Don't forget - heavily subsidizing the iPhone has put a world of hurt in AT&T profits. Not the windfall for them you might think. Profit margins on voice or data in the US (after network build-out + maintainence costs) really aren't so hot. Text message charges are where the easy money is now. As long as we're all playing Project Black guessing games, I'll throw in mine...nothing new, just my opinion on what will happen... There's not a merger with Sprint coming. I think T-Mo US has decided it's easier and cheaper to grow by nabbing other carrier's users with better deals and cool phones than to take on a sure-to-be messy and very expensive merger with that friggin' disaster called Sprint. The considerable bandwidth controlled by Sprint/Nextel is tempting, but not that tempting. T-Mo already controls enough bandwidth they pass on Sprint and their semi-satisfied, hard-to-absorb customers. That said, T-Mo may have made a deal with Clearwire to help build some LTE infrastructure for them in the future. WiMax is a dead end, and Clearwire surely knows it by now. And, what little WiMax Clearwire has built already is easily converted to LTE. Note that Clearwire's WiMax partner Sprint is advertising 4G on TV, but no mention of WiMax. As for Sprint...well, Sprint is a drowning man grasping at WiMax straws to try and stay relevant, to have something to advertise that sounds like progress. I live in Sprint's hometown, and they've done zero, nada, nothing to even plan for WiMax here. Sprint has neither the money nor the expertise. It will not be built. To nab those new customers, T-Mo will offer a $50-for-all plan, that seems fairly certain, but it probably will not include 'full' smartphone-type 3G. Will be a little extra charge for that to help pay for infrastructure costs. Some other new plans too, of course. But I think T-Mo US will break European-type pricing in the US market, where you get a cheaper monthly rate for using an unlocked phone or buying one from T-Mo at retail instead of financing it through a subsidy. Since I have a N900 on order from Nokia USA, I'm really pulling for that to happen.
But I think T-Mo US will break European-type pricing in the US market, where you get a cheaper monthly rate for using an unlocked phone or buying one from T-Mo at retail instead of financing it through a subsidy. Since I have a N900 on order from Nokia USA, I'm really pulling for that to happen.