AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in an interview that he plans to shift the company’s focus away from the U.S. landline phone business into wireless.

Apple’s iPhone has sold 17 million units worldwide since it was launched in June of 2007.

AT&T declined to comment on the report and repeated its previous statement that it had a multi-year agreement with Apple. An Apple spokeswoman also had no comment on the Journal report.

Apple has a number of relationships with other wireless carriers who service the iPhone in 80 countries. Those carriers include 02 in the United Kingdom, Softbank in Japan, Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany.

The Journal also said Stephenson spent several months in 2008 evaluating potential acquisitions in India, including a deal with Indian cell phone giant Reliance Communications Ltd.

Stephenson ultimately decided that the potential price of as much as $30 billion, was too high, the Journal said, quoting people familiar with the discussions.

Executives gathered at the mobile industry’s annual event in Barcelona, Mobile World Congress, said the biggest boost to advertising was the introduction of smartphones, led by the iPhone, which had made surfing the Web an everyday occurrence.

Apple is also responsible for the popularity of another growth driver, the AppStore, which lets iPhone users download thousands of small software programs to personalize the way they play games, listen to music or find directions.

Advertisers have been able to place ads within those programs, or widgets.

But any operators hoping for a boost should likely not hold their breath, as analysts and executives believe the majority of advertising dollars will go to the publishers such as Google who already dominate the Web.

“While we all believe in mobile advertising, we have to recognize that it hasn’t taken off as quickly as expected,” said Vodafone’s Vittorio Colao, chief executive of the world’s largest mobile group by revenue.

The mobile industry has talked up advertising for many years, touting the personal and ubiquitous nature of the phone and its ability to offer ads based on location.

Anyone interested in a new car, for example, can in one step click through to ring the dealership.

Its supporters also point to the forecast that in a couple of years, mobile is expected to become the most common way to get onto the Internet, overtaking the computer.

But would-be promoters of mobile advertising have found that getting around the problem of cluttering up the phone’s small screen with display ads has been harder than expected.

And, a lack of common standards across the industry in how operators, handset makers and advertising agencies approach the service, and the little research showing its effectiveness, mean the industry is still some way from taking off.

There is no real consensus yet on the value of global advertising spent on mobile although Mike Wehrs, head of the trade group Mobile Marketing Association, said he believed it was at the million range and not yet billions.

TravelCell, with a decade of experience, is the renowned leading cellular rental company that revolutionized the industry by allowing tens of thousands to communicate affordably while abroad.

Now Travelcell has done it again by introducing the Travelcell Unlimited Internet Card that works worldwide at 3G speeds. Download music and movies, surf the internet, enjoy unlimited emails, and keep up with the latest news back home. Log in to your virtual office from abroad and relax while taking care of business. Why pay exorbitant fees to use hotel internet service, and be stuck in the room? A Travelcell net card is portable and reasonable.

TravelCell’s extensive portfolio of wireless rental solutions include cellular phones, Sim cards, 3G Unlimited Data Cards, Blackberry products and services with unlimited usage overseas, Satellite phone and GPS rentals. Offering free incoming calls in many countries, low calling rates, local country numbers, Toll Free and USA numbers while abroad, great service, phone and number delivered prior to departure and overnight delivery nationwide make Travelcell the smart choice for the discerning traveler.

The TravelCell advantage enables the savvy traveler to utilize the best voice and data systems worldwide through our partner networks, lowering the costs over 70% of their own network roaming fees. Stay connected worldwide with TravelCell.

Under the promotion the company is also offering customers a $135 credit if they switch from a rival service to T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom .

The test promotion comes after Sprint Nextel  unit Boost Mobile launched an all-in mobile plan for $50 a month in January. T-Mobile USA is seen by analysts as the carrier most vulnerable to losing customers to Boost.

A T-Mobile USA representative said the plan would only be available to customers who have used its service for 22 months or more and that as the company has “additional details regarding a national plan it would provide” them.

UBS analyst John Hodulik said in a research note that he expects the plan to be available nationwide in coming weeks.

Hodulik said the plan effectively lowers T-Mobile’s price for unlimited voice, Web surfing and text messaging to $85 a month from $100 for customers who use data services.

