Exclusive Galaxy Gifts Package for Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
Owners of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will receive premium mobile content and services through Galaxy Gifts. The package has a combined value of USD $500, and users will be able to choose what content they want to download through the offer.
Galaxy Gifts was updated with a new dynamic widget and Galaxy apps interface to allow for easier downloading and redemption of benefits.
The offer includes: a three-month Audible membership, three months of Evernote premium, three months of premium for U.S. and six months of premium for international customers of Lastpass, and a six-month subscription of Pocket Premium. You can view the entire list of Galaxy Gifts offers below.
| Galaxy Gift | Details |
| Audible | Three months of Audible membership |
| Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon | “Samsung Resource Pack” valued at 5,000 gold |
| The Economist | Six months of digital subscription |
| Endomondo | Six months of Endomondo Premium |
| Evernote | Three months of Evernote Premium |
| Fleksy Keyboard | Fleksy Keyboard and Modern premium themes |
| Hancom Office 2014 | Office editor download for an unlimited period from Galaxy Apps |
| The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth | “Samsung Resource Pack” valued at 100 Mithril |
| Keepy | Six month Keepy Unlimited to save your kids art, school work and mementos |
| Kindle for Samsung | One eBook every month |
| LastPass | Three months of Premium for U.S. customers and six monthsPremium for international |
| Life360 | Six months premium service subscription |
| Magisto | Three months of Magisto Pro HD |
| NY Times Breaking News | Three months with a subscription |
| OneDrive | An extra 100 GB of OneDrive storage for two years* Offer valid only on devices where OneDrive is preloaded |
| PAC-MAN Friends | Samsung customers receive 30 cherries (plays) |
| Parallels Access | Six month subscription |
| Six month subscription to Pocket Premium | |
| Shazam Encore | Special ad-free version |
| VSCO Cam | Download The Minimalist Collection, which includes 10 VSCOCam® presets |
| Workout Trainer | Six months of Workout Trainer Pro+ |
The post Exclusive Galaxy Gifts Package for Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge appeared first on AndroidGuys.
MCX CEO Out After Best Buy Begins Accepting Apple Pay
Just a day after Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that MCX member Best Buy would begin accepting Apple Pay in stores later this year, MCX, the company behind Apple Pay competitor CurrentC, announced that current CEO Dekkers Davidson has left the company. He’s been replaced by former Bank of America Merchant Services CEO Brian V. Mooney on an interim basis.
“MCX was created to capitalize on a tremendous opportunity for consumers, and I look forward to taking the company through the next exciting phase of bringing CurrentC™ to the market,” said Mooney. “MCX has a talented team in place backed by the determination and resources of many of the world’s largest and most successful merchants. Building on that foundation, we’re focused on making CurrentC™ the consumer preferred mobile payments app.”
MCX spokeswoman Kristin Parran Faulder told CNET that the move had nothing to do with the Best Buy announcement. Coincidence or not, CurrentC, which is expected to launch widely later this year, will face increasing competition in the mobile payments sector from the more recently announced Samsung Pay and Android Pay as well as a growing Apple Pay. In recent weeks, Apple’s payment platform has gained the support of Discover, GameStop, NBA teams and more in addition to Best Buy.
Best Buy was the second MCX member, after Meijer, to offer Apple Pay support. Last October, former MCX CEO Davidson had said that there were no penalties or fines for leaving the MCX program. MCX exclusivity agreements with retailers reportedly end in summer 2015, which means that MCX members like Best Buy would be able to offer Apple Pay in retail stores once the agreement ends. A Best Buy spokesperson told Re/code yesterday that while the company is still invested in MCX they weren’t prepared to declare launch support for CurrentC at this time.
‘Test Model’ iPad Stolen During Robbery and Kidnapping at Cupertino Home [iOS Blog]
An iPad “test model” was one of the stolen items during a robbery and kidnapping at a Cupertino home earlier this month, reports the San Jose Mercury News. It’s unclear whether the test device was for a previous iPad model or a future one.
The robbers took the device, along with electronics, prescription drugs and cash valued at $7,500, from a Cupertino home during an incident in which a 20-year-old man was kidnapped and robbed after answering a woman’s online advertisement.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has arrested the two suspected robbers, who took the items and forced the victim into their car before driving three-quarters of a mile and releasing him. The victim contacted the sheriff’s department five days later and the case is still being investigated. The test iPad has not yet been found.
Apple has had test devices stolen in the past, with the most famous example being the test iPhone 4 that was lost in a Bay Area bar before being found by someone and sold to a reporter for $5,000. The reporter then posted images and a breakdown of the new device before returning it to Apple. After that, the reporter’s house was raided by authorities and his computers and other property were seized.
