The expectation of 4G being a game changer is already proving to be true. In countries such as Sweden, Norway, Germany and the U.S., 4G is doing things that previous technologies couldn’t or wouldn’t do. It is bringing broadband to rural areas in Germany, capital cities in Sweden and Norway are getting wireless broadband speeds approaching the magical 100Mbs, and in the U.S. 4G may end up altering the math for the operators. Can the long rumored No. 3 Sprint (S)/No. 4 T-Mobile merger actually happen now?

The quick answer is still just a "maybe," but it's closer to a "yes" than it was a year ago. When the financial houses start writing about a deal as they are this one, maybe there is something more than just smoke this time. Here are three reasons why this merger might go:

1. 4G, in terms of HSPA+ and LTE,

The Wall Street Journal posted that Microsoft (MSFT) will launch a version of Windows that runs on low-power ARM processors last night with this lead:

Microsoft Corp., feeling pressure from hit products like Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad, is crafting a new operating system that deviates from the software giant’s heavy reliance on chip technology pioneered by Intel Corp. (INTC), according to people briefed on Microsoft’s plans.

The company next month plans to demonstrate a new version of its widely used Windows operating system that targets low-power devices and adds support for chips based on designs from ARM Holdings PLC as well as the x86 chip technology offered by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), these people said. Microsoft will discuss the software at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, though it isn’t expected to be available for two years, they added.

If the timing

Verizon Wireless (VZ) announced that Dec. 5 is “just the beginning” for its entry into the world of 4G, clearly putting a shot across the bow of the other 4G players. Calling it the "Real Deal," Verizon Wireless used the press conference to hammer home three messages:

• Commitment to superior network performance
• Sunday is just the beginning
• Not all 4G is the same

None of these are any surprise, or represent a break with any Verizon Wireless positioning in the past. Verizon Wireless trades on its network performance, so this is actually a nod that 4G will not be any different - that the operator will not sacrifice quality in order to get the network built quickly. In fact, it is telling that the operator is launching first with data dongles, which appeal to a specific sub-set of users, rather than launching with a mix of smartphones,

The telco industry long has prided itself on its ability to deliver near full-time service. When was the last time you picked up a true telco land-line and did not hear a dial tone or had a call dropped in the middle of the call (unless you were calling someone else on a cell phone)? It just never happens. And when a CO went down, it was such news that a report had to be made to the federal government with the cause and duration of the outage and it made the evening news and newspapers. The term ‘five nines’ became synonymous with the highest quality service.

Unfortunately, it just doesn’t matter anymore. For an ever growing number of people, ‘Telco Grade’ just doesn’t mean anything to them as they don’t have a frame of reference to compare it to. Just like they’ve never experienced the music

By Chris Marsh

In August after only nine months since it was purchased from eBay (EBAY) by a group of investors Skype filed for an IPO. A closer look at the filing shows new revenue streams are the goal and the enterprise market a key target:

We believe the business communications market represents a large opportunity for Skype. Approximately 37% of over 40,000 of our connected users surveyed in the first quarter of 2010 told us that they use our product platform occasionally or often for business-related purposes. We believe there is a significant opportunity to better serve the communications needs of the small and medium enterprise segment, as well as larger enterprise customers, by focusing on user needs in this market and developing additional products specifically tailored to business users.

This was followed by a flurry of related announcements including Skype Connect – integration of Skype with SIP-enabled PBX

By Vince Vittore

Cisco Systems (CSCO) today finally productized what it announced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show and was a poorly kept secret over the last week–a fully operational home telepresence unit. The solution is officially dubbed Umi (kind of sounds like you-me), and includes a set-top like box and a camera designed to sit on or underneath a flat-panel TV.

Selling through Best Buy (BBY), Verizon (VZ) and Cisco.com, Umi is as straight forward as you’re going to get in current video conferencing products. The box connects to a home network via Ethernet or WiFi and has a limited number our output ports including HDMI (HD is required or you can’t really call it telepresence).

Last week, Benoit Felten (his observations are here) and I were given a demo of the product in a live home setting as was Zeus Karavala (see his comments here).

A number of reports over the weekend surfaced referencing a statistic from my latest report, “Why iPhones Matter." An article in CNN Money was the first to start this meme, stating in his article that:

The iPhone is also the gift that keeps on giving: 77% of iPhone owners say they’ll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they’ll buy another Android phone.

Now that would be an extraordinary statistic if it were true, but unfortunately, it isn’t.

The following excerpt from the report correctly describes the data we collected. I’ve expanded slightly on the text to both be more precise (i.e., using numbers from the graphic instead of the more colloquial “more than three quarters” used in the original) and to provide context (i.e., providing information that is part of the overall research, but which isn’t strictly in this

By Carl Howe

20 db attenuation from a hand touching an antenna? Demand a recall! File a class action lawsuit!! Off with their heads!!!

Readers of tech news know that I’m talking about the Apple iPhone antenna firestorm, whose flames were fanned by Consumer Reports retracting its recommendation of the iPhone 4. The blog notes the following:

It’s official. Consumer Reports’ engineers have just completed testing the iPhone 4, and have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.

We reached this conclusion after testing all three of our iPhone 4s (purchased at three separate retailers in

By Carl Howe

Google’s Andy Rubin was recently quoted as saying that Google is currently activating 160,000 Android phones each day. That’s a pretty amazing number — if Android adoption continues at that rate, it implies that Google (GOOG) is on track to activate more than 58 million phones this year, which is quite a staggering number.

But HTC’s latest quarterly report makes me wonder who is building those phones. HTC, one of the big Android ODMs and maker of the Verizon’s Droid Incredible and Sprint’s EVO, reported record revenues of $1.8 billion last quarter. At an average OEM price of $500, that accounts for at most 3.6 million Android phones in the quarter, assuming that HTC only sells Android phones. The reality, of course, is that HTC makes many different types of phones, including those for Windows Mobile, so that number is likely to be more like 2.5