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Deutsche Telekom: We are entitled to a breakup fee

Deutsche Telekom said today it would be entitled to a breakup fee if AT&T's planned purchase of T-Mobile USA falls apart, refuting an earlier report that it could potentially end up with nothing.

Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported yesterday that AT&T may be off the hook for paying a $6 billion breakup fee to Deutsche Telekom under certain conditions. But Deutsche Telekom said today that isn't the case.

"The story from Reuters misstated the facts," Deutsche Telekom representative Andreas Fuchs told CNET today. "The breakup fee was agreed to precisely to … Read more

AT&T promises 5,000 new jobs after T-Mobile merger

Update 8:08 a.m. PT: Just after this story was posted, the Department of Justice said that it has gone to court in Washington, D.C., in an effort to block the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, saying the deal would reduce competition and violate U.S. antitrust laws.

AT&T is using the prospect of more jobs to help make a stronger case for its merger with T-Mobile USA.

If the deal is approved, AT&T today said that it will be able to "bring back" 5,000 call center jobs to … Read more

The 404 887: Where we're bleeding $99 HP TouchPads (podcast)

Guess who got a TouchPad for $99 this weekend? Everyone. If you weren't lucky enough to snag one early Saturday morning, don't lose hope yet--we expect some online distributors to continue dropping prices for existing stock, not to mention the white 64GB model that just dropped last Friday.

We got plenty of voicemails and video messages from listeners standing in line for the TouchPad, so tune in to hear a couple horror stories from the trenches.

We're also encouraging all 404 listeners to shoot us an e-mail at the404(at)cnet(dot)com with your suggestions, criticisms, and ideas for growing the show. We've always valued our listener input about where you think we should improve, so let us know and we'll try to make it happen.

The 404 Digest for Episode 887

HP's TouchPad fire sale: The fallout. Wilson's Best Buy investigation shows dismal turnout for competing tablets. Arturo gets a touchpad for $99.

Episode 887 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

BMW Group's DesignworksUSA studio previews Bay Area Rapid Transit refresh (video)

We've mentioned earlier that BMW would have a role in updating the Bay Area Rapid Transit (or BART, as it's known locally), the commuter rail system that serves the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, we have a preview video that gives us an idea of what that refresh will look like.

On the outside, the trains don't look radically different from what you'd expect to see from a commuter train. They're all basically metal boxes that hold people. New external LCDs show the train's destination and the doors get yellow illuminated trim that serves … Read more

Systemax exec resigns, must hand over $11 million

Gilbert Fiorentino, head of Systemax's technology products group, has resigned in the face of undisclosed allegations, the company announced today.

Systemax, which sells computers and electronics online via the TigerDirect, CompUSA, and Circuit City sites, put Fiorentino on administrative leave last month. At the time, the company said that it was determining whether to terminate Fiorentino after completing an investigation into "anonymous whistleblower allegations" related to the company's Miami operations. The company's audit committee, which handles the financial side of the operation, conducted the investigation, according to a 10-K reported filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March.

Systemax has not divulged the exact nature of the allegations or whether its investigation turned up anything. … Read more

Wireless CEOs go to Washington, D.C.

Next week, CEOs from some of the nation's largest wireless companies will be testifying on Capitol Hill for and against the proposed $39 billion megamerger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA.

On Wednesday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm will argue in favor of the merger in front of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing titled "The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: Is Humpty Dumpty Being Put Back Together Again?"

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse and regional carrier Cellular South CEO Hu Mena will be there to testify against the merger. … Read more

Report: Wireless carriers rethink mobile payments

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA are scaling back plans for a mobile payment system that will allow people to buy things with their cell phones, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal today.

In November the companies announced that they had formed an alliance with credit card company Discover to build their own mobile payment network. The joint venture was known as Isis. The plan called for the carriers to set up their own payment and transaction network that would charge fees based on transactions. The business model would have put the wireless operators in … Read more

Report: DOJ asks for more info on AT&T/T-Mobile deal

The U.S. Justice Department is asking for more information as it takes a deep dive into its investigation of AT&T's proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA, Bloomberg reported today.

According to two unnamed sources familiar with the situation, Bloomberg said that the Justice Department's antitrust division also sent "civil investigative demands," which are like subpoenas, to competitors of the two companies. The Justice Department is seeking more information on how the deal will affect other wireless businesses, Bloomberg reported.

Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile would comment on the story. And the … Read more

Tethering apps 'blocked' in Android Market

Some of the nation's biggest wireless carriers are trying to put the kibosh on free apps that let Google Android users use their smartphones as modems without paying the carriers' extra fee.

Several blogs have reported in recent days that free Android phone tethering apps that are typically found in the Android Market are not available for Android phones on AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA.

Sprint customers apparently are still able to access many of these tethering apps from the Android Market.

Reports first surfaced from the blog DroidLife that the free tethering app Wireless Tether … Read more

T-Mobile suspends Facebook 'chat' service

T-Mobile has temporarily shut down its newly introduced voice-chatting service for Facebook users.

The company launched the new VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) chat service, which it calls Bobsled, less than a week ago. The service is embedded into Facebook and allows Facebook friends to call each other through the Facebook Chat window.

T-Mobile is suspending the service because the company believes that in Facebook's current design it's not clear that the service is from T-Mobile.

"We are voluntarily and temporarily suspending the Bobsled service as we work with our partners at Facebook to address their design … Read more

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