iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
News Category: iPhone, Mix

A new report claims Apple is considering using a four-inch screen in the fifth-generation iPhone. Citing upstream component suppliers, DigiTimes reports that production lines for the next-generation iPhone have begun testing, and that Apple is interested in expanding the screen size of the iPhone to four inches to help it compete with Android in the four- to seven-inch smartphone/tablet market. Notably, an increase in screen size without a similar increase in resolution could leave Apple marketing a four-inch “Retina” display that has fewer pixels per inch (ppi) than the 3.5-inch version from the prior model.

Verizon has announced a new promotion for its FiOS bundles that includes a “free” iPhone 4. If a customer signs up for FiOS TV + FiOS Internet + home phone service on a two-year contract and a $200 Visa Prepaid Card which can be used towards the purchase of an iPhone. In addition, customers who sign up for the bundle and add Verizon Wireless service to the package receive an extra $9.99/month discount.

AT&T has started to air a new television commercial for the iPhone 3GS. Referred to in the commercial as “the phone that changed everything,” the 8GB iPhone 3GS appears in front of a plain background as the 30-second spot highlights the device’s recently-dropped $49 price tag. The spot is likely another move by AT&T to retain as many iPhone customers as possible, as Verizon doesn’t have an equivalent iPhone model—at an equivalent price—to offer customers, although that situation could change following the announcement of the fifth-generation model.

Speaking in an interview in Barcelona, Spain, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made several positive comments relating to the end of iPhone exclusivity in the United States. “It’s good for the industry, you can’t turn on a TV now without seeing an Apple commercial,” Stephenson told Bloomberg. “So the iPhone is getting broadly promoted.” He also admitted that his company would lose some customers to Verizon Wireless, saying, “When you have an iconic device and you lose exclusivity to another carrier, it’ll have an effect, obviously. Verizon is going to have a lot of success with the iPhone, just like we did.”