Judge denies mistrial in case against Silk Road’s founder (again)
If you were hoping that Ross Ulbricht (Dread Pirate Roberts of Silk Road fame) was going to get a retrial, you might wanna walk those expectations back a bit. Okay; a lot. Despite the two former federal agents involved in the investigation purportedly stealing bitcoins and committing wire fraud during the investigation, the presiding judge Katherine Forrest has denied a motion for a new trial. Albrecht’s defense protested, saying that the warrantless attempts to identify the Silk Road server violated his privacy rights and that the corruption charges demanded another look to see if the case had been tainted, as Wired tells it. None of that changed her mind though. She says that the evidence of Ulbricht’s guilt was “overwhelming” and that there was little chance that conceding to any of those defenses would alter the outcome of the trial at all.
As for the possibly corrupt feds investigating the case, Forrest reiterated that they were a part of a different investigation (one based out of Baltimore). The case that ultimately convicted Ulbricht was based out of New York.
As Wired notes, there have been five other requests for a mistrial and all have been denied. That doesn’t mean that Ulbricht’s defense team’s giving up ahead of his tentative May 15th sentencing, though. Not by a long shot. Their next move? Well, they’re going to file an appeal. Naturally.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet
Via: Wired
Source: US District Court
American Airlines flights delayed because of an iPad glitch
A couple of years ago, American Airlines swapped out its pilots’ “flight bag” for iPads loaded with the terminal charts and other reference materials they’re required to carry. Losing the 35 lbs of materials for a tablet (some 8,000 of them) was a good tradeoff, but tonight an apparent glitch is grounding some of the airline’s flights. American Airlines confirmed the issue in a statement to Engadget, saying “Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads”, and that some of the flights had to return to the gate for a WiFi connection to fix the issue. According to the Dallas Morning News several dozen flights are affected, although it’s not clear what caused the glitch or when they will be able to take off.
American Airlines:
Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads. In some cases, the flight has had to return to the gate to access a Wifi connection to fix the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers. We are working to have them on the way to their destination as soon as possible.
@bjacaruso Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads. We’ll have info about your departure soon.
– American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 29, 2015
Filed under: Transportation, Apple
Source: Dallas Morning News
There’s an easy way to bet on competitive video games
Competitive gaming is big enough now in the US that it’s catching ESPN’s attention, so it stands to reason that you’d want a way to bet on those virtual matches, doesn’t it? Ex-Microsoft manager (and Engadget Expand panelist) Rahul Sood thinks so. He just launched Unikrn, a site that makes it easy to wager on eSports. If you live in a country where the company will accept bets (currently Australia), you can plunk down real cash and win jackpots, much like you would with conventional sports betting. You could make a tidy profit betting that a low-ranked League of Legends team will defy the odds, for instance. Even if you live in the US and other nations where real bets are illegal, you can still sign up and win prizes.
It’s a gamble, both figuratively and literally, but Unikrn does have some early support. The startup has already acquired two companies to get its betting system off the ground, and it has partnerships that include Sood’s old outfits HP (which acquired VoodooPC) and Razer as well as CBS Interactive and Logitech. Unikrn might not attract as much hype as the eSports events themselves, but the chances are that you’ll hear more about it in the future.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, HP
Via: GeekWire
Source: Unikrn
T-Mobile added 1.8 million new customers to its network in Q1 2015
T-Mobile released its 1st quarter 2015 results earlier today, showing a ton of growth in the number of postpaid customers and record low postpaid phone churn. Just in the first three months of the year alone, the carrier gained 1.8 million subscribers, marking this the 8th consecutive quarter the company gained over 1 million customers. The company has also added 1.1 million branded postpaid net adds, making this the 3rd consecutive quarter adding over 1 million. Roughly 1 million of those customers were phone customers.
T-Mobile has also vastly improved its postpaid phone churn, achieving an all-time record low of 1.3%. This means that over the past year, less and less customers have jumped ship to go to another carrier. CEO John Legere explains:
We’ve had eight consecutive quarters with more than one million total net customer additions proving that customers want value. We expect to once again capture all of the industry’s postpaid phone growth in Q1 and we’ve done it while delivering an all-time record low 1.3% churn.
Assuming the number of Sprint subscribers doesn’t surpass .8 million for Q1, T-Mobile will finally take the crown as the third largest mobile carrier in the U.S.
T-Mobile now has a total of 56.8 million customers. It sold a total of 8.8 million products this quarter, 8 million of which were phones.
