Some of the biggest U.S companies found themselves at odds with U.S. regulators this week, AT&T and Verizon squared off against each other, and a massive leak of personal information raised questions about how companies handle user data.
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Companies Tangle With Divided Government
The Federal Trade Commission may launch an antitrust probe of Google on par with the Microsoft investigation ten years ago, as soon as the Justice Department is finished scrutinizing the company's planned acquisition of a major airline flight and ticket information provider.
Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission dodged an initial challenge from Verizon and MetroPCS to its authority to regulate the Internet when a judge dismissed their lawsuits on a technicality. Verizon vowed to refile, alleging that the FCC doesn't have the right to mandate "net neutrality" rules that force carriers to allow all forms of legal traffic on their networks.
The FCC also came under fire from the House of Representatives, where a Republican majority hopes to launch a resolution that would block the net neutrality rules.
AT&T was less outspoken in denouncing the FCC rules, perhaps because it needs approval from the body to complete its acquisition of T-Mobile. The carrier argued this week that it needs T-Mobile's spectrum to provide quality service, but the FCC chairman expressed skepticism that the merger would address the issue.
The FCC further antagonized the top two carriers with new rules requiring data roaming deals between carriers. The rules were welcomed by Sprint and smaller regional carriers as they make the smaller operators more competitive, while AT&T and Verizon oppose the rules, saying they will discourage network investment.
AT&T and Verizon Jockey for Power
The nation's two top carriers are girding for a showdown as their identical Apple offerings bring competition down to a matter of service quality and plan pricing.
Verizon will axe its one-year contract option in an attempt to lock in new customers ahead of a showdown with a beefed-up AT&T.
AT&T meanwhile will increase its early-upgrade fee by $50 to catch a windfall from subscribers looking to buy the new iPhone 5, expected this summer. Perhaps it should be focusing on locking in customers like Verizon, after data showing its iPhones drop calls more than twice as often as its competitor's device.
Privacy Violated and Reinforced
A security breach at a marketing firm potentially leaked millions of e-mail address and names that people had given to companies in the course of doing business, including Best Buy, Target, Walgreens, among many others. After the incident was publicized, Verizon notified customers that their data might have also been exposed in the leak, which could be the biggest of its kind yet.
When information isn't being stolen, it's being given away. Music streaming service Pandora was subpoenaed in a government investigation focusing on information sharing by mobile applications, but said it was not a target of the probe. But later in the week, security researchers reported that Pandora sends user information, including birth date, gender and GPS location, to various advertising companies.
Meanwhile, the European Commission signed voluntary privacy agreements with a number of companies that use radio-frequency identification, or RFID, tags. The agreement requires companies developing the tags to conduct a privacy risk assessment before marketing a product. The technology has raised fears over theft of private data and invasive monitoring of people's movements.
Patent Fever
Apple won dismissal of a $625 million fine from a patent infringement suit, even as Nokia continues to press the iPhone maker on other alleged patent violations.
Amid widespread patent litigation in the mobile industry, Google spent $900 million on acquiring patents to protect it Android mobile platform, which Microsoft has been attacking through proxy legal battles with companies that make Android-based devices.
HTC invested $75 million in patents to strengthen the software offerings on its handsets, as competitive focus shifts from hardware performance to software functionality issues.
Supply Chain Disruptions Cause Delays
Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc and Play devices are facing parts shortages as fallout from the quake and tsunami in Japan begins to ripple across the tech industry. The company also announced that its upcoming Neo handset has been delayed to summer as a result of disruptions in Japan.
Apple's plans to ship at least four million iPad 2 tablets a month could be foiled by a shortage of cover lenses needed for touch screens as well, highlighting the potential for supply chain disruptions to slow production.
Android Struggles with Success
Android developers complained of problems with Google's developer console this week, fueling wider irritation with the difficulties of developing for the heterogeneous platform.
