One of the longest-running -- and certainly most fascinating -- soap operas in the entire wireless world, the seemingly endless patent drama between Nokia and Qualcomm, has finally drawn to an amicable (dare we say anti-climactic) close. After just a single day of arbitration, the two firms have basically agreed to a patent swap, allowing Nokia to use all of Qualcomm's patents and vice versa. Furthermore, Nokia is just stone-cold handing over a bunch of patents it holds related to GSM, WCDMA, and OFDMA, which presumably means companies that are currently licensing those patents can get ready to start writing those checks to Qualcomm. What's more, Espoo's dropping its anti-competition claims against Qualcomm in Europe -- but beyond that, specific terms (read: cash money) weren't disclosed beyond the typical PR pleasantries that both sides are happy with the outcome. If this means we finally have to retire our Nokia-Qualcomm starburst graphic, we're going to pout like little children, so we can only hope these two lovebirds find something else to squabble over in the not-too-distant future.

Here's an interesting factoid to chew on: the cycle between the first rumors that the Palm 755p was coming to Verizon and its launch was longer than the window of time between launch and sunset. Just think about that for a second. Seriously. Verizon has reported to Palm Infocenter that it's officially decommissioning the Palm OS-based smartphone -- the only in Verizon's lineup with strong ties to Palm's old-school industrial design -- in favor of the Centro, a smaller, friendlier, more consumer-oriented device. It seems like Big Red might be at risk of alienating some Garnet-loving business customers who aren't interested in carrying a device with a keyboard as small as the Centro's, and honestly, doesn't it feel like the 755p has at least a few more months of life yet? Or are we crazy?

The Bold is still stealing the overwhelming majority of RIM's spotlight at the moment for a handful of pretty good reasons: one, it's actually been announced; two, it's 3G; and three, it falls in line with the traditional (and loved) BlackBerry form factor. Lurking in the shadows, though, is the KickStart, RIM's very first flip phone, and a device that could end up making a huge splash if it actually manages to launch at the sub-$50 price point that's been making the rounds on the rumor circuit. CrackBerry got a way-early peek at the 8220 version of the device, which follows RIM's typical naming convention by packing WiFi while an 8210 will hold up the GPS side of things (seriously, RIM, how hard can it be to do both?), and overall it seems that the R&D team did its homework from the quick impressions. The SureType keyboard is huge and apparently quite easy to use without making the phone excessively large, though the trackball rests deeper in the shell making it a bit trickier to operate -- you win some, you lose some. The QVGA display is said to be just shy of Bold quality (which is a compliment, considering the killer screen on the Bold), and it's always hard to argue with a 3.5mm headphone jack. Come on, T-Mobile, let's make this happen.

Okay, AT&T, we get it, you've finally figured out how to pitch data services to your subscriber base. Good for you! Last quarter saw a nice boost in data revenue for the megacarrier, likely due to a proliferation of 3G-compatible handsets that make mobile byte consumption less painful -- not to mention the fact that virtually every iPhone customer is signed up for a data plan -- and they're at it again this quarter with a staggering 52 percent bump in cash flow from data alone (which includes messaging, but still a sobering stat). Overall, revenue from the wireless division was met with a 15.8 percent gain, thanks in part to a net subscriber gain of 1.3 million, giving AT&T a grand total of 72.9 million heads. They'll still be dwarfed when the Verizon-Alltel thing goes down, but don't be down on yourself, AT&T -- there's nothing wrong with being number two. Honest.

[Via mocoNews]

Gotta have shiny kicks to go with the tailored suit, and just the same, you gotta have new speakers to go with that fresh Walkman kit. To that end, Sony Ericsson has unleashed a big gift basket's worth of music accessories that pair nicely with its latest Walkman models, among many other phones from its present and past. Skipping right past a handful of new wired headphones, we get first to the MPS-100, a pair of mini-speakers that plug right into your mobile for a relatively low-tech solution. Next we have the HBH-IS800, a shockingly discrete pair of A2DP earbuds (think of the Etymotic ety8, then think of the opposite of that) connected by a cord. Finally we come to the MBS-200 -- a shiny sphere with a penchant for belting out tunes mono-style via Bluetooth -- and the MBS-400 (pictured), essentially an MBS-200 times two for true stereo action. Everything should be available in the fourth quarter, meaning your Festivus gift shopping chores have pretty much just solved themselves.