Quarter over quarter revenue is down .9%, mainly due to the impact of the Un-carrier’s Data Stash program. However, if we were to take out the impact of Data Stash, service revenues in the first quarter rose .9%, and 11% year over year.
While T-Mobile added more than 1 million postpaid subscribers this quarter, Verizon posted a loss of 138,000 subscribers and AT&T posted a loss of 300,000. Sprint started the quarter with just under 56 million overall subscribers, so assuming that it stays under that amount, T-Mobile will finally get to take the crown as the third largest mobile carrier in the United States.
We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we hear anything from Sprint. And be sure to check out the source link below for more information on how T-Mobile did this quarter.
T-Mobile gains nearly 2 million new customers in Q1 2015
The first quarter of 2015 treated T-Mobile and it shows as the carrier generated $7.8 billion, an increase of 13.1% over the same time last year. That growth comes off of T-Mobile gaining nearly two million new customers in the quarter. For the eighth consecutive quarter, the carrier has added more than one million new customers. Service revenue did decline, though, as Data Stash meant some paid data was covered. T-Mobile has a strategy that focuses on luring in new customers rather than cashing in on existing ones.
On the network side, T-Mobile announced that its 4G LTE network should cover 300 million people in the United States by the end of the year. The carrier’s network currently spans across 275 million people. It also expects to have more than 200 markets with wideband LTE by year’s end with the number currently standing at 157.
Hit the break for the full press release.
T-Mobile US Reports First Quarter 2015 Results
Strong Start to the Year with 1 Million Postpaid Phone Net Adds and Record Low Churn
BELLEVUE, Wash. – April 28, 2015 – T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) today reported first quarter 2015 results reflecting strong momentum and industry-leading growth. The Company again outperformed the competition in both subscriber and financial growth metrics.
“We’ve had eight consecutive quarters with more than one million total net customer additions proving that customers want value,” said John Legere, President and CEO of T-Mobile. “We expect to once again capture all of the industry’s postpaid phone growth in Q1 and we’ve done it while delivering an all-time record low 1.3% churn. #WeWon’tStop.”
Un-Carrier Delivering Results
Since launching Un-carrier™ in 2013, T-Mobile has disrupted the wireless industry with innovations such as No Annual Service Contracts, equipment installment plans, the JUMP! ® device upgrade program, free international data roaming, Contract Freedom™, T-Mobile Test Drive™, Music Freedom™, Wi-Fi Un-leashed, and Data Stash™. In the first quarter of 2015, the Company again expanded the Un-carrier lineup with:
- Un-carrier 9.0: Business Un-leashed: T-Mobile introduced a set of simple, transparent, and affordable rate plans that provide all business customers with unlimited talk and text, and 1GB of 4G LTE data. Additional data can either be purchased on a per line or pooled basis. T-Mobile is also partnering with GoDaddy and Microsoft Office 365 to provide a valuable array of mobile business tools free of charge, as well as extending a benefit to families with Business Family Discounts by counting a company-paid line as the first line on a family’s Simple Choice™ account.
- The Un-contract™: The Un-contract initiative is a guarantee to all Simple Choice customers that their rates will never increase as long as they remain a customer, even for those on promotional plans. Unlimited 4G LTE rate plans are guaranteed for a minimum of two years.
- Carrier Freedom™: The Company will pay off outstanding device payments of up to $650 per line for up to 10 lines when customers switch to T-Mobile.
Operational and Financial Highlights for the First Quarter 2015
T-Mobile continues to deliver strong customer growth and ended the first quarter of 2015 with 56.8 million total customers. In the first quarter of 2015, T-Mobile added 1.8 million net new customers, marking the eighth consecutive quarter that the Company has generated more than one million net customer additions.In the first quarter of 2015, branded postpaid net customer additions were 1.1 million, including 991,000 phone net customer additions – expected to be the highest in the U.S. wireless industry once again – and 134,000 mobile broadband net customer additions.
Branded postpaid phone churn was 1.30% in the first quarter of 2015, down 17 basis points year-over-year and 43 basis points sequentially. The year-over-year improvement in churn reflects ongoing improvements in the Company’s network, customer service, and the overall value of its offerings in the marketplace, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. The sequential improvement was due to seasonal factors as well as a reduction in competitive activity compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.
T-Mobile’s branded prepaid net customer additions were 73,000 in the first quarter of 2015. The lower level of branded prepaid net additions in the quarter was driven by increased migrations from prepaid to postpaid, increased competitive activity in the marketplace, and an atypical tax refund season. Branded prepaid to branded postpaid migrations were 195,000 in the first quarter of 2015.
