Corporate and legal

Contrary to what T-Mobile is promising, there are actually some strings to its new wireless service plans.

That's according to Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who ordered T-Mobile to change its alleged "deceptive advertising" that omits charges that consumers have to pay for leaving early.

"My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm," Ferguson said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Ferguson took issue with the component of … Read more

Although Sony has been in a bit of trouble over the last few years, things appear to be looking up.

The company on Thursday revised its initial forecast for the fiscal year ended March 31, saying that its sales will rise 3 percent compared to its initial forecast, landing at 6.8 trillion yen (about $69 billion). Better yet, Sony has bumped up its operating income and net income figures by 76.9 percent and 100 percent, respectively.

If Sony's final numbers for the fiscal year match its forecasts, the company will have dramatically improved its performance over the … Read more

Apple's plans to increase the number of retail stores it operates around the world are in full swing in Germany.

The company posted to its German site today that its first store in Berlin will officially open its doors on May 3. Oddly, Apple will open the store at 5 p.m. local time, rather than in the morning, as it has in previous store openings.

The Berlin Apple Store will be open from 10 a.m. local time to 8 p.m. local time Monday through Saturday. It'll be closed on Sunday.

(Via 9to5 Mac)

Google's proposal for resolving a European investigation into anticompetitive practices in search includes labeling its own services in search results, showing services from rivals nearby, and letting specialized search services block Google from using their content.

The European Commission on Thursday published Google's proposed resolution for the long-running case and issued a request for feedback. (For the full proposal in detail, see below.)

That feedback now includes criticisms from rivals that say Google has unfairly squeezed them off the Web, promoting its own services even when they wouldn't merit top placement when judged on the basis of … Read more

Could Verizon and Vodafone be getting closer to ending their joint ownership of Verizon's wireless business?

Reuters reported Wednesday that Verizon has hired banking and legal advisers to put together a $100 billion bid for Vodafone's share of Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 wireless carrier in the U.S., and that Verizon's board is expected to discuss details of a potential buyout next week, at a meeting prior to its annual shareholder meeting.

Unnamed sources told the news agency that Verizon is confident it can raise about $50 billion from bank financing and that the rest of … Read more

The man responsible for helping lead the team that built Twitter's music app has reportedly stepped down.

According to AllThingsD, Kevin Thau is leaving Twitter to join a startup launched by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone called Jelly. Thau is said to be the new chief operating officer of the startup.

Last month, news first appeared that Stone was preparing to add Jelly to his line of startups. It's said to be a company that will most likely produce a product to be featured on smartphones and tablets.

Twitter hired Thau in 2009 to be a director of mobile … Read more

Consumers watch your wallets. As it gets harder for wireless operators to add new subscribers to their lucrative contract plans, their focus is turning toward getting individual subscribers to spend more each month.

The wireless market is changing, which means mobile operators will no longer be able to rely on adding new high-value contract subscribers to boost their bottom lines. Instead, these companies will need to focus on retaining the customers they have, while encouraging individual subscribers to spend more, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said Wednesday during the company's first-quarter conference call.

Sprint saw big losses in its contract … Read more

The Samsung Galaxy S4 may be a hotter item than its previous hype suggested.

Samsung Electronics' upcoming flagship smartphone may actually be a hard item to find. In a note to CNET, the company warned that initial supply would be limited, blaming "overwhelming global demand."

"We expect to fulfill inventory to meet demands in the coming weeks," a Samsung representative said.

The issues have already affected two U.S. carriers. Sprint Nextel will still offer the phone via its Web site and telesales on April 27, but gave no word on when it would actually have … Read more

For Sprint Nextel, it's darkest before the dawn.

Sprint is slated to decommission the Nextel network at the end of June, finally putting to rest one of the worst mergers in corporate history and ridding itself of an awkward dual-network structure that put a hefty, unnecessary burden on the company.

But before Sprint can declare mission accomplished on a turnaround, it'll have to deal with what will undoubtedly be an ugly second quarter.

Sprint earlier Wednesday reported first quarter results that showed a narrower loss and a healthy increase in its adjusted operating earnings. However, a weak performance … Read more