The last time we heard from Ivan Seidenberg, he was letting Sprint know precisely what he thought of it. This go 'round, in a new 'Charlie Rose' interview, the Verizon chief is being entirely more coy. In speaking to recent political happenings, he mentions that the communication coming from the citizens of Iran is "a great thing," and he also notes that attempts to block internet use "can't work long term" as the "power of the people will override that without any question." Sort of comical given VZW's prior persistence to cripple phones in spite of consumer backlash, but we digress. He also dodged (with great skill, might we add) questions on whether Verizon Wireless would carry the iPhone, noting that it was "Apple's decision" on whether it would build one to support the company's forthcoming LTE network. As for Android? He did confess that recent reports of a Motorola handset coming its way "might be true," which is CEO speak for "oh, that's absolutely happening." Hop on past the break for a video of the whole shakedown.

If there's one two things we love, it's hearing RIM's own Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis open their gaping traps. While the former was sufficiently panned back in January for exclaiming that buggy smartphone software was simply the "new reality," his partner in crime may have just done him one better. In a recent sit-down with Laptop Mag, Mike was specifically asked to address that aforementioned quote. His response? "That's our first touch product, and you know nobody gets it perfect out the door. You know other companies were having problems with their first releases." If you're struggling to translate that into layman speak, allow us: "Tough luck, early adopters!"

As the interview progressed, the co-CEO took the opportunity to snub Apple on its inability to get Push Email out early on, noting that BlackBerry OS has "constantly been underestimated" and was "designed to multitask from day one." He also stumbled all over himself when it came to speaking about the BlackBerry's web browser, stating that "by writing our browser in Java, that provides our CIOs and wireless managers the assurances they need, to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information." We've literally meditated on that for a solid half-hour, and we still have absolutely zero idea what it means in English. Nevertheless, the whole thing is a pretty great -- if not comical -- read, so give it a look and share your colorful opinions in comments below.

Great job, thief. Just days after Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo had his HTC handset stolen at Mobile World Congress, the guy has decided that enough is enough. All kidding aside, Sol Trujillo has indeed announced his intentions to vacate his seat and return home to the United States. During his four years as head honcho, the Australian operator has managed to do quite well for itself, and as they say, there's no better time to leave than while on top. He has vowed to keep pressing on until June 30th, after which he'll hop a (presumably first class) flight back to the US of A and watch Telstra attempt to fill his shoes -- probably from a sweet shack in Key West, if we had to guess.

Courtesy of Palm's most recent 8-K filing, the general public is being informed that Palm's former CEO Donna Dubinsky (pictured) is stepping down from the firm's board. If you'll recall, Elevation Partners decided that it would fork over another $100 million in order to help Palm stun the world and reinvigorate itself at CES this year, and as part of that agreement, Elevation "has the right to designate an additional director for election to the Company's Board of Directors." In light of the board wishing to maintain its current size, Ms. Dubinsky freely offered to resign her spot immediately, and at least officially, her decision was not made due to any disagreement with Palm. We're also told that Elevation has designated Rajiv Dutta -- who retired as President of eBay Marketplaces and Executive VP of eBay last October -- for election to the company's board, and said board is expected to meet shortly to consider both the resignation offer and Mr. Dutta's appointment.

[Via PalmInfoCenter, image courtesy of NY Times]

Who says no one's hiring these days? T-Mobile UK's chief executive officer Jim Hyde will soon be leaving his corner office in order to return to his homeland in America. While we fully expect him to sail around the world and sip champagne between his departure in March (for "personal reasons," naturally) and his entry as president and COO of nTelos Holdings, it's pretty easy to understand why he's making a beeline for greener pastures. According to his future employer, Jim will be taking over as CEO upon the "eventual retirement" of current chief exec James S. Quarforth. Oh, and we bet that pound-to-dollar conversion he sees when transferring assets to the US of A will be quite amazing.

[Via mocoNews]

Clearly, Mike Lazaridis has the chops when it comes to running a business. What he clearly lacks, however, is a firm definition of the term "netbook." To his credit, we still feel the exact boundaries for netbooks have yet to be determined (fret not, Psion Teklogix is hammering out those details), but calling a BlackBerry Storm one is -- how do you say? -- a bit of a stretch. During a recent sit down with RIM's president, CNET Asia heard the bigwig answer like so when questioned about viewing netbooks as competitors: "No, I think I can put netbooks in here [referring to the BlackBerry Storm]. These are netbooks. They are just smaller." Wait, Mike -- don't you think smartphones are more like MIDs or UMPCs? Or do we just have you all wrong here?

[Via phoneArena]

Palm's newfound place back on the map of relevance has people all sorts of excited, including one Douglas C. Jeffries. The former chief accounting officer at eBay has been appointed CFO at Palm, taking the place of the occasionally cagey Andy Brown. Mr. Jeffries will officially be wearing his new badge in January, though Andy will stay on into the new year to ensure "a smooth transition." Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer, stated that he was "delighted to welcome Doug Jeffries to the Palm team," noting that his "extensive financial, operational and strategic experience will contribute enormously to Palm's future success." Of course, we'd say that a fresh OS and / or device at CES would contribute infinitely more to this strange beast called "success," but maybe we're underestimating this man's clout.

