T-Mobile might Suffer if AT&T Deal Fails

When AT&T agreed to shop for T-Mobile USA in March, the deal gave the impression of a contented fate for an organization that had been losing customers and facing declining sales.

But ought to the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department on Wednesday kill the proposed merger, some analysts say it may leave T-Mobile during a a lot of worse position than it absolutely was before the deal was announced, its competitiveness sapped by months spent in limbo.

“This could be a business that's treading water,” said Robin Bienenstock, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company who tracks T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom, its parent company. “They ought to return into the market within the meantime, and that they are attending to ought to work out some way to create momentum in their core business.”

T-Mobile has long staked its name on giving low-cost service plans. however in recent months, the corporate has lost ground to its larger rivals, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, that have lured away subscribers with common devices just like the iPhone and also the promise of faster networks and services.

The company’s position is very precarious given the evolving state of the wireless business, that is increasingly centered on customers willing to get expensive smartphones and also the knowledge plans that keep company with them. it'll be tougher for an organization that emphasizes lower costs to remain afloat in that market, specialists say.

T-Mobile’s share of the u.  s. wireless market has slipped to ten p.c from twelve p.c in 2008, in line with Chetan Sharma, an freelance wireless analyst. “The biggest downside has been stagnant adds,” he said, which means new subscribers. Over the last eight quarters, the mobile business has added a web thirty three million customers; T-Mobile has added solely eighty nine,000 of these.

But T-Mobile might have one ace up its sleeve, said Ms. Bienenstock: a network that's not clogged with innumerable data-guzzling users. And though T-Mobile has not nonetheless begun to roll out LTE, the fourth-generation wireless technology that its peers are already using or putting in place place, it's invested giant sums in upgrading its existing network, that uses a technology known as HSPA+ that analysts say rivals the speeds of LTE.

The company may try and charm to folks yearning for an inexpensive thanks to stream movies, songs and alternative content on their smartphones and tablets — a tactic that would have leverage, considering that AT&T and Verizon each recently place limits on what quantity knowledge customers may use while not paying further. T-Mobile is additional lenient with the bounds on most of its plans, slowing the access speeds for its heaviest users rather than charging additional.

“They have a comparatively empty and quick network,” said Ms. Bienenstock. “You will sell low-cost knowledge and create it pretty profitable.”

But T-Mobile’s biggest challenge could also be that it's now not the sole worth proposition for mobile subscribers.

Consumer Reports found that customers spent $20 to $50 less per month using T-Mobile than with carriers like AT&T and Verizon. however lots of smaller contenders are trying to expand their share of the market, together with Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, Leap and MetroPCS.

“For a protracted time, they were the worth whole for tykes and teenagers,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst at Ovum, a technology analysis firm. “It’s obtaining quite crowded in their core territory. Their solely hope could also be to reinvent themselves entirely.”

T-Mobile failed to reply to missive of invitation for comment. Its parent company issued an announcement on Wednesday saying that it'd be part of AT&T in defending the merger set up in court.

Complicating matters for T-Mobile is that it's largely remained motionless for many months whereas looking ahead to the deal to shut. it's probably, analysts say, that T-Mobile froze any negotiations with Apple and alternative hardware vendors over new phones to avoid competing with AT&T on pricing and unharness dates.

That could hinder the carrier’s ability to dazzle potential subscribers with new smartphones within the coming back months — a severe handicap to growth if the corporate weren't attending to be folded into AT&T.

The plot thickens if Apple announces a touch upon Sprint to distribute the iPhone, as is widely expected. that might leave T-Mobile because the nation’s solely major carrier while not the phone.

The Web has been packed with speculation that anyone from Google to Sprint might accelerate with a bid to shop for T-Mobile. however analysts say that's unlikely to happen, largely as a result of Sprint is already grappling with a way to mix many technologies into one cohesive network. Adding T-Mobile’s technology to the combo would be a rich and Sisyphean task.

It is additionally unlikely that an organization like Google or Apple would toss its hat into the ring, say analysts, despite indications that each firms are trying to remodel the communications business. Neither would need the headache of running a telecommunications network or to run the danger of souring relations with alternative carrier partners.

In the longer run, analysts say, it appears probably that Deutsche Telekom, that has long itched for some way to exit the u.  s. market, can either spin T-Mobile off as an freelance entity or hunt for ways that to sell items of the corporate.

Some analysts say that a global company like NTT DoCoMo of Japan, France Télécom or Telefónica of Spain that desires to ascertain a footprint within the u.  s. may look to feature T-Mobile to its portfolio.

Others say T-Mobile may look engaging to a cable company like Comcast or Time Warner which will need to enter the wireless market. T-Mobile has five,400 cellular base stations, beating Verizon, that owns solely four,300.

