Techmeme: AT&T seen selling assets to get nod for mega deal (Reuters)

11:45 AM ET, March 22, 2011

Top Items:

Tricia Duryee / eMoney:

Now Open: Amazon Appstore Launches With 3,800 Apps for Android — Amazon has officially launched the Android Appstore, a potential iTunes equivalent for Android. — The company-whose roots are in e-commerce and not mobile-aspires to merchandise and sell apps better than Google does on its own platform.

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Amazon's Android App Store Launches: Test Drive Apps Directly From Your Browser

Discussion: Guardian, Geekosystem, Pocket-lint, Electronista, Reuters and Neowin.net

Sinead Carew / Reuters:

Verizon Wireless CEO says no interest in Sprint deal — (Reuters) - The chief executive of Verizon Wireless said he has no interest in buying Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) even as the company stands to lose its top position in the U.S. wireless market because of a merger between AT&T Inc (T.N) and T-Mobile USA.

Discussion: CNET News, PC World, Digital Trends, Hillicon Valley, Digital Daily, Engadget, DailyTech, Geek.com, Neowin.net, Gearlog, PhoneArena, FierceWireless, Electronista, SlashGear and Android Phone Fans

Tom Krazit / mocoNews:

Sparks Fly Over AT&T/T-Mobile Deal As Wireless CEOs Trade Jabs — Just days after AT&T's stunning announcement of its intent to purchase T-Mobile, the men who would lead the three remaining dominant U.S. wireless carriers exchanged barbs Tuesday over the planned purchase and each other's business models.

Discussion: Mobilized

Matt Rosoff / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:

Big Acquisitions Are Bad For Shareholders: A Look At The 10 Biggest Tech Mergers Ever — Huge acquisitions like AT&T's proposed buyout of T-Mobile make headlines, alter the competitive landscape, and make bankers rich. — But they don't do much for shareholders.

Ina Fried / Mobilized:
What AT&T Owes T-Mobile if Deal Doesn't Go Through

Discussion: eMoney, eWeek and Deal Journal

Reuters:
AT&T seen selling assets to get nod for mega deal

Discussion: DSLreports and FierceDeveloper

Apple:

iPad 2 Arrives in 25 More Countries This Friday — Available in Hong Kong, Korea & Singapore in April — Apple® today announced that iPad® 2, the second-generation of its third post-PC device, will go on sale in 25 additional countries this Friday, March 25. iPad 2 will be available …

Discussion: Inquirer, PC World, 9 to 5 Mac, Mobile Marketing Watch, AppleInsider, MacStories, GigaOM, MacRumors, mocoNews, App Advice, Engadget, Macworld, TiPb, iClarified, Gearlog, TUAW, MacHackPC, Gadget Lab, The Next Web, Apple Bitch, Edge Online, RazorianFly, Pocket-lint, iLounge and WebProNews

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

That was quick: Four lines of code is all it takes for The New York Times' paywall to come tumbling down — The New York Times paywall is costing the newspaper $40-$50 million to design and construct, Bloomberg has reported. And it can be defeated through four lines of Javascript.

Discussion: euri.ca and broadstuff, more at Mediagazer »

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

A Rule of Thumb: Pricing Should Be Simple — One thing many companies — in any industry — can learn from Apple is the importance of simple pricing. If you make it easy for people to understand how much they're paying, and what they're paying for, it is more likely that they'll buy it.

Discussion: SAI, NewsGrange and Mixed Media

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
NYTimes Paywall Limit To Extend Beyond Google To “All Major Search Engines”

Discussion: Betabeat, MediaMemo, @dannysullivan, Search Engine Land, NBC Bay Area, Switched, MediaNama, @dannysullivan and mediabistro.com, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:

Apple Sues Amazon.com, Seeks Order to Stop Use of ‘App Store’ Trademark — Apple Inc. (AAPL) sued Amazon.com Inc., saying the online retailer is improperly using Apple's “App Store” trademark for a mobile software developer program. — Apple, in a complaint filed March 18 in California …

Bloomberg:

Apple's Jobs Must Answer Questions in ITunes Antitrust Suit — A federal magistrate judge ordered Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs to answer questions in an antitrust dispute alleging the company operated a music-downloading monopoly. — Lawyers for consumers who filed …

Discussion: MacRumors, 9 to 5 Mac, PC World, Edible Apple, PR Newswire, The Register, AppleInsider, Pulse2, RazorianFly, Inquirer, MacStories, iLounge and ringtonia.com

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Drunk On Licensing Fees And Patents, Microsoft Has Become A Joke — Earlier today, it was revealed that Microsoft was suing yet another company for infringing on their patents. The target this time? Barnes & Noble. Yes, Microsoft is suing a book chain. Why?

