ISIS, the joint venture between three of the national wireless carriers designed to spur the development of a wide-reaching mobile-payment system, said today it had formed a partnership with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. ISIS has struck a deal with all of the major credit card issuers, including market leader Visa. Visa In addition to …

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says his company will support key Android partner HTC in its patent fight with Apple. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt Stephen Shankland/CNET Schmidt, speaking at a Google mobile conference in Tokyo today, expressed confidence that HTC will ultimately prevail over Apple, ZDNet Asia reports. “We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market …

Dan Hesse at Sprint headquarters today. Kent German/CNET KANSAS CITY, Mo.–Sprint Nextel will provide more details on its 4G plans in the fall, Chief Executive Dan Hesse said during a meeting with reporters at the company’s headquarters here today. Sprint was originally scheduled to provide an update on its 4G plans by the middle of the year. However, Hesse, speaking …

T-Mobile USA is throwing down the gauntlet at Sprint Nextel with its new smartphone price plans. The G2X, one of the smartphones compatible with T-Mobile’s upcoming new data plans Nicole Lee/CNET T-Mobile is set to announce Wednesday that it plans to cut the price of its smartphone plans. Most significantly, its mid-tier plan–which includes unlimited phone calls, text messages, and …

LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja delivers a speech at CTIA 2011. CNET/Marguerite Reardon LightSquared Chief Executive Sanjiv Ahuja is trying to have his cake and eat it too. Literally. Ahuja and his management team will celebrate his upstart company’s first anniversary on Thursday with cake and ice cream–a tradition from his days running France Telecom’s wireless giant Orange. The milestone comes …

Sprint Nextel said today it will support American Express’ mobile-wallet application as the carrier continues to put its stamp on the mobile-payments world. Sprint’s Nexus S is the first phone to work with Google Wallet. Sprint Nextel Sprint said today that its Android phones would be the first to use American Express’ Serve mobile-payment application, unveiled in March. People can …

HTC faces an uncertain future. An ITC judge’s ruling puts the fate of HTC smartphones, such as the AT&T Status, up in the air. Josh Miller/CNET The Taiwanese company, which makes a number of very popular smartphones including several Android OS models, is feeling the impact of an administrative law judge’s initial ruling for the U.S. International Trade Commission last …

Just when you thought you had enough, another iPhone rumor pops up. Josh Miller/CNET The latest, courtesy of a story from Boy Genius Report today, has Apple selling a contract-free, $350 iPhone 3GS for the prepaid customer segment. The report also said the next iPhone, which may or may not feature a radical design, will be coming out or announced …

Verizon Wireless executives are just a few of the telecom insiders who love their jargon. Verizon Wireless The mobile world moves at a breakneck pace, and it’s difficult to keep up–even without the technical jargon most industry insiders throw around. And they do love to toss those terms about. Whether it’s the difference between CDMA and GSM, the importance of …

Blaze Mobile said today it had been awarded a patent for its mobile wallet and a sticker that lets consumers to wave their phones in front of a checkout reader to pay for goods. A Blaze Mobile NFC sticker. Blaze Mobile Blaze was one of the early proponents of mobile payments, which has taken hold thanks to a strong push …