As expected, Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) says that it has secured a definitive agreement to raise a $1.564 billion financing from Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel Corporation, Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable, Intel (NSDQ: INTC), Eagle River Holdings and Bright House Networks. The financing comes in exchange for newly issued shares priced at $7.33 per share. The financing is needed, Clearwire says, in order to aggressively build out its 4G WiMAX network.

Among Clearwire’s backers, Comcast and Sprint have been the most active in rolling out their respective 4G services. TWC and Bright House have been seen as lagging, but that is likely to change with this financing. The participation of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) in this investment round was considered unlikely, and sure enough, it did not play a role. Release

In terms of the breakdown, Sprint Nextel is putting up $1.176 billion, along with $196 million from Comcast, $103 million from TWC, $50 million from Intel, $20 million from Eagle River and $19 million from Bright House.

Clearwire, which is set to report Q3 earnings later this afternoon, will receive approximately $1.057 billion in cash from the equity financing within five business days. About $440 million in cash will close by the end of the year, while the remaining $66 million will be funded during first quarter 2010.

Related

• Report: Sprint, Partners Preparing $1.5 Billion Infusion For Clearwire

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) will save £1 billion ($1.67 billion) in cost savings by March next year, one year ahead of schedule, and CEO Vittorio Colao now pledges that a further £1 billion will be lopped off the company’s outgoings by 2012 so it can re-invest in revenue growth. The company says in its earnings release for the first half of 2009 that the cuts are designed to “offset the pressures of the competitive environment”. No word on whether jobs will be culled, but the company is seeking “efficiencies” in call centres and through outsourcing which doesn’t sound like great news for staff.

Release | Webcast

—Earnings: For the six months to September 30, revenue rose 9.3 percent on H108 to £21.76 billion ($36.46 billion)—but that’s down three percent at constant currencies—and operating profit was up 3.6 percent to £5.48 billion ($9.18 billion). The company confirms its earlier full-year profit forecast, in the region of £11 billion ($18.4 billion) to £11.8 billion ($19.77 billion), and it added 9,600 customers in Q209, giving it a total of 303,000.

—Europe: In Voda’s most competitive market, revenue fell 5.1 percent at constant currencies to £14.9 billion ($24.9 billion). The company puts voice revenue declines down to market and regulatory price pressures. EBITDA was down eight percent at £5.6 billion ($9.3 billion). UK revenue was was down 18.4 percent to £583 million ($901 million). In Q209 Voda lost 131,000 net European customers.

—Asia, Pacific, Middle East: In emerging markets, led by unstoppable growth in India, Voda’s revenue rose 11.3 percent at constant currencies to £3.07 billion— helped by a massive 48.2 percent customer increase. Colao cautioned in the analysts’ call that “competition has intensified recently” in India, with 12 “aggressive” competitors going toe-to-toe, but he still predicts an average of five percent growth in the entire market there in the next five years. 8,265 or 85.4 percent of Vodafone’s entire net customer additions came from these markets.

—Update: In the conference call, Colao didn’t rule out further job cuts at Vodafone, but told analysts “our cost efficiency programme is not about headcount merely” and said “I would not expect big announcements of big headcount (reductions)”. Instead, rationalising assets like property will make up the lion’s share.
Colao also added his voice to the European operators calling for consolidation in India and said it was now a question of “when not whether” the Indian government announces plans that would allow the market to shink. “I don’t think anyone thinks there will be 12 operators in India—in some areas most people think there will be two or three.”

Related

• Earnings: Vodafone Declares iPhone Interest; Profits Rise On Asia Growth
• Earnings: Vodafone Net Profit Plunges; Emerging Markets, Verizon Offset European Declines

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) may be paying $750 million in stock for AdMob, but even once the acquisition closes, it will continue to have a significant hole in its mobile advertising offerings.

That’s because neither Google or AdMob have the ability to insert an ad into a text message—at least on a large scale. The coverage gap is actually pointed out by Google itself on a site that explains the acquisition in detail. In an illustration, Google highlights how it is focused on mobile search and how AdMob is focused on display. But under the picture of an ad sent by SMS, neither company is listed.

So, the question is, is Google preparing for a second mobile advertising acquisition? A Google spokesperson did not reply to an email seeking comment, but it may not be a bad idea. SMS is something almost all phones are capable of doing, and today it still makes up 55 percent of the mobile advertising market, according to eMarketer. Contrast that to mobile search, which makes up 20 percent and display ads, which make up 25 percent. Those figures are no surprise to Google, which posted them today as part of the acquisition.

