AT&T’s ‘best-ever’ smartphone sales hint at 8M iPhones in Q4 2012

What can be divined from AT&T's announcement of record smartphone sales during the holiday quarter? According to one Apple watcher, the fact that the Dallas-based carrier sold ten million Apple, Android and Windows smartphones likely means the bulk - more than eight million - were iPhones. According to Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, during the holiday quarter of 2011, the wireless company sold 9.4 million smartphones, 7.6 million of which were Apple's handset. Because of that trend, Munster is forecasting 8.1 million iPhones were sold during the fourth quarter of 2012...

T-Mobile to start selling the iPhone in ‘three to four’ months

Good news for T-Mobile subscribers looking to get their hands on the iPhone. In a new interview, the carrier's CEO John Legere says it will begin offering Apple's popular handset sooner rather than later.

Legere first confirmed that his company would be becoming an official iPhone partner, as well as eliminating device subsidies, this year, back in December. And now he sees both happening in the next 3-4 months...

CES 2013: Incipio announces NFC-enabled iPhone wallet

Like Griffin, Belkin and other iOS accessory powerhouses, Incipio turned up at CES this week to unveil a wide range of new products. Among them are a dual iPhone 5 car charger, and an iPhone case with a built-in tape measure.

Perhaps most interesting, though, is its new Cashwrap iPhone case. The thin case not only protects the handset from drops and other accidents, but it also gives it the ability to make NFC transactions using the Isis platform...

AT&T and Verizon also looking into ending device subsidies

Last month, T-Mobile confirmed that it was ending device subsidies ahead of its official iPhone launch. The carrier hopes that customers will buy into the idea, which has them paying full retail prices for mobile devices in exchange for lower monthly fees.

Well apparently, the idea has attracted the attention of the big wigs at Verizon and AT&T. According to a new report, CEO's from both companies are intrigued by the theory, and will be watching T-Mobile's experiment closely over the next several months...

This is how strong Corning’s new Gorilla Glass 3 is

Apple's been using Corning's tough cover glass on all iPhone models, up to the point where you could safely conclude the iPhone helped Corning a great deal make a name for itself. Ahead of CES, the New York-based company announced its third-generation Corning Glass, 40 percent more scratch resistant and 50 percent stronger. Here's a nice demonstration of just how strong it really is. I'm sure it'll give you a pause, it's right past the fold...

Walmart to begin offering the iPhone 5 through Straight Talk this week

Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless have issued a press release announcing that starting this Friday, the retail giant will begin offering the iPhone 5 through the popular prepaid service. The phone will come with a $45 unlimited talk, text and data plan, and no contract. And Walmart will be offering special financing for those who can't pay for the device up front...

Facebook teases January 15 media event. Facebook Phone, much?

Time to step back from the flow of news surrounding CES 2013. The social networking giant Facebook has just teased a media event scheduled for January 15 at 10am Pacific Time. The invite graphics doesn't reveal much besides asking the media to “come and see what we’re building”. The company has been on a roll lately, having updated its Messenger app with VoIP calling (it's Canada-only initially) and releasing Poke, a new app which lets you send quick messages, photos or videos...

WSJ: Apple working on less expensive iPhone

As hard as we try, we just can't escape the ongoing 'iPhone nano' rumors. It seems that everyone in the tech industry is waiting on Apple to diversify its handset lineup and introduce a less expensive iPhone for prepaid and emerging markets.

In fact, we've already heard a report on the topic today from DigiTimes, who says that their sources have actually seen the low-cost smartphone. And this afternoon, The Wall Street Journal throws its hat into the ring with its own scoop...

T-Mobile now hosts 1.9M iPhones, first LTE market goes online by February

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8B3A2hcU5c

T-Mobile's iPhone-friendly service rolled out in fourteen new metro areas to close out 2012. The high-speed HSPA+ service on the 1900MHz band, which is compatible with the iPhone, now covers more than a hundred million people in the United States. Though it still doesn't officially carry Apple's iconic smartphone, the Deutsche Telekom-owned wireless company has nano SIMs for your iPhone 5 and provides free support to unlockers willing to bring their iPhone and sign up for T-Mobile's unlimited 4G data.

While this won't be enough to prevent customer defections that are now hurting its bottom line, it seems iPhone owners are increasingly coming to T-Mobile as its HSPA+ becomes available in more markets. Just in December, the carrier hosted 1.7 million iPhone devices on its network, but the figure has now surged to 1.9 million iPhones...

Steve Ballmer crashes CES keynote and other Qualcomm tidbits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn_XI3dU-kU

Though Microsoft passed on this year's CES keynote, that didn't stop the company's boss Steve Ballmer from making his trademark entrance to last night's keynote by Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs. His running out on stage wasn't on par with the previous bigger than life entrances and the now famous 'developers' chant and was in fact a prearranged surprise, but it's still kinda noteworthy. Ballmer basically praised Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors that power new Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices. Qualcomm made a number of announcements at the show and the company's keynote wasn't short on celebrities...

Retinafied Firefox 18 browser released

Mozilla, the non-profit organization behind the Firefox browser, on Tuesday released a new version of the software that finally brings out Retina support. Firefox 18, now available for download from Mozilla, adds support for Apple's high-resolution Macs nearly six months after Google's Chrome browser. In addition to the crisp UI elements on Retina Macs, Firefox 18 also enables significant speed gains for JavaScript web apps. Firefox 18 is compatible with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later, and requires at least 512 megabytes of RAM and 200 megabytes of hard drive space...

Samsung delays Galaxy tablet suits with iPad invalidation claims in Spain

In an effort to minimize the impact of last year's ruling by a Dusseldorf court which issued an EU-wide ban on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet over Apple's design patents pertaining to the iPad, Samsung thinks it's found a nice way to weasel its way out of this mess. And

Samsung's answer to this is simple, really: instead of fighting Apple's re-asserted claim that its Galaxy tablets "slavishly" copy the iPad, Samsung figured it could delay the lawsuits in Germany by filing an invalidity bid in in another country, Spain. As a result, the German suits over the design of the products are scheduled to be put on hold until the process in Spain is completed. If all venues are used, the process can take as long as four years...