Iphone, Wireless Carrier | featured news

T-Mobile will start offering the iPhone 5 on April 12. The company is currently the only major U.S. carrier not to offer Apple's popular smartphone.

T-Mobile USA, the only "Big 4" phone company that doesn't sell the iPhone, now wants to snag used ones from AT&T. Starting Wednesday, when Apple is expected to reveal a new iPhone model, T-Mobile will start advertising that AT&T iPhone owners who are out of contract can switch to T-Mobile.

AT&T Inc pulled back its outlook for business services this year, sending its shares down 3 percent despite its better than expected quarterly profit as it reduced costs from customer upgrades to smartphones such as the Apple Inc iPhone.

When Verizon Wireless started selling the iPhone, AT&T sounded a defiant note, saying that its customers would remain loyal. A year later, it's clear that the Verizon iPhone has crimped AT&T's stride. Verizon had little problem attracting new customers before it started selling the iPhone. In fact, it was the only wireless carrier that managed to keep up with AT&T's iPhone-fueled growth.

Mike Trang likes to use his iPhone 4 as a GPS device, helping him get around in his job. Now and then, his younger cousins get ahold of it, and play some YouTube videos and games.

Wireless carriers have us right where they want us. When there are only four significant national providers in the US, there’s only so much competition for our business. So when they all band together (even if only in mindset) and decide on a “new rule,” customers are forced to play along.

The iPhone helped Sprint gain customers in the latest quarter, but also forced the carrier to post its largest loss in three years because of the high cost of the phone and a network upgrade.

T-Mobile’s chief marketing officer Cole Brodman recently published a letter on the company’s official blog addressing customers and discussing the carrier’s view on the iPhone. At first glance, it reads like a simple breakdown as to why T-Mobile doesn’t offer the iPhone. Brodman’s explanation of T-Mobile’s current iPhone situation, however, also reads a bit like a plea to Apple.

Verizon and Intuit announced Thursday that they are teaming up to introduce a mobile payment system that will let customers swipe their credit cards with their smartphones. Verizon will sell the Intuit Reader smartphone accessory in its retail stores. The Reader plugs into the audio jack of most Android phones, BlackBerrys, the iPhone and the iPad.
The product rollout is intended to make it easy for small-business owners and others to process mobile payments, likely boosting sales of smartphones.

With many wireless carriers feeling threatened by the growing prominence of Apple and Google, those companies’ success could provide the foundation of Research in Motion’s recovery.