T-Mobile USA is getting a new chief executive. Deutsche Telekom today announced that John Legere will become CEO of its T-Mobile USA business unit on Saturday. “John is a talented and proven executive who brings a successful track record of leading and operating consumer- and business-focused telecommunications and technology companies,” Rene Obermann, CEO of Deutsche …

Barack Obama might be the head of state, but smartphones and tablets increasingly rule the world — and the White House says the feds need to embrace that reality. The president yesterday issued a directive to make key government services accessible through the mobile devices toted by much of the citizenry, and charged the federal CIO with developing a plan …

Startup Sidecar wants to be the engine of change for smartphones. The company, formerly known as SocialEyes, today launched its Sidecar mobile app, which has not one but two key features. First, the company says, it lets users share live video (or photos, contact information, and locations) while they talk. Second, it provides free VoIP calling in a variety of …

You first saw it over the winter as a Mobile World Congress unveiling, but until now, you couldn’t get your hands on it in the U.S. Related stories Samsung Galaxy S III vs. HTC One X vs. iPhone 4S li> CNET review: HTC One X That changes today, as the HTC One X smartphone goes on sale via AT&T. It’s …

For AT&T, it’s been a week of lose some, win some. The wireless carrier said late Thursday that it now has the green light from the Federal Communications Commission to acquire 700MHz licenses from Qualcomm, in a deal valued at $1.9 billion. The companies expect to complete the transaction, which was originally announced a year ago, “in the coming days,” …

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab may have suffered an injustice in Australia with the imposition of a ban on sales of the tablet there, at least in the eyes of one appeals court judge. At a hearing today in Sydney in a patent case pitting Samsung against iPad maker Apple, Federal Court Justice Lindsay Foster questioned an October ruling that quashed Galaxy …

You and your smartphone may be inseparable, but that doesn’t mean you ought to be best friends. That’s the essential message from Andy Rubin, Google’s Android chief, who spoke at the AsiaD conference this week. Not so coincidentally, he said this just days after the launch of the iPhone 4S, a chief feature of which is Siri, a voice-activated feature …

The long-planned breakup of Motorola is now a reality. The two new companies both began trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange, Motorola Mobility Holdings under the ticker “MMI” and Motorola Solutions as “MSI.” Motorola Mobility gets the more consumer-focused lineup of mobile phones and set-top boxes, and it begins independent life riding a surge of success for …

Motorola turned in a solid second quarter, with both revenue and earnings outpacing analysts’ expectations. The company also said it foresees good results for the current quarter, in part on the expected strength of sales of its new Droid X smartphone, which went on sale in mid-July and quickly sold out at many stores. “The Droid X launch has been …

Best Buy is beefing up its recently launched wireless broadband service in a deal with 4G provider Clearwire. Through its Best Buy Connect service, which debuted just a few weeks ago, the electronics retailer plans to offer customers a new 4G tier starting in 2011. The company says Connect network coverage is currently available in “dozens of cities” across the …