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 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 19 - 2:45pm EDT   HTC chief Peter Chou told the Taiwan-area commercial paper Commercial Times today that his company expects to sell the millionth Magic by August. Having taken roughly six months to sell the millionth G1, Chou's firm now says it will only take the three months since the Magic's launch in May to reach a similar amount for the second Android phone. It's not clear how many Android phones HTC has sold in total. [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 3 - 2:20pm EDT   RIM's BlackBerry Tour is now known to be headed to Canada and has had its specifications confirmed through a late leak. Now due for Bell, a brochure for the smartphone obtained by BGR has both CDMA and EVDO for the carrier's own network but also quad-band GSM and EDGE for basic use in the US; in a conscious decision to limit 3G roaming in the US, though, it would have just 2,100MHz HSPA and so would only support 3G on European networks like Vodafone's. [full story]

May 29 - 11:20am EDT   Nokia on Friday announced it will soon begin shipping its Nokia 6730 classic handset exclusively to Vodafone in all the markets it serves. Vodafone's services, including mobile Internet and e-mail, Vodafone Music Client, and navigation will be supported. Users will have access to yellow and white pages listings, making getting to places or people easier thanks to turn-by-turn driving and walking directions. Furthermore, the handset uses the Symbian S60 operating system, which means users can download smartphone-level apps. [full story]

May 22 - 9:25am EDT   An e-mail in circulation to Vodafone staff in Australia hints at the timing of the next iPhone, a source from the country contends. In particular the e-mail is said to be going out to retail workers, informing them that Vodafone's regional supplier -- Brightpoint -- has marked the 16GB iPhone as "end of life," along with the Nokia 6121. Both items have only a few weeks' worth of stock available, according to the memo. [full story]

May 14 - 4:40pm EDT   Vodafone UK has announced a new promotion, Vodafone Passport, that will allow customers to make calls or send text and picture messages without paying roaming charges as they travel across 35 countries in Europe this summer. The carrier will also reduce prices for international calls. The changes apply to pay-as-you-go or monthly subscribers, beginning June 1st and running until the end of August. [full story]

May 12 - 11:30am EDT   Vodafone today hoped to seize on the success of the iPhone's App Store by announcing its own central portal for third-party apps. The service will echo Apple's approach and provide 70 percent of revenue to developers but will have unique software advantages, the cellular provider says. Vodafone's store will be device-independent and will also be tailored specifically to the network, allowing for GPS-aware apps and other features through a special API (app programming interface). [full story]

May 11 - 9:25am EDT   The number of phones shipped using Google's Android platform is set to grow much faster than the iPhone this year, estimates from Strategy Analytics maintain today. Devices like the T-Mobile G1 have just a small fraction of shipments today but are expected to grow 900 percent in 2009 as multiple extra smartphones launch and more carriers come onboard. Apple's device will reportedly grow second-quickest but at a much smaller 79 percent growth rate to 23.8 million iPhones per year, potentially leading to a shift in favor of Android in the near future. [full story]

May 5 - 4:30pm EDT   Palm's next stop with the Pre after Sprint may be Australia. Pointing only to insiders in its rumor, the Pacific nation's Smarthouse asserts that Telstra has landed a three-month exclusive for the phone on its network that would start from August. The phone maker's national manager, Brett Murray, doesn't mention a date but partly corroborates the report by confirming a second-half 2009 launch window for the Pre in Australia. He also can't confirm exclusives, though Sprint itself is separately rumored to have a three-month deal of its own. [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 - 12:10pm EDT   A software developer is seeking about $94 million in damages from Google and 46 other technology companies for their use of the term Android, which Google used to name its open-source operating system. According to a Thursday report, Erich Specht, who runs Android Data Corp. in Illinois, claims Google infringed on his trademark and is seeking an injunction on Android-branded products. [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]