Official-Softbank Acquires Sprint for $20.1 Billion.
Well, if you were keeping up this past weekend you could see this coming from a mile away. The thing is that this came out of nowhere. It was only last week that analysts were talking about Sprint trying to disrupt the T-Mobile/metroPCS merger. Is Sprint really in that bad of shape? The answer is, yes they are hurting but not as bad as you would think. Yes they owe billions to debtors, Apple and maybe even the mob. On January 31st of this year, Sprint was trading at $2.12 and now they are currently at $5.43. That is a big improvement showing that they were going in the right direction. Not to mention that they are in the process of a rapid deployment of LTE.
This acquisition could definitely breath some new life into the carrier that before the iPhone was bleeding customers left and right. One thing is for sure, at $20.1 billion for 70% of Sprint, Softbank is definitely going to do its best to try and turn Sprint into the United States #1 carrier.
To sum it up, Sprint is issuing $8 billion worth of new shares for Softbank and $12.1 will be purchased from existing shares. Sprint will poctet $3 billion to hopefully purchase the failing ship that they started, Clearwire. Check out the press release below.
Verizon’s Pick
o rumors are spreading about LG’s upcoming Optimus Nexus and who may be carrying it. It’s not very difficult to decipher that it seems like At&t and Sprint are likely out of the running for this particular Nexus for now. Why do I say that? Well, if you think about it, they both announced their own variation of the LG Optimus G superphone. Which is nearly identical to the rumored LG Optimus Nexus. Why would a carrier carry two identical phones from the same manufacture? It makes no sense. So my assumption is that all carriers were given the option of carrying this phone and that it would release before the next Nexus. At&t and Sprint took the bait so that they could have the most powerful phone, even if it is just for a month. The next batch of Nexus devices is rumored to be released towards the end of November or beginning of December. While, LG’s Optimus G is now rumored to launch towards the end of October to the middle of November. This month head start will give At&t and Sprint something to brag about.
That gets me to my next point. Way back when the Optimus G rumors first started, Verizon was one of the carriers who were rumored to be getting the device. Well, the press releases have come out and Verizon has been silent. If Verizon were to also be releasing the same handset, wouldn’t they also announce it so that they could keep customers from jumping ship. Could this mean that they passed on this handset for a better handset? The answer is more than likely, yes. Verizon passed on the Optimus G in favor of the Optimus Nexus. Verizon Wireless is getting so many great handsets in the next few months that they probably thought that waiting was better than choosing a device from a company that has a bad reputation when it comes to software updates. [Read more...]
Does David Have Enough To Take Down Goliath?
Does David have enough to take down Goliath? At this late in the game does it even matter? RIM looks to be making a comeback with not only its slick QNX based Blackberry 10 OS but also it’s rumored Blackberry 10 Aristo and A-Series phone with specs that match or beat any other handset announced to date. Of course that doesn’t mean much until the phone is actually released because by that time, those specs might be second class.
The specs are said to include a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 Krait processor with the standard Adreno 320 graphics core at its heart. 2GB of RAM to complement that beefy processor. An OCTA Glass OLED 4.65 inch display with resolution of 720 x 1280. This new OCTA display technology, developed by Samsung allows this device to be the thinnest Blackberry yet at 8.85mm thick. Inside we also have a non-removable battery but RIM makes it almost a non-issue given that they are giving us a batter that is 2800mAh, which is the biggest battery offered other than the Maxx batteries that Motorola offers. On the back, you have a 8 MP 1080p camera and on the front you have a 2 MP lens. Besides, all of the connectivity options that RIM offers, they have also included 4 microphones to reduce noise. Finally, RIM has included LTE connectivity, making this RIM’s first LTE connected phone. [Read more...]
T-Mobile Mulling a Takeover of MetroPCS-Update-
It seems like just months ago, T-Mobile’s parent company was in such a hurry to get rid of their awkward stepchild and now they are in talks with metro concerning a takeover. Well, good for you T-Mobile, good for your!
If this actually happens, save for some incompatible network hurdles, it will end up being a smart move for all those that are involved. And I am not just talking about T-Mobile and metroPCS. I am talking about their respective customers. More coverage and more “4G” for those metroPCS customers and more coverage for T-Mobile customers. Also, more spectrum for T-Mobile to deploy LTE. If Verizon and At&t have taught us anything is that you can never have too much spectrum. This will also help T-Mobile in theory, get better flagship phones and hopefully help them compete better with the top 3 carriers.
I, for one will be happy if T-Mobile gobbles up metro. I will be happy for both T-Mobile and metro customers. May this acquisition make their lives easier and better.
UPDATE: I guess metroPCS and T-Mobile weren’t fooling around when yesterday it was reported that they were in talks for a possible merger. Just one day later, they made it official. T-Mobile and metroPCS will merge giving Deutsche Telekom a stake of 74% of the combined company and metroPCS keeping the remainder. Apparently, this was all set up so that metroPCS is doing the takeover. The combined company will keep the T-Mobile name. The combined 42.5 million subscribers brings them much closer to Sprint’s 56 million subscribers.
