Friday, November 6, 2009
Is Verizon’s New Early-Termination Fee Anti-Consumer?
Beginning Nov. 15, Verizon subscribers looking to get out of their smart-phone contracts early will pay $350 for the privilege. That early-termination fee is double the current one, but Verizon insists it’s justified because of the higher prices of today’s phones. An interesting move for a carrier that just last year agreed to pay $21 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by California consumers over the very early-termination fees it is now increasing.
Apple’s internationally coveted iPhone finally arrived at market in China last week and by most accounts its debut was uncharacteristically muted. There is “no sign of the sort of sellout reception that greeted the smart phone at its introduction in other countries,” The Wall Street Journal reported. Clearly, the device’s Chinese launch wasn’t the rousing success to which we’ve become accustomed. That said, it probably wasn’t quite the bust it’s been made out to be, either.
Apple’s iPhone finally arrived at market in China today and is evidently selling fairly well, despite wallet-emptying prices. ChinaNews.com found about 300 people queued up to buy the device at China Unicom’s flagship store in Beijing. 
The Pixi, Palm’s second webOS-powered smart phone, finally has a price and a U.S. street date. This morning, Sprint said the device will arrive at market Nov. 15. Price: $99.99 with a two-year contract and after $150 in rebates. Not the most aggressive of prices considering that Amazon is currently offering the Pre, Pixi’s elder sibling, for $99 with two-year contract as well.
The Cliq, Motorola’s first phone based on Google’s Android operating system, is headed to market and will arrive there Nov. 2. Sales to existing customers will begin Oct. 19 and open to the general public Nov. 4. T-Mobile USA has priced the handset at $199 with a two-year contract, which seems a bit dear considering you can get a 16GB iPhone 3GS for the same price. 
of the week was undoubtedly Apple’s Rock and Roll event on Wednesday featuring Steve Jobs 2.0, that was only the anodized aluminum, candy-colored, video-shooting cherry on top of another week of tech sector reporting from All Things Digital. 
AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple is set to expire as early as next year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be renewed–despite complaints about the carrier’s network. That’s the word from iSuppli, which predicts Apple will extend its agreement with AT&T because it has no reason not to.
The Palm Pre is finally taking off in the Great White North. Canada’s Bell Mobility, which became the device’s exclusive Canadian carrier back in May, this morning announced a ship date and price for the Pre.
Reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings this morning, AT&T said it activated 2.4 million iPhone accounts–35 percent of them for new customers.
Bad news for Sirius XM shareholders hoping for a change in management: Mel Karmazin’s five-year contract as CEO of the satellite radio provider has been extended through December 2012. And he’s been given a raise and new stock options to boot.
According to some lines of code secreted away within webOS, Palm has at least one more handset in the pipeline–the so-called Eos (codename: Pixie). And while no one seems to know when it will arrive at market, there’s speculation today that we’ll see it by November, right in time for the winter holidays.
