Sprint Nextel Corp.

Last year, Palm thought it had all the pieces for a turnaround in the market it pioneered: A new CEO known for making the iPod a household name, a sleek new smart phone called the Pre and fresh, intuitive operating software.

Instead, the company is in danger of going the way of its 1990s Palm Pilot, making it the latest innovator to learn that great technology and an accomplished leader don't guarantee success.

T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said Thursday it gained 371,000 new customers in the fourth quarter, reversing subscriber losses in the third quarter.

But the new subscribers were mainly low-paying ones who don't sign contracts, and T-Mobile USA's earnings and revenue fell from the same period a year earlier.

The world's largest wireless carriers, including the four largest in the U.S., announced Monday that they are combining forces to make it easier for software developers to write applications that will run on as many phones as possible.

The "Wholesale Applications Community" is an attempt to retake the initiative from phone makers like Apple Inc., Nokia Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd., which have applications stores of their own. Google Inc. is also building a significant store for its Android software.

AT&T Inc. is paying $18 million to settle claims that it imposed unfairly high fees on wireless customers who wanted to end their contracts.

The settlement covers customers from as far back as 1998. Those who were charged an early termination fee, or ETF, could get as much as $140 back, if they canceled a two-year contract just before it was about to expire. Those who canceled earlier would get less.

What would the holidays be without bickering between siblings? AT&T and Verizon are swamping TV with ads attacking facets of each other's wireless networks. While the ads stick fairly close to the truth, there's a lot they don't say.

AT&T Inc. has been running ads with actor Luke Wilson checking off points in AT&T's favor over Verizon Wireless. It's the continuation of a spat that started a month ago, when Verizon started airing cheeky commercials that highlighted how its fast, third-generation ("3G") network has wider coverage than AT&T's 3G system.

In television's latest quest to discourage viewers from skipping ads, actors from NBC and ABC shows are appearing in character in commercials to interact with products in parallel story lines.

This new kind of commercial further blurs the line between program and advertisement and comes as traditional product placements within shows, an early response to fast-forwarding, have become common.

A series of spots that debuted this week weaves Palm Inc.'s Pre phone more deeply into the story line of two prime-time dramas.

T-Mobile USA has dropped a plan to begin charging customers $1.50 per month to get a paper copy of their bill in the mail.

The wireless phone carrier had recently informed its 33 million customers that the fee would go into effect this past Saturday and apply to anyone who didn't sign up for a paperless billing plan, in which bills can only be viewed on the Internet.

After an outcry from customers and threats of legal action, however, the company changed its mind. In a statement posted on a company Web page, T-Mobile said it had decided not to implement the fee, "for now."

How many wireless carriers do we need? It's a question that's popping up again as T-Mobile USA is said to be looking at buying Sprint Nextel Corp.

Now that most people have a cell phone and once-heady growth in the industry is slowing, analysts say carriers are going to be looking at buying each other to increase their scale and to avoid competing too much on price. Consumers have been benefiting from relentless price-cutting on cell phone service in the past few years.

Tracfone Wireless, the country's largest provider of "prepaid" cell phones, is quietly testing a new service that appears to be a response to the fierce price competition in the prepaid market.

Since June, Tracfone has been selling unlimited calling and texting for $45 per month under the "Straight Talk" brand, and 1,000 minutes and 1,000 text messages per month for $30. The service uses Verizon Wireless' network.

When Palm Inc.'s and Sprint Nextel Corp.'s latest bundle of smart phone joy, the Pre, arrives Saturday, it will be entering an increasingly crowded market backed by parents that have a lot riding on its success.

The Pre -- which costs $200 with a two-year service plan and rebate -- might be most important to Sunnyvale, California-based Palm, the very company that helped usher in the handheld computing era with the original Palm Pilot in 1996. These days Palm needs a resurgence in a market largely dominated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry devices.