The list of companies in that space that could be potential candidates for Google or others include: 4INFO, HipCricket, Cellfire, SinglePoint, iLoop Mobile (ASX: LPM) and VeriSign.

Taiwanese handset maker HTC launched its first-ever consumer-facing ad campaign that’s all about “You” late last month. The multi-million dollar advertising blitz has the goal of raising the awareness of its Windows Mobile and Android-based mobile phones, and now we are hearing just how much they think the ads will boost sales.

HTC expects shipments of its HTC-branded handsets to grow five to six percent in Q4 compared to the year ago period, reports DigiTimes, which quotes a recent conference call with the company. The company did not disclose its shipments from a year ago, but said that total handset shipments reached 2.8 million in Q3, which is slightly less than the 3 million shipped in Q2. Likewise, it expects revenues to top NT $40-42 million (US $12.3-12.9 billion) in Q4, up from NT$34 billion in Q3.

The marketing spend will negatively affect operating expenses, which will jump in Q4 compared to the prior quarter. The company said “operating expense ratio” is expected to rise to 16.5 to 17.5 percent from 13.9 percent in Q3 due to a higher marketing budget.

The main reason for EA’s second round of mass layoffs within a single calendar year? The company is extremely bullish on digital. “As we said in previous quarters, we’re narrowing our focus to invest in core hits and digital,” said CEO John Riccitiello, during the company’s Q3 (its fiscal 2010 Q2) earnings call. “Laying off people is never pleasant, but these cuts are essential for transforming our company.” He offered up digital stats as proof that EA’s previous layoffs and “refocusing” have worked:

—Net digital revs (non-GAAP) came in at $138 million, up 23 percent year-over-year
—New deals with brands like J&J, Doritos and Apple increased incremental ad revs by $7 million; overall in-game ad sales were up 10 percent for the quarter
—EA Mobile’s revs (non-GAAP) came in at $50 million, up 9 percent year-over-year (driven mostly by the iPhone)
—Casual games site Pogo.com saw increases in revs, registrations and subscriptions

—Decreased disc sales: Riccitiello said it was the company’s largest quarter ever in terms of digital revenues, but the optimism about the future was tempered by the real financial concerns of consumers right now. “Retailers are cautious, foot traffic remains slow and packaged software sales are down industry-wide,” he said. And while he said he believed that digital growth would “more than offset the temporary weakness” in packaged game sales, EA still lowered the bottom range of its guidance for the final two quarters of its fiscal year.

—Layoff details: The company will eliminate 900 developer jobs, as well as 500 on the game publishing side, and 100 corporate positions. COO John Schappert said EA will reinvest the $100 million it expects to save annually in digital—for everything from micro-transaction and subscription-based games, to mobile and social games.

—Playfish: Schappert said the environment surrounding the deal was similar to its acquisition of mobile gaming firm Jamdat in 2005. “When you look at social gaming, you see a lot of new IP, but very few established brands,” he said. “Playfish will be able to continue working on their IP, but also capitalize on our existing brands. It’s very reminiscent of Jamdat—their IP forms the backbone of our most popular mobile games, but they were still able to successfully port franchises like Madden and FIFA to mobile as well.”

In terms of the transition, Riccitiello gave the impression that Playfish would have free reign: “Playfish will continue to be Playfish, just with access to EA’s IP and resources.” The company said its fiscal Q3 guidance didn’t reflect an impact from the $400 million deal, but that it expected to reflected a diluted GAAP EPS of around 15-to-25-cents per share in the next calendar year.

Related

• 'Record' Revenues, But Bigger Losses Mean EA Will Still Axe 1,500 Positions | paidContent
• Rock Band, Guitar Hero Sales Slump Drops Game Industry Revs By Roughly 50 Percent

T-Mobile USA has started to phase out its myFaves calling plans, which allowed customers to call five people on an unlimited basis.

The feature is essentially being trumped by T-Mobile’s new unlimited calling plans, reports FierceWireless. In a statement, T-Mobile said: “Our new Even More plans, which feature options for unlimited calling, text and data service, have taken the place of our myFaves unlimited calling feature. We continue to offer the myFaves home screen at no additional charge across our broad portfolio of phones as a way for customers to easily connect with their Fave Five through voice, text and email.”