If you've been desperately seeking some Snakes Subsonic gaming partners on that N82 of yours, your pool of potential playmates just got a little (emphasis on "little") wider. The N78, N96, and XpressMusic 5320 have now been added into the N-Gage client compatibility mix -- though of the three, the N78 is the only one that's really widely available at this point. The 5320's just now starting to trickle into distribution around the world, and if you happen to end up playing System Rush with an N96 owner in the next few weeks... well, you're playing with a very special individual, indeed.

[Via All About Symbian]

The rumors are certainly nothing new, but rumblings over official announcements from both Bell and Telus regarding their newfound love for all things GSM have reached a rolling boil in the past few days. The latest little tidbit comes from UBS, whose fortune tellers say that both Canadian carriers should be outing some transition plans in the near future in the hope of better positioning themselves to compete with rival Rogers, get cooler handsets on board, and realize some synergy with the overwhelming majority of carriers around the world. Bell and Telus are both staying completely tightlipped for the moment, but one remaining question is whether they'll be going with HSPA or moving straight to LTE -- a distinct possibility, considering that the 4G tech should be ramping up right around the time that the carriers could realistically put the gears in motion. You ready to cry uncle yet over there, UMB?

[Thanks, Mario and Jay]

Does that tired old Centro feel like it could use a little freshening-up? 'Course it does, and Palm's Johnny-on-the-spot with a hot new firmware build fresh out of the oven -- if you're on Sprint, that is. The new update is ten bullet points strong on Palm's support site, with updates and fixes ranging from better Bluetooth support to support for My Location in Google Maps (that's sure to be a crowd pleaser right there). Head on over to Palm to pick up the goods, but beware, they say you ought to "allow an hour" for the process to complete.

[Via The Official Palm Blog]

After an April launch, AT&T's significantly extending the reach of its AT&T Navigator service with the announcement today that a new Global Edition of the software will provide nav capabilities in 20 countries. That's probably welcome news to globetrotting businessfolk that happen to carry one of AT&T's GPS-capable worldphones -- and businessfolk seem to be exactly the demographic they're targeting with a healthy $19.98 monthly charge for the pleasure of not getting lost worldwide. Much of western Europe, the Caribbean, and six Chinese cities are on the roster, and the carrier is quick to point out that those cities will all be hosting Olympic events -- so, you know, if you need to make it from dressage to the 100-meter dash as quickly as possible, those might be the best 20 bucks you ever spent.

Nokia's already putting some serious commitment into soliciting comments, complaints, and suggestions for new products from the hive mind through its Beta Labs program, but apparently, that's not quite enough. Nokia Pilots is the name of the next phase of that effort, launching in September with the goal of allowing average Janes and Joes to take "an active role in the development and testing that will help shape Nokia's next generation of products and services." The Pilots page actually says that "recruitment" for the program will begin in September, indicating that there'll be some sort of application and acceptance process for hopping on board this time around, rather than the free-for-all that is Beta Labs. If that means Espoo intends on doling out fancy new unreleased hardware to eager testers, count us in -- but if that means there'll be new software betas out there with limited access, let us be the first to express our utter outrage (sorry, Nokia, we know we're being unreasonable here, but we may as well get a head start here and hedge our bets while we wait for September to roll around).

[Via All About Symbian]

So all of Virgin's many, many brands tend to have a somewhat quirky sense of humor, and typically, that seems to sit just fine with the company's young (and youthful) target demo. It's par for the course then with Strip2Clothe, a campaign it recently launched to get folks to do their best Elizabeth-Berkley-in-Showgirls impression on camera. The idea was simple, if not a little bizarre: post up your best striptease, and for every five views, Virgin would donate one article of clothing to a network of organizations dedicated to helping homeless youth around the country. Problem is, those organizations were never consulted before Virgin launched the campaign, and some of them weren't terribly pleased with the concept, calling it "exploitative" and "distasteful" among other things. Despite the outcry, Strip2Clothe is still online, with a Virgin rep saying "this issue is really important to us, we've had over 12,000 hits for the site so far, and we want to continue to raise awareness for this important issue." And yes, we know you're going to Google it the second you're done reading this, so don't even try to hide it.

