Apple’s iPhone will make the leap to the prepaid world through Leap Wireless’s Cricket wireless service. The regional prepaid carrier plans to sell the iPhone on June 22, although its no-contract plans means a higher upfront cost. The 16GB iPhone 4S will cost $499.99, while the 8GB iPhone 4 will cost $399.99. The iPhone moving …

Research in Motion will post an operating loss in the first quarter, the company said, further illustrating the titanic obstacles it faces as it struggles to right its smartphone business. The reversal of fortune caps a tough stretch for the maker of the once-popular BlackBerry. Sales of its current BlackBerry 7 phones are deteriorating and upcoming BlackBerry 10 products are …

Sprint Nextel set a firm date on when it will kill off the Nextel part of its business. The carrier said today that it would completely shut off its Nextel network, which uses a technology called iDEN best known for its walkie-talkie capability, on June 30, 2013. The company will begin alerting customers on Sunday. The date marks the end …

commentary A year from now, Research in Motion may not exist. A little while ago, that might have been a controversial call. Sure, RIM had its share of problems, but many were willing to give it some space to possibly turn itself around. But after today’s first-quarter warning and disclosure that it hired bankers to advise it on strategic reviews, …

Samsung apparently has difficulties with the color blue. The “pebble blue” variant of its highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone faces delays due to issues with getting the color and its newly invented “hyper-glaze” process, according to several reports. Despite launching today in various markets in Europe and the Middle East, the blue version faces delays of two to three …

Initially, YP’s new Gas Guru app was a mystery to me. With nearly all of the features found in its original YP app, why would the company go through the trouble of building a seemingly redundant app? The answer, YP told me, was to better capture an audience through a specific purpose-based app. Sure, much of the gas station location …

Deutsche Telekom isn’t keen on repeating last year’s failed attempt to wed its T-Mobile USA unit to AT&T, or any other carrier, for that matter. A complete sale of T-Mobile is unlikely as Deutsche Telekom focuses on turning the business around and ensuring it is a self-funding venture, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann told shareholders today, according to a Bloomberg …

So much for the power of Motorola’s patents. Google, which spent $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola and its patents in a deal that closed Tuesday, has suffered a major legal defeat at the hands of Microsoft, which successfully argued to a German court that Motorola has violated a patent related to text messaging. The ruling means Microsoft can enforce a …

A few U.S. Navy ships will get their own 4G LTE networks by the end of the year. The Navy confirmed to Wired that it would place ruggedized 4G LTE networks on three ships to allow for better mission planning. It represents the first time the Navy has offered cellular service on any of its ships. Also a first, the …

If the U.K. is any indication, then Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S III may be even more successful than its predecessors. The Galaxy S III has already smashed preorder records at Vodafone and retail chain Carphone Warehouse, according to the Inquirer. That includes orders for the previous iteration of Samsung’s flagship line, the Galaxy S II. What began has a solid …