Customers that currently subscribe to myFaves will be able to continue to use it, but it will be slowly phased out of new offerings. The plan was introduced back in 2006 and was definitely able to garner some attention following catchy commercials with NBA players that asked who was in your Five Faves. Now nearly every carrier has their own version, including AT&T’s recently launched A-List service.

However, T-Mobile often saw the MyFaves program as less of a calling plan and more of a social network, where users interacted with their best friends and closest family members. It embodied its “Stick Together” tagline, which replaced the “Get More” campaign. In a 2006 interview with CEO Robert Dotson, he considered MyFaves as the first step of transforming from a wireless company into a mobile communications company. He said “the next generation is when someone’s birthday is 10 days away, we’ll put a package on there that says start to think about what to give that person….This is step one in what will be a long history of products based around a consumer, not a network.”

T-Mobile’s recently launched unlimited plans definitely seem like a fall-back to T-Mobile’s “Get More” days. The Even More plan requires a two-year contract and offers unlimited voice and text for $59.99 or unlimited voice for $49.99. The Even More Plus plan offers unlimited voice, text and browsing for $79.99 without a contract.

Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel will be eliminating up to 2,500 jobs at the company in order to reach its goal of cutting $350 million in annual costs. Release.

Sprint said today the labor cost reductions are part of efforts to make its cost structure more competitive and to remain financially secure. The third-largest wireless carrier continues to lose post-paid customers, albeit at a slower rate than in the past. At the end of Q3, the company had a balance of $5.9 billion in cash and equivalents and said it expects to continue to generate cash in Q4. Still, it will face more expenses going forward. In October, it paid $426 million to acquire a Midwest affiliate. It is also likely that Sprint will help Clearwire financially as it rolls out its fourth-generation network.

Back in January, Sprint announced a massive restructuring plan that eliminated 8,000 jobs by March 31 in order to save $1.2 billion annually.

Sprint said the eliminated positions will occur company-wide at various geographic locations and that the positions will be eliminated by Dec. 31. The one area that it will protect is is customer service. In a release, it said: “The company is taking this action in a careful manner to ensure that there is no impact on the improved customer experience that has been reflected in much higher levels of satisfaction in customer surveys and in independent performance tests. Sprint has pledged to not waver on the company’s commitment to quality service and products.”

The company expects to recognize a charge of about $60 million to $80 million during Q4 for severance and related costs associated with the reduction.

Research In Motion has announced a slew of updates for developers, who are distributing apps in the BlackBerry App World. The updates are in line with what Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) offers on the iPhone today, and will allow for in-app advertising, in-app purchases and new push and location services. Release.

The announcements were made today at the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference, but were foreshadowed in a September earnings call by Jim Balsillie, RIM’s Co-CEO, who was eager to spill the beans about the latest developments, which in his words: “translates into a customer, a client who is really, really happy and really, really ready to consume heavily and get their peers and friends to consume heavily.” More details after the jump…

In-app Advertising: RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) said it will start offering a new advertising service in the first half of next year that will allow developers to monetize their applications using advertising. RIM has partnered with a number of mobile ad networks, including Jumptap, Lat49, Millennial Media, Navteq, 1020 Placecast, Quattro Wireless and Sympatico.ca. The ads will let advertisers initiate a call from an ad, add a calendar entry or contact entry from an ad, and directly link to a BlackBerry app. The service will also report advertising metrics across the ad networks, including impressions, clicks, conversions and earnings. .

New payment services: By mid-2010, RIM says it will enable in-app purchases in the App World. That means developers will be able to sell virtual goods, monthly subscriptions, additional game levels or other items from within the app. The purchases will be tied to the payment system, which for now is mostly PayPal.
Push Services: This is one of BlackBerry’s flagship services that allows information, like emails, to be pushed down to phones. Now developers and content providers can deliver alerts and up to 8 KB of data to applications this way.

New location services: RIM is launching three new location-based services for developers: cell site geolocation, reverse geocoding and travel time. Cell Site Geolocation is very standard today and is commonly used as an alternative to GPS. Reverse Geocoding helps people convert their location coordinates into a specific address for use in BlackBerry applications. And finally, Travel Time allows developers to incorporate estimated travel time within their apps for destinations in the US and Canada. The travel time calculations will be based on distance, speed limits and aggregated traffic conditions. The service returns values for an estimated arrival time, total travel time and total distance that can be used in an application.

