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While we expected that Dell’s offer to make smartphones for U.S. carriers would be nicely lapped up, it turned out that no U.S. carrier was interested and China Mobile got the Dell Mini 3i. The Wall Street Journal on the other hand has come out with a news piece claiming that AT&T has put Dell to work designing an Android handset for the carrier. Specifications about the handset are not known as yet, but it’s going to have a touchscreen in place of a keypad and a tiny little camera, just like the Mini 3i. Now let’s see how soon this baby materializes.

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Best Buy Mobile’s Holiday Playbook got scooped recently and there’s not only some nice tidbits about what to expect in the coming holiday season, but also what a few clues as to how Best Buy will be working to broaden its bottom line, which means some customers are going to be slightly more pampered than others. For starters, Best Buy has found out;

1. The average store sees over 64,000 customers during October and November
2. Out of those customers, only 1% receive an upgrade eligibility check on their accounts
3. Of the 1% who get upgrade checks, around 30% are actually eligible for upgrades
4. If stores increase the amount of customers checked to 2% from 1%, Best Buy Mobile would see an increase in revenue of around $20,000 for those two months, just off upgrading individuals
5. After customers upgrade their handsets at Best Buy Mobile, around 16% of them come back and make other purchases later

Interesting. So this means all you existing customers can expect some extra Best Buy love. As for new releases for the holiday season, you can expect;

1. Nokia Booklet netbook — October 25th launch, and can be activated on AT&T
2. Sprint HTC Hero — launching October 11th with a presale going on now
3. Sprint Palm Pixi — launch date to be decided (TBD)
4. Verizon Storm II — launch date TBD
5. Verizon Android device — launch date TBD
6. T-Mobile CLIQ — launch date TBD (but you know that it will be shipping after October 19th up until general release November 2nd)
7. “New BlackBerry devices across multiple carriers” — launch date TBD
8. There will be a “host of devices launch in late October and November for all carriers.” Multiple Android launches across multiple carriers and “new technology which doesn’t exist today.”

So there you have it, an early gist of the coming holiday spirit from Best Buy mobile.

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Well looky what we have here. According to BGR, an anonymous tipster sent some inventory screenshots from AT&T lockers their way and the documents reveal that a very white BlackBerry Bold is stewing in the system. Not just this, there are also screenshots that reveal the BlackBerry 9700 on board as well. The BlackBerry 9700 was the flagship device from RIM that hasn’t been officially announced yet, but some blogs have had a taste of the action. It is RIM’s most advanced QWERTY device yet. The gorgeous looking 9700 takes its styling cues from the 9520/9550. So yeah, people have reason to suffer from AT&T-envy at the moment.

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And the Garmin-ASUS Nuvifone we had all left for dead as far as the United States is concerned is actually going to come to life tomorrow. The announcement was made earlier this week and by ‘announcement’ I mean ‘official announcement’. The handset that has a tale as long as the Lord Of The Rings trilogy is going to head for none other than AT&T. the G60 will set you back $299.99 on a two-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate. Too pricey you say? You may just as well buy the iPhone 3GS and pair it with a free navigation app, but then there is the lure of new technology for some. Let’s see of the lure is strong enough.

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In all truthfulness, the one handset I never tire of looking at is the HTC Touch Pro2, it is simply gorgeous. Beyond the great looks, it’s a power house in its own right. AT&T subscribers have recently had the joy of knowing that the Touch Pro2 is finally coming their way and here we have an image of the Touch Pro2 with the AT&T logo. It also seems like the Touch Pro2 may be released under the name of Tilt 2. So this means the Fuze is not having any more kids? Fine with us, bring on the full touchscreen with a QWERTY!

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In what is the latest of non-sense U.S. carriers are throwing to their customers (aside from the recent T-Mobile stunt with the paper billing fee) we have AT&T changing its ToC to bar all subscribers from filing class action lawsuits. You read that right people, and not only this, the new clause also has subscribers limited to binding arbitration or small claims court instead of “courts of general jurisdiction”. In fancy legal terms;

“Any arbitration under this Agreement will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted.”

Give.Me.A.Break.

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In a fresh bowl of baloney from Apple about its incredulous app approval policy. According to Cupertino, it hasn’t really rejected the Google Voice app, it is merely ‘reviewing’ it. Apple needs to review the app because it has a few ‘issues’ that need resolving, such as;

1. 1. “[Google Voice] appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.”
2. 2. The iPhone user’s entire Contacts database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways. These factors present several new issues and questions to us that we are still pondering at this time.”

Ahaan. And I’m the queen of America. On AT&T’s side there’s a simple leave-me-alone kind of stance, according to Big Blue, they had “no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application”. Lame.

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The carriers have been had, for a change. According to a Wall Street Journal article, eight men have been indicted for swindling T-Mobile USA and AT&T out of $22 million handsets. The swindlers included 2 cell phone shop owners from Brooklyn, NY, and used customer data to order the cell phones. The culprits used dealer’s access to the carrier systems and got the customer data, ordering the cell phones on the customer accounts.  They have been formally charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft surrounding the scam. If found guilty and convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge alone. Lesson: crime doesn’t pay.

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AT&T subscribers have a new curve ball thrown at them; as of September 6^th onwards, any new smartphone purchased must be accompanied by a smartphone data plan. The only almost nice part in this new development is the fact that subscribers who bought their smartphones before September 6^th don’t need to upgrade their data plans. So sort-of Yay. But if you’ve upgraded your feature phone after September 6^th, you can’t hold on to your MediaNet plan. Where did all this great news come from? A leaked internal email AT&T sent out to all its employees.  According to AT&T this is being done so that smartphone users can have a predictable bill at the end of the month. Here’s the email;

Beginning September 6, 2009, customers who activate or upgrade to a Smartphone will need to sign up for an appropriate data plan. Existing Smartphone customers active prior to September 6, 2009 will be grandfathered and exempt from the new policy.

Why we are making this change?

We want our customers to have the best possible experience with their Smartphones. A predictable bill is a key factor in customer satisfaction, so effective September 6, 2009 Smartphone customers will need to subscribe to a data plan, as the vast majority of customers already do. Data plans let customers fully utilize their device, without the worry of bill shock.

How we will ensure an extraordinary customer experience?

The sales representative is the customer’s expert resource in helping select the right device for their needs. When a customer does not want a data plan, we will position other devices in our industry leading portfolio for the customer to choose from, as many devices do not require a data plan.

Action Required:

Sales Managers will review the Know the Facts, Job Aid, and FAQs (found under Related Links) with their sales teams and ensure all sales representatives fully understand the new policy and how to position the Smartphone data requirement to customers. A Sales Coaching Session will be available on September 5, 2009 (document to be distributed in advance).

News and rumors about RIM’s upcoming web browser have been up and around. The latest and soundest of these has it that RIM is planning on putting full Flash integration and Silverlight support on its new browser. That’s right, no tricks, for-real full Flash support, not crummy Flash lite. Of course the time line for when you can get your hands on this browser isn’t a short one. for RIM ‘planning’ means something that takes a year to implement, and we are looking at a possible release near summer next year. There’s no denying RIM needs the faster and better equipped ‘Berrys to capitalize on HSPA and LTE that carriers are working to strengthen.