According to an exclusion order issued by the ITC, some of Motorola Mobility's smartphone devices are in violation of four claims in a Microsoft patent related to scheduling meetings in a calendar. The specifics really aren't important - basically, the ITC found that Motorola infringed a Microsoft patent related to mobile software for creating and sending meeting invitations.

Motorola and Google had argued that an exclusionary order banning the import of offending Motorola devices wasn't in the public interest, but the judge didn't buy it. More importantly, it's unclear exactly which Motorola devices fall under the scope of the exclusionary order, which should go into effect roughly 60 days from now. This probably isn't enough time to cause device supplies to go uninterrupted, but then again, Motorola isn't exactly selling them by the pallet-full here in the US lately - the DROID RAZR really being the company's only truly popular smartphone.

However, as HTC has learned, it may not matter whether your phones actually violate the patents cited in ITC orders, so much as whether US Customs decides they want to "investigate" them. Most likely, US Customs will give Motorola the same treatment it has given HTC once the order goes into effect and err on the side of "caution" - if we get that far, that is.

Motorola does have one option here: settle. While the Google-Motorola deal isn't officially closed yet (China is lagging on approval), I'm sure there's plenty of closed-door discussion going on about what conceding to Microsoft's patent claims would mean for Google's image. If Motorola settles, other would-be patent trolls may start coming out of the woodwork looking for a piece of the action, and Google's other hardware partners probably wouldn't be thrilled, either. Of course, Samsung, LG, and HTC already have licensing deals with Microsoft - Motorola is the last major holdout.

Personally, I see this ending in settlement, Motorola is already lagging behind the smartphone curve, and with the Google merger still up in the air, the company doesn't want any more financial uncertainty than it already has.

Remember Airpush, the ad network that was widely considered one of the most intrusive, irritating methods of advertising in existence (so much so that Lookout released a special app to fight it off)? Well, it looks like the folks at SellARing (pronounced "sell a ring") have come up with something even more insidious.

SellARing's ad network essentially allows associated apps to replace the familiar "ring ring" sound you hear after dialing a number with a selection of 10-second audio ads.

The service lists NBC, Walmart, Vodafone, FOX, and others as among already-enlisted audio advertisers, and boasts a booked campaign calendar for May 2012, noting that they "have demand for more Android apps," while promising five-minute integration with a proprietary SDK.

As irritating, intrusive, and outrageous as this concept sounds, I can't help but wonder just how many developers will actually integrate it. If Airpush (or T-Mobile's ad-pushing antic) serves as any indication of users' feelings toward intrusive advertising, it seems that a network like SellARing, despite their sensational promises of wealth for developers (and their impressive arsenal of stock photography), would be poisonous to any apps associated with it.

That being said, it will be interesting to see where this concept leads. To read more about SellARing or to hear some of the planned audio ads, just take a look at their home page.

We tend to avoid excessively suggestive metaphor, but the latest statement from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson definitely qualifies under the edited heading “twin spheres of a metallic alloy nature”. In a recent wireless industry panel, the executive blamed Google for slow updates to existing Android phones. His statements are baffling, considering that Google doesn’t actually update any hardware beyond the Nexus phones and other developer devices.

Here are Stephenson’s words from the Milken Institute’s 2012 Global Conference:

    Google determines what platform gets the newest releases and when. A lot of times, that’s a negotiated arrangement and that’s something we work at hard. We know that’s important to our customers. That’s kind of an ambiguous answer because I can’t give you a direct answer in this setting.

The executive seems to be a little confused about how Android updates work: Google posts the open source code for new version of the OS on their developer website, then manufacturers update their phones (or all too often, don’t) then the carriers push out the updates (or don’t). The delicate relationship between device manufacturers and carriers in the US, where cellular providers often insist on custom apps, software, locks, blocks, and visual elements, can make the update process a maddeningly slow experience.

Stephenson’s comments betray a lack of knowledge in the fundamental way that the Android ecosystem functions – or, on AT&T, fails to function. It makes us wonder who made the call to arbitrarily lock the bootloader on AT&T’s HTC One X. Google responded to the comments, saying that they offer Android freely as it becomes available, and do not engage in negotiations for individual smartphones.

Sprint has announced that Boost Mobile  HTC EVO Design 4G (left) and the Virgin Mobile HTC EVO V 4G (right) will both be available on May 31 for $299.99 each.