Regardless of the result, analysts say T-Mobile is probably going to eventually shift hands, ideally to a replacement owner that may not upset the Justice Department.

“Deutsche Telekom has created it terribly clear that they don’t have any want to take a position additional within the U.S. market and that they don’t need to be the long-term house owners of this asset,” said Ms. Bienenstock of Sanford C. Bernstein. “But it'll be terribly valuable to somebody.”

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note: Is it a pill or phone?

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note, a new 5.3-inch touchscreen device, on Thursday at the IFA mobile fair in Berlin.

But in asserting the new gadget, Samsung described the Note as neither a phone or a pill, however instead one thing completely different.

Whether shoppers find yourself shopping for into Samsung's vision -- rather than seeing the Note as simply an enormous phone or somewhat pill -- remains to be seen.

The 5.3-inch show is greater than simply regarding any smartphone, nevertheless it's smaller than most tablets, which generally run as tiny as a 7-inch screen size.

One thought that involves mind is whether or not or not the Note may repeat the class confusion of the Dell Streak five, that had a 5-inch touchscreen, ran Android and didn't catch up with shoppers in any important manner. Dell has since released a 7-inch version of the Dell Streak.

Samsung has high hopes for the Note, touting it as being the primary in a very "new class of product, developed through Samsung's deep shopper understanding and insight."

"It combines core on-the-go edges of assorted mobile devices whereas maintaining smartphone portability, to make a full new user expertise," Samsung said.

Another curiosity of the Note is that the inclusion of a stylus which will be used to require notes or draw, moreover as replace the tapping normally done on Android with a finger.

The move to incorporate a stylus echoes that of HTC's push for tablets with styluses, like its Jetstream, Evo read and Flyer tablets and a legion of PDAs before it (Newton, Palm Pilot, etc.)

"An advanced pen-input technology, referred to as the S Pen, is combined with the Galaxy Note's full touchscreen to introduce a replacement style of user expertise," Samsung said. "Through this, shoppers are ready to freely capture and build concepts whereas on the go."

So, will anyone really need a device that matches between tablets and phones, with a digital pen? Samsung appears to assume thus. What does one think? preach within the comments.

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Nations Pledge Support of latest Libyan Leaders

Leaders of the international coalition that helped push out Muammar Qaddafi turned their attention to rebuilding Libya as the previous strongman, currently in hiding, vowed an extended insurgency against his opponents.

A group of regarding sixty nations, dubbed the “Friends of Libya,” met in Paris yesterday to supply aid and support to the transitional government.

They pledged to unleash billions of greenbacks in frozen funds as quickly as doable for humanitarian and reconstruction desires whereas they maintain military pressure on what remains of Qaddafi’s forces. They urged Libya’s new leaders to avoid recriminations and to maneuver quickly to line up a functioning state.

“We are all committed to the returning to Libya the cash of yesterday for the building of tomorrow,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said from a podium at a press briefing that he shared with leaders of england, Qatar, the United Nations and therefore the National Transitional Council, the umbrella cluster of Libyan forces that toppled Qaddafi.

He additionally said NATO would continue air strikes “for as long as Qaddafi remains a threat.”

The meeting underscored the urgency of maintaining momentum following a five-month allied military effort that climaxed in August because the rebels took the capital, Tripoli.

On the Run

Since then, Qaddafi has been on the run, whereas a number of his family has taken shelter in neighboring Algeria. Algeria’s El Watan newspaper, citing an Algerian government official, said that Qaddafi has been within the Libyan border city of Ghadamis once Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika refused to require his phonephone decision. That account couldn't be confirmed.

In taped comments broadcast by Syrian-based Arrai tv yesterday, Qaddafi said his remaining loyalists in Bani Walid and Sirte won’t surrender, even following an ultimatum by the NTC that they lay down their arms.

“We won't surrender. we have a tendency to aren't girls,” Qaddafi said within the audio recording. “Let the fight be long, let Libya be engulfed in flames.”

“Get able to fight the colonizers like your fathers and grandfathers did,” he said during a second message hours later during a calmer voice, alluding to resistance throughout the half-century of colonial rule once Italy took the territory from the Ottoman Empire in 1911. “Get prepared for a guerrilla war, a city war.”

‘Still a Threat’

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the NTC, said that Qaddafi “is still a threat” which he welcomes the continued support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The rebels extended by per week a Sept. three deadline for Qaddafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte to surrender, the council’s U.K. coordinator, Guma Al Gumaty, said yesterday during a phonephone interview.

“The negotiations are going well, and that we believe that this may finish peacefully before the new deadline expires,” he said.

The one-day Paris meeting at the presidential Elysee Palace marked a shift from backing rebel aspirations to supporting the new leaders of Libya as they struggle to determine order and restore their economy.