Separately, more announcements were made including details on RIM’s partnership with Adobe’s Flash and technical enhancements to the developer environment.

»  Talk about a marketing blitz: Verizon and Motorola will spend $100 million before the year’s out to promote Droid. [AdAge]

»  And just in case Droid needs more competition, RadioShack has lined up as the latest retailer that will offer the iPhone. [Dealerscope]

»  There’s um ... no app for this. The Florida Keys tourism board has launched a set of video ads (for the web and TV) that mimic Apple’s App Store ads, in the hopes of getting techies to think about a relaxing, dis-connected vacation. [YouTube]

»  One out of every six mobile phones worldwide will be able to share data, make payments via NFC by 2014. [Cellular-News]

»  More bad news for Nokia. The company’s recalling 14 million chargers for three handsets that were manufactured this year.  [CNET]

»  Guests at the Hilton, Embassy Suites and Doubletree hotels will be able to check-in, check-out and order grub via iPhone with the launch of a trio of new apps from Hilton Worldwide [USA Today]

»  Loopt app upgrade gives Blackberry users location-aware mobile social networking, too. [Release]

Brice Milliorn, who has developed 87 applications for the iPhone in his spare time, is now trying to sell his business, JBMJBM, for $100,000 to the highest bidder on eBay (NSDQ: EBAY). Release.

Some of the apps include: Friday Night Lights, iSpy Game, iReferee, iSexyRef, iSexyRef2, Pro Rodeo Fan, Sit Up Counter and several College-themed applications. Milliorn says he has sold 30,000 apps in his time as an iPhone developer, but doesn’t say how much money he made. According to iTunes, most of his apps are on sale for 99 cents, meaning that he may have made less than $30,000 and that the $100,000 price tag seems a bit optimistic.

Many independent developers have realized that making iPhone apps is not that lucrative as they initially thought, and requires coming up with new hits in order to continue sales. Milliorn says he’s selling because it is time consuming and he needs to spend more time with family. The company is on sale for another five days and so far has received zero bids.

Google is reportedly adding VoIP provider Gizmo5 to its ranks, on the heels of its $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob. TechCrunch reports that the deal is worth just $30 million.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) responded to a confirmation request with the standard: “We are always talking to various companies about various things, but we don’t comment on rumor or speculation.” Still, the new, relatively cheap deal would be right in line with CEO Eric Schmidt’s vow that the company would start investing “heavily” in startups again.

Gizmo5’s parent company is SiPphone. Founded by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, the company raised $6 million in funding from Dawntreader Ventures in 2006; it first started working with Google that same year to sync its IM client, Gizmo Project, with Google Talk. The success of that first collaboration could be what sparked Google’s interest; Arrington also suggests that Google made the buy because Gizmo5’s VoIP service allows voice call connections between computers and real phones, and Google Talk doesn’t. The acquisition and Gizmo5 integration could also serve as a tidy way to transform Google Voice and Google Talk into unified VoIP communications service.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has agreed to acquire AdMob, a mobile ad network, for $750 million in stock. Release.

At that jaw-dropping price, it marks Google’s third-largest acquisition after DoubleClick and YouTube and is a very solid exit for AdMob and its investors, which have pumped in $47 million into the business. But perhaps more importantly, the acquisition also lends credibility to the struggling mobile advertising space, which is always being characterized as being around the corner from taking off. In a blog post, Google’s VP of Product Management Susan Wojcicki writes: “Despite the tremendous growth in mobile usage and the substantial investment by many businesses in the space, the mobile web is still in its early stages. We believe that great mobile advertising products can encourage even more growth in the mobile ecosystem. That’s what has us excited about this deal.”

Google said both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions.

