America Movil, the parent company of TracFone Wireless bought Simple Mobile, T-Mobile's largest virtual network with 1 million customers. In this move (which the acquisition cost is not known) TracFone gained one million new customers and a new business model which is already being tried out by Straight Talk (Bring your own phone).

Simple Mobile sells unlimited wireless GSM service through SIM cards for $40 a month and offers a few other plans. It will be interesting to see how and if Simple Mobile changes their offerings and if the companies are merged or remain as separate entities with different offerings. The move seems like a natural one since Straight Talk has been very successful with the BYOP plan.

Simple Mobile caters to a younger audience and the fact that they have amounted one million customers is a testament of the company being successful.

To be continued...
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In a surprising move, Straight Talk adds seven new phones including five new Androids, some less known ones like Alcatel and ZTE to the new upcoming list.

Let's quickly review these two new phone makers to get an idea of Straight Talk's motivations. Alcatel is better known for Alcatel-Lucent, a company created when Alcatel and Lucent Technologies merged in 2006. Since then, Alcatel-Lucent has become a global communications giant providing voice, data, and video services. Alcatel introduced cell phones in North America in 2006 and then brought the first Alcatel phone to the U.S. market in 2008. While not widely successful, Alcatel has since remained a player and has launched many more decent phones in the U.S. including the One Touch series. Straight Talk is offering a unique Alcatel called the One Touch Flex which is a full QWERTY keyboard touch screen combination sure to get people exited.

ZTE is a Chineese company that boasts being the second larges maker of phone equipment. ZTE has several Android phones including the LTE Ice Cream Sandwich equipped ZTE N910 with a very decent size 4.3 inch display and a dual core 1.2GH Qualcomm processor. While the ZTE is not offering the N910, it is offering a lower end yet attractive ZTE Merit AKA

Most companies add maybe one or two phones every couple months but Straight Talk, as they have been known to do, broke all the rules and opened the flood gates by adding six new phones to the Straight Talk cell phone showcase. Not all new phones are Androids though, as we saw last month, when they planned to release the LG325g and the LG235c. Two of the new phones are regular feature phones but much more advanced feature phones than the formerly named.

One might wonder why the move to add six new phones while also promoting the BYOP program but Straight Talk is no small fish and when they make a move, it leads to success. With so many options to choose from, the next step would be to offer Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS which is currently only offered to select phones and select carriers. For those of you that are not aware, Ice Cream Sandwich or ICS is the creative name given to Android operating system version 4.0.

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Straight Talk added the ZTE Merit to the list of upcoming Android phones. The ZTE Merit also known as the ZTE 990g is a great Android device with a simple to use interface. This seems like a phone that will be a step up from the Samsung Galaxy Precedent. The ZTE Merit has three main buttons and features chrome volume and power buttons. The body is rounded and it has a rubbery finish.

Detailed Specifications:

Model: ZTE-Z990G
Processor: 600 MHz
Cores: single
Total Memory: 431584 kB
Display: 320 x 480
DPI: 159x160
Sensors: LIS33DEADXL346 3-axis Accelerometer AK8973 3-axis Magnetic field sensor, AK8973 Orientation sensor, TSL2771 Proximity sensor
Camera: 5 MP
Battery details: Talk time: 5.8 hours Standby 10 days

Benchmark results:

We ran the Benchmark standard on the ZTE Merit (four times back to back) with no programs running and all available memory and the average of four runs was:
552.5 MHz (575,514,569,552)
(This result is not exactly what we expected but it is not horrible). Based on our usage, we felt the ZTE Merit performance was adequate and we did not see any lagging after much usage.

First impressions:

The ZTE 990g (Merit) is one of the easiest phones to use offered by Straight Talk because you don't have to mess with any activation process since it's GSM and works with AT&T. One you activate on line, the phone is good and ready to be used. The power on screens include a ZTE logo and the typical TracFone logo with the circles. Aside from that, you have no indication that the phone works with either TracFone or Straight Talk. The power and lock key is easy to use even though we prefer the button to be on the top right side, this button is on the top top right but because the phone is so small, you can palm the entire phone and lock and unlock it in a single move.

Camera:

The ZTE Merit features a 5MP camera with 2.5x zoom. Here is a picture taken with the ZTE Merit in full daylight and at the highest brightness setting (you can adjust the brightness to get more contrast). Notice the image still captures fine details and it does what was intended (full brightness). You may not want to take pictures like this so you can adjust the brightness. The second picture has had the brightness adjusted to a more normal look.
Here are two images that have been scaled down: Click here to see a full size image 1.

Here is the second image (also scaled down) for this review. This image has a more normal brightness and by the way, it's a picture of a children's book.

Click here to see a full size image 2

The camera has the zoom, shutter sound (on,off), White balance (auto/ incandescent/ daylight / florescent / cloudy) as well as Auto focus, Expousure, picture size (from 5MP to 1MP), Picture quality, color effect, Select ISO, Saturation Level, Contrast, and Sharpness. So it is safe to say this is a versatile still camera.

You can also switch to video camera mode and take video (sample coming soon).
Check if the ZTE Merit is available in your zip code

Fierce Wireless recently ran an article on the top 10 highest paid executives in wireless and we thought it was a good idea to highlight the top five.