Branded prepaid churn was 4.62% in the first quarter of 2015, down 77 basis points sequentially and up 28 basis points year-over-year.
Total device sales, including both branded postpaid and prepaid customers, were 8.8 million units in the first quarter of 2015, of which total smartphone sales were 8.0 million units.
In addition to strong customer growth, T-Mobile delivered outstanding financial results. In the first quarter of 2015, the Company is expected to again report the fastest year-over-year revenue growth in the industry for both service and total revenues. Service revenues for the first quarter of 2015 grew by 9.0% year-over-year, primarily due to rapid growth in the Company’s customer base, partially offset by lower branded postpaid phone Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and the non-cash net revenue deferral for Data Stash. On a sequential basis, service revenues declined by 0.9% primarily due to the impact of Data Stash. Excluding the impact of Data Stash, service revenues in the first quarter of 2015 increased 0.9% sequentially and 11.0% year-over-year.
T-Mobile’s total revenues for the first quarter of 2015 grew by 13.1% year-over-year due to continued growth in equipment sales revenues and service revenues. On a sequential basis, total revenues decreased by 4.6% due to lower equipment sales revenues compared to strong holiday season sales in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Branded postpaid Average Billings per User (ABPU) was $60.94 in the first quarter of 2015, down 1.4% sequentially and up 2.4% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of Data Stash, branded postpaid ABPU in the first quarter of 2015 increased 0.6% sequentially and 4.5% year-over-year.
Branded postpaid phone ARPU decreased sequentially by 3.8% to $46.43, driven primarily by the net revenue deferral for Data Stash and dilution resulting from promotional activities targeting families, including the “4 for $100” offer. Excluding the impact of Data Stash, branded postpaid phone ARPU in the first quarter of 2015 declined by 1.2% sequentially and 5.5% year-over-year. Branded prepaid ARPU increased by 4.8% year-over-year and 0.8% sequentially to $37.81.
Branded postpaid Average Revenue per Account (ARPA) was $108.04 in the first quarter of 2015, down 0.9% year-over-year and 1.7% sequentially. Excluding the impact from Data Stash, branded postpaid ARPA in the first quarter of 2015 increased 1.1% sequentially and 1.9% year-over-year. Branded postpaid Average Billings per Account (ABPA) amounted to a record $145.03 in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 11.8% year-over-year and 0.9% sequentially. The increase in ABPA was primarily due to growth in EIP billings as well as an increase in the number of branded postpaid customers per account.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2015 was $1.388 billion, up 27.6% year-over-year and down 20.7% sequentially. Year-over-year, the increase was primarily due to higher branded postpaid and prepaid revenues from growth in the customer base. Sequentially, the decline in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to the impact from Data Stash as well as strategic investments in growth in the early part of 2015, consistent with the Company’s previously announced intentions. The non-cash revenue deferral for Data Stash reduced Adjusted EBITDA by $112 million in the first quarter of 2015. The revenue deferral for the initial 10GB allotment per qualifying customer from Data Stash is expected to fully reverse itself during 2015. The Adjusted EBITDA margin was 24% for the first quarter of 2015, up from 20% in the first quarter of 2014.
T-Mobile made strategic investments in growth in the first quarter of 2015 resulting in a loss per share of $(0.09) in the first quarter of 2015 compared to a loss per share of $(0.19) in the first quarter of 2014. T-Mobile expects earnings per share to be positive in all the remaining quarters and full-year 2015.
Network Expansion and Capital Expenditures
T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network – America’s Fastest – covered 275 million people at the end of the first quarter of 2015 and the Company is targeting coverage of 300 million people by year-end 2015. T-Mobile is rapidly deploying Wideband LTE, while at the same time rolling out 4G LTE on its 700 MHz A-Block and 1900 MHz PCS spectrum. Wideband LTE is currently available in 157 market areas and is now expected to be available in more than 200 market areas by year-end 2015. The Company continues to deploy its 700 MHz A-Block spectrum with major market launches in Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Tampa, San Antonio, and Detroit so far in 2015, bringing the total to 55 market areas.Cash capital expenditures reflect T-Mobile’s continued investment in the expansion of its 4G LTE network. In the first quarter of 2015, cash capital expenditures were $982 million, down from $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 and up from $947 million in the first quarter of 2014.
