From June onwards, AT&T has hiked up its early termination fees (ETFs) to $325 in what might well be a move to ensure that iPhone users are kept locked in.

The ETF is the fee that a user is to pay when he/she terminates the service contract. The early termination fees are being raised by the company from $175 to $325, which commenced from the starting of June. Incidentally, this roughly coincided with the expected release date of Apple's unlocked iPhone 4G/HD. This increased amount will be applicable to fresh contracts only and on the other hand ETF on feature handsets will drop down to $150. Renewal of a contract for a new iPhone will however get you into the province of this new ETF.

Naturally this new policy change is rather a hassle but the underlying logic behind AT&T's decision is not that difficult to fathom. Apple's unlocked iPhone 4G/HD will in all probability be having an entry level price of $199 although AT&T has to shell out around $500 to $600 for a single set. Counting that in the reckoning, along with the number of people who are going to purchase the item, it totals up to quite a tidy sum in subsidies. They should certainly be able to get that money back over time due to the mobile data services of the users. Still, this does give enough of a prod for a rethink of strategies. It's an even greater problem for AT&T as many owners of  iPhones 3GS unlocked handset compulsively upgrade to the latest version on an annual basis, expecting the introductory pricing.

This move is close on the heels of Verizon's hiking up of its ETF to $350 on "advanced devices" citing similar causes. The increased ETF may be another impediment for current AT&T customers to change, especially after rumours that Apple might go with Big Red, thus endangering AT&T's exclusivity with the iPhone.

President Barrack Hussein Obama has introduced many things since his rise to office, and they have been enforced to a great extent also. His most recent enforcement is to boost mobile services for the good of the people.

President Obama, along with his colleagues in the White House have issued a memorandum, which asks the executive departments and agencies to boost mobile services, so much so that 500 MHz of spectrum will be made available within the next ten years. The spectrum made available will be coming from commercial, as well as federal bands. The memorandum has been issued to the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Commerce is to work together with the Federal Communications Commission to make Obama’s drive possible.

According to the President, the era in global wireless technology can only advance if there are more spectrums available. There will be multiple new developments in the fields of wireless devices, networks, new applications, which will help in the progress of economy. But to experiment with these devices and to successfully use them, more spectrums are needed. Since there is a shortage of spectrum, the available quantity should be used more efficiently.

There has been the issue of scarcity of licensed spectrum available. No new operators are being able to provide wireless broadband services due to shortage of licensed spectrum. And if unlicensed spectrum is used, then there could be no guarantee of either connectivity or that of quality. As more and more people are using unlocked  smartphones and other wireless devices to access the web on the go, it could pose a serious problem for providers. The President’s drive will be a beacon of hope for consumers and providers alike.

The Obama-led government sees the phone Internet as a major help in bridging the digital divide. The digital divide is in rural areas mostly, and Obama wants to overcome these shortcomings and encourage jobs and innovation.

Electronics retail giant Best Buy wants to get into the cell-phone broadband service. It plans to launch Best Buy Connect brand that will allow store-branded mobile services along with the products it sells. This was posted in the Wall Street Journal, and according to reports, Sprint will be making this foray of Best Buy possible.

The company has already started circulating advertisements. According to the advertisement, cell phone broadband services will start at $29.99, for 250MB of data service, without a contract. The high-end plans include data services of up to 5GB, at a monthly rate of $59.99. Service contracts with lower rates will also be made available. There will a $35 activation fee, but this can be waived, if the user signs for a two-year contract. Another offering by Best Buy is that customers will be given RewardZone points, which they can build up, and use for discounts and other promotional offers at Best Buy.

Reports state that this will not be a full-fledged service, and will be limited to a small segment of devices sold by Best Buy. Laptops equipped with the Qualcomm Gobi chipset will be able to make use of this service. The Gobi chipset laptops can roam on either CDMA or HSPA networks.  The service will not provide 4G broadband services, but only 3G.

This move by Best Buy is a strong, logical extension into its endeavors in cellphone broadband services and products. If Best Buy can both sell a 3G laptop and also provide the broadband service, its profit margin will be huge and unprecedented.

Best Buy is looking forward to launching this service as soon as possible. It will be a huge step forward by Best Buy in extending its annual revenue income. As for us, we can only wait and see if this venture is worth it or not.

If accessing social networking web pages is what you are primarily looking for in your phone then there is good news for you. Verizon wireless has decided to drop the prices of the Microsoft Kin cell  phones which allow easy access to social networking portals.

