Tonight I started noticing new Verizon wireless commercials featuring the “there’s a map for that” motto. The first (pictured above) is a take on Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’s Island of Misfit Toys. There, the iPhone is sent to the island, not because it is a bad device, but because it’s power and abilities are crippled by the AT&T Network.

The second:

The Third:

As you can see they are all geared toward Christmas and the holiday season.

I find them to be quite festive and actually in good taste; they aren’t attacking the iPhone but the actual AT&T Network. Expect to see a lot of them in the coming weeks.

Target will be starting mobile phone sales inside its stores. While most retail stores such as Target and Walmart and even Best Buy offer mobile phone sales, the way that Target is going to be selling mobile phones will be a bit different than others do.

Target will be outsourcing its mobile phone sales to Radio Shack. Because of this, Radio Shack will be opening up kiosks inside the store. Any consumer will be able to buy the same brands they can get other places. They will have T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless.

According to the article, you won’t be able to buy Sprint phones at the kiosks, but I can’t see that holding because Sprint has always been one of the main carriers that sold at Radio Shack stores.

This could be a good idea for smaller retailers; however Target is a pretty big store with a large retail footprint. Target has the ability to sell and the room to sell the phones and plans, but I suppose that they have felt as though this would be the best way to do it and would benefit everyone in the deal.

There wasn’t a lot of information released about the deal between Target and Radio Shack. However, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, California said that Kiosk Operations (a subsidiary of Radio Shack that will be operating the kiosks inside the Target stores) is likely paying Target for the ability to operate In its stores. He said that it is likely for the company to pay between $30,000 and $40,000 per year for retail rent. It is likely that Kiosk Operations will also be paying Target a small amount of its sales, which is probably going to be less than 10 percent.

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So with AT&T coming out with it’s $60 a month prepaid unlimited talk and text plan it looks like maybe cellular companies in the United States are finally starting to get competitive. Well, T-Mobile wants to remind people that it is the most affordable cellular provider out there. With it’s growing 3G coverage and a cell phone selection that is growing more and more competitive with it’s Android-based selection, T-Mobile is looking more like a real competitor in the national cell phone market.

It seems like the company is getting tired of being dead last in the list of national carriers. T-Mobile has the fewest subscribers in comparison to Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, and Sprint.  It is planning on doing something about it.

T-Mobile has realized that people want to pay less for their cell phone bill. Sprint figured this out and created a $99 unlimited plan with unlimited everything. T-Mo may now trying to one-up the number three carrier by offering the same thing (unlimited talk, text, and data) for $50 a month.

The rumors that are surrounding Project Dark include the carrier offering data intensive phones such as the Nokia N900 and more Android devices such as the Motorola CLIQ. The rumors go on to say that the next stage is the spreading of a 21Mbps HSPA+ system being rolled out across the country. To compare, right now AT&T is still trying to introduce a 7.2 Mbps data coverage.

Of course, all of this is just based on rumors floating around the internet. T-Mobile has always been the carrier with the spottiest coverage, but usually the cheapest price (other than small, regional carriers). This does seem like a move that the company would make to entice people to drop their contracts with other carriers and switch.

A few days ago, I was talking to Chris about cell phone companies and their ability to compete and I told him that if one of the major carriers started dramatically dropping their prices then others would follow suit. I also said that if other carriers could get their hands on the iPhone, prices would drop dramatically. But because AT&T has a firm hold on the iPhone, it isn’t likely to see other carriers get it any time soon and therefore, AT&T won’t be dropping their prices.

On Labor Day, Verizon Wireless sponsored a rally that was organized by those who are opposed to the climate bill. The event, which was held in West Virginia, was called the “Friends of America Rally.” The goal of the event was to get people there who opposed the energy bill because it, according to the radicals putting on the event, [the climate bill] did away with American jobs.

Those in attendance included loud mouthed Fox News anchor Sean Hannity as well as Ted Nugent. The event was put together by Massey Energy, which is one of the nation’s top coal producers. That makes sense for that  company to put on such an event seeing as how coal creates so much CO2 in our atmosphere; it’s in their best interest for people to believe whatever the coal company says.

“Despite the rally’s name, it is not friendly to America to cling to an industry that keeps Appalachia in a stranglehold of economic and environmental impoverishment by permanently polluting water supplies, blocking green-energy development and economic diversification, and contributing to global climate change. Coal corporations are making millions of dollars off destroying the mountains, and only pollution and poverty are trickling down to residents,” said Tierra Curry, a native of eastern Kentucky and biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Of course, if you get the most extreme right-wing conservatives all at a rally together, more will come up than just the environment. Of course, the second amendment and the right to bear arms came up and with Ted Nugent as a speaker, how could it not?

I have to say, people will gather with people who believe the same things they do. If you would have put a liberal in the middle of that rally, they may have simply imploded from all the nonsense going on around them. I know I would have. I also know that the more people who are gathered, the more obnoxious a group can become. This is not limited to right wing conservatives.

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USA Today reported discussions between Verizon and Apple started even before Steve Jobs went on medical leave.

It could be possible because Vodaphone, a Verizon owned company in Europe, already has the rights to the iPhone in Europe even though At&t has exclusivity in the States.

Of course AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that he wants his company to have exclusive rights to the iPhone for a longer period of time…without the iPhone AT&T would easily fall behind Verizon due to Verizon’s bigger and better network.

All cell carriers around DC experienced extremely high call volume today even when they were routing calls to less used towers. Even with calls having problems getting through, texts weren’t having any problems.

From NewsFactor Network:

The largest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, had boosted capacity, with AT&T reporting it spent about $4 million. A Verizon spokesperson, Debra Lewis, told news media that mobile Web, e-mail and Twitter short messages were good uses of the bandwidth, and the company’s D.C. network was experiencing traffic up to five times its normal call volume. Even so, she said, most of the calls were going through on the first try.

I always thought that this kind of thing happens whenever there is a major event happening were as few as thousands of people are gathered. There were over a million in D.C. today…

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Together, they have 78 million subscribers.

Verizon is putting up $5.9 billion to buy out Alltel and will be assuming $22.2 billion in debt from the company.

The bad news is that Alltel’s Little Rock headquarters will likely lose most of it’s 3,000 jobs. Verizon says that it will keep a call center there, but the higher paying jobs will likely be lost.

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So what’s wrong with Sprint?

As a Sprint subscriber (yes, I know. I should probably go into hiding for admitting that now), I am disappointed with the marketing tactics used. Sure, maybe in political advertising attacking your opponent doesn’t work, but when you’re trying to gain some market share in the cellular industry, sometimes you have to point out every weakness of your competitor. Look at Verizon…they are one of the top 2 cellular companies in the US, and their ads are specifically targeting Sprint. Poor little Sprint Why wouldn’t Verizon pick on At&t? Well, I believe that Verizon is trying to move as many CDMA (At&t is GSM) customers to its side as possible…

If Verizon Wireless can put Sprint out of business, that is one less carrier it will have to compete with.

I think Sprint can make a comeback. Hopefully.