Wirefly: 'no Skype' on Thunderbolt, but simultaneous 3G voice and data is a go; ships on March 17th

Wireless retailer Wirefly is pushing ahead with pre-orders for the beleaguered HTC Thunderbolt starting at midnight Pacific Time this evening with the promise that they'll start shipping this Thursday, the 17th; that lines up with a whole lot of noise we've heard recently, so we can't really argue with it at this point. They're also confirming a couple rumors that have been floating around since the phone's January debut: first, they're saying "no Skype," which we're taking to mean that the promised Skype video calling app won't be installed out of the box. We're also assuming (or at least hoping) that you'll be able to install the standard voice-only version. Secondly, they're saying that the phone definitely does simultaneous voice and data over 3G, a feature that was just recently made possible on Verizon's CDMA network through software upgrades -- and the Thunderbolt, it seems, will be the first retail device to have the pleasure of taking it for a spin.

Motorola Droid 3, Droid X 2 and LTE-equipped Targa really pictured?

The Motorola Droid 2 and Droid X are both headed toward their one-year anniversaries this summer, which has pretty much become the culling hour for a smartphone of any creed these days. Their successors, ingeniously titled the Droid 3 and Droid X 2, have seemingly made an appearance over atHowardForums, courtesy of longtime forum member wnrussell. He's also kindly provided imagery of a heretofore unknown device, called the Targa, which promises Verizon 4G LTE and has a protrusion on its rear that looks to be dedicated to accommodating an outsized camera sensor. It reminds us most of Motorola's XT720, though it sports a chrome outline to its body similar to what you see above on the purported Droid 3. Click past the break to get an eyeful of this Targa device and its Droid X 2 brandmate.

The HTC Thunderbolt Going To Hit Verizon On March 17th For $249

Finally. The HTC Thunderbolt hit the scene back at CES but HTC and Verizon has been uncharacteristically mum about it sense. No more. The $249 Thunderbolt superphone is set to debut on big red this coming Thursday, March 17th. This will be the network’s first 4G LTE device, but if that doesn’t win over buyers, the rest will: a 32GB microSDHC card, the gorgeous 4.3-inch WVGA screen, a8-device hotspot and the solid feel that comes along with nearly every HTC phone. Too bad the VZW premium pricing sort of chills the lightning-hot phone as the 4G package runs $30 a month and the hotspot function an additional $20 spot. So yeah, that’s $50 a month Verizon will get from buyers that wanna take full advantage of the next-gen phone. Ouch. Click through for our hands-on video demo.

Verizon offering unlimited LTE data plan for HTC Thunderbolt, don't expect it to stick around

Verizon execs have been clear as crystal that unlimited smartphone data will follow the dodo -- perhaps as soon as summer of this year -- but in the meanwhile you can drink your fill of the best as the HTC Thunderbolt will launch this Thursday with an unlimited LTE data plan. While we've no guarantees how long it will last, or whether you can grandfather the $30 monthly option into bigger and better devices down the road, it does open up a whole new avenue of opportunity for the Thunderbolt. Considering that Verizon's 4G USB modems top out at 10GB of LTE data for $80 a month, the HTC handset just became the most powerful, affordable MiFi you could possibly own. Assuming battery life is decent, of course. Find the full PR below.

LG Revolution passing through the FCC, four Gs intact

We managed to see plenty of the LG Revolution at both CES and Mobile World Congress, and it's now finally cleared one of the final hurdles on its way to availability. While there's unfortunately none of the usual teardown pictures to be found just yet, the phone has now passed all of the FCC's various tests, and been slapped with the requisite label to prove it. Sadly, we still don't have much indication of a release date but, as Wireless Goodness points out, there's an increasingly good chance that this could actually be Verizon's first 4G phone if the HTC Thunderbolt delays continue.

