinner but I found its buttons and side scroll wheel a bit stiff. And Mom and I both found that the oft-used Space bar key was too tough to press down.

One Inbox, Three Accounts

The Peek's straightforward system uses one inbox view (in which up to three email accounts are combined), one menu and a side scroll wheel for selecting commands. And though my mom didn't seem to mind, the device's overall navigation system came off as a bit clumsy to me. For example, rather than selecting an email to read it, I had to select an email, and then choose "Open Email" from a menu list. On most other devices, this can be done with one step.

But some BlackBerry tricks are built into the Peek, such as touching "T" to automatically go to the top of an email or inbox; "B" to go to the bottom; or "N" to move to the next email without navigating back to the inbox list. Likewise, the space bar serves as a built-in Page Down button. And holding a letter down will capitalize it.

Photo attachments can be easily opened on the Peek, though attached documents from programs like Word and Excel won't open up.

Synching Contacts

A simple step lets users synchronize their email account's contact list with the Peek. My mom did this with an AOL account, and I did it with Hotmail, Gmail and .Mac accounts. Peek devices automatically check for email every two to five minutes, or if users can't wait two minutes, they can initiate a Send/Receive manually and see an up-to-date queue of emails.

Peeks each have eight megabytes of usable memory, which can hold about 5,000 emails. Once a device reaches capacity, an on-screen prompt asks permission to delete the 500 oldest emails. Peek Inc. says a full battery charge will last about five days if a device handles around 10 to 15 emails a day; power users who send and receive 200 to 300 emails a day will get about two days of use from a full charge.

When asked, my mom concluded that she would probably buy a Peek, but said she still wasn't sure that she had an urgent need to see email all that often. She also noted that Peek could become a Pandora's box of sorts for people who, as they use it more often, might want to get more out of it -- such as Google searches or other Web browsing.

Peek serves a purpose: It gives those who don't belong to the "I-check-my-email-constantly" club a way to "peek" in on their emails and not feel so unplugged from friends and family. That alone, is reason enough to buy my mom one of these devices.

By: Katherine Boehret
Wall Street Journal; September 24, 2008

ComScore Buys M:Metric Inc.

ComScore Inc. said it acquired M:Metric Inc., which, through surveys and on-device meters, offers services to measure mobile-phone use, mobile Internet behavior and tracking services for mobile advertising. ComScore, a Reston, Va., Internet-use tracking company, will pay $44.3 million for M:Metrics, and the deal also involves the issuance of about 50,000 options to buy comScore common shares to certain M:Metrics unvested option holders. M:Metrics expects revenue in 2008 to be about $11 million to $12 million.