The HTC EVO Design 4G is Boost's first 4G WiMAX phone as well as the the carrier's first Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" device, and the first with visual voicemail. It requires Boost's $55 Unlimited Monthly Plan which includes the Shrinkage feature that reduces the monthly fee by five dollars for every six on time plan renewals. The maximum reduction under shrinkage is $15 which brings the monthly charge to just $40 after 18 months.

The Design 4G is also Boost's first phone to officially include a mobile hotspot feature, which allows up to five WiFi equipped devices to share the phone's 3G or 4G connection. However, if you want to use the hotspot feature, there will be an extra $10/month charge on top of the usual $55/month (before shrinkage).

In the bad news department, "later this year", Boost will institute a soft data cap. After 2.5 GB are consumed in a month, data speed will be throttled to 256 Kbps for the rest of the month.

Virgin Mobile's new WiMax phone is a rebranded version of Sprint's HTC EVO 3D. Like its Boost cousin, it will ship with Android 4.0 (ICS) and Hotspot. The EVO V 4G can be used on any of Virgin's current Beyond Talk plans which start at $35/month for unlimited 3G/4Gdata (throttled to 256 Kbps after 2.5 GB).

Using the hotspot feature on Virgin Mobile will cost you $15/month, $5 more than with Boost.

Virgin Mobile is also releasing two 4G WiMax mobile broadband devices, the Sierra Wireless Overdrive 3G/4G mobile hotspot ($149.99) and the Franklin Wireless U600 3G/4G USB modem ($99.99). There will be two Broadband2Go plans:

    $35/month for unlimited 4G data and 2GB of 3G data.
    $55/month for unlimited 4G data and 5GB of 3G data.

There are promotional pages on virginmobileusa.com and boostmobile.com with additional photos and more information about the new devices.

Apple recently won a patent they filed over eight years ago, and it involves everything that has to do with how their iTunes Store works, which back then, was pretty much just a music store. Back in 2004 when Napster had already disrupted the way we listen to music we didn't buy and choices to buy music were limited to small options like mp3.com, music companies were desperate, and in a way so were we. The iTunes Store became an instant hit since you were no longer limited to being lucky enough to find a popular CD that could easily sell out at a store, and the whole idea of being able to preview and buy any song that wasn't published as a single simply changed the way music companies did business.

Almost a decade later, what started with the iTunes Store is what other companies like Microsoft offer with the Zune Store or Google with their Play Store. Many have begun speculating as to what this patent win may represent for competitors, since we all know how much of a patent troll Apple can be. Amazon had a hard time wining their right to call their App Store what it literally is, so this could mean more complications for competition. Now, the patent is full of text, procedures and details, so before you burn your eyebrows trying to see if it's still worth buying music from your current, non-Apple source, we already read it for you. We're in no way patent experts, but here's what we think is important:



Back in 2004 there was no such thing as YouTube, HTML5 or any way that browsers could be powerful enough to allow you to do what Apple envisioned with the iTunes Store. Streaming music or video required more power so their model was to patent an application capable of doing everything that you already know it can do. Instead of focusing on a service that enables music purchasing, ironically the patent focused on the iTunes application that still exists, and back then it focused on audio, video or image data.

Services offered by companies like Google or Amazon are probably safe. I'm no lawyer to ensure that they won't be attacked, but since their stores are all exclusive to browsers and not application clients, their business models could prove to be different to what Apple originally patented back when browsers couldn't do what they do now.

Microsoft's Zune Software however is a different story. Just a week after Apple won this patent, we noticed that Microsoft pulled your ability to purchase apps from the Zune desktop client. Apple's original patent doesn't cover apps, so this could just be an internal decision that didn't have anything to do with the patent, but the timing in which Microsoft made their changes could spell prevention. Either way, any lawsuit between

Back in July of last year when Virgin Mobile raised the prices of their popular Beyond Talk plans they promised to let current users keep their old rates even if they upgraded phones. It looks like that policy is coming to end. Today Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk users are reporting getting text messages from the carrier today that read:


The linked page reads:


The way I read this is that if you are grandfathered at the old $25 or $40/month rates, you can upgrade to any phone before May 27th and keep your current rate. After 5/27/2012 you can still keep your grandfathered rates if you don't upgrade or you upgrade to one of the phones that are available now.

Incidentally, that line about waiting until your plan month is finished makes no sense. Changing phones mid month is free and doesn't restart your plan month.