Square's Jack Dorsey calling VeriFone's vulnerability claims 'not fair or accurate'

We had a feeling that Square wouldn't let VeriFone call it out without issuing some sort of statement, and CEO Jack Dorsey has responded to the claims of a gaping security hole in the form of an open letter on the company's website. Dorsey calls its competitor's accusations "not fair or accurate" and says that many of the necessary security measures are already built-in to your credit card itself. He also points out that this sort of credit card number thievery is possible every time you hand your plastic over to a waiter or salesperson, and that its partner bank, JPMorgan Chase, stands behinds all aspects of the service. To us, it seems like Verifone is more than a little scared at the prospect of Square undercutting its fees and potentially upending the POS business -- but we're just theorizing. One thing is for sure though, we'll be hearing a lot more about this as the mobile payment war heats up in the future.

About Verizon CTO: 'working through issues' with LTE phones, still on track for first half launch

No blockbusters here -- nothing that's going to give you much insight into an exact launch day for the Thunderbolt -- but Verizon CTO Tony Melone made a few comments about its LTE handset launches at a financial conference yesterday that border on the interesting. Asked whether the company was facing any challengesin getting the phones solid and ready for commercial consumption, Melone responded by saying that they're "facing is what you would expect, and that is a new technology, you are working through issues. And [they] anticipated that, and [they] are pleased at how [they] are working through issues." In the same breath, he reminded the audience that Verizon had said the phones would be coming in the first half of '11 all along and that hasn't changed -- so they're not late by a long shot. Pressed on whether battery life specifically was a concern for the Thunderbolt, Melone said that he thinks the juice "will be acceptable to consumers." Considering what we've been hearing about recent firmware revisions on the test units, we're hopeful he's right -- Verizon has a reputation for testing the crap out of devices prior to release, after all.

Shoppingkoo: Android leapfrogs BlackBerry among US smartphone subscribers to take first place in market share

Last time we checked in with ComScore's report on smartphone platform market share among US subscribers three months ago, Android was doing a little happy dance as it overtook iOS for the number two spot overall. Well, the cuddly green bots have self-replicated yet again, enough to overtake RIM this time thanks in part to a 5.4 percent decline on BlackBerry's part (down to 30.4 percent in January) coupled with a 7.7 percent boost on the Android side, moving up to 31.2 percent. We imagine ComScore's next report -- covering the period through March -- will see a little boost on the iOS side thanks to Verizon's iPhone launch, but RIM's knight in shining armor might be further out; we still don't know when QNX-based phones are going to happen, after all, and devices like the Monaco don't really seem like cure-alls.

J.D. Power: Verizon has best call quality nationwide, T-Mobile consistently belowing average

J.D. Power, that well known arbiter of human opinion in the United States, has just released its latest study on customer satisfaction with wireless carriers. It addresses such things as (the lack of) dropped calls, failures to connect, voice distortion, echoes, static, and late-arriving text messages, and ultimately churns out a rating out of five stars relative to the regional average and other carriers. In testing done between July and December last year, Verizon had the best or tied for the best satisfaction ratings in five of the six studied areas, while AT&T and Sprint traded blows for second and T-Mobile had to admit defeat as the laggard of the top four. US Cellular managed to score highest in the North Central region, but J.D. Power's overall assessment isn't very rosy for any of the carriers -- the stats collector says growing smartphone usage, heavy texting and more indoor calls are collectively causing call quality to stagnate, and even warns that "increased adoption of smartphones and wireless tablets may continue to compromise the quality of network service." 

Verizon Being Slated To Cancel Unlimited iPhone Data

According to Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo, speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference, Verizon’s current unlimited data plan is untenable and cannot remain in place forever, a bit of news that is disconcerting at worst and obvious at best.

The operator currently offers a $30/month “unlimited” (but potentially throttled) data plan.

According to a Cellular News report, Shammo said “Why did we do the unlimited $30 plan on the iPhone? Well, the reason we did that was we didn’t really want to put up a barrier to anybody who wanted to come over and experience the Verizon Wireless network. So we felt it was important to go out at the $30.”

