5 things to know today…
1. Verizon Wireless is rolling out Wi-Fi calling December 8, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Verizon is the last of the nationwide carriers to offer Wi-Fi calling, and is saying that the capability will come to its iOS devices early next year. Verizon customers will activate the feature by downloading and installing a software update and then by activating the carrier’s advanced calling feature. The service will support both voice and video calls, and Verizon says it will seamlessly transfer users to Wi-Fi when they leave a 4G coverage area.
2. T-Mobile US is giving AT&T customers a price break on the iPhone 6s. Customers who port a line from AT&T, Cricket, or GoPhone can buy the 128 GB iPhone 6s for the price of the 16 GB model. The offer started Friday and runs through Sunday, December 13. T-Mobile is expected to next launch an offer targeting Verizon customers.
3. Verizon’s former chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg will head up the latest incarnation of LightSquared, the company that wants to use spectrum in the 1525 – 1559 megahertz band to offer wireless service. LightSquared filed for bankruptcy after its transmissions were found to interfere with GPS signals, but now it has re-emerged with new leadership. Seidenberg said the company will work to find a way to offer wireless service in a way that is acceptable to GPS spectrum stakeholders.
4. NXP Semiconductors has completed its purchase of Freescale in a deal that values the Texas chipmaker at almost $12 billion. The merger will increase NXP’s connected car offerings, and also give it a stronger foothold in the wireless infrastructure space. Freescale supplies amplifiers for macrocell base stations and in recent years has created solutions for small cell base stations as well.
5. Samsung is scheduled to pay Apple $548 million a week from today, but the ongoing patent war between the two smartphone giants is far from over. Samsung is taking its fight all the way to the Supreme Court, claiming that it did not infringe Apple’s patent for the “pinch-to-zoom” feature used on many Android phones. Apple first sued Samsung back in 2011, and in 2012 won a $1.05 billion jury verdict. Now it is set to collect about half of that.