[Via mocoNews]

Sure, Apple alleges to have flipped over a million iPhone 3Gs at this point, but what does that mean? The devil's in the details, as always; yes, true, the first one took 74 days to reach that same milestone, but it was available in less than one-twentieth the number of countries and an even smaller fraction of carriers. Hell, the very definition of "sale" is under scrutiny here, with some suggesting that Apple's making reference to the number of phones it's sold to its carrier partners, not end users -- a metric that would make sense from Cupertino's perspective since Apple's payday technically ends there.

Here's where it gets interesting -- Engadget has obtained a handful of stats regarding number ports in and out of T-Mobile USA handled by a national wholesaler. Specifically, we have data surrounding the launch of the first-gen iPhone and the iPhone 3G, and get this: of more than 1,000 ports in total, ports to AT&T represented under 40 percent of the firm's total outflow in the days surrounding the 3G's launch, versus nearly 70 percent the last time around. Furthermore, they took roughly the same number of inbound ports from AT&T during the same period, meaning that T-Mobile effectively lost no net ground due to the 3G's launch. Granted, the porting stats from a single wholesaler represent just a microcosm of the big picture, but even accounting for some loss of precision when you extrapolate that data, you're looking at a pretty significant downturn in interest from T-Mobile subscribers. We still think Apple's probably laughing all the way to the bank either way -- and iPhone 3Gs are sold out virtually everywhere right now -- but you've got to wonder if AT&T's not freaking out a little bit at the number of new subscribers it managed to entice, and whether its competitors are all breathing cautious sighs of relief at some surprisingly reasonably churn rates.

Well, if this isn't a sign that times are a-changin', we don't know what is: a new Moto handset with a non-capitalized, non-abbreviated word for a name has just garnered FCC approval. Granted, it's an absolute snoozefest of a phone -- and the name, "Ischia," doesn't exactly roll off the tongue -- but at least it's a step in new direction. Bluetooth and EDGE are included, there's a camera on board; hell, the only thing stopping us from saving up to buy one is the lack of GSM 850. That, and our fragile sanity.

Holy cow, we're actually out of breath just thinking about how long it's been since Canada kicked this off. After running some two months and hauling in nearly three times as much cash as had been widely predicted -- $4.2 billion in Canadian currency, to be exact -- the Great White North's AWS auction has drawn to a close, and it looks like there's going to be some new competition in the mix whether Rogers, Bell, and Telus like it or not. The most prolific bidder has turned out to be Globalive, which runs the Yak brand and made off with licenses pretty much everywhere except Quebec at the cost of some $442 million CAD; several other new players came to bat for some licenses as well, and naturally, the big three incumbents took the opportunity to snap up some extra spectrum -- Rogers to the tune of nearly one billion dollars. It'll probably be a year or two before any of the rookies have service to offer, though they're helped out by new regulations that require existing networks to lease space on towers for new transceivers and offer roaming rates that aren't prohibitively high.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

You no longer need to know someone who knows someone who knows the founder of a VC firm sinking money into Qik to get in on its rather lovely streaming video action. We're just messing around, of course -- it was never quite that hard to get into Qik's invite-only alpha / beta before in our experience -- but it just got even easier with the popular service moving into an open beta phase. Offering both S60 and Windows Mobile clients (with iPhone allegedly on the way), Qik does a pretty stellar and unique job of streaming live audio and video straight from your handset to your millions of adoring fans glued to their computer monitors around the world (or just your mommy and daddy, as the case may be). So go sign up, paste your username down below here if you're so inclined, and just be sure you're not recording when you... ahem, don't mean to be. If you catch our drift.

[Via All About Symbian]