Considering Verizon is moving towards a faster LTE network, the pricing will change over the next few months. Verizon customers could lose their unlimited plans as early as this summer, however, making for a class-action-lawsuit-worthy month of July.

The iPad 2 was just announced for a March 11th release on Verizon, but the plans for that device weren’t announced. Chances are unlimited data will not be carrying over to Verizon’s tablet selection.

FCC Approving Verizon-Branded HTC Merge

HTC recently announced the Merge, a new CDMA world phone that has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and Google's Android operating system. 
When first announced, HTC didn't note what CDMA wireless carriers would offer the Merge. Documents seen on the Federal Communications Commission web site reveal the Merge is most likely headed to Verizon Wireless first. 
In the draft user manual published by the FCC, Verizon Wireless and Verizon's services are mentioned repeatedly. 
Verizon hasn't confirmed that it will sell the Merge, but it has offered CDMA world phones, such as the Motorola Droid Pro, in the past.

Verizon now targeting mid-summer for tiered data plans, doesn't yet know what kinds of tiers they'll be

Verizon's made no secret of the fact that $30 unlimited smartphone data wouldn't last forever, but CFO Fran Shammo just made things a little more interesting today at the same Morgan Stanley conferenceSanjay Jha rocked yesterday: turns out they're targeting "mid-summer" to rearrange the carrier's data pricing. Interestingly, Shammo says they're still working through the details and that they don't yet know whether the tiers will be based on speed, bit buckets, or some combination of the two. Of course, Verizon's already dipped its toes in the tiered game with a $15 / 150MB option that evaporated around the time that the CDMA iPhone launched. Speaking of the iPhone, Shammo notes that the unlimited data plan was kept around to draw users into the iPhone fold -- iPhone users tend to consume a lot of data, after all -- so it'd seem that they might comfortable with that one-time conquest before parting ways with unlimited for good.

Report: Verizon To End Unlimited iPhone Data Planning This Summer

That didn’t last very long: Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), with just one month of iPhone sales under its belt, plans to phase out unlimited data plans this summer, right around the time Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is expected to launch the iPhone 5.

Bloomberg caught comments by Verizon’s Fran Shammo, the company’s chief financial officer, during a conference held by Morgan Stanley in which he said unlimited data plans for the iPhone are “not a long-term solution” and said Verizon plans to end the practice this summer. It’s not clear if existing Verizon iPhone customers on unlimited data plans will be able to keep their plans, as AT&T (NYSE: T) allowed unlimited data plan iPhone customers to do when it also announced plans to phase out the practice last summer.

It’s also not clear how much the new Verizon plans will cost, although Shammo said that he expects the majority of Verizon’s data customers to eventually spend between $30 a month and $50 a month, according to the report. Verizon currently offers a $29.99 a month unlimited data package for all of its 3G smartphones, including the iPhone.

The report implied that Verizon’s new plans will only apply to iPhone customers. A Verizon representative did not immediately respond to a request for clarification, but the company had hinted such a move was coming after its event in January to introduce the iPhone on Verizon’s network, telling reporters the unlimited plans would be available for an unspecified “limited time.”

However, the details and timing of this strategy are certainly interesting, not just because Verizon has only been selling the iPhone for a month, but because if Apple’s usual summer iPhone rollout strategy is in store for this year, the new plans could be timed to arrive along with that device. Data consumption has gone up every year that a new iPhone has been announced, and at some point Verizon probably concluded that unlimited plans stop making business senseat a certain level of consumption, perhaps one tied to the iPhone 5.

Shammo wouldn’t divulge how many iPhone 4 units Verizon has sold since sales began in early February.

UPDATE: A Verizon Wireless representative declined to elaborate on Shammo’s comments but pointed out this transcript of his comments (PDF).

