Deutsche Telekom has made little secret this year of the fact that its American wireless unit is on thin ice; whether that's a result of poor coverage, a failure to keep pace technologically, weak spectrum allocation, or a combination thereof is a source of endless debate, but none of it is stopping T-Mobile USA from pushing forward aggressively with a nationwide 21Mbps HSPA+ rollout in 2010. Of course, network buildouts of that magnitude don't come cheap, and hungry investors are still marching on DT's doorstep asking when they might be able to expect black ink. A couple loose-lipped tipsters to German paper Handelsblatt have said that the next step could very well involve a major partnership with another carrier -- as opposed to an outright acquisition like we've heard before -- possibly with Clearwire, MetroPCS, or AT&T. T-Mobile USA has been famously tight-lipped so far on its 4G plans, instead concentrating on building out a solid 3.75G one, which means that its long-term plans are wide open -- partnering with Clearwire would likely mean aligning itself with WiMAX, while both MetroPCS and AT&T have already committed to LTE. Another possibility apparently being thrown around involves bringing in a financial partner (a sugar daddy, if you will) to shore up the carrier's bottom line, but either way, we suspect this'll all end up deciding the carrier's post-21Mbps strategy.

Scandinavian folks tend to be a pretty cheerful bunch during the summer, and now Swedes and Norwegians will have reason to smile through the cold dark winters as well, with Samsung announcing an agreement to provide TeliaSonera with "mobile broadband devices for commercial service next year." This agreement relates to Sammy's Kalmia 4G USB modem and adds to the Swedish operator's LTE push, which already counts Ericsson and Huawei among the contracted hardware providers. So that's 100Mbps mobile broadband, coming to a snow-covered nation near you within the next dozen months or so. All we would ask of our viking friends now is that they remember their world-conquering ways of the past and start spreading that goodness globally. Come on, it's our right! Full press release after the break.

We've seen blurry pics and reports from inventory systems, and now the official confirmation. This morning's joint press conference between Verizon and Google has resulted in a holy matrimony of sorts; a melding of the minds; a promise of new hardware to come. Yes, it's just a promise for now as neither company took the chance to confirm the Sholes or any of the other devices that have been popping up. But, Verizon did at least say that the agreement "will come to fruition within the next few weeks as Verizon Wireless introduces Android-based handsets." So, it won't be long now.

Welp, that didn't take long. Just a few months after TerreStar announced that it had completed its first call on the new bird, the revived sat phone provider has now announced the first dual-mode smartphone for AT&T. Granted, we knew these two would be holding hands in the near future, but it's still refreshing to see the Genus hit the landscape. The WinMo-based phone will ship with a 2.6-inch touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and GSM / GPRS / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA radios. Oh, and it can tap into satellite waves too. This one's actually aimed at government, energy, utility, transportation and maritime users, and while it's slated to ship in Q1 2010 for an undisclosed amount, AT&T assures us that a consumer-oriented version is in the pipeline. Too bad this only enhances coverage in the US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and territorial waters -- we always dreamed of phoning home from Komsomolets Island.

[Via phonescoop]

Say it with us now: "Yippee!" Why such joviality? We'll tell you why. Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony and Silicon Image have all teamed up to create yet another new connector, with this one hoping to forever harmonize the strained relationship between mobile phones / PMPs and high-def displays. The so-called Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group is seeking to create a new "industry standard" for connecting handsets and other portable consumer electronics to HDTVs and displays, though we're still wondering why exactly we need a replacement for HDMI, DisplayLink and the forthcoming Light Peak so soon. As with most of these things, details about the actual product(s) are slim, but trust us, they're working on it. And they're working hard.

We know you've been literally hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for this day to come, so it's our honor and privilege to announce that Lenovo and RIM's Constant Connect solution is now available. For those who managed to sleep right through February, the technology enables select ThinkPads to automatically pull down BlackBerry emails whenever it's within range, even if the laptop is completely off. There's no word on what it'll cost to have this added into your next corporate machine, but you can head past the break for a quick demonstration vid if you think you're interested.

Update: It's a $149 option from select business partners and through Lenovo.com.

It's a little silly just how hush-hush this whole iPhone-AT&T exclusivity agreement has been, but now it sounds like it just might be next century before any of you CDMA loyalists are able to indulge in the App Store. According to a fresh report in The Wall Street Journal, people "familiar with the matter" have suggested that AT&T is feverishly working to extend its exclusive agreement to carry the iPhone in America until 2011. Last we heard, the deal was stretched out through 2010, and considering just how many new subscribers are flocking over solely for this phone, can you really blame the guy for wanting another dozen months of bliss? Not surprisingly, an Apple spokeswoman had more to say about her personal life than on these rumors, but if you were really banking on snapping up a Verizon-branded iPhone at the end of next year, you should probably ask someone to blast you with a giant fire hose of reality.

[Via HotHardware]

Opera Mini has definitely seen a good deal of face time here lately, but it's looking to up its presence even more by inking a new partnership with Virgin Mobile USA. Starting April 14th, Opera Mini will be available as a free application download on select devices -- Slash, Arc, Shuttle, Super Slice and four others -- for Virgin Mobile USA prepaid customers via the VirginXL download storefront. Going forward, the browser will come pre-loaded on other "select" Virgin Mobile USA phones. So, one carrier down -- who's next?

