Opinion

News this week that Verizon Wireless may or may not begin forcing customers currently on unlimited data plans for their smartphones to bucket plans sent many in the blog-o-sphere into a tizzy.

It seems that if you can find a couple of carriers that perhaps are not doing so well, the rumor mill automatically suggests that you put those two together in some sort of sorry dating game episode. (Is there really any other kind?)

Every few months, or whenever the rumor mill is running a bit thin (never!), a new report seems to surface claiming that Apple is looking to become a wireless carrier of some sort.

This past week and a half were marked by quarterly results from some of the nation’s largest wireless operators, each showing an interesting challenge that remain in the mobile space.

In late February, I participated in a panel session at the Mobile World Congress event titled “Mobile Enterprise: Maximizing Workforce Productivity in the Age of Consumerization.”

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers, we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to …

This week we were reminded again of the power of words. And in this case when I say we, I mean Sprint Nextel’s stock price. And when I say “words” I mean “underperform.”

Leading up to the launch of the new tablet, rumors were circulating that the new device would have a screen with resolution more lifelike than the human eye; enhanced capabilities that would make the need for real friends obsolete; and come in various sizes to meet the needs of every living soul on the planet.

The running spat between AT&T Mobility and its subscribers over what is and is not considered “unlimited” made up some significant ground this week as lawsuits have been won and taunts thrown.

The prevalence of multiple-SIM use remains one of the most critical issues for mobile operators in emerging markets. It is driven broadly by consumer choice and potential manipulation by retail partners, and brings with it the double difficulties of stagnating voice revenue and eroding subscriber valuation.

The pace of innovation is accelerating as convergence has joined technology with telecom, media, entertainment and consumer electronics. As innovation races forward, relying solely on homegrown inventions and vertical innovations is proving suicidal.

Informing consumers of the benefits of LTE, HSPA+ or any mobile data service that might be promoted as “4G” may be a challenge. This is partly the result of misleading marketing as to what exactly constitutes 4G.

Sprint Nextel released fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results this week, wrapping up the financial reporting for the nation’s three largest wireless operators and highlighting an interesting fact about the industry: people like Apple’s iPhone.

In an earlier article we discussed how the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show had a highly visible new presence from the major automakers this year, and how this revealed their strategy to defend the in car infotainment market opportunity by re-inventing themselves as technology firms, and providing improved in car infotainment solutions.

To the chagrin of some, Apple has recently come under attack (again) for its history of sourcing its profit-heavy hardware from factories in China that have a history of questionable working conditions.

I try to not feel sorry for huge, multi-national conglomerates. This is due mostly to the fact that they always seem to forget my birthday, unless they want me to buy something.

Mobile connectivity for objects and devices is growing enormously. Never before have so many devices been able to “talk to each other” like they can today – from mobile hotspots being embedded in cars to a home security system alerting its owners that a tornado is approaching. The machine-to-machine market enables some of the coolest consumer apps to the most critical emergency communications.

Emerging markets operators will hold off on LTE deployments in favor of upgrading their 3G networks to HSPA+. This technology provides spectral efficiency and headline data speeds similar to current implementations of LTE for the price of a software upgrade in most cases.

Mobile technologies in unpaired spectrum have always been a challenge for me. I’m not ignorant of the many local successes of WiMAX and other alternative wireless broadband technologies, but none have really become global movements in the way they would have liked.

Smartphone sales as percentage of total sales will break the 20% barrier in 2012, with Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile having especially important increases in smartphone adoption. Smartphone adoption in the region will be driven by increased vendor competition, fuelled by Chinese manufacturers that offer affordable Android phones and operators trying to increase their smartphone base to increase data revenue.

If I were to take anything from this week’s Consumer Electronics Show as an indicator of what to expect in 2012, that would be that there a lot of people interested in gadgets and that we can expect to be standing in more lines.

This week saw a couple of events that makes the conspiracy theorist in me go a bit bonkers, or at least a bit more bonkers than usual in what is the last year of our earthly existence. (Thanks for the heads up, Mayans.)

So, now what? AT&T’s pie-in-the-sky attempt to acquire T-Mobile USA came crashing down to earth this week in a heap that left many with at least some sort of pie filling in a place not designed to hold pie filling.