To date Sprint customers have downloaded over 15 million songs.

3GSM World Congress -- It has been announced that the Motorola W205 -- a new consumer focused mobile handset will be released with only basic features. It doesn't quite go as low end as the FONE, but the features appear to be circa 2003, not 2007.

Features Include:
Quad band GSM frequency
128×128 65k color CSTN display screen
Speakerphone External
Memory for 750 SMS messages

Motorola says they will begin shipping the W205 phone during 1Q, 2007. Exact pricing has not been announced, but it should be a low entry point. Motorola has also announced in the W series line -- the W510/W215.

T-Mobile released the customer milestone new along with the big Q4 2006 earnings statement. Several interesting metrics were included:

1) 900k net new customers in Q4; nearly 800k of those were post paid
2) 1.6 million BlackBerry and Sidekick users -- data centric
3) Churn has remained the same versus the year ago period

TI's embedded chips will help launch both 3G and WiMAX (802.16e) data connectivity to major telecom players like Sprint Nextel. Motorola, along with Intel is one of the early adopters of next generation WiMAX and expects to begin shipping a new line of 802.16e mobile devices next year when Sprint is heavily rolling out 4G. Motorola Labs division is the force behind this recent announcement, continuing to push innovation in the wireless space.

Sprint has officially announced the next smartphone release -- dubbed the Motorola Q. The Moto Q had been limited exclusively to Verizon Wireless (CDMA carrier) since it was launched in May of 2006. Sprint plans to start shipping the phone to its direct business channels in late January -- and expects to have "The Q" in retail channels starting in February.

The Motorola Q by Sprint features:
Slim Design: 4.6H x 2.5W x 0.45D inches (thick as a pencil)
Windows Mobile 5.0
miniSD card slot bulit-in
EVDO 3G data speeds
1.3 megapixel camera (MP)
Bluetooth Wireless

See Also -- FCC Approves Moto Q, Verizon

Sprint has released another music-centric phone -- the exclusive Sanyo M1. While most music-oriented mobile handsets only have a minimal amout of memory (forcing owners to purchase an add-on memory card or user upgrade), the M1 handset has a cool 1GB of internal memory built-in. This is the largest amount of internal memory of any phone currently being carried by US national carriers (Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, T-mobile), but they don't provide an expansion slot anywhere on the handset to add more memory. The M1 flip-phone rolls in at 23mm thick (.9"), making it a little chunky when compared to other recently launched music phones by other carriers.

Sanyo M1 feature-set:
EVDO data via Powervision
QVGA screen display w/ 262k colors
Bluetooth wireless with A2DP stereo
2.0 MP Camera
Music player with external controls (MP3, AAC, AAC+) + stereo speakers
Built-in Speakerphone

Right now -- Sprint is selling the Sanyo M1 for $199 when you sign-up for a new 2-year contract with $150 in instant savings. It is available now in stores and on the Sprint.com website. Another photo of the M1 opened up with Sprint's Music store Groove Mobile being launched is shown below.

Sanyo SCP-2400 features include:
Rugged Dura-Grip antislip handset coating
Push-to-talk (aka ReadyLink)
Speakerphone capable
128×160 pixel display screen w/65k colors
Parental control option
Sprint is now selling the SCP-7000 for $30 with a 2-year contract agreement with $150 in instant savings applied. The Sanyo SCP-2400 is still available and is now being priced at $20.

Verizon Wireless adds a cheaper PEBL look-alike phone to the lineup, dubbed the Motrola W315. The first preview of the W315 was shown earlier this year at the CTIA 2006 conference. From purely a design perspective, the W315 is eerily reminiscient of the more expensive Moto PEBL with an external antenna attached.

Motorola W315 features include:
Speakerphone
128×160 pixel screen with 65k colors
Iconic soft finish (PEBL looki)

Verizon Wireless is now selling the Motorola W315 for $30 with a 2-year service agreement. The blue W315 is shown, but other colors are available (like shown below).

Verizon Wireless has just launch debuted 2 more colors of the so very popular LG Chocolate VX8500 cool phone. The new colors are officially named cherry and mint, but most people have been referring to these new skin mods as red and green Chocolate (rojo y verde chocolatte). These handsets join the previously available black and white variants of Verizon's snazzy line of LG Chocolate phones. All of the colors retain the same featureset.

The red and green models go on sale Friday, November 24th 2006 -- also known as Black Friday in the marketing world. All four of the Chocolate phone colors will be repriced @ $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and new Verizon service contract.