Good news, Europe. Telefónica and Vodafone have just made public a milestone pan-European agreement that will enable the two to share network infrastructure in Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK, with detailed discussions ongoing in the Czech Republic. The collaboration will supposedly deliver efficiencies of hundreds of millions of pounds for each company over ten years, and for customers of each, they can look forward to better coverage across each of those nations. Oh, and subscribers should also expect rates to remain lower compared to what would happen if each operator were forced to build out individually, but it's not like either of these guys are coming out and saying that. At any rate, we figure there's some serious celebration in order for those in the region, no?

Given Nokia Siemens' commitment to getting the technology rolled out with carrier partners on the double and the fact that Nokia's tie-up with Qualcomm for S60-optimized HSPA and LTE chipsets will bear fruit in 2010 -- not to mention the fact that multiple carriers will be deploying LTE over the next two years -- it only stands to reason that Espoo would have LTE devices in the pipe sooner rather than later. Indeed, the company has now gone on record saying that it'll have "data intensive" LTE gadgets launched next year, though they've failed to go into the nitty gritty details of what kind of devices those might be. That could very well be where this new rumor comes into play, though: TheStreet.com is claiming that there's chatter of a Verizon / Nokia partnership that would see a serious full touchscreen multimedia phone launched to help inaugurate Big Red's LTE airwaves -- and considering that Nokia has ramped up its Verizon-branded product portfolio over the past year and publicly cheered on the carrier for choosing LTE over WiMAX or UMB, it's not all that difficult to believe. If the rumored device comes in a brown pleather wallet, count us in.

[Via Phone Scoop, thanks papari]

Read - Nokia bringing LTE in 2010
Read - Verizon partnership?

Maybe we're just imagining things, but it sure seems like a lot of deals are going down here in Barcelona. The latest partnership to arise from the middle of nowhere is this one, a tie-up between Yahoo! and Opera that will see the search engine company distribute and pimp the Opera Mini web browser to its many Yahoo! Mobile users. Under the deal, Yahoo! is expected to begin distributing Opera Mini via Yahoo! Mobile (gratis, of course) and also as a standalone download from Yahoo!'s mobile Web sites in the near future. A curious matchup, yeah? Should be interesting to see where this leads -- we get the feeling this is just the beginning of something much, much bigger. Or maybe just bigger.

[Via phonescoop]

After two years in development, Lenovo Constant Connect is finally here. A groundbreaking new tie-up between Lenovo and RIM has led to the creation of a $150 54mm ExpressCard -- which slots into any ThinkPad from around Summer '08 onward -- and automatically pulls down any email sent to your BlackBerry via Bluetooth, even if the laptop is completely powered down. The idea here is to always have your most recent inbox available within eight seconds of opening your machine, and thanks to the card's dedicated Bluetooth radio and 500MB of inbuilt storage, it can pull down and send out emails so long as the card and your 'Berry are within 30 feet or so from one another. Aside from needing an ExpressCard slot, you'll also need a handset with OS 4.2 or higher. It's designed to work with Exchange, Outlook, POP and Gmail, with Lotus Notes support coming in 2H 2009; as for availability, the card will be available through Lenovo and its partners in early Q2 here in America, while those elsewhere in the world will have to wait until the latter half of the year. Full release and demo video is after the break.

SkyTerra's Mobile Satellite Ventures, ICO Global Communications and Qualcomm have jointly announced today a partnership that could have far-reaching implications in the mobile realm. In short, the trio has agreed to "integrate satellite and cellular communication technology in select multi-mode mobile baseband chips," which will essentially enable handsets to have "ubiquitous mobile communications coverage from anywhere in North America, including areas where traditional cellular service is currently unavailable or unreliable." The release proclaims that this hookup will lead to satellite connectivity being in mass-market devices, but only time will tell how long it takes for compatible handsets to get adopted by carriers. Unfortunately, we do know it won't happen prior to 2010, as that's the planned ship date for the newfangled chips. Thanks for the heads-up, guys -- but oh, how the tease hurts us.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Update: Images provided are of Mobile Satellite Ventures' design concepts.

Contrary to what Zeemote is implying with its latest release, this isn't the first time we've seen a handset maker embrace (as in, literally hug) its JS1 Bluetooth controller. Nevertheless, the Zeekey application will enable S60 device owners to play N-Gage games and control S60 apps with the aforementioned JS1. We're told that the program will come pre-loaded on "featured handsets as special gaming bundles," though it'll also be available by its lonesome on Nokia's website. If only you could work up the will to actually buy that JS1, you'd be in business.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Verizon Wireless announced its intentions to snap up Rural Cellular way back in July of last year, and as these things tend to go, it has taken a full 13 months for the FCC to green light the deal. Said agency has just issued a "conditional approval" for the acquisition, but it noted that one of the companies will be required to "sell licenses in six markets in order to improve competition." More specifically, the outfits will have to "shed licenses in several parts of Vermont, one area of New York state and two areas of Washington state." Nothing too earth-shattering, but it's good to see the books (almost) closed on this one.

[Via PhoneScoop]