Taking Aim at Cricket, T-Mobile Moves MetroPCS Into 15 New Markets

T-Mobile followed through Thursday on its promise to quickly expand its recently acquired MetroPCS brand into new cities.

The company announced a $40-per-month service and a pair of new devices that will come to 15 new markets as part of the MetroPCS expansion.

In the new cities, the MetroPCS brand will be used atop T-Mobile’s network but set up its own stores, mostly through third-party exclusive dealerships.

MetroPCS will offer two new handsets in the new cities – the Nokia Lumia 521 Windows Phone and LG’s Optimus F3 Android device. Customers will also have the option of choosing from six other models or bringing their own device.

The “$40, period” rate plan includes unlimited talk, text and data (including 500 megabytes of high-speed data), as well as taxes and fees for $40 per month.

“We’re doubling the reach of MetroPCS in one fell swoop,” T-Mobile chief marketing officer Mike Sievert said in a phone interview on Thursday. MetroPCS’ current operation reaches about 100 million people. With the new cities, MetroPCS will be available to an additional 40 million people, with more markets planned for before the end of the year.

The move comes as T-Mobile rival AT&T is looking to acquire MetroPCS rival Leap Wireless, which sells under the Cricket brand. T-Mobile completed its MetroPCS purchase in May.

Cricket markets are a major focus of T-Mobile’s expansion plans for MetroPCS, CEO John Legere said in an interview earlier this month.

“The vast majority of where we are headed are Leap markets,” Sievert said. “AT&T is going after Leap, [but] it is going to take them months to get this done. Our view is, Leap customers deserve a better experience.”

The new MetroPCS markets are:

Baltimore, Md.
Birmingham, Ala.
Cleveland and Akron, Ohio
Corpus Christi, Texas
Fresno, Calif.
Houston, Texas
Memphis, Tenn.
New Orleans, La.
Rio Grande Valley, Texas
San Antonio and Austin, Texas
San Diego, Calif.
Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.
Tallahassee, Fla.
Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio
Washington, D.C.

Fly Or Die: Nokia Lumia 925

The Nokia Lumia 925 is the Finnish phone maker’s latest attempt at wooing hapless shoppers over to the Windows Phone 8 platform, and it’s a solid proposition.

The real stand-out feature has to be the camera, which is still considered PureView despite being an 8.7MP camera, as opposed to the Lumia 1020 s 41-megapixel shooter. Still, the Carl Zeiss camera is loaded with exclusive Smart Camera software, including a special burst mode that takes ten shots at once.

This burst mode lets users do a number of different things, including grabbing the best frame of a shot, composing an action series, or even changing focus after the shot was taken, Lytro-style.

It’s pretty much unanimously agreed upon by Natasha, John and I that this is one of the best smartphone camera’s available.

But the camera isn’t the only thing that shines: The Lumia 925 has a slight profile with metallic edges and has a solid feel in the hand. John admits that it does soak up prints, however.

In terms of specs, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon chip powers the device, which has 16GB/32GB of onboard memory and 1GB of RAM under the hood. It also sports a 4.5-inch AMOLED display at 1280 x 768.

And if that weren’t attractive enough of a deal, you can run in and pick up the Lumia 925 at a T-Mobile for $0 down and 24 payments of $20.

Two flies.

Shelly Palmer Talks Cell Phones on Always Mountain Time Radio

Shelly made an appearance on Always Mountain Time radio and hit on a wide array of topics in tech: the Connected World, how small businesses have had to change over the years and the different types of media that businesses have to deal with. He also talks about cell phones: why everyone hates the iPhone 5, why you should love the Galaxy S IV, why the Lumia 1020 matters, and why you’d want to buy the BlackBerry Q10.

Shelly Palmer Radio Report – July 17, 2013

If you’ve ever wanted to take massively-sized photographs without lugging around a DSLR camera, I’ve got a smartphone for you. Last week, Nokia unveiled the Windows 8-powered Lumia 1020, complete with a 41-megapixel PureView camera and Carl Zeiss optics. Yep, you heard me right – 41 megapixels. The massive 41-megapixel images are processed by new Pro Camera and Smart Camera software, which are also hitting other Lumias soon. Since a 41-megapixel image is far too big for a mobile upload, the Lumia 1020 actually saves two versions of each photo you take: the full 41-megapixel image as well as a 5-megapixel version, which is far more conducive to sharing on Facebook. The rest of the Lumia 1020’s specs are good, not great: it features a 4.5-inch AMOLED display, a dual-core processor and 32 gigs of storage. If you’ve absolutely got to own the phone with the best built-in camera on the market, the Nokia Lumia 1020 will hit AT&T store shelves exclusively on July 26 for $299 with a new two-year contract.

Nokia Chose Windows Phone Because it Feared Samsung Would Rule Android

Nokia’s decision in 2011 to pin the future of its smartphone business on Windows Phone has been heavily scrutinized over the years, but the reasoning behind that choice is only becoming fully clear now. When asked last week if he regretted not choosing Android, CEO Stephen Elop told reporters that he’s “very happy with the decision we made.” He added, according to The Guardian, that “What we were worried about a couple of years ago was the very high risk that one hardware manufacturer could come to dominate Android.” At the time, Nokia “had a suspicion of who it might be, because of the resources available, the vertical integration.” That company, of course, is Samsung. Elop continued, “Now fast forward to today and examine the Android ecosystem, and there’s a lot of good devices from many different companies, but one company has essentially now become the dominant player.”

Read the full story at The Verge.

Nokia Lumia 1020 Available for Pre-Orders in Germany for €699

Nokia Lumia 1020 has already been available for pre-order in USA and UK. It was already available for pre-orders in Germany for a hefty price tag of 799 through a few retailers, but now, Cyberport and Handyshop have introduced the device at reasonable price of 699. The device is available on contract as well on Vodafone, O2 and T-Mobile starting from 30.

Video: Nokia Lumia 800 Dark Knight Rises Edition shown off in London, only 40 will be made

The next movie in the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises, is set to be 2012 s ultimate summer blockbuster. When a movie of that caliber comes out, you know brands will do anything to associate themselves with something bound to receive such an ungodly amount of attention. One such brand is Nokia, who will take the Lumia 800 that they already sell, put it in a fancy box with the Batman logo on it, set the default wallpaper to a photo of Bane (the primary antagonist in the film), and best of all they’ll etch a little Batman logo into the back of the device. How many of these limited edition handsets will come out? Just 40. Where are they going to be available? Not sure. How much will they sell for? An arm and a leg. We’re waiting for some additional details from Nokia, but don’t expect this thing to show up at a store near you.

The bigger question on our minds is why isn’t stuff like this done more often and to an even greater degree? This Batman flavored Lumia 800 should have been custom 3D printed to look like one of Batman’s weapons. It should also have come preloaded with crazy custom ringtones. And it should have sold for double what a regular Lumia 800 sells for. Such a device would be picked up so fast that Nokia’s payment processing servers would melt. And why stop at Batman? There are plenty of other franchises to latch onto. All in the name of marketing, right?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWhR3fk2bK4

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