July 3 - 12:50pm EDT   Ahead of a scheduled UK launch event next week, Dutch wireless provider Hi has posted a product page on its website advertising the Palm Pre smartphone. Hi is a sub-brand of KPN, which has ties to Telefonica. As Telefonica runs UK carrier O2, which was reported to be the exclusive carrier of the Pre, the posting implies that Telefonica may have landed a multi-country deal. The product page reveals Hi will sell the Pre only subsidized with a contract. [full story]

July 3 - 11:40am EDT   Rather than allow a buyout of its assets, T-Mobile UK is hoping to strike a deal that would let it "swap" its British business for one in another country, sources have said on Friday. Company insiders have tipped off FT that T-Mobile may sell off its UK operations and that Vodafone Turkey would be the "ideal" candidate for the deal due to its second-place rank and relative subscriber base. No talks have been mentioned so far. [full story]

July 2 - 11:55am EDT   Sales of the Palm Pre have cooled off to where supply is keeping up with demand, JPMorgan analyst Paul Coster said in an investment note today. He believes that about 270,000 Pres will have shipped in the first month of sales but that waiting lists have largely been reduced, revealing a near-ideal balance in what Palm ships each day. About 40,000 of the smartphones are estimated to now ship each week through Sprint directly, while more should also arrive through Best Buy and Radio Shack. [full story]

July 1 - 3:10pm EDT   Palm's UK event for the Pre will likely reveal O2 to be the sole carrier if tips are authentic. More than one source has told The Guardian that earlier rumors are true and that Palm is likely to imitate Apple's strategy for the island nation, which both gives O2 sole network rights and Carphone Warehouse the only third-party rights to sell the phone on O2's behalf. Reportedly, it has also echoed O2's coup for the iPhone by thwarting an attempt by Orange to land the same deal. [full story]

July 1 - 11:25am EDT   O2 UK has sold out of the iPhone 3GS, according to the carrier's inventory tracker. Citing "phenomenal demand," the company says it has run out of stock for every ordering method, including online, by phone and at retail locations. More stock is only expected by the end of the week, though O2 adds that the iPhone 3G remains available everywhere. [full story]

July 1 - 10:05am EDT   Palm today told the UK press that it will hold an event July 7th regarding the Pre. The company stops short of confirming it as a launch event, but it's commonly assumed by Pocket-lint and others that the gathering next week will provide details of Pre with GSM and HSPA-based 3G and will likely include a release window as well as details of which carriers will sell the smartphone. Pricing is also a possibility. [full story]

June 29 - 8:15am EDT   An apparent leak late Sunday suggests that Vodafone may be interested in buying T-Mobile's British division. Reported sources for FT have the former either buying the smaller UK carrier or else establishing a joint venture. The deal would be possible thanks to T-Mobile's widely rumored dire financial state, which may have left the company with little choice but to look for a partner. [full story]

June 25 - 11:55am EDT   Germany will be the next country to break away from having a single iPhone carrier, Der Spiegel reports. Since 2007, the device has only been carried in the country by T-Mobile, a division of Deutsche Telekom. The company has benefited from a regional exclusivity deal with Apple, similar to that signed by all carriers involved in selling the original hardware. Debut countries also included the US, UK and France. [full story]

June 17 - 11:40am EDT   Vodafone Ireland may have divulged some of its future plans today through a post on its forums discussing new smartphones. While denying that Vodafone will get the just-launched N97, a spokesperson does claim that the carrier will get a device known as the "N97 Mini" as well as the better-known BlackBerry Storm sequel. What the N97 Mini would involve isn't known other than "competitive pricing" when compared to the expensive full-size model. [full story]

June 9 - 11:45am EDT   Verizon's edition of the Palm Pre is slated to launch almost immediately after Sprint's exclusivity period ends, a leak would suggest. In referring to a person "familiar with the situation," the Wall Street Journal understands that the Pre will ship through Verizon in January. Sprint has maintained that its exclusive is longer than six months but, if true, would only have the Pre to itself for one month more before allowing other US carriers to sell it. [full story]

May 1 - 12:45pm EDT   Apple and its US carrier AT&T are some of the most important technology companies in terms of brand worth, the latest Brandz Top 100 ranking (PDF) from MillwardBrown indicates. Gauging them not just on their actual income but also their social impact, the firm estimates that Apple has the sixth-largest brand value in the world and has seen the rough value of its brand climb 14 percent to about $63.1 billion. AT&T ranked 28th but was also one of the fastest-rising companies, jumping 67 percent to just over $20 billion. [full story]

May 1 - 10:20am EDT   T-Mobile's UK division may merge with a rival or even sell off its assets if it can't recover from major losses, its CFO Timotheus Hoettges said at the cellphone carrier's annual shareholder's meeting. The British group may have to write down the equivalent of $2.4 billion in costs for just the first quarter of 2009 and is considering any steps it can take to cut these expenses. Which is more likely isn't known, though the executive sees a merger as one of the most practical ways to address the problem. [full story]

April 27 - 3:40pm EDT   The UK division of Vodafone has launched a beta version of an iPhone web portal, regional reports observe. The site is customizable, and offers access to news content from the likes of Sky and the BBC, as well as games, weather and traffic info, plus access to services such as Flickr and Twitter. Notably, the Vodafone Homepage is described as "available to all iPhone users including non-Vodafone customers." [full story]

April 27 - 9:15am EDT   Samsung today became the second company ever to formally launch a smartphone based on Google's Android platform. The i7500 is one of the thinnest full touchscreen phones at 0.47 inches deep and is also billed as one of the most advanced: it centers on a 3.2-inch, 320x480 AMOLED screen that not only provides much better color accuracy and brightness but also helps extend battery life. A 5-megapixel camera with autofocusing and flash gives it the most advanced photography of any Android phone, while it's also the first with the OS to have 8GB of built-in memory on top of a microSDHC card slot. [full story]

April 20 - 1:30pm EDT   Sales of the iPhone are faring poorly at third-party UK vendor Carphone Warehouse, writes The Telegraph. The official carrier for the UK, O2, recently enacted new discounts, in which an 8GB iPhone is free with a £35 monthly subscription, and a 16GB model is free with a £45-per-month plan. Either option also requires agreeing to a two-year contract, however, rather than a standard 18-month period. [full story]