Mobile Tech News -- Flat-Rate Data Roaming, Free iPhone Publicity, Mobile WiMAX

Vodafone Announces New Flat-Rate Data Roaming Charge

Vodafone has announced that customers in Europe will be able to surf the Internet, check email and access their business network when roaming abroad for a flat rate fee of only 12 EUR (excluding VAT) for every day of use. This replaces complex 'per Megabyte' charges with a simple flat fee for most data data usage.

The fixed fee covers consumption within either a 24 hour period or a calendar day, up to 50 MB of data, after which the customer's standard per-megabyte rate applies.

This new program will be available to Vodafone customers starting 1 July 2007.

Apple Has Received $400 million in Free iPhone Publicity

Since Apple announced its combination phone and iPod in January, there has been a great deal of buzz about this upcoming device. So much buzz, in fact, that it has generated $400 million in free publicity for the iPhone, according to Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie.

"No other company has ever received that kind of attention for a product launch," Yoffie told the USA today. "It's unprecedented."

Sprint to Roll Out Mobile WiMAX Services in Texas in 2008

Sprint has awarded Nokia the four Texas markets of Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin for the initial build-out of this carrier's mobile WiMAX network.

Nokia will deploy WiMAX infrastructure at sites throughout the four Texas markets, allowing Sprint to deliver wireless Internet broadband access in those areas.

Service is expected to commence in the Texas markets during the first half of 2008. Sprint intends to cover 100 million people nationwide with this 4G network by the end of 2008.