The urgency in unfreezing Libyan government assets comes partially as a result of it's going to be a year or a lot of before full resumption of oil exports. Shokri Ghanem, Libya’s former prime oil official who defected earlier this year, said he doesn’t expect crude production to come back to pre-conflict levels of quite one.5 million barrels daily till the tip of 2012, in step with the Sept. five issue of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly

Avoiding a Failed State

The nations that took half within the Paris meeting included people who participated in providing air cowl for the rebels -- like the U.S., France, Britain, Italy and Qatar -- furthermore as Germany and others that refused to commit military forces.

“Some folks thought there may be chaos the instant the regime fell,” U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said. “We cannot afford a failed state on Europe’s borders.”

The U.S. was represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and therefore the UN by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. alternative attendees included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani.

UN Role Envisioned

China sent vice foreign minister Zhai Jun, whereas Russia sent Mikhail Margelov, special envoy for Africa and therefore the Middle East. Russia recognized the NTC as Libya’s legitimate government. Tunisia and Morocco dispatched their prime ministers, and Egypt its foreign minister.

The transitional council has to convert from an anti- Qaddafi military alliance into a caretaker government ready to unite regional and political factions, restart the country’s oil exports and organize elections.

Ban said the allied leaders agreed that the UN would have a number one role in establishing the framework of a civil society once the tip of a regime that has been in place for quite four decades. Italy can provide carabinieri military police to assist train police and border guard forces, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said once the Paris meeting.

In remarks at the overall meeting, Clinton said the United Nations ought to begin lifting sanctions against Libya and urged allies to supply the NTC with money support.

Unfreezing Assets

She announced that the U.S. has to this point released quite $700 million from a complete $1.5 billion in assets that are unfrozen to assist the NTC purchase fuel and civilian operational prices and salaries. Clinton additionally said Libya’s new leaders have a responsibility to create an inclusive democracy and avoid reprisals and violent extremism.

As the new leaders consolidate power, Clinton said the U.S. and others “will support their efforts to demobilize and integrate fighters into one security force.”

France desires to unleash one.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) by the tip of the week, said a French official who briefed reporters on the condition he not be named.

The European Union lifted sanctions on twenty eight Libyan entities as a result of anti-Qaddafi forces management them, the 27-nation bloc said yesterday in an e-mailed statement in Brussels.

The Libyan entities are going to be disclosed tomorrow, when the choice is revealed within the EU Official Journal. Among the companies are six port authorities, an individual accustomed to the matter said Aug. 31.

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4.2-magnitude quake rumbles across LA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A magnitude-4.2 earthquake and aftershocks rattled nerves across the la region Thursday, however there have been no immediate reports of harm.

The quake hit around 1:47 p.m. and was focused twenty four miles northwest of downtown la. it absolutely was followed by over a half-dozen aftershocks up to magnitude-3. The jolt was felt widely across la County as well as the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, downtown and to the coast. it absolutely was felt as so much north as Edwards Air Force Base within the Mojave Desert to as so much south as Orange County.

No injury or injuries were reported within the Santa Clarita space close to the epicenter, said Sgt. Michael Bailey at the native la County sheriff's station.

The quake felt sort of a rolling motion, Bailey said.

"We felt it here within the station. it absolutely was light shaking," he said. "We were right on prime of it."

Pauley Perrette, an actress on the crime drama "NCIS," tweeted that she felt the quake and aftershocks on the show's set, that was close to the epicenter.

"All is well, legion equipment shook," she posted.

Thursday's quake occurred not too aloof from 2 of Southern California's worst seismic disasters: The 1971 magnitude-6.6 San Fernando quake and therefore the 1994 magnitude-6.7 Northridge quake. Northridge was the last major metropolitan-scale disaster, killing dozens, injuring thousands and inflicting $25 billion in injury.

Thursday's quake isn't thought of an aftershock to either quake as a result of enough time has glided by, said geophysicist Bob greenback of the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Anywhere in Southern California, significantly within the bigger la space, we're capable of getting a magnitude-4 kind event," greenback said.

USGS geophysicist Doug Given said unsecured objects may have fallen off shelves close to the epicenter of Thursday's quake, however he expected very little injury.

"It's not the type of quake that may break windows or crack walls," Given said.

On the Net:

U.S. Geological Survey: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

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U.S. Gulf coast ought to stay up for attainable storm-NHC

A low-pressure system pushing northwest through the Gulf of Mexico contains a sturdy probability of turning into a tropical cyclone within the next 2 days and threatening U.S. states on northern coast of the gulf, the National Hurricane Center said on Thursday.

