Media Juggernaut
FCC chairman supports AT&T's DirecTV acquisition
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FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has come out in support of AT&T's pending acquisition of DirecTV, recommending approval of the massive deal to his fellow commissioners.
All Articles by Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Approved
Rogers gains court approval on Mobilicity acquisition
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Canadian carrier Rogers has received court approval for its acquisition of Mobilicity and Shaw's AWS spectrum, completing a deal that will see the carrier pick up a significant amount of spectrum compatible with its LTE devices. From Rogers: Rogers Communications, a leading diversified Canadian telecommunications and media company, said that it received all requisite governmental...
Grain of salt, folks
BlackBerry reportedly may use Android on new device
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According to a new report, BlackBerry may be considering putting Android as the operating system on an upcoming smartphone. The move is said to be part of a shift to a more software-centric strategy. From Reuters BlackBerry (BB.TO) is considering equipping an upcoming smartphone with Google Inc.'s (GOOGL.O) Android software for the first time, an acknowledgement that its revamped...
Incoming
BlackBerry to announce first quarter fiscal results June 23
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If you're eager for some BlackBerry financial news, take note of June 23. That's the day BlackBerry will report its first quarter fiscal 2016 results. Just like in the past, the report will take place via a conference call and live webcast. BlackBerry® (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) will be reporting results for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 on June 23rd, 2015. A conference call and...
Channel Surfing
BBM for Windows Phone finally snags Channel support
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BlackBerry has pushed an update to BBM for Windows Phone today that finally adds access to the Channels feature. After making its debut in the beta version of BBM not too long ago, Channels are finally in the main app for everyone to enjoy. BlackBerry users are no doubt already very familiar with Channels and how they work, but this is a pretty big new feature for the Windows Phone...
Acquired
AT&T acquires Nextel Mexico
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AT&T announced today that it has acquired Nextel Mexico for $1.875 billion. AT&T first announced its plans to acquire Nextel Mexico earlier this year and the acquisition is official as of today. This acquisition marks AT&T's second purchase of a Mexico-based wireless carrier after it acquired lusacell for $2.5 billion. In today's announcement, AT&T says it has plans to...
Free Wifi!
Sprint teams up with Boingo to offer free Wifi at airports
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Sprint announced a new partnership today that will allow its customers to automatically connect to Boingo Wi-Fi networks at 35 major airports across the U.S.. Sprint says that users within range of a Boingo hotspot will now be able to automatically connect to the Wi-Fi network at no additional charge. From Sprint: Sprint devices within proximity of a Boingo hotspot can...
And then there were three
Evernote revamps pricing structure with three tiers
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Popular note-taking service Evernote announced a new pricing structure today, splitting the service into three tiers: one free and two paid. While Evernote previously had only a single paid tier, the company says that they were driven to split the service into two paid tiers, Evernote Plus and Evernote Premium, to provide more options for customers. The free tier, Evernote Basic,...
Earnings Report
AT&T posts Q1 2015 results with $32.6 billion in revenue
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AT&T has posted its earnings for the first quarter of 2015 today, reporting a slight bump in revenue over the same quarter last year and its lowest first-quarter churn rate ever. AT&T's combined revenue for its wireless and wireline businesses in the first quarter was $32.6 billion, which marks a year-over-year bump of 0.3 percent. Additionally, earnings per share were 61...
BBM
BBM beta updated with ability to hide sticker packs
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The BBM beta for BlackBerry 10 has been updated today, and while it isn't a huge update, it does bring along the ability to hide sticker packs, which, as BlackBerry notes, could come in handy for packing away those seasonal packs. Of course, the update brings along the usual bug fixes as well. Here's the full breakdown of what's new in BBM beta build 10.8: What's New this Build...
Squashing Bugs
BBM beta picks up a bug fixing update
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BlackBerry has rolled out an update to its BBM beta app on Windows Phone today, and while it doesn't bring any fancy new features, it does include a whole slew of bug fixes. Here's the breakdown os issues fixed in BBM beta version 2.1.0.7: Restarting BBM brings up the "Find friends" screen intermittently BBM crashes when trying to add an image when adding a post Feeds tab...
Network Testing
Ting launches open beta for GSM network
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Ting's GSM network, which it announced late last year, has officially entered into an open beta. Previously, customers could test the network out on an invite-only basis. If an open beta for a network sounds odd, Ting explained the benefits of the tests it has done so far: We've been hard at work on Ting on a GSM network. We've sent out invitations in the thousands with a...
Security Shmecurity
The NSA and GCHQ have a direct line into your phone
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According to new documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the NSA and its UK counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), hacked into the computers of Gemalto, a company that manufactures SIM cards for a large number of carriers around the world. In doing so, the intelligence agencies acquired encryption keys that would allow them to intercept communications from customers of...
Driving up the price
Regulators probe reported Blackberry acquisition rumors
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When it was rumored that Samsung was in talks to purchase BlackBerry last month, one of the major side-effects was that BlackBerry's stock price skyrocketed. Now, regulators from both the U.S. and Canada are reportedly investigating trading activity around the time of the rumor in order to ascertain whether it was started to profit from the resulting surge in BlackBerry's stock price...
SprintShack
Sprint and RadioShack agree to deal for co-branded stores
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After hearing various rumblings on such an agreement in recent days, it looks like Sprint has struck a deal with RadioShack that would see the carrier expanding into 1,750 RadioShack locations. According to the press release, the deal will "establish co-branded stores that will exclusively sell mobile devices across Sprint's brand portfolio as well as RadioShack products, services and...
AT&T Earnings
AT&T reports Q4 2014 results, $34.4 billion in revenue
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AT&T has reported its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2014 today. Overall, the carrier brought in revenue of $132.4 billion on the year, with $34.4 billion in the fourth quarter alone — up 3.8 percent over the same quarter a year ago. Additionally, the company reported that, after compensating for a 77 cent per share loss because of various charges, earnings per share were up to...
Merging the Big Boys
Three UK reportedly confirmed to purchase O2
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It was reported a few days ago that Three UK was looking to purchase O2 from Telefonica, and now the deal has reportedly been confirmed at a price of 10 billion pounds (roughly 15 billion US dollars) and is expected to be finalized Friday morning. The report comes from The Financial Times, which says: The deal to merge O2, Britain's second-biggest mobile operator, with Hutchison...
Update: Denied
Samsung reportedly in talks for BlackBerry takeover
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According to a new report, Samsung has approached BlackBerry for a potential takeover worth as much as $7.5 billion. The news from Reuters, citing unnamed sources: Executives from the two companies, which are working with advisers, met last week to discuss a potential transaction, the source said, asking not to be identified because the conversations are private. Reuters also...
Fight for Privacy
David Cameron wants to ban encrypted messaging apps
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In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in France, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has come out in support of banning encrypted messaging apps. According to a new report, Cameron alluded that he would be for banning encrypted communication apps, which could include BBM, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, among others. From The Independent: The Prime Minister said today that he would...
Classic WINDY
WIND Mobile will get the BlackBerry Classic next month
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As anticipation heats up ahead of the Blackberry Classic's official launch, WIND Mobile has announced that will be bringing the device to the great white north next month. The announcement was made via the company's Twitter account earlier today: Super exciting news... the #BlackBerryClassic will be landing at WIND next month! #WINDturns5— WIND Mobile (@WINDmobile) December 16, 2014...