Prices of the Microsoft Kins phones will change as follows

• · The Kin One will now cost $29 in comparison to its earlier $50 pricing
• · The Kin Two price will be cut down to half it original to around $50

However we honestly feel that this will not go a long way in really helping the sales of these handsets to that extent. For the customer, it is important to note that all these handsets do come with the usual two year contract and additional data charges. When you buy these phones, you will be committed to a two year data plan of $30 per month which is comparable to the

• · Motorola Milestone Droid ( Incredible ) and the upcoming
• · Droid X

These phones are pretty good in the respect that they allow you to upload your pictures and even videos onto your profiles. However the drawbacks sadly for these nifty phones are numerous, such as;

• · You cannot download any applications at all hence no games, and
• · You cannot access special Twitter and other such special clients.

On the brighter side, there are some updates slated for release from Microsoft which will enable YouTube access and social networking capabilities however we really think that this is not enough. In fact, Microsoft’s soon to be released smart phone platform the Windows Phone 7 which is coming out in a few months time. This sadly will be a killer for many of the phones like the kin. However on the bright side, the positive aspects of the Kin will find its way into the Windows Phone 7.

It has now been revealed that mobile agency Broadplay plans on introducing a new service whereby customers would be able to receive SMS updates of any breaking news events from the G20 meet. By partnering together with The Globe and Mail, Broadplay has been able to convince major mobile carriers in United States  to offer text message updates for the G20 summit. Although it is completely free for users to sign up, when receiving a text message, standard text charges will apply. It is possible to sign up either directly from the website or by simply smsing text G20 to 123411.

The G20 summit is slated to be held on the 26^th and 27^th of June and will feature the financial head of various countries such as US, England, France, India, China among. As these world leaders gather together in NY, any breaking news events from the event will now be broadcasted directly to your mobile phone via text messages. Any news that can prove to be beneficial for maternal health and traffic jams to the global financial crisis; you can get all the advice you need.

This service is expected to start from June 21-28 where users will have the ability of getting all updates via text messages. According to a statement on the Broadplay website, “We have now decided to go ahead and start a free service that users can to start up to date with all the latest happenings from the G20 summit to be held in Toronto this week. Subscribers can expect to get around 30 different text messages during the entire week. Apart from the option of subscribing for the services, users also have the option of unsubscribing after which they would no longer receive any text messages in there unlocked cell phones. Through this service we hope to inform about various political changes that might affect their lives.”

If you have the iPhone unlocked gadget, would you want to spend $1000 on an application? Well, most would not mind, if statistics of BarMax are to be believed. BarMax is an application that can be used by law students residing in California to pass their law exams. Not only is this $1000 application profiting nicely, but there are also plans of having its scope expanded further. More than $100,000 has already been generated from the sale of this product, thereby by making it one of the most profitable applications of the iPhone.

Even if you feel this is too much to pay for an application, the overall benefits provided by it far outweigh the costs as the amount of information provided on the iPhone can easily help students generate 6 figure incomes per year. If the company is to be believed, they have plans of expanding their operations to different states including New York as the Bar exam is different in each state. And, if one were to compare, the BarMax is much cheaper than any of its competitors.

The high price tag of BarMax will not be the first $1000 application for the iPhone as ‘I Am Rich’, a previous application designed for wealthy people, was instead a simple joke novelty application. It finally resulted in Apple removing the product from its market and refunding the money to users.

With the Unlocked iPhone 4 stated for launch on 24^th June, many developers have already started developing applications for it. This does not come as a surprise as Apple has made more than double the $1 billion it has spent on developers. You can be sure that with the latest release of the iPhone around the corner, this amount is likely to go up. The recent rise in sales of the iPhone has seen a great jump in the number of innovative software applications being developed for it.

According to reports, the myTouch 3G Slide  phone has now been completely rooted by hacker eugene373. If you have the myTouch 3G Slide but wanted to be able to have access to a host of features, look no further as all that is required is for you to be able to root your device.  However, this process is not for the faint hearted as it can be a bit complex to handle, unless you follow the instructions well. In order to be able to root the myTouch 3G Slide , the most important thing you need to do is to make sure that you download the Slide Root file that should then be placed in the SDK directory. To do this, use command prompt and point it to the SDK/Tool Directory after which you should hold down the power button and the volume down button so as to power on the myTouch 3G Slide.

From command prompt type in ‘Loop’ and once you are given the menu choice, select ‘recovery’. Once the device has finished loading, there will be an additional icon ‘Offline Device’. Next what you have to do is to remove the USB attachment cable for the Slide and reattach it once again. Do not ignore this step as it is very important!! Finally choose ‘Update.zip’ and you should get a message saying that it has failed. Next push slideroot.zip by making use of the Android Debug Bridge and before you can press update, key in ‘command ready’ in command prompt. Next hit update and once you do so, you should be capable of pushing the file completely over. Once you have been successful in pushing the update.zip over, you should now be looking at ClockworkMod recovery. Using your keys navigate to the partitions menu so that you will be able to mount the system back again. To finish the rooting of the myTouch 3G Slide, simply hit the ‘back’ button to then choose the root zip file.

