verizon

The release of Samsung's next super smartphone, the Galaxy S4, is just days away. Sporting an improved design over the Galaxy S3 and packed with a ton of high-end features and specialized software, the Galaxy S4 already is an Android powerhouse. And even better, it will land at all major U.S. carriers plus a few smaller, regional providers.

Note, however, that the carriers aren't following the same release schedule. T-Mobile, for example, will begin selling the phone this week, but U.S. Cellular customers will have to wait until next month. Meanwhile, C Spire and Cricket have … Read more

Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S4 page is finally live, giving America's largest wireless carrier a way for folks to get in line for what's been the most anticipated new phone of this year so far.

Earlier in the week, Verizon Wireless tweeted that the GS4 would be hitting its 4G LTE network in May and promised that more details would soon be forthcoming.… Read more

Verizon Wireless customers and, in some cases, critics have been signing a petition at a torrid pace, asking the company to go contract-less.

The petition on Change.org now has approximately 94,000 signatures, roughly 56,000 supporters shy of its goal of 150,000. The petition, created by "longtime Verizon customer" Mike Beauchamp of Wichita, Kan., has called the petition, simply, "Verizon: Get rid of contracts for wireless service."

"Getting rid of carrier contracts is a win for customers. Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam, has already expressed his willingness to do away with them … Read more

Verizon subscribers awaiting Samsung's Galaxy S4 will be able to pick one up next month.

The carrier tweeted late yesterday that the S4 will arrive in May, and it promised to reveal more details soon via the Samsung Mobile US Twitter account.

Verizon is the last major U.S. carrier to chime in with a time frame for the Galaxy S4.

Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile recently confirmed that the phone will hit stores later this month. Meanwhile, AT&T and U.S. Cellular kicked off preorders for the S4 this past Tuesday.

Verizon hasn't yet revealed its … Read more

Nokia is still struggling in the U.S., but there's hope that another flagship phone is on its way.

CEO Stephen Elop said on a conference call Thursday that this current quarter will mark a season of new product introductions. Most importantly, he hinted at a phone carrying "hero," or flagship, status with a leading U.S. carrier.

The product is likely to be the rumored variant of the Lumia 920 for Verizon Wireless. The phone is important because it gets Nokia into the nation's largest wireless carrier in a much bigger way, carrying with it … Read more

Apple likely sold around 35.5 million iPhones last quarter, according to Piper Jaffay analyst Gene Munster.

In an investors note out Thursday, the analyst cited the 4 million iPhones activated by Verizon last quarter, which represent a 56 percent share of the carrier's smartphone sales and are inline with Munster's expectations.

Though that number is down from the December quarter's 63 percent, Munster believes such a decline is expected since the holiday quarter was the first full quarter of iPhone 5 sales, a period when the phone's share of the market is typically at its … Read more

Verizon Wireless' decision to extend the wait time for a phone upgrade has some concerned about the potential consumer reaction.

Verizon recently said it would do away with early upgrades, forcing consumers to wait the full 24 months before they are eligible to buy a new phone with the lower subsidized price. Customers previously had to wait only 20 months before getting the early upgrade.

The move comes as T-Mobile said it would do away with contracts and subsidized pricing, providing a better financial deal to consumers. From a broader industry perspective, more consumers are starting to move away from … Read more

Verizon Wireless sold 4 million iPhones in the first quarter.

The breakdown of iPhone sales was split evenly between the iPhone 5 and older iPhones, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said during a conference call Thursday.

The company sold 7.2 million smartphones in the period, with 28 percent going to customers new to Verizon. Shammo declined to provide a figure for Android sales.

In total, Verizon sold 9.7 million devices on a contract basis, with 87 percent of those being phones of some sort.

The 4G LTE push continued in the first quarter. Verizon activated 5.9 million … Read more

Verizon bounced back from a tough fourth quarter and started the year off strongly.

The telecommunications provider today posted a first-quarter profit of $1.95 billion, or 68 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $1.67 billion, or 59 cents a share. Revenue rose 4.2 percent to $29.42 billion from a year ago.

Analysts, on average, projected per-share earnings of 66 cents and revenue of $29.55 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Growth, as usual, was driven by the Verizon Wireless unit, which generated $19.5 billion in revenue, up 6.8 percent from a … Read more