21 Oct 09 Verizon says trackball issue is 'addressed' on Tour, no longer a problem

Sprint had told us in a statement that its BlackBerry Tours only had trackball issues on "early production" units, and now Verizon is telling us pretty much the same thing:

Early on there was an issue with the trackball that affected a small percentage [of] the early production units -- far less than industry norms. The issue was detected early, addressed immediately and is no longer an issue. Returns on this device are some of the lowest among any of our smart phones.

In other words, it sounds like new buyers (and anyone who's taken the plunge recently) should be fine, and Verizon's actually taking it to another level by boasting that the handset's now one of its most return-proof smartphones. That doesn't change the fact that the trackball's a little too recessed for our liking -- but at least it should stay functional.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Verizon says trackball issue is 'addressed' on Tour, no longer a problem originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Tagi: industry norms, phes, veriz, fri, liking, unge, ly, handset, blackberry, sprint, proof, ing, verizon

16 Feb 10 Biggest mobile operators join forces on app store project

Twenty-four mobile network operators have formed the Wholesale Applications Community to avoid fragmenting the mobile apps market and to give developers one point of entry to all the members, the GSM Association announced on Monday. Just like many phone manufacturers, operators have seen the success of Apple's App Store and want a piece of the pie. Some, including Orange, Verizon, and Vodafone, have already launched their own application stores.

Tagi: mobile network operators, mobile apps, veriz, piece of the pie, point of entry, mobile operators, gsm, wholesale, developers, orange

18 Feb 10 HBO Teams with Verizon FiOS for Online Viewing

Beginning on Thursday, HBO will debut its HBO Go online service on the Verizon FIOS infrastructure, so that customers will be able to watch it via the Internet.
Tagi: veriz, hbo, infrastructure, verizon

10 Mar 10 Eternal optimist Verizon calls iPad launch 'an opportunity' to sell some data plans

That's the "glass is half full" attitude we like, Verizon -- always looking for a way to sign a few more of those lucrative data contracts, no matter the circumstances! Turns out Big Red is tipping off its staffers on how it can encourage customers to go with the WiFi-only version of the iPad and pair it up with a device like the MiFi rather than shelling out $130 more for integrated AT&T 3G and waiting a few extra weeks. As usual, Verizon's keen on playing up the anti-AT&T sentiment it's cultivated in its recent ad campaign by openly calling its biggest competitor's 3G network "overloaded," but we see one big hangup: 5GB of data on a Verizon MiFi is going to run you $60 a month, twice as much as AT&T will be charging for its dedicated, unlimited iPad plan. Then again, AT&T's own boss thinks WiFi's a bigger deal than 3G for this thing, so who knows -- maybe this is a zero-sum game for both of these guys.

[Thanks, Mark]

Eternal optimist Verizon calls iPad launch 'an opportunity' to sell some data plans originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments
Tagi: zero sum game, eternal optimist, 3g network, ipad, mifi, veriz, hangup, aying, mth, ad campaign, staffers, competitor, sentiment, amp, attitude, nbsp, boss, verizon, circumstances

25 Jul 10 Company Claims Patent On Spam Filtering, Sues World

EvilAlphonso notes news of a "Texas" IP holding company suing 36 actual companies for violating its claimed patent on spam filtering. Techdirt deconstructs the patent itself, No. 6,018,761, which seems to amount to little more than a database lookup. It was filed in 1996 and issued in 2000 (despite the lawyers' press release claiming that it "was awarded... nearly 15 years ago"). Among the companies being sued are 3Com, Apple, Google, AOL, Yahoo, J.C.Penney, IBM, Dell, Citigroup, and RIM. Not Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, or Microsoft, oddly enough.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tagi: j c penney, veriz, database lookup, google, compas, techdirt, aol, holding company, citigroup, comcast, 3com, rim, dell, patent, amp, press release, lawyers, ip, microsoft, yahoo