SNL on Verizon’s 4G marketing: “It’s an old person’s nightmare”
While it’s pretty much hit-or-miss these days, when Saturday Night Live scores, it still does so with a vengeance.
Last night the sketch comedy show aired a segment that ripped apart Verizon’s 4G LTE marketing confusion, bringing to light the biggest problems facing the smartphone market today when it comes to general consumers.
In short, there are too many devices vying for your attention (many with terrible names), and the advantages of 4G LTE seems … Continue Reading
An animated explanation of how your personal data gets tracked and sold
Keeping up with our theme from yesterday’s post about how frictionless it has become for users to give unfamiliar apps broad and permanent access to their data, we stumbled on this interesting video about the personal information people unwittingly share with their mobile phone carriers.
The video comes from Michael Ringley, a graphic designer living in San Francisco. It tracks the life of an MMS message, 28,000 of which are sent every second, and shows … Continue Reading
Verizon/Redbox video service will be subscription-based, offer a “competitive” content library
Top executives from Verizon and Redbox revealed more details about the new jointly-operated rental service announced earlier today.
The video rental service will allow people to access streaming video through Verizon, while also taking advantage of Redbox’s DVD and Blu-Ray rental Kiosks. The service will definitely operate under a subscription-based pricing model, but won’t give customers the option of choosing between a separate streaming or DVD/Blu-Ray subscription package, said Verizon SVP of consumer product management … Continue Reading
Verizon and Redbox join forces on new video rental service
Verizon and Redbox are teaming up on a new video rental service that will directly compete with Netflix, the companies announced in a joint statement today.
The new service will allow people to access streaming video through Verizon, while also taking advantage of Redbox’s DVD & Blu-ray rental Kiosks. At this point it’s unknown if both services will retain their own branding or forge a single brand to unify the service. However, we do know … Continue Reading
Verizon reports strong Q4 with iPhone 4S, LTE leading the way
The massive success of the iPhone 4S, together with its next-generation LTE 4G network, helped Verizon see strong earnings of $0.52 a share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $28.4 billion.
Ultimately, though, the company reported a fourth quarter loss of 71 cents in diluted earnings per share due to pension charges. In comparison, Verizon saw overall earnings of $0.93 per share in the fourth quarter last year.
Verizon’s hot wireless business saw its … Continue Reading
Our test for the best cell phone service provider at CES 2012
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, everybody wanted to talk. And when they talked on their mobile phones, they put a great deal of stress on the mobile phone carriers. We tried to figure out who handled the load the best.
CES is the biggest technology convention in the US. This year it once again broke attendance records with 153,000 analysts, exhibitors, and journalists. Regardless of your place in the industry, having mobile … Continue Reading
Motorola announces the Droid 4, a RAZR-like Android smartphone with full keyboard
Motorola has introduced the fourth generation of its tried-and-true Droid Android smartphone for Verizon Wireless, this time with 4G LTE data speeds and a 4-inch qHD display.
The Droid 4 closely resembles the Droid RAZR, except the Droid 4 features a full QWERTY keyboard. The Droid RAZR was released to much hype in November, but that hype was later overshadowed by the Galaxy Nexus with Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
With a strong spec list, the … Continue Reading
The top 5 CES trends that will matter in 2012
If you couldn’t tell by the avalanche of product news hitting VentureBeat over the past few weeks, the next Consumer Electronics Show is almost upon us. The annual trade show, which has been held in Las Vegas for more than a decade, is where many of the world’s biggest electronics companies debut their new products, announce major news, and desperately try to remind us that they exist.
A flood of news is par for the … Continue Reading
Verizon sold 4.2M iPhones during the holidays
In the final three months of 2011, Verizon kept itself busy by selling iPhones to eager consumers.
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said during an investor chat that the company had sold 4.2 million iPhones during Q4 2011.
This was the company’s first year-end season of iPhone sales; the iconic device was not available on the network in 2010.
While consumers around the world held off on iPhone purchases during Q3 in anticipation of the iPhone … Continue Reading
Updated: Verizon reverses $2 fee after FCC inquiry, customer outrage
Update, 12:31pm PST: Verizon wireless has reversed its decision to institute a $2 fee on customers paying their bills online. The company released a statement confirming the about-face on Friday, a couple hours after the Federal Communications Commission decided to look into the fee. The statement reads:
Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week.
The company made the decision in … Continue Reading
Verizon convenience fee sparks Change.org petition
A petition on Change.org sprouted up in response to U.S. wireless carrier Verizon’s announcement that it would begin charging a $2 “convenience fee” for people who pay their bill online or by phone.