AdMob is considered one of the largest U.S. mobile ad networks, especially in terms of number of ad requests. However, it’s unknown how many requests the company fills and the figures are not independently verified. Over the past year or so, the San Mateo-based company has increasingly focused on serving ads to the iPhone, and even bought an ad network aggregator called Adwhirl that tries to fill requests from a number of competing ad networks. AdMob’s CEO Omar Hamoui, who founded the company in January 2006, writes a fairly personal letter here, in which he thanks everyone for their success and looks forward to the future. Hamoui: “The best part of all this is what’s next. We are not going away. After our deal with Google closes, we will work together to accelerate the pace of innovation in this area. Our product and engineering teams will keep building great products for all of our customers. Our business development team will keep working to maximize ad revenue for the more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications that make up AdMob’s publisher network. Our sales teams will keep working with our thousands advertisers to deliver successful campaigns and our marketing group will keep pushing to get the word out about mobile. It’s just that now we will be able to do an even better job for all of our customers.”

Google’s interest in AdMob is fairly obvious. The internet search giant has recently launched Android, its mobile operating system, but has made it clear that it intends to make money similarly to how it does online—through advertising. For some time, AdMob was an obvious acquisition target, but it will be important to watch if other ad networks will be picked up by Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) or Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) now that Google has jumped out in front. Other mobile ad network startups include: Millennial Media, Jumptap, Quattro Wireless, Mojiva and others.

Related

• AdMob Has Bought Rival AdWhirl For Undisclosed Sum
• The Real List Of The Largest Mobile Ad Networks—Sort Of
• Why It's Hard To Say Which Mobile Ad Network Is The Largest
• AdMob's Growing Success Attracts Suitors

—Sulake: Maker of the teen-focused virtual world Habbo Hotel, Finnish developer Sulake has launched a mobile “virtual bar” for the over-17 market. The Bobba Bar social network is available on Apple’s app store, Nokia’s Ovi store, via GetJar and via online download. The apps and access to the site is free—but there are plans to introduce charges for online items. Release.

—Wallace & Gromit Aardman Animations’ much-loved plasticine pair star in a series of four paid-for iPhone app comics, priced 59p. From Brand Republic.

Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) could soon be on the receiving end of a $1.5 billion boost, according to the Wall Street Journal: $1 billion from majority shareholder Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel and another $500 million from JV partners Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable (NYSE: TWC), Bright House Networks, Comcast Corp. (NSDQ: CMCSA) and Intel (NSDQ: INTC). Close Clearwire watchers may notice a name missing—WSJ’s unidentified sources say Google (NSDQ: GOOG) won’t be taking part in this round. The five partners put $3.2 billion into the WiMax network 18 months ago. Since then, Clearwire has changed CEO and other top execs; it’s pushing now to roll out in 25 markets by the end of the year.

Sources say the announcement could come as early as this week. On Tuesday, Clearwire will report its third-quarter earnings.

So far, Comcast and Sprint have been the most aggressive at rolling out 4G services, and is offering them to their customers almost as fast as Clearwire launches new markets. Time Warner has been less eager, and Bright House Networks slower yet. It’s still unclear where Google will play a role, although it is well known that it both companies are big believers in open networks. Google is also serving up some of Clearwire’s services, such as email. Clearwire must receive additional financing to roll out the network quickly. Not only are its partners looking for that scale, but Clearwire is also competing against Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), which is working on building a 4G network based on another technology.

It was rumored that Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA may be in talks with Clearwire to at least gain access to some of the company’s airwaves. It’s unclear whether this deal would eliminate that possibility, or if an additional partnership is in the works.

Related

• Clearwire: CMO Atish Gude Leaves; Appoints Two New Execs
• Time Warner To Start Selling Clearwire's WiMax Dec. 1
• Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA Now Reportedly In Talks With Clearwire
• There's At Least One Wireless Company That's For Net Neutrality

Many are referring as this to Droid Day, the moment when Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) starts selling the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid, perhaps the most highly anticipated Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android phone to date. So, did people turn out in droves to buy the shinny new phone? Is it better than the iPhone? What’s the difference between the Droid and the Droid Eris? And, what’s it all going to cost me? We have all those answers and more:

The lines: Verizon Wireless opened many of its stores early for the throngs of people expected to show up. Early on, that sounded like a smart move. Cnet reported that more than a hundred people were lined up at midnight (early Friday morning) in front of a store in midtown Manhattan. However, the momentum didn’t last. Engadget snapped a picture of one person in line in San Francisco. In Seattle, where Verizon Wireless experienced a line for the BlackBerry Storm when it launched, not a single person stood today. Still, sales seemed to be steady today, according to anecdotal evidence.