Discussion: Softpedia News

Horacio Gutierrez / Microsoft:
Microsoft Takes Legal Action Against Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec for Patent Infringement by Android Devices

Discussion: Inquirer, Android Phone Fans, CrunchGear, Softpedia News, Techland, SAI, TechEye, The Atlantic Online, MobileCrunch and Open Source Blog

Horacio Gutierrez / TechNet Blogs:
Android Patent Infringement: Licensing is the Solution

Discussion: p2pnet, PC Magazine, Computerworld and ITProPortal

Arn / MacRumors Page 2:

iPad 2: Wife Says No, but Apple Says Yes — Apple is paying close attention to all iPad 2 returns during the first few weeks to make sure there are no major production defects. This policy has led to an amusing story that we thought was entertaining enough to share.

Discussion: Macworld UK, Softpedia News, ITworld.com, MacStories, Geek.com, TiPb, Appletell and GottaBeMobile

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

RIM Reveals BlackBerry PlayBook Versions, Pricing (Starts At $499), Retail Partners — In case you were holding out for a BlackBerry PlayBook: good news. Research In Motion this morning announced (expected) plans to make the tablet computer available in more than 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

Chris Dixon / cdixon's posterous:

Dropbox and why you should invest in people — It was reported today that Dropbox will generate $100M in revenue this year. Whether or not those reports are right, it is certainly a great product, beloved by its customers and will almost certainly be wildly successful.

Discussion: @drewhouston

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry / SAI:
Dropbox Could Generate $100 Million In Revenue This Year

Discussion: Softpedia News, Pulse2 and @anildash

Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:

Nokia's tablet path may exclude Microsoft: source — (Reuters) - Nokia's strategy for entering the tablet computer market may not include Microsoft, its recently announced partner for smartphones, according to a person with knowledge of the company's thinking.

Discussion: TechEye

BBC:

China rejects Google claims of email interference — Google reduced its presence in China last year after complaining of interference — China's foreign ministry has rejected claims by Google that Beijing is disrupting access to its e-mail service in the country.

Discussion: Associated Press, Gearlog, Reuters, The Register and Inquirer

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Boom! Professional Social Network LinkedIn Passes 100 Million Members — 2011 has proven to be a monumental year so far for professional social network LinkedIn. The company filed its S-1 for a public offering, released a number of data-focused products and unveiled a social news reader for professionals.

Discussion: VatorNews, Mashable!, The LinkedIn Blog, NetworkEffect, The LinkedIn Blog, Softpedia News, WebProNews and SocialTimes.com, Thanks:srikardhanakoti

Michael Abbott / Twitter Engineering:

The Great Migration, the Winter of 2011 — If you look back at the history of Twitter, our rate of growth has largely outpaced the capacity of our hardware, software, and the company itself. Indeed, in our first five years, Twitter's biggest challenge was coping with our unprecedented growth and sightings of the infamous Fail Whale.

Discussion: Geek.com and NevilleHobson.com

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Happy Birthday Twitter. Yes, You're Awesome. Now Back To Work (On Search And Archives)

Discussion: Marketing Pilgrim

Mark Hachman / PC Magazine: Humanity's Tweets: Just 20 Terabytes

Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:

Here Come the First T-Mobile 42 Mbps Cities, Devices — The latest T-Mobile news may have been focused on the AT&T's plans to purchase the carrier, but that isn't stopping T-Mobile with its network expansion plans for 2011. Today, the company announced the first three cities …

Discussion: DSLreports, Inquirer, BGR, LAPTOP Magazine, T-Mobile Newsroom, Pulse2, Engadget, Gadgetell, Smartphones …, dailywireless.org, ThinkMobile, Technologizer, IntoMobile, LaptopMemo and Mobilized

Simon Sage / IntoMobile:

Hands-On: Verizon's Sony Ericsson Xperia Play at CTIA 2011 — At CTIA Wireless 2011, Verizon started showing off their branded version of the Sony Ericsson Xperia play for the first time. — We've already had some hands-on time with the Sony Xperia Play, but the Verizon version is a bit different.

Discussion: Engadget, BGR and Engadget

Marty Katz / Gadgetwise:

YouTube Offers Free Image Stabilization — Starting today, Google's YouTube video Web site will make the road for video enthusiasts smoother. — YouTube has added a stabilization feature to its adjustment tools, which reduces shakiness in video, whether from walking, riding or unsteady hands.

Discussion: Softpedia News and ThinkMobile

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