If smartphone sales growth stops, brace for AT&T and Verizon to play hardball

If smartphone sales growth stops, brace for AT&T and Verizon to play hardball

Carriers like AT&T and Verizon are facing weaker growth in wireless subscribers than they have in the last five years, and costs of their data network are going up as revenue growth starts to taper off. That’s why J.P. Morgan analyst Mike McCormack, who sees “deteriorating wireless fundamentals,” downgraded the two companies yesterday. We just reported yesterday how T-Mobile is seeing slower activity.

This slowdown is forcing carriers to consider doing the inevitable: Keep pricing low… Continue Reading

Roundup: Ebay stamps Jajah, iPhone a $1B ecosystem?, Verizon-Google spat, more

Roundup: Ebay stamps Jajah, iPhone a $1B ecosystem?, Verizon-Google spat, more

Here’s the latest action:
–Jajah gets shut out of eBay
–German cell-phone software vendor buys iPhone game maker
–Verizon secretly pressuring FCC Chairman to renege on wireless opening?
–Facebook advertisers are “selling shovels to other miners”
–Ballmer: Ads to make up quarter of Microsoft business
–Research firm Gartner predicts continuing chip-industry slowdown
–Google’s DoubleClick acquisition may face still more hurdles

Jajah gets shut out of eBay — This was pretty predictable. As reported earlier, Jajah released a button aimed to give small businesses… Continue Reading