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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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Word has it that the second WebOS handset from Palm, the Palm Pixi is going to be in the spotlight come October 20th. Sprint is going to be the carrier doing all the showing off, of course the real question is, with the Palm Pre out and about, does anyone really want this tiny thing? We do have the iPhone 3GS already here and the Storm 2 on its way, so our attention is…diverted.

Another carrier that’s listening to that little voice inside its corporate head, the one called common sense is Sprint. The ridiculously high price of the Touch Pro2, a laughable $349, has now been cut down to a standard smartphone price tag size, which is $199 (post mail-in rebate). Yes the Touch Pro2 is an awesome device, but that doesn’t mean it has no competition, there is still the iPhone 3GS to talk people out of buying, and then the many yummy treats that RIM makes for us. Also, Sprint users won’t be the only ones enjoying the benefits of this price cut, let’s see how long T-Mobile is going to hold on to that $350 price tag on its Touch Pro2. With both Sprint and Verizon on the $200 price point, TMo is the odd man out. And for those of you early adopters who paid the outrageously high price, reports are circulating the interweb that if you call up telemarketing and chat real nice with eCare online, there’s a good chance you’ll get a $100 credit. You have our good wishes.

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BREW is Qulacomm’s mobile platform which stands somewhere in between the high-end serving mobile platforms and the low-end serving minimalistic platforms. Till now many had assumed that the BREW was ancient history, but is seems like Qualcomm is getting some pretty decent attention from manufacturers and carriers alike. Always a good thing. Back in July, HTC let out that there will be a BREW-powered smartphone coming for its mid-range users. And now Sprint is in on the action with the announcement that it will be bringing its subscribers a BREW-based handsets ‘soon’. In its own words, Sprint is “planning to offer its customers additional device options by launching devices running Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform™ (Brew MP).” While it isn’t official yet which manufacturer will be making the said handsets, HTC will definitely be one of them. The million dollar question is whether Sprint subscribers want this baby or not.

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Okay so the much rumored Samsung Instinct HD is now officially official on Sprint. Speculation about the new version of the Instinct had been around for a good while, but for the official word crazed crowed, the time has come to whip out your pocket books. Although not what we or anyone for that matter expected, the announcement came in a newsletter sent to Premier customers. Now this could be a mistake, in fact it most likely is, that the Samsung Instinct HD will be a handset of the people, not just the Premier crowd. The Instinct HD features, “a 3.2″ screen, enhanced visual voicemail, simpler texting, improved browsing and a 5-megapixel camera,” and that’s probably something Sprint will soon be drilling into our heads very soon. So who’s buying?

A certain very official looking leaked document leaked from the halls of Sprint tells of good things to come this September. These good things include the HTC Touch Pro2 and Samsung Dash or Instinct s50. That’s right, if the leaked page is any consolation to the recent Sprint goof-ups and let downs about the Pre, September became the month to hail. While the Touch Pro2 has been spec’d and photographed to no end, the Instinct s50 has had no such official or unofficial appearances. Could this be an Android device since Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has said that Sprint is getting ready to embrace the matured Android. We’ll know soon enough.

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Sprint subscribers dying for some Android action are finally nearing victory. Rumor had it that Sprint (who by the way snubbed Google’s baby, Android, before) will bring the hot and happening new OS onboard through the HTC Hero. That’s right Hero. So what brings the Hero closer to the U.S. and Sprint? Merely approval from the FCC. The Hero is said to be bearing a full CDMA/EV-DO radio not to mention the awesome HTC Sense UI that makes Android the best to happen since electricity. So yes, Sprint subscribers are very lucky people.

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The latest ‘Berry rumor has it that the BlackBerry Tour is getting an OS update, and soon.  The update will be OS 4.7.1.42 with both Sprint and Verizon getting in on the action. While the rumored update won’t make you Tour fit for space travel, it will hopefully fix a number of glitches (slow boot up, trackball type-lag, etc). That’s all folks.

Finally some WiMAX news. While Clearwire and Sprint’s 4G services continue to confuse everyone as to each one’s jurisdiction, its good to know that some parts of the United States actually are getting WiMAX. According to the usual run-of-the-mill boring press release, Sprint will be bringing its WiMAX support to Las Vegas, NV; Portland, OR and Atlanta, GA. Th. If Sprint manages to stay on schedule, it may well follow through on its WiMAX roadmap. As for pricing, Sprint’s 4G broadband mobile plan will cost you $69.99 per month for unlimited 4G (includes 5GB of 3G data) and $10 day passes are available.

here, here and here (yes all of them!)

Sprint is now among the carriers that posses the evergood Green thumb. The first of its eco-friendly devices is the Samsung Reclaim. The Samsung Reclaim is a handset made with 80 percent recycled material and according to Sprint it is “the most full-featured QWERTY phone launched by Sprint at less than $50”. We believe. The Samsung Reclaim features a QWERTY keypad, 2 megapixel camera with video capture, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, GPS and microSDHC support (up to 32GB). Pretty good compared to the other green-phones out there. The Reclaim is currently available for an affordable $49.99 on contract. For every handset purchased, Sprint will donate $2 to The Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program.

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