Verizon Wireless has continued its adoption of Adobe Flash Lite by launching several new Flash powered Get It Now applications. New software includes an app from the Weather Channel and a game based on NBC's 'The Office'. Currently just four phones (LG V, Motorola RAZR V3c/m and the Samsung a950) are compatible with the mobile flash lite apps -- but that list is expected to increase significantly once apps developers see how beneficial these flashy new tools are to customers. Ironically, the flagship LG Chocolate phone is not yet compatible -- despite using Adobe Flash mobile to power its graphical user interface (UI).

Adobe Flash Lite features include:
Flash Player 7 support
Multi-Platform support
Dynamic XML data
Persistent data
Powerful and dynamic media
Text enhancement
Shape drawing ActionScript API
Action Script 2.0 support
Synchronized device sound
Compressed SWFs
Tighter device integration

Verizon Wireless customers with a compatible mobile handset can find the new applications in the Verizon Get It Now Store.

Sprint has finally launched the Motorola RAZR. In this case it is the famed Moto RAZR V3m. Sprint Nextel Corporation is the last major US wireless carrier to carry Motorola's flagship phone -- and has taken a beating from investors this year for not putting this phone in the lineup. Sprint is also launching the KRZR and SLVR models shortly -- along with a whole new line of cell phones for the 2006 holiday season.

Motorola RAZR V3m features include:

EV-DO broadband high-speed data
GPS capable via Telenav Navigator
Bluetooth Wireless (headset & network)
1.3 megapixel camera
microSD card slot
Speakerphone
Sprint TV, NFL Mobile, Sprint Music Store

Sprint is charging $49.99 for the RAZR V3m handset after a $90 mail-in rebate and 2-year service lock-in contract. It's available now in stores and on the sprint website.

See Also -- Sprint announces Motorola RED RAZR V3m

Sprint has become the 1st US based carrier to launch the Motorola RED RAZR V3m, an exclusive special edition of the Moto RAZR. This Sprint exclusive RED MOTORAZR is part of the (PRODUCT) RED initiative. The RED group is headlined by U2 frontman Mr. Bono and raises money for those in Africa affected by HIV/AIDS. Sprint will pony up $17 for each handset sold towards this effort.

Features of the RED colored MOTORAZR:
1.3 mega-pixel camera
EVDO highspeed data connectivity
Bluetooth Wireless Capable
microSD slot

Sprint expects to start shipping the RED RAZR V3m starting early next month -- early November 2006. The RED MOTORAZR will be available for $64.99 with a 2-year contract -- or $304.99 with no contract.

The RAZR product launch by Sprint will be the first to showcase the deal announced earlier this year to launch Motorola CDMA RAZR's on the Sprint Network.

-- The Launch of the Sprint RED RAZR is in line with other recent high profile RED (PRODUCT) launches such as GAP RED lineup and Apple's iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED which retails for $199 with $10 being cut out for charity.

In response to the quarterly results, Sprint Nextel's COO (Len Lauer) noted that the company plans to expand its offering of Motorola handsets in the fourth quarter to help the consumer product offering. Specifically, they will expand into the RAZR Family of Motorola phones -- both the Q and SLVR were mentioned.The KRZR K1c (FCC approved) may also be included in this rumor.

Just last week Sprint successfully completed their first EV-DO Revision A data connection on the Sprint Power Vision network in San Diego, California. Additionally, Sprint has been demonstrating next generation applications such as IP video telephony, high performance push-to-talk (walkie-talkie service on CDMA), multi-user video conferencing, real time gaming and video streaming of both content and live web cams simultaneously.

Revision A gives EV-DO a speed boost -- most noticeable when uploading:
Revision 0 --> Revision A
Max download: 2Mbps --> 3.1Mpbs
Avg download: 400-700kbps --> 450-800kbps
Max upload: 144kbps --> 1.8Mbps
Avg upload: 70-144kbbs --> 300-400kbbs

The big news for Verizon Wireless' 2nd Quarter 2006 is that data revenues went beyond the $1 billion revenue threshold in the recent quarter. Overall data cashflow made up a key 13% of wireless revenue.

Second Quarter (2Q/2006) metrics:
1.8 million net new customers (Total of 54.8 million customers)
Revenue up 18% from a year ago
Average revenue per user (ARPU) $50.34
Churn just 1.13% overall and .87% for postpaid retail customers.

In the battle for the top of the wireless industry -- Verizon is now stating:

Verizon Wireless believes, based on publicly available information, that it has the most retail customers of any wireless carrier, with 52.6 million retail customers of its total 54.8 million customers.