In January 2015, the FCC announced that T-Mobile was the winning bidder for AWS-3 spectrum licenses covering approximately 97 million people for an aggregate bid price of $1.8 billion. T-Mobile paid the FCC $1.4 billion for the AWS-3 spectrum licenses in February 2015, which was net of the $0.4 billion deposit paid to the FCC in October 2014. T-Mobile received the AWS-3 spectrum licenses early in the second quarter of 2015.
MetroPCS Combination
The MetroPCS customer base continues to rapidly migrate off the legacy CDMA network. Currently, less than 500,000 customers remain on the MetroPCS CDMA network. Approximately 80% of the MetroPCS spectrum had been re-farmed and integrated into the T-Mobile network at the end of the first quarter of 2015.In the first quarter of 2015, T-Mobile decommissioned the CDMA portion of the MetroPCS networks in Atlanta and the Detroit metro area, bringing the overall total to 8 market shutdowns so far, with only 3 major markets left. Total decommissioning costs for CDMA network shutdowns amounted to $128 million in the first quarter of 2015. The Company expects to decommission all the remaining CDMA markets in 2015, and expects to incur additional network decommissioning costs in the range of $375 to $475 million with substantially all the costs to be recognized in 2015.
2015 Outlook Guidance
T-Mobile expects to drive further customer momentum while delivering strong growth in Adjusted EBITDA. With the success of its Simple Choice plan and the continued evolution of the Un-carrier strategy, branded postpaid net customer additions for 2015 are now expected to be between 3.0 and 3.5 million, an increase from the previous guidance of 2.2 and 3.2 million.For the full-year of 2015, T-Mobile expects Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $6.8 to $7.2 billion, unchanged from previous guidance despite the increase in branded postpaid net customer additions guidance.
Cash capital expenditures for 2015 are expected to be in the range of $4.4 to $4.7 billion, also unchanged from previous guidance.
Quarterly Financial Results
For more details on T-Mobile’s first quarter 2015 financial results, including the Investor Factbook with detailed financial tables and reconciliations of certain non-GAAP measures disclosed in this release to the most comparable measures under GAAP, please visit T-Mobile US, Inc.’s Investor Relations website at http://investor.T-Mobile.com.T-Mobile Social Media
Investors and others should note that the Company announces material financial and operational information to its investors using its investor relations website, press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. The Company also intends to use the Twitter accounts @TMobileIR and @JohnLegere, which Mr. Legere also uses as a means for personal communications and observations, as means of disclosing information about the Company and its services and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The information we post through these social media channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these social media channels in addition to following the Company’s press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. The social media channels that the Company intends to use as a means of disclosing the information described above may be updated from time to time as listed on the Company’s investor relations website.About T-Mobile US, Inc.:
As America’s Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company’s advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to approximately 57 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.
Come comment on this article: T-Mobile gains nearly 2 million new customers in Q1 2015
Google Play Services version 7.3 lets you connect multiple wearables to your phone and more
The latest Google Play Services update, version 7.3, brings a ton of awesome functionality to your Android device, including ways to use multiple wearables at once, new fitness display options for Google Fit and much more.
Most notably, version 7.3 allows you to connect multiple wearable devices to your smartphone at the same time. Google has introduced new Channel and Capability APIs, which allow developers to more easily handle messages and connections between two devices, as well as control where certain data goes.
Google Fit is also getting a few new enhancements, making it easier for other applications to display up-to-date information they get from Google Fit. Google goes on to say:
Google Fit is also augmenting its existing data types with granular nutrition information, including protein, fat, cholesterol, and more. By leveraging these details about the user’s diet, developers can help users stay more informed about their health and fitness.
There are many more changes that come along with this update, so if you’d like to see the full list, be sure to head to the source link below.
Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 updated to Android Lollipop
It has been known for a while now that the Samsung Galaxy S4 would eventually be updated to Lollipop. Since the announcement, the Galaxy S4 has seen slow progress with the update first landing in Russia and India, then seeing a few European countries, and now the US is finally starting to receive Lollipop as well. AT&T and T-Mobile’s variants have already received the update and this week customers who own the Galaxy S4 on Verizon will also see the latest sweet treat.
The update pushes the Galaxy S4 to Android 5.0.1, and like most of Samsung’s other devices to receive Lollipop, the update includes a slightly tweaked Touchwiz UI that better matches Google’s Material Design, though the aesthetic changes aren’t nearly as noticeable as what you’d find in a stock Android device. The Samsung apps have gotten lighter with a white background and colours to match those seen in the latest Galaxy handsets. This update is also supposed to bring performance enhancements and possibly longer battery life.
If you have received this update, feel free to leave your impressions down in the comments.
AIVAnet 