We all know how profitable cell phones and wireless services are but have you ever stopped to think how much the Chiefs actually earn? It's no surprise that Apple CEO, Tim Cook tops the list with a whopping $377,996,537 in 2011 up from the previous year by $318,903,965.

The difference between 2010 and 2011 is more than the rest in this article combined. Now that's impressive!

Go ahead and have a look at what other wireless CEOs are earning and then reflect on your salary and how can you get to the top!

Rank	Compay/Name	Salary Details	With company since
1	Apple CEO Tim Cook   AGE: 52	Total compensation (2011): $377,996,537 Total compensation (2010): $59,092,572 Salary:  $900,017   Bonus: $0 Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $377,096,520	1998
2	Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown AGE: 51	Total compensation (2011): $ 29,329,052 Total compensation (2010): 13,738,910 Salary: $ 1,200,000 Bonus: $0 Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $28,129,052	2003
3	Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam AGE: 58	Total compensation (2011): $23,120,499 Total compensation (2010): $7,195,900 Salary: $1,400,000 Bonus: $0 Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $21,720,499	Since the beginning (2000)
4	AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson AGE: 52	Total compensation (2011): $22,018,334   Total compensation (2010): $27,341,628 Salary: $1,550,000 Bonus: $0 Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $20,468,334	1982
5	Qualicom CEM Paul Jacobs AGE: 50	Total compensation (2011): $21,722,333 Total compensation (2010): $17,626,939 Salary: $1,150,591 Bonus: $7,125   Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $20,564,617	1990

Source:Fierce Wireless

AT&T announced today that they are unlocking AT&T iPhones who's two year contract has been fulfilled. This is great move for those who have been tied with a two year contract and now wish to continue using the iPhone and save tons of money. While it seems like a generous move from AT&T, it is actually a weak gesture since AT&T is not giving up anything, they are simply doing today what should have been done years ago. The phones AT&T are unlocking have already satisfied the agreement so it actually makes sense to let those phones roam free in amongst the masses of prepaid and less expensive plans that support the iPhone. Why this was not done sooner is the real question.

Enter the MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). There are lots of available operators who will gladly welcome your iPhone and give you a very decent plan at a very affordable rate. Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, NET10 just to name a few. While it has been said that the data speeds are less with these MVNOs and other carriers, paying $45- $50 a month sure beats paying over $100 with AT&T and sure worth the supposed reduced speeds.

What does this really mean? Simple: Millions of AT&T customers who have been with the giant cell provider will have fulfilled their two year commitment and they now can officially take their iPhone and move service away from AT&T to other providers based on cost, features, convenience and other factors. While this was always possible, this is the first time AT&T and Apple back up the idea.

What does this mean for the little guy?
We're talking about folks who make a little extra income by unlocking iPhones for a fee. Due to the AT&T move, these guys' income just went down. If AT&T is going to do this service, who needs to go and pay someone to do it. So in the end, AT&T comes too little too late and also is hurting the little guy who made a quick buck unlocking iPhones. One other thing to note is if an AT&T customer's contract is not up and they still want to unlock the phone, they will need to pay AT&T a cancellation fee.

Straight Talk has been very aggressive lately in both offering innovative and affordable products as well as acquiring new customers. The latest offering from Straight Talk caters to international customers and they have two new features that are sure to attract anyone who needs to communicate with folks outside the U.S.
The first offering is International SMS or International Text messages and we were surprised to find out this is a free standard feature on the new Android phones using the Sprint network LG Optimus q LG Optimus Net LG Optimus Black. The second offering is the Straight Talk International Unlimited Service Plan. The Straight Talk International Unlimited Service plan simply allows you to make unlimited international calls for $60 a month.

Straight Talk International Unlimited Plan Details:

The Straight Talk International Unlimited plan is very straight forward. According the the Straight Talk site, you simply add the service to your existing Straight Talk account (either call the toll free number or go on-line and select the option) and then make unlimited international calls. International cell phone calls can cost up to $1 per minute so for anyone who is going to talk more than one hour a month, the plan is well worth the extra $60 a month. Since Straight talk's unlimited regular service plan costs $45 a month, adding the international unlimited calling will bump your bill to $105 a month so you better use the heck out of the international service. Another obvious application of this service is for international travelers coming in to the U.S. from all other countries. If you are or know an international traveler, $60 to keep in touch with your homeland is a bargain.

Straight Talk International SMS Details:

Most carriers block this service or charge up to $1 a message but Straight Talk is offering Android phones LG Optimus q LG Optimus Net LG Optimus Black. with this service included. You simply add "011" or "+" in front of the country code and number and send your message. We're not sure if the recipient can just reply to you but if you are familiar with the service, drop us a line and let us know.

Since Straight Talk is owned by América Móvil (BMV: AMX / NYSE: AMX / NASDAQ: AMOV / BMAD: AMXL) we figure they leverage some of the buying power to pass on the savings to U.S. customers. After all is said and done, Straight Talk is doing what they do best: Offering affordable, practical, and useful services and beating everyone else s prices and while not everyone might use these services, there is a need for travelers and locals in the U.S. that like keeping in touch with friends and families overseas.