Sprint's Total Equipment Protection app searching out lost Androids and BlackBerrys

Joining AT&T and Verizon in offering some software-based data security for owners of its handsets, Sprint is today introducing its Total Equipment Protection app. Funnily enough, it uses the same Asurion software as the aforementioned other carriers, which would be why its functionality mirrors them so closely. With the TEP app, you'll be able to track your phone via a web interface, force it to sound an alarm even if muted, lock it, and finally wipe your contacts (which can later be restored once you get your handset back). The app itself, compatible with Android and BlackBerry devices, is free, however you'll need to be signed up to Sprint's Total Equipment Protection program, which costs $7 a month. You'll find more details in the press release after the break. 

Upgrading old Pres, Pre Pluses to webOS 2.1 slightly easier, fraught with less danger thanking to new scripts

Let's be honest, Palm user: in all likelihood, your days with your Pre or Pre Plus are numbered. At this point, you've got the Pre 2 available, the Pre 3and Veer in the pipeline, and countless awesome assaults from other platforms in constant danger of stealing you away. Might as well have a little fun, right? Maybe try your hand at an unauthorized upgrade to webOS 2.1, for example? WebOS Internals has thrown together some scripts that make updating a variety of Pre and Pre Plus versions from Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, Telcel, and Bell -- devices that HP recently decided wouldn't get webOS 2.0 -- relatively painless, though they're quick to note that any number of absolutely awful things could still happen to your device or your Palm Profile. It's not for the faint of heart... but then again, carrying around a Pre these days shows a level of platform defiance that isn't for the faint of heart, either, so you're no stranger to bravery.

HTC Thunderbolt Been Pushed Back To March 4th Or Later?

If we were going by Verizon’s own announcements, the HTC Thunderbolt and it’s big ol’ Android-powered screen would have hit the shelves by mid-February. And yet, nothing; a quick glance at Verizon’s current smartphone line-up makes nary a mention of the Thunderbolt, and the dedicated Thunderbolt page is still promising info “before it hits” to anyone who will fork over an e-mail address.

According to one Best Buy store out of Roseville, CA (or, as us Bay Area jerks call it, “Where?”), the Thunderbolt has quietly slipped back to a launch date of March 4th or later. No matter how you look at it, March 4th doesn’t quite fit within the “mid-February” window. So, why the delay? Are they giving their shiny new iPhone more room to breath? Are they worried about the new MacBook Pro’s Thunderbolt feature confusing folks? The world may never know.

The Xoom Wrap: Reviewers Praise Software, Wince At Price, Waiting For iPad2

The Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Xoom today officially went on sale today at Verizon. The Android-based tablet has been called the first viable competitor to the iPad, but with a new Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) tablet expected to launch next week, does the Xoom pack enough of a punch to keep competition at bay? We take a look at what the gadget pundits are saying:

One of recurring positive are remarks on the the smooth, “3D” graphic elements in the interface: scrolling through music, YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG), or other native apps are smooth and multidimensional, with icons appearing as if they are coming out towards you (something that Verizon and Motorola have tried to play on in their recent advertisements and “Grab you” slogan). It’s interesting to note that the camera is on the wide side of the device, and many of the promotional pics are landscape, too—implying more horizontal rather than vertical use (somewhat of a differentiator from the iPad).

One common negative is the pricetag: $800 off-contract, or a still-high $600 with a two-year contract. The device will be supported on Verizon’s 4G network later this year, so that gives it another unique selling point against the iPad (at least for now).

Ever-present are two facts: this is the first big tablet to be released commercially using Honeycomb, the new Android OS optimized for tablets; and the iPad is coming out next week. Will this cause hesitation from buyers or early-mover advantage for Motorola and Verizon? “Until Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and LG’s G-Slate reach shelves, the XOOM has the Honeycomb space all to itself. Still, neither Motorola nor Google can afford to rest on their respective laurels. The iPad 2 is expected to debut a mere week after the XOOM goes on sale, and considering the first-gen version is still the benchmark by which new tablets are measured, the second-gen model is only going to raise the table stakes,” writes Slashgear. More from them below.

