Android announced
The Open Handset Alliance, a collection of 34 firms including T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola, announces they plan to collaborate with Google to develop Android. They hope it will be the first open platform for mobile phones. Google CEO Eric Schmidt says:
Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.
Announces free video streaming plan
T-Mobile CEO, Legere, announces “Binge On,” a cell phone service that allows users to stream video services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and others, without it counting against their data plans. The service starts over the next two weeks and is free with any new or existing plans. The Company is in talks with YouTube, but the Google-owned video platform hadn’t quickly agreed to technical terms. The company also doubled data caps on its plans to 2 gigabytes, 6 gigabytes and 10 gigabytes, without changing prices. Legere:
Customers have a huge and increasing appetite for new and innovative ways to use their smartphones. But what I see is there’s amazing content being created, but it’s being created for movie and TV screens. All content is going to the Internet, and I’m trying to get it mobile. It’s a huge disconnect. A big, big portion of data is wasted…This makes huge economic sense. Both investors and customers are going to be real happy. This could be the biggest thing we’ve announced.