Game makers were particularly vocal about the problems of accounting for varying hardware capabilities and compatibility issues caused by customized implantations of Android's several versions. This, they said, explains the relatively low number of technically-advanced games for the platform.
Amid these rumblings, and rumors that Google would try to clamp down on Android's fragmentation into semi-compatibility, Google's Andy Rubin, Android front man, wrote a blog post supporting Android's open nature and flexibility to run on different types of hardware. He denied that Google was taking any new steps to restrict variability on the platform, and that current measures ensure sufficient interoperability for app developers.
Apple Acclaimed and Future iPhones Anticipated
Consumer Reports awarded the iPad 2 its highest rank in a wide-ranging tablet round up, praising both its quality and its value, as the device is unusually price-competitive for an Apple product. The first generation iPad tied with Motorola's Xoom for second place.
A survey found that teens agree with Consumer Reports. Not only do an inordinate number have or plan to get an iPhone, but 20 percent plan to buy a tablet in the next six months, which probably means an iPad.
Meanwhile, people looking for what the next iPhone might offer got a hint from Sony's CEO that it may pack an 8-megapixel camera made by the company. And those taking a longer view were tantalized by an Apple patent filing for a secondary screen that runs around a phone's bezel.
About the only group with something bad to say about Apple this week was the jailbreaking community, which was disappointed when Apple forced Toyota to pull a theme it was offering on the Cydia underground app store for hacked iPhones.
Carriers Cooperate on Mobile Payments
Continuing last week's burst of mobile payments news, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are reportedly set to launch an ambitious trial of their joint Isis m-payment coalition in Salt Lake City next year.
HTC Ascendant
HTC posted better-than-expected financials for the first quarter, with revenues of $513 million fueled by the popularity of it Android-based handsets like the Thunderbolt, which reportedly outsold the iPhone in more than a quarter of Verizon's retail stores.
The company also surpassed Nokia in market valuation, putting it in third place globally, behind Samsung and Apple. It's an impressive accomplishment for a company that until relatively recently didn't even sell handsets under its own name.
Nokia... Resurgent?
Nokia and Microsoft are reportedly on track to formalize their partnership, allaying fears that the technological and cultural shift on Nokia's part required to unite the companies in producing Windows-powered handsets would lead to delays. The first fruit of the partnership is expected to ship next year.
It will be those phones that, analysts predict, will spearhead a market surge for Microsoft's Windows Phone platform that will see it surpass Apple in global market share by 2015. According to the report, falling retail prices will play into the hands of phone makers with extensive distribution like Nokia's networks.
Dirty Windows
A less flattering portrayal of Microsoft emerged in a new memoire by company co-founder Paul Allen, which links the company's recent and very public missteps in the mobile market to the company's unhealthy devotion to the Windows legacy.
Google's New Boss, Same as Old Boss
Google co-founder Larry Page officially took over from Eric Schmidt as CEO, taking the helm just as the company is buffeted by anti-trust scrutiny at home and abroad. Along with convincing regulators that Google isn't monopolizing the search business, Page is expected to cull dead-end projects and focus the company's energies on both successful properties like YouTube and areas where it needs to improve, like social networking.
Samsung Stumbles
Samsung posted its second straight drop in profit, as consumers delay buying new TVs and gravitate toward competitors in the tablet and phone market. The company's latest TV models, featuring 3D functionality and web-based services, as well as its Galaxy Tab tablet, have failed to storm consumers' wallets.
Facebook Gets Mobile Facelift
Facebook updated its mobile portal since nearly half of its users access the site on the go. The new m.facebook.com provides a unified access point that detects a phone's capabilities and customizes itself for optimal usability.
T-Mobile Readies Dual-Core Phone
T-Mobile announced that its LG G2x dual-core gaming smartphone will be available from April 20 for $200 on a two year contract. Along with its powerful Nvidia processor, it features 4G connectivity, a bloatware-free stock Android install, a 4-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera.
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