Verizon is planning on adding official support for Skype to its handsets. The two companies are expected to announce a partnership at the Mobile World Congress on February 16, which will allow Skype calls to be made from Verizon phones using the provider’s 3G data plan.

This would be a shrewd move on the part of Verizon. Voice calls are becoming a less and less of a profit center for wireless carriers. Look at the big price cuts that both Verizon and AT&T introduced last month: The biggest area of price savings is in unlimited voice plans. Data is still a premium, and in the case of Verizon, there are still data caps for mobile data usage.

Read the full story on Mashable.

Investors had come to see that Apple’s relationship with AT&T was still strong. The iPad was going to be available with pre-paid data service from AT&T, and using 3G frequencies not available on T-Mobile, the only other GSM carrier in the United States. That alone was enough to trigger a rally in shares of PALM. The stock gained 11% from the day’s low to peak at $11.98 a share, though it eventually settled down at $11.70 by the close of the market. That was a 4.7% gain from the open and a rally of close to 8% from the low of $10.75.

Source: Pre Central

Palm have announced the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, and as expected they’re headed to Verizon Wireless. The Palm Pre Plus doubles memory to 16GB and drops the navigation button, while the Pixi Plus gets the WiFi that was missing from the Sprint Pixi. Meanwhile both Verizon handsets will get a new 3G mobile hotspot application that, like a MiFi, will allow users to share their EVDO Rev.A connection with up to five connected WiFi clients.

Both new Verizon handsets will arrive on the market on January 25th.

Source: Slash Gear.

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