Droid Vs. Droid Eris: This may cause confusion, but late in the game Verizon decided to start selling both the Motorola Droid today, along with the HTC Droid Eris. So, what’s the difference? The Droid Eris, which sells as the HTC Hero elsewhere, lacks a physical keyboard, is cheaper and boosts a slightly older operating system, meaning it won’t come with free Google navigation. However, you must be warned that the Eris has a more polished, prettier user interface that HTC spent a long time developing—and we like it a lot. In contrast, the Droid looks like some of the earlier Android builds. If the Eris appeals to you, you may want to consider buying the HTC Hero with Sprint (NYSE: S), not the Eris from Verizon. Laptop Magazine breaks it down here: The HTC Eris may only cost $99 at Verizon, but it’s $651 more expensive than Sprint Hero because of the data plans and because Sprint includes a lot of software on the device for free (like navigation).

Is the Droid better than the iPhone?: As you may suspect this is a highly personal opinion that can easily be swayed by which device the person is currently using. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of reviews to point you to. The WSJ’s Walt Mossberg diplomatically concludes: “It’s the best super-smart phone Verizon offers, the best Motorola phone I’ve tested and the best hardware so far to run Android…Like the iPhone, the Droid is really a powerful hand-held computer that happens to make phone calls, and is a platform for numerous third-party programs, or apps.” TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington is less coy and pretty much tells everyone to run out and get it immediately: “It is as close as we’ve come to the Platonic ideal of a smartphone. Its very existence ensures that the next iPhone will be even better than it otherwise would have been.” If you are looking for more of a side-by-side comparison, MobileCrunch is the place to go and has a two part series that answers everything from ringer volume to photo quality to the browser. That’s here and here.

Ok, I’m sold. How much does it all cost?: See above for the Eris. As for the Motorola Droid, I’m afraid it’s not as straightforward. First, the phone: At the Verizon store, it will cost $200 after a $100 mail-in rebate and two-year contract. But Engadget is reporting that Sears has a better deal. It will be $150 and no mail-in rebate. Second, the plan: For $30 a month, you will get an ‘unlimited’ data plan capped at 5Gb, reports PC World. The sneaky part is that it’s not unlimited at all. Verizon has confirmed that if you’d like to use the phone as a modem and tether it to your PC, it will cost you an additional $30 a month—but that is also limited to 5Gb. Unfortunately, the fees don’t stop there. You’ll pay $45 for the basic data plan (rather than $30) if you want access to the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Exchange email server. That means $75 a month for data, Exchange and tethering (with consumption capped at 10 Gb).

Ok, screw that I’m waiting for the iPhone on Verizon: But wait, no one really has a clue as to when Verizon Wireless might have an iPhone or some other Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) device. If rumor is enough for you, however, it could be as soon as the third quarter 2010. Quoting a report from Taiwan sources, AppleInsider reported today that the new “worldmode” iPhone will be compatible with Verizon’s CDMA2000 networks and UMTS 3G networks using a new hybrid chip produced by Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM). According to OTR Global’s sources, this one phone will work on most networks by third quarter next year. Of course, that could mean it’s going to Sprint.

Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) is getting quite a lot of bad press over its decision to double its early termination fees—or the amount of money you pay if you break your contract early.

In advance of the carrier’s latest smartphones going on sale today, it said it will increase its ETF’s from $175 to $350. Verizon insists the decision is justified because of the higher prices of today’s phones. And, although that may be true, the reason why it is getting a lot of attention is because the other top three top carriers are not following suit. Instead they are sticking with their lower fees—at least for now.

John Paczkowski from All Things D crunched the numbers and yes, the price hike on the surface is looking fair, especially if you are buying a pricier smartphone.

In most cases, carriers charge about $200 if you walk away earlier. That money is designed to recoup the cost of the handset they gave to you for free, or at a highly subsidized rate. Most carriers pro-rate the price, so that it declines as your contract wears on (typically about $10 a month or so).

Paczkowski looks at Motorola’s new Droid. At full price, it costs $559.99. With a two-year contract, Verizon sells the handset for $199.99, translating into a $359.99 subsidy (as long as Verizon actually purchased the Droids at that price). Therefore, an early-termination fee of $350 actually seems appropriate. ETFs will be lower for non-smartphone devices.

Will the other carriers follow? Both Sprint (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile confirmed to mocoNews that they don’t have plans to raise their $200 ETF. AT&T (NYSE: T) currently charges $175, and isn’t willing to speculate on whether that would change.

