Verizon

Verizon Wireless hopes to debut its first 4G smartphone in the middle of next year, months earlier than planned, a company executive revealed Wednesday. The new handset will debut about three to six months after its Long-Term Evolution network launches, Verizon Wireless CTO Anthony Melone told The Wall Street Journal.

That timetable suggests Verizon sees 4G as a significant way to outpace its leading rival, AT&T.

Six months after launching trials of its new 4G Long Term Evolution network, Verizon Wireless has reported wireless data speeds faster than its own and competitors' existing networks. The recorded speeds are also faster than any competitors' promised 3G network speeds.

Trials in Boston and Seattle show the LTE network is able to hold peak download speeds of 40 to 50 megabits per second and peak upload speeds of 20 to 25 megabits per second, the New Jersey-based wireless carrier announced Monday.

Some Verizon Wireless customers will soon have access to Skype, an Internet telephone service, the companies announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday. Skype, based in Luxembourg, allows people to use the service to make free video and voice calls. Users are also able to send instant messages and other files.

Verizon data customers will be able to make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls, according to the companies. Users will also be able to make international calls using Skype Out, a competitive service.

HBO on Wednesday announced a partnership with Verizon to deliver streaming content to the telecom's FiOS TV customers. The deal introduces Verizon customers to HBO's online destination for video programming, HBOGO.com, which offers HBO programming.

Here's the catch: It's not available to all FiOS TV customers. Only those who also subscribe to HBO will receive the promised free, unlimited online access to HBO programming on demand from any U.S. location with a broadband connection. Would-be viewers also have to be subscribers to both FiOS TV and FiOS Internet.

Verizon Wireless will let customers use the Internet phone service Skype to make free calls on some phones, an application that wireless carriers have been slow to allow.

When Palm launched the Pre smartphone last June, I considered it a close second to the iPhone in the race for best smartphone on the market.

The smartphone market has changed a lot since then. Unfortunately, Palm hasn't kept pace.

Verizon Wireless said Wednesday that it will launch another Android-based smartphone from Motorola next month. The Motorola Devour will be the first phone on Verizon's national network to feature MOTOBLUR -- an application and service suite that provides users with dynamically pushed Internet content via a unique user interface.

Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless got the highest ratings in overall satisfaction among the four largest wireless carriers in a survey of business owners released Wednesday by the Yankee Group and Mobile Enterprise magazine. The two carriers also showed the most consistency in categories of satisfaction.

"Among large businesses, these two carriers are neck and neck for both wireless voice and data service relationships, and Verizon holds a slight advantage in the SMB voice space," wrote Eugene C. Signorini, a vice president of the Boston-based Yankee Group.

Wireless carriers are going head-to-head in what is turning out to be a pricing war. The two largest U.S. carriers -- AT&T and Verizon Wireless -- have cut subscription prices this week.

Here's the thing to know about the Nexus One right off the bat: The much ballyhooed "Google phone" that the search behemoth unveiled this week isn't as cool as the iPhone. Still, it is a very fine smartphone. In some respects it compares favorably to Apple's wunderkind, but it comes up short in other key measures, such as storage for downloadable apps.

It advances the ball compared with previous handsets that run Google's Android mobile operating software, if not dramatically so.