7:34 PM
Verizon announced their "Share Everything Plan" today, where up to *10* devices can share data on a single account. The sharing plan starts at $40/month (with unlimited voice minutes and text messages) and each additional device with data costs $10/month. So, 2 devices sharing 1GB would be $50, 2GB would be $60, etc. Verizon is allowing all devices on sharing plans to serve as WiFi hotspots for no additional charge--that will use data, but it won't cost the extra $20 or $30 per month to be a WiFi hot spot. My wife and I would actually save money and get unlimited voice and texting from this, but the 3 other relatives that are on our family plan would go from $10/month to $30/month even though they don't use mobile data...so, this setup isn't for my family:
http://www.androidcentral.com/verizon-launches-share-everything-plans
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/06/12/the-basics-verizons-new-share-everything-plans/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-launches-share-everything-family-data-plans/2012-06-12
TomTom's stock jumped 16% after it was announced that Apple was using TomTom instead of Google Maps for its new mobile services. TomTom used to dominate the mobile navigation market until Google took over, and TomTom's stock is still down 30% over the past 12 months even after this jump:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-12/tomtom-jumps-on-agreement-with-apple-over-global-maps.html
This *really* surprises me--the top selling smartphone on Verizon is the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX, not the iPhone 4S. One big factor is Verizon's large LTE network and the lack of LTE on the current iPhone...but I expect the next iPhone to have LTE so it will be interesting to see what happens then:
http://phandroid.com/2012/06/12/motorola-droid-razr-maxx-is-the-top-selling-smartphone-on-verizon-wireless-sorry-iphone/
The Army wants to boost the range of wireless chargers to 50 feet, enabling soldiers to go cordless instead of having to charge their devices back at the base or in their vehicles. The Army also wants to build wireless transmitters on bases, so soldier gear would be recharged automatically without anything being plugged in:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/wireless-power/
http://www.androidcentral.com/verizon-launches-share-everything-plans
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/06/12/the-basics-verizons-new-share-everything-plans/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-launches-share-everything-family-data-plans/2012-06-12
TomTom's stock jumped 16% after it was announced that Apple was using TomTom instead of Google Maps for its new mobile services. TomTom used to dominate the mobile navigation market until Google took over, and TomTom's stock is still down 30% over the past 12 months even after this jump:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-12/tomtom-jumps-on-agreement-with-apple-over-global-maps.html
This *really* surprises me--the top selling smartphone on Verizon is the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX, not the iPhone 4S. One big factor is Verizon's large LTE network and the lack of LTE on the current iPhone...but I expect the next iPhone to have LTE so it will be interesting to see what happens then:
http://phandroid.com/2012/06/12/motorola-droid-razr-maxx-is-the-top-selling-smartphone-on-verizon-wireless-sorry-iphone/
The Army wants to boost the range of wireless chargers to 50 feet, enabling soldiers to go cordless instead of having to charge their devices back at the base or in their vehicles. The Army also wants to build wireless transmitters on bases, so soldier gear would be recharged automatically without anything being plugged in:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/wireless-power/