—Battery life is “beyond excellent” but navigation is a “learning process”: “We did experience some slowdown when transferring files from our computer or jumping quickly between lots of apps, but we were blown away by the robustness and speed of applications like the browser and some of the included games. The general responsiveness of the UI and touch reaction was inline with the best the iPad exhibits…Battery life on the Xoom was excellent. Beyond excellent, actually—some of the best performance we’ve seen on a slate…Someone is steering the ship with far more resolve than ever before witnessed in this OS. From a purely visual standpoint, Android 3.0 comes together in a far more cohesive manner than any previous iteration of the software, and the changes aren’t just cosmetic… Unlike Apple and it’s single-minded iOS, however, Android is still filled with variables and choices which make general navigation a learning process, and even though Honeycomb has made huge inroads to making that process simpler, it’s not 100 percent there.” 

—Key strengths are how the tablet utilizes Google’s native apps; weaknesses are the lack of other apps: “For the past few days I’ve had a Motorola Xoom. I accepted a loaner because I wanted to prove that it would suck next to an iPad. One problem: I’m falling in love with it…The browser feels closer to Google Chrome than Safari does. It has one box for URLs and search, which I really love (the two box system Safari has feels lame in comparison) and it has tabs, just like my Chrome does on my desktop…Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Calendar apps are WAY better than the ones on iPad. As you might expect…Will I recommend my dad get one? No. Not this year. Why? No apps that have been specifically designed for the 10-inch tablet, which in my experience does demand new apps. Yes, Android phone apps “stretch” to bigger sizes a lot better than iPhone apps did when stretched up, but sorry we haven’t seen great apps like the History of Jazz, Aweditorium, NPR, BBC, Flipboard, Heritage, etc, like what you see on iPad.
The apps are ALL that matters for the market and Android does NOT have them yet.” (Robert Scoble)

—Big is beautiful? “The Motorola Xoom tablet is easily the best competition Apple’s iPad has ever seen…With a 10.1-inch screen, you’d think Xoom would feel larger than the 9.8-inch screen-wielding iPad, but it actually comes off as slightly smaller. As tablets go, the Xoom carries its weight in its hips, stretching its screen area out to a more wide-screen-worthy 1,280x800-pixel WXGA aspect ratio…The Xoom’s keyboard, in general, deserves a round of applause. With its ample size and well-spaced virtual keys, typing performance is excellent in both landscape and portrait orientations.” (Cnet)

—Half-baked. “In its haste to reach Verizon shelves, the XOOM could seem a little half-baked; it doesn’t get Flash Player support for another few weeks, and won’t have 4G until an update sometime in Q2. Still, as the iPad has shown, there are undoubtedly benefits to being first out of the gate… Stills from the 5-megapixel main camera are good, though not outstanding. The biggest surprise was how comfortable taking photos is on a tablet; while the 7-inch Galaxy Tab felt like a somewhat ridiculous, oversized smartphone, the 10.1-inch XOOM doesn’t feel awkward, and the large on-screen controls make it straightforward.”

Clayman: The Daily’s Free Trial Run Will Go On Continuing

News Corp.‘s The Daily launched Feb. 2 with a two-week free trial sponsored by Verizon, ostensibly enough time to give potential subscribers a full taste. But launch glitches that stretched out for a week kept a lot of those potential subscribers from getting a good picture of the News Corp (NSDQ: NWS) iPad app. The first update came with extensions—and now Publisher Greg Clayman tells paidContent the free trial extensions will continue for several more weeks, at least.

The endpoint for the extended free trial has yet to be determined but a decision may come this week. (Given that users are still reporting frequent crashes and glitches after the Feb.9 update, they may want to wait for another iteration.) Verizon continues as the trial sponsor.

Once the shakedown period is over, new downloads will come with 14 days free before a subscription is required. The Daily runs 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year. The trial is particularly useful because the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) subscription process allows for cancellation of automatic renewals but not early cancellations with refunds.