[Via Palm InfoCenter]

Not even a month after Sprint began offering voluntary buyout packages to an unspecified number of employees and just weeks after John Garcia decided it best to extend his Thanksgiving holiday into forever, in flies an analyst report asserting that sweeping layoffs are just around the bend. Pali Research's Walter Piecyk also expects the carrier to reduce prices to pick up lost ground to rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless. A company spokesman proclaimed that "nothing was off of the table" and that "every option" would be scrutinized, but as of now, no decisions have been nailed down around the 2009 budget plan. Better get on that, wouldn't you say?

[Via CellPhonesMarket]

Edward Samuel "Ted" Rogers, the founder of Rogers Communications, has passed away this week at 75. It only takes a brief glance to recognize what a giant Mr. Rogers built, and his legacy will obviously live on for years to come. Ted had suffered from congestive heart failure and was seeing his health decline, but thankfully he was surrounded by friends and family when he passed in his Toronto home. As for now, Alan Horn, Chairman of Rogers Communications, will serve as CEO and president until the Board of Directors can complete a thorough search for a proper successor.

[Via Boy Genius Report, image courtesy of TheStar]

Look, we needn't tell you that things aren't exactly kosher for Sprint right now. SK Telecom just said "thanks, but no thanks" to a potential relationship, it managed to post a net loss of $326 million in Q3 and it's staring down the barrel of a $1.2 billion class-action ETF suit. All that considered, the sudden and apparently unplanned departure of the carrier's head of CDMA isn't apt to help things. John Garcia, without any (public) rhyme or reason, has decided it best to not clock in on Monday, and at the moment of his leaving, the company had no comment on the situation. Bigwig Keith Cowan has been chosen as the interim replacement while it searches for a successor, and in related news, Bill Morgan (SVP of brand management) will begin reporting directly to CEO Dan Hesse.

[Via mocoNews]

Well, would you have a gander at this spectacle. Some "Dan" character over at Peek has gone and stolen our thunder, completely dashing our hopes of hosting up a "How would you change" article on the outfit's e-mail only handheld. All (nonexistent) personal beef aside, we'd wager that this scenario is actually far more beneficial for end users, particularly since you know the company is all ears. Over at the Peek blog, the outfit pleads with users and spectators to chime in on how the handheld could be tweaked (in "minor" ways, mind you) in order to be superior. Additionally, it's looking to open up a set of APIs for the public in order to facilitate the hacking of Peek for its own betterment. We always said this thing would be way more appealing with Opera Mini loaded on there alongside a VoIP application, and lookie here, the price has stooped to $80 with no contracts attached. Consider our interest finally piqued. Ugh, that was awful.

[Thanks, Jacob]

Glenn Lurie, formerly the president of National Distribution for AT&T Mobility and in tight with the launch of the iPhone, is sitting in a new corner office today, and the placard outside now reads "President of AT&T Emerging Devices, National Distribution and Resale." In the role, Mr. Lurie will lead the carrier's "strategic initiative to drive the innovation that will bring wireless connectivity to a host of new consumer electronics devices and applications." We're talking PCs, MIDs, UMPCs, cars, navigation systems -- you name it, this is your man for getting AT&T wrapped up in it. One of his first quotes in the new position was that "high-speed wireless broadband service can enhance a huge variety of gadgets," and while some may say that's obvious, we're just glad the man has his sights set in the right direction. More WWAN devices of any kind? Yes, please.

Sanjay Jha has a fairly daunting task ahead of him, but the new co-CEO is already vowing to stomp his foot down and make some changes for the better within three months. While speaking to an audience of analysts and media, the new Motorola exec stated that he would be reviewing the firm's device platforms / product roadmap within 90 days, and he's also planning to make "hires in areas where he doesn't have experience." Thankfully, that latter tidbit includes hires in product design, which -- judging by the looks of its Alexander -- really needs some fresh brains to step in. Of course, we wouldn't expect a new bigwig to say anything other than this, so the real test comes in T-minus eighty-some-odd days when we see how he delivers. The clock's ticking, Mr. Jha.

Shortly after Alcatel-Lucent posted yet another quarter of net losses, two of its biggest bigwigs have decided that enough is enough. Chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO Patricia Russo have both announced plans to exit the company, and while the former will be clocking in for the final time on October 1st, the latter has agreed to stay on until a new CEO is found. According to Tchuruk, the time has come for the outfit to "acquire a personality of its own, independent from its two predecessors." The search for replacements has already begun, though analysts assert that filling the holes won't be a lesson in simplicity. Something Motorola would likely agree with entirely.

[Via RCRWireless, image courtesy of The New York Times]

Read - Announcement of resignations
Read - Search for replacements

Despite praise heaped upon Motorola's interim CFO Tom Meredith during his one-year tenure, he's being replaced as of March 1 by Paul Liska, an outsider who's done time with Sears and private equity firms in recent years. The move comes as a surprise, with many predicting that the permanent chief would come from the inside -- either by naming Meredith to the position or selecting someone else -- but let's be honest, Moto can use about as much fresh thinking as it can get its hands on at the moment. A Citibank analyst has gone on record saying he's a "big fan" of Meredith, pegging him as a guy who brought a lot of "financial discipline" into the beleaguered number three manufacturer -- so heads up, Liska, you've got some big shoes to fill.