Perhaps it’s only a matter of time.

»  Martin Cooper, who is credited with developing the first cell phone and making the first wireless call—in 1973—says phones today are “too complicated.” [Telegraph]

»  Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is promoting the Droid with an ad on its home page. [Tech Trader Daily]

»  Remote control-for-smartphones maker Zeemote—which had raised $6.9 million in funding—has shut up shop. [Mass High Tech]

»  Sales of games on the Android Market were up 53 percent in October. [ME]

»  Cell phone owners can now get the Google Mobile App at Best Buy stores. [Google Mobile Blog]

With the introduction of the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid today by Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), there are now three different versions of the Android operating system currently for sale, which is raising red flags that the platform could become fragmented.

The problem with fragmentation is that developers will have a difficult time developing applications that could run smoothly on each platform. Besides hardware differences, like screen sizes, there will be software differences, too. Some phones will support multi-touch, and others won’t. Not to mention, each manufacturer is building their own user interface on top of the platform that offers a host of other features.

All of the problems could be solved if the older devices were upgraded to the latest software, but that’s not likely going to happen, reports IDG News Service. The Motorola Cliq runs version 1.5; the Motorola Droid runs 2.0 and most others run Android 1.6.

Motorola and Samsung were coy in saying whether it would upgrade its current handset line-up, and Google told IDG gave an equally vague answer. A Google spokeswoman said: “Because Android is open source, all software updates we release are available for carriers and handset makers to take and update their current or future Android-powered devices.” But in some cases, the older hardware might not be able to support the latest software.

While the issue is not new to mobile, it may be worse for Google (NSDQ: GOOG). To date, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has rolled out three major versions of its iPhone operating system. Developers were expected to update their apps in order to support the latest platform. However, Apple does not currently suffer from having multiple hardware configurations or UIs. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) perhaps is a more relevant comparison. But it charges a license fee for Windows Mobile and doesn’t provide over-the-air updates for its operating system. Rather, it rolls out a new version every year or so, forcing users to purchase a new phone in most cases to get the new OS. Developers are given enough notice to make the necessary changes. While Microsoft has a slower pace to market, the methodology also may ease fragmentation issues. In October, Greg Sullivan, Senior Product Manager for Windows Mobile told mocoNews that since Google is relying on an open source platform, it could be affected by the platform splitting off and having multiple threads, which causes confusion. “It remains to be seen if that will happen,” he said.

France Telecom’s Orange, mad-keen on building a web advertising network, is expanding its Orange Advertising Network out of Europe and in to Latin America.

It’s assembled more than 20 Hispanic publishers (including Orange-owned starMedia, 20minutos.es, elMundo.es, Marca.com and Peru.com), with a claimed US/LatAm monthly audience of 21 million uniques, for whom it will sell ads.

The move is surprising since - apart from Orange operating mobile and broadband in Dominican Republic and the Caribbean, and France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) offering U.S. enterprise services and Starmedia - FT doesn’t really have an Americas footprint.

Didn’t know Orange had an ad network… ?

The network grew out of Orange’s business making and selling ads on its own properties for French clients like Air France and EDF.

Orange beefed up it up in France earlier this year, selling ads on the “three screens” (Orange’s favourite term for its strategy) of mobile, web and IPTV. Then it bought UK digital ads agency Unanimis this summer before striking a deal that effectively brings former ad-funded MVNO Blyk aboard to form a joint ad sales operation.

Orange reckons its network now reaches 55 percent of European internet users (comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) data).

Related

• Orange Buying Unanimis, Forms Multimedia Ad Network
• Interview: Blyk, Orange Chiefs Plan To Sell Ads Together

Brighton, England-based mobile content developer BrightAI says it’s got an FLi (Football League Interactive) contract to develop mobile content for the league’s 80 soccer clubs.

The arrangement covers wallpapers, games and apps which BrightAI will aim to sell to supporters through its Boximo direct-to-consumer channel, which BrightAI offers for white-labeling through other sites.

In other words, BrightAI will get to tout club content through online store adjuncts to clubs’ own sites.

Supported handsets are Java phones, with Blackberry and Android due next year.

FLi manages the internet and mobile exploitation for the Football League and its member clubs. On the desktop, websites are managed by Perform Group.

BrightAI already had 11 football club clients outside the Football League.