Once you have rebooted your unlocked smartphone, you will be able to do whatever you want.

Considering the fact that Unlocked Google Nexus is now making waves in the world ,it is not at all surprising to find that the latest version of the Android has also made its way to the  Moto DROID and T-mobile myTouch 3G. It was recently announced that Android 2.2 was soon going to make its way to these phones.  A memo confirming the deployment of the new Android update was released to TmoNews stating that the myTouch 3G, myTouch Slide and DROID would be able to avail of the latest Google releases. While there have still not been any confirmations as to when such releases would be made available for the mobiles, you can easily expect them in the near future.

A statement released by T-Mobile states, “We constantly endeavor to provide our esteemed customers with the latest, innovative devices so as to improve their lives. At the same time, we also strive to ensure that our existing products are constantly updated. We constantly work hard in ensuring that updates are constantly provided. If you are an existing user of the myTouch 3G or the myTouch Slide, you can now avail of the latest version of Google Android viz. version 2.2. This means that all users of previous visions of Android will be able to stay up to date with the latest version.”

With the introduction of Motorola Backflip  Unlocked Android 2.2, users can look forward to various updates such as the modified version of the Faves gallery. It will now become possible to automatically get updates from your 20 most recent contacts. This effectively implies that you do not have to sift through less important calls in order to find what you want.

There is also an improved Genius Button application, which is similar to the Genius Button of the Slide. It can show you traffic mapping, your next appointment as well as give you directions

A news story has surfaced from T-Mobile that they are offering a special Father’s Day gift- free Unlocked Cell-Phones. T-Mobile is planning on launching a commercial on June 19 to further quell any rumors, so we can then know whether this is true or not. Although this story has yet to be confirmed by T-Mobile, from the looks of it, it might actually happen according to a copy of the commercial script recently obtained. In the commercial, a voice over says, “Ladies and gentlemen, mark your calendar as this Saturday, starting from 8 a.m. T-Mobile is now planning on launching an unprecedented act of giving away all phones in its stores absolutely free. T-Mobile has taken another initiative in customer satisfaction by ensuring that families are put first.”

While this is a great promotional offer by T-Mobile, do not get your hopes up too high as chances are that you will not like the range of mobiles on offer. For instance, right now the best mobile that is available in the T-Mobile stores is the myTouch 3G Slide, which just cannot compare with other phones available from other carriers currently in the market.  Another phone is the HTC HD2 which is great should you want to use it to watch movies, but the operating system of Windows Mobile 6.5 leaves a lot to be desired. On the other hand, if you are currently searching for any new unlocked mobile phone, then this T-Mobile offer would do well for you.

Be advised that this offer is still not yet fully confirmed, so do not get your hopes up on getting a free phone. At the same time, there are chances this offer can fall under a particular subscription plan. If you have been keeping up to date with promotional plans recently been offered by different mobile carriers, you will realize that more often than not, promotion like this would involve users having to enter a new, two year contract with the carrier company.

It has been rumored that the FCC is now hunting for more mobile broadband spectrum so as to make it available to a greater number of providers within the next 10 years. As part of its efforts to make sure that 500 MHz spectrum will be made available for the mobile broadband in 10 years, 300 MHz is stated for availability within the next 5 years.

A public notice issued by the Commission has allocated 35 MHz of the Big LEO band specifically for mobile broadband use. This 35 MHz spectrum currently sits between 1675 MHz and 1710 MHz and is mainly used for satellites as well as water balloons. According to the issued notice, the comment period has been set for 28^th June and seeks comments on the current usage of this spectrum. This new effort combined with the freeing up of 25 MHz of spectrum last month, has been seen as part of a much wider plan by the Commission to free up greater amounts of broadband spectrum. The previous 25 MHz was opened up in the 2.3 GHz band.

Apart from addressing this freeing up of broadband space, the former head of the FCC's national broadband plan task force, Blair Levin said, “We all have the gift of broadband and as such, in just 10 years, we will not be so worried about Title I and Title II.” This was in reply to the issue of contentious broadband reclassification that was soon going to be explored by the FCC. A new legal strategy was being implemented by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski that would allow neutral regulations for wired as well as wireless networks. This is essentially a way for reclassifying broadband from a Title I information service to a Title II common-carrier service.

The overall expansion of the broadband mobile spectrum has been cheered on my many carriers as it will allow them greater coverage areas.