The system, currently over the central a part of the gulf, already has prompted some major international oil firms to evacuate employees from offshore oil platforms.

The Miami-based hurricane center said the low pressure space was manufacturing an oversized space of clouds, thunderstorms and gusty winds because it headed slowly to the northwest.

"This system contains a high probability ... 70 percent ... of turning into a tropical cyclone throughout following forty eight hours ... Interests along the whole northern Gulf of Mexico coast ought to monitor the progress of this disturbance," the NHC said.

Some pc models showed the developing system, which might be known as Lee if it became a tropical storm, might omit the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Lee are going to be the twelfth named storm of the busy 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.

Texas is within the grip of a severe drought and rains from the developing weather system might bring some relief.

Meanwhile, still so much east out over the Atlantic, Hurricane Katia fashioned late on Wednesday and was churning west with winds of seventy five miles per hour (120 km per hour) however posing no immediate threat to land.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), Katia was located regarding one,065 miles (1,710 km) east of the Caribbean's Leeward Islands.

After Hurricane Irene rampaged up the U.S. East Coast over the weekend, killing a minimum of forty individuals, authorities on the U.S. Atlantic seaboard are monitoring Katia to ascertain that path it takes.

The NHC forecast shows Katia turning into a significant hurricane by the weekend however sees its center missing the Caribbean islands on its northwestward track. Forecasters say it's still too early to mention with certainty that the hurricane poses no threat to the U.S. jap seaboard.

However, some long-range pc models, which might be off by many miles (kilometres), show Katia eventually swinging north toward the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, faraway from the U.S. coast.

The Atlantic hurricane season generally brings eleven or twelve named storms. Katia is already the eleventh and with 1/2 the season still ahead, it's shaping up to be the unusually busy year that was predicted. (Additional reporting by Erwin Seba and Kristen Hays in Houston; Editing by Bill Trott)

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Samsung launches Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab seven.7

Samsung has unveiled 2 new tablets, one among that, the midsized Galaxy Note, is being pitched as a replacement for pen and paper.

The Android-based Galaxy Note options a pressure-sensitive "S Pen" that may be used to put in writing, draw and annotate a range of content varieties, as well as photos. the concept has been done before, with HTC's Flyer, however that tablet's stylus came as an expensive optional further that had to be bought separately.

Samsung's Galaxy Note's five.3in screen size is smaller than the Flyer and nearer to the scale of a customary notepad. The pill is nine.65mm wide and weighs 178g. The larger pill announced at the IFA technology show in Berlin on Thursday is that the Galaxy Tab seven.7, a rather enlarged version of Samsung's initial Android pill, unveiled a year ago.

According to Andrew Coughlin, head of account for Samsung Europe, the Galaxy Note comes with a memo application will|which will|that may} be quickly referred to as up therefore the user can jot down concepts. "Any screen may be captured and annotated with detailed commentary in your own handwriting," he said.

Samsung clearly sees an enormous future for pen-based input. the corporate can unleash a thusftware development kit (SDK) so third-party developers will write apps for the stylus – reference apps that have already been created with partners embrace a multiparty whiteboard application for business use.

It remains to be seen how the device are going to be priced within the UK or when it'll become offered. The Flyer, that is already obtaining long-in-the-tooth by pill standards, may be picked up for concerning £400.

Coughlin and different Samsung executives repeatedly observed the Galaxy Note as a primary device, suggesting that it will replace each the smartphone and therefore the larger pill size exemplified by the market-leading iPad.

The Galaxy Tab seven.7 may be a revision of the initial Galaxy Tab, that featured a rather smaller 7in screen. The refashion is thinner, lighter and brighter, measuring seven.89mm in thickness, weighing 335g and that includes constant Super AMOLED and screen technology that's utilized in the extraordinarily widespread Galaxy S II smartphone.

Super AMOLED and permits wide viewing angles, a feature that Apple has been keen to push with the IPS show on its iPad a pair of. each of Samsung's new tablets feature one.4GHz dual-core processors, that is concerning constant processing power that may be found in netbooks. By comparison, Apple's iPad a pair of is comparatively sluggish with its 1GHz processor.

Versions of the Galaxy Tab seven.7 are going to be created offered with a range of connectivity choices, as well as "4G" LTE and therefore the more-common 3G-based HSPA choice found in most smartphones.

At constant event, Samsung unveiled its Wave three handset, that runs the refashion a pair of.0 of the company's Bada operating system. Bada is an OS that Samsung is putting into a variety of handsets, from the low finish to smartphones.

Although the high finish of the market is nearly entirely taken up with smartphone-specific operating systems like iOS, Android and therefore the BlackBerry OS, Samsung said at Thursday's launch that it'll do its utmost to create Bada "one of the highest mobile platforms within the industry".

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