Even with the free trial and glitches including crashed and molasses-slow load times, subscriptions started to sell as soon as The Daily went live. In an interview at The Daily‘s offices in News Corp.‘s mid-Manhattan headquarters, Clayman wouldn’t say how many subscriptions sold the first day or since. He also won’t say how many times the app has been downloaded.

Why didn’t The Daily go public in beta like Hulu, the video JV that News Corp co-founded? Hulu was browser-based and launched as a free video portal distributing content from its equity stakeholders and other sources. The beta-launch cycle was reprised with Hulu+ last year.The Daily literally produces and publishes daily, sometimes with 100-page editions. But the biggest difference is browser versus iPad app. “There are no beta apps” in the iTunes store, says Clayman.  Once an app is published in the iTunes App Store, it’s available to everyone. Before that, it requires getting a UDID code for each beta tester’s iPad, then installing it manually.

Again, Clayman was a little coy about the numbers but said the way it had to be handled kept the sampling very small. With an online beta, a publisher can scale like Hulu did—collecting emails and scaling up in increasing waves. The small private beta also lessened the possibility that test runs would make it into the public.“We’re very much under the press microscope and anything that went online, anything that came out ... was immediately online.” (He referred to Damon Kiesow’s spotting of some examples in the code for The Daily‘s site.)

What caused the initial problems? “Stability issues,” says Clayman. “Basically a lot of usage that we hadn’t seen, a lot of people that were using it. We want to continue buffing it. I think everyone should. The best part of the interaction with our readers is going back and forth, getting a lot of feedback. We want to keep making it better.” As we talked, he took notes about various issues I raised—the way the Game Center icon pops up for Sudoku or the crossword puzzle without explanation (it’s only need to take part in a leaderboard), the lack of warning about what doesn’t work when a user is offline.

The Daily originally was slated to launch Jan.19 in San Francisco with Steve Jobs standing by Rupert Murdoch. Instead, a last-minute delay pushed it back to Feb.2; Jobs was already on medical leave so Eddy Cue did the launch honors in New York. Clayman was vague about the specific reason for the delay—my understanding at the time was a tech issue with the subscriptions in iTune—but said the delay helped. “The extra time that we had to build it was very important. We were the first subscription service and that took a minute to get right with Apple.”

Still, plans are already underway for an Android launch late next quarter; that could stretch to the second half of the year. It makes sense to develop simultaneously—but it would make little sense to go live before the iPad issues are ironed out.

Verizon offerring $25 iPhone plan for Apple Store staff

Verizon is reportedly offering a special promotion for Apple Store staff, allowing employees to sign up for a Verizon iPhone contract for as little as $25 per month. The best monthly rate requires users to pay the full unsubsidized price for the iPhone, which starts at $650 for the 16GB version and jumps to $750 for the 32GB variant.

Employees can also obtain the iPhones for the discounted prices of $200 and $300, respectively, but they must pay the standard monthly rate for 10 months before the price drops back down to $25 for the last 14 months of the contract, according to details posted on ifoAppleStore.

Both options fetch a significant savings when spread across a two-year period. The plans include unlimited talk time and texts, along with 'unlimited' data, which carries a $120/month price for standard customers. The basic plan with 450 minutes of talk time and a data plan equates to $90/month.

Verizon has dropped 10,000 emergency calls during January snowstorm in Maryland, FCC finds it 'alarming'

Uh oh, Verizon's got itself into a bit of hot water with the old FCC. An outage during a snowstorm last month has reportedly resulted in a whopping 10,000 calls to 911 not being connected by the big red carrier. That would be bad enough in itself, but the less-than-pleased Communications Commission also notes that the emergency services that missed out on these calls were not alerted to the connectivity failure -- in fact, Maryland's Montgomery County officers were the ones to inform Verizon of the fault it was having, which was then promptly repaired within 15 minutes. The FCC is now curtly asking the network to check its entire footprint for similar vulnerabilities -- as the January events were apparently "not unique" -- and to propose remedial actions and monitoring systems to prevent it happening again.