“Virgin Announces MiFi Pay-As-You-Go” and other links…
Truc Bui: “One of the main reasons I haven’t jumped onto the MiFi wagon is that I really don’t need such a device on a daily basis. I am constantly within WiFi range, so having a 24-month contract at $60 a month doesn’t make financial sense for me. However, Virgin Mobile (owned by Sprint) has an answer for the part-time mobile warriors in all of us with its own MiFi device. The device is the same Novatel unit we’ve seen before and sells for $150 without a contract. Tiered monthly access fees range from $10 for 100MB that expires in 10 days to the more familiar $60 for 5GB that expires in 30 days. Availability starts June 28th at your local Radio Shack, Best Buy, and online at Virgin’s site.”
“AT&T Sued For Systematic iPhone Overbilling”
Hugh Pickens writes writes “UPI reports that AT&T is facing a lawsuit that says AT&T routinely bills for 7 percent to 14 percent more data transactions than normally take place, which could blossom into a costly class-action case. Court papers claim that attorneys set up a test account for an iPhone, then closed all of its apps and left the device unused for 10 days. AT&T still billed the account for 2,292 KB of usage. ‘A significant portion of the data revenues were inflated by AT&T’s rigged billing system for data transactions,’ say court papers filed on behalf of AT&T customer Patrick Hendricks. ‘This is like the rigged gas pump charging you when you never even pulled your car into the station.’ Attorneys say they would file to have the case moved to class-action status, which makes the outcome relevant to all of AT&T’s iPhone accounts.”
“Windows Phone 7 to get Live Messenger, but not from Microsoft?”
Mary Jo Foley: “A Microsoft-developed WLM was not mentioned at all in a blog post this week from Corporate Vice President Chris Jones, as LiveSide.net noted. Jones highlighted Hotmail, SkyDrive, OneNote and Find My Phone in his list of Windows Live-related services that would be available for Windows Phone 7 devices. The “People” hub in the new phones has the same kind of activity stream interface that the new Windows Live Messenger (Wave 4) does.”
“Sprint Samsung Epic 4G first impressions shows it can’t beat the EVO 4G”
Matthew Miller: “I used to be a major hardware QWERTY keyboard fan, but software keyboards like Swype are turning me into a touchscreen fan so I don’t always need one. I bought an EVO 4G just a couple of months ago and when I heard that the Samsung Epic 4G was launching with the fantastic Galaxy S specs and QWERTY keyboard I reserved one for the 31st of August.”
“No Twitter on Windows Live Messenger—not Microsoft’s fault”
Steven Hodson: “When the new Wave 4 roll-out of Windows Live began the one part of the package that got the most attention, and deservedly so, was the revamped and social Live Messenger. There was only one problem – there was no Twitter integration which caused more than a few people to go WTH.”
“For the developer: 31 days of Windows Phone 7”
Paul Thurrott: “Not sure how I missed this, but Microsoft’s Jeff Blankenburg wrote an interesting blog series called 31 Days of Windows Phone 7 back in late September/early October, in which he focuses on one developer topic each day for a month. Very nice!”