Change.org is the same site that was effective in getting Bank of America to reverse its decision to implement a debit card fee to customers. The Verizon convenience fee petition already has 33,465 signatures — roughly half of the 75,000 it seeks.… Continue Reading
Verizon plans to charge a ‘convenience fee’ to pay your bill
The country’s largest wireless carrier, Verizon, will begin charging its subscribers a $2 “convenience fee” to pay their bills.
The only way to avoid this fee is to sign up for automatic payments through Verizon’s website, according to a report from Droid-Life. The new fee will go into effect beginning Jan. 15, 2012. Verizon’s actions follow the same policy Sprint implemented earlier this year to get more people signed up for automatic payments.
Verizon subscribers … Continue Reading
Verizon suffers yet another nationwide data outage
Losing network access seems to be a common occurrence for Verizon Wireless customers these days. They woke up to yet another nationwide data outage this morning.
The outage, which affected the carrier’s 3G and 4G LTE data networks, drove subscribers to Verizon’s technical support board and support Twitter account. Verizon hasn’t yet divulged the cause of the outage, but now it seems service is slowly being restored, Engadget reports. (Above, Verizon’s LTE network coverage in … Continue Reading
DOJ launches probe into Verizon’s spectrum deal with big cable
Perhaps Verizon was a bit hasty in its decision to stop growing its FiOS TV and broadband Internet business in favor of wireless partnerships with big cable companies. U.S. regulators have launched a probe into Verizon’s recent wireless spectrum agreements,which could leave the largest wireless carrier walking away empty-handed.
As VentureBeat previously reported, Verizon will pay Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House $3.6 billion to license a portion of wireless spectrum owned (but not in … Continue Reading
In AT&T breakup, T-Mobile gets 3G roaming deal and wireless spectrum
The dust is settling from yesterday’s news that AT&T has given up its T-Mobile acquisition plans, and it turns out even a failed merger is quite expensive.
Because its proposed $39 billion merger fell through, AT&T now has to give up piles of cash and benefits to T-Mobile. AT&T will enter into a 7-year 3G roaming agreement that will boost T-Mobile coverage, and it has to give up a valuable package of AWS (Advanced Wireless … Continue Reading
Verizon offering Galaxy Nexus Dec. 15 for $299 (updated)
After months of speculation and unconfirmed advertisements, Verizon is finally releasing the Galaxy Nexus December 15 for $299 when you sign a two year contract.
[Update: The device will be available through Verizon beginning at 1 a.m. EST. As part of a holiday special, the company is offering both current and new customers who buy a 4G phone double the amount of monthly data for the same monthly fee -- meaning a 2GB … Continue Reading
Verizon, AT&T both testing LTE 4G Lumia 800 phones
Even before Microsoft officially adds support for LTE 4G in its Windows Phone platform, Nokia already has LTE-equipped versions of its flagship Lumia 800 smartphones in major US carriers’ hands.
Both AT&T and Verizon Wireless are testing out 4G Lumia 800′s in their labs, reports CNet’s Roger Cheng. Carriers are usually among the first to get their hands on new phone hardware, since extensive testing is required to make sure phones operate properly within their … Continue Reading
Netflix and Verizon may be in acquisition talks
Verizon may be preparing to acquire Netflix with the end goal of offering its own streaming video service.
Verizon is looking to launch its own streaming video offering as early as next year, according to anonymous sources close to the deal.
According to subscription-based financial reporting site dealReporter, Verizon will be teaming with Netflix rather than competing with it. While we’ve known that Verizon is interested in purchasing a pre-existing streaming media service, we had … Continue Reading
Samsung sold more than 300M phones in 2011
Samsung has sold over 300 million phones for 2011, a first for the company’s history, the company said Sunday.
The news tops off an incredible year for Samsung, which became the top smartphone manufacturer in the world in late October. Apple held the title for a single quarter earlier in the year, and Nokia held it before Apple. Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the third quarter alone, accounting for 23.8 percent of the smartphone … Continue Reading
Lame: Verizon is abandoning its FiOS TV & internet service to pursue wireless partnerships
Communications giant Verizon is scaling back efforts to grow its FiOS television and Internet services, according to comments made by the company’s Chief Executive Lowell McAdams during the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York Wednesday.
McAdams said the company will end its wireless LTE partnership with DirecTV in favor of new agreements with major cable companies Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House, reports the Washington Post.
Under the terms of that new … Continue Reading