“We believe T-Mobile intends to offer the plan nationwide in a few weeks, adding to competitive pressure in the postpaid market,” said Hodulik, referring to the market for postpaid customers who pay monthly bills.

Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc , is the biggest U.S. wireless carrier in terms of subscribers and along with No. 2 provider AT&T Inc  it depends heavily on postpaid.

Hodulik said that the plan could help T-Mobile USA convince customers not to leave for rival services but because it only applies to long-time customers it may not put too much pressure on Verizon and AT&T to follow suit.

“It’s not a frontal assault on the pricing umbrella but it is eating away at the edges,” he said.

Boost Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer Neil Lindsay said in an interview with Reuters earlier in the day that early adoption of Boost’s $50 unlimited service plan had “exceeded expectations” since its late January launch.

Sprint, which has been steadily losing customers to rivals, is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on February 19.

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“There are over 1 billion people in emerging markets today who don’t have a bank account but do have a mobile phone,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. “This represents a huge opportunity and mobile operators are perfectly placed to bring mobile financial services to this largely untapped consumer base. Based on the initial findings of research conducted with the microfinance centre CGAP and McKinsey & Company, we believe that mobile money for the unbanked has the potential to become a US$5 billion market opportunity over the next three years.”

The MMU programme will fund regulatory and market research to help overcome some of the barriers of providing these services and demonstrate the business case for serving this market. The programme includes a US$5 millionfund to catalyse a new wave of mobile money innovation, encouraging mobile network operators to create new services for previously unbanked people in emerging markets. The MMU programme will support approximately 20 projects in developing countries, focusing on Africa, Asia and Latin America, with the goal of reaching 20 million previously unbanked people with mobile financial services by 2012.

“Traditional financial services are often too costly and inconvenient for people who earn less than US$2 a day to obtain, and too expensive for banks to provide,” said Bob Christen, director of the Financial Services for the Poor initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Technology like mobile phones is making it possible to bring low-cost, high-quality financial services to millions of people in the developing world so they can manage life’s risks and build financial security.”

The move is a further step by the search giant into the mobile phone market, where Apple Inc has encountered success with its iPhone.

Developers such as Electronic Arts Inc have been anxious to expand sales of their mobile phone games to the Android Market, which has been limited to free applications until now.

Google said in a statement on Friday that consumers will have to pay for the applications via its Google Checkout payment product.

Google’s Android Market will initially carry paid applications from developers in the United States and Britain, with plans to allow developers in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France and Spain to participate later this quarter.

In Kenya and Turkey, millions of people use phones to send money or access their bank accounts; in Japan, more than 50 million people, or about half of all cell phone users, already carry phones capable of serving as wallets.

The technology for paying with cell phones by flashing them near reading equipment in stores or on public transport is ready, and the initial feedback is good, said Mary Carol, head of mobile in Visa Europe .

“Trials show that consumers overwhelmingly like it,” Carol said. “The biggest problem has been the business model.”

It will also take at least until 2010 before phones equipped with such technology are widely available, and the financial industry and telecom operators need to agree on some kind of revenue and role split, industry executives say.

The meeting of the two industries will be one of the key topics next week at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

“Both — the financial sector and telecom operators — want to own the relationship with the client, this is one of the hottest issues,” said Juha Murtopuro, chief executive of Valimo Wireless, which provides cell phone identification technologies.

Murtopuro and other industry players said they expect a compromise to be eventually found, with solutions to vary from market to market.

But the ingredients are already there, given the number of consumers already owning both a mobile phone and bank account.

“Consumers are customers of multiple parties. This is something very typical also in our core industry,” said Art Kranzley, chief technology officer at Mastercard .

EMERGING MARKET OPPORTUNITY

For many consumers in emerging markets, their first banking transactions will likely be done through cell phones.

“All the pieces are coming into place for mobile banking to transform the way some 1.5 billion people get banking services in emerging markets,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, head of CGAP, a policy and research center seeking to improve financial access for the world’s poor.

In Kenya, 5 million people have signed up in less than two years to use Safaricom’s M-Pesa service, which enables people to send money to each other.

CGAP said M-Pesa is 45 percent cheaper than other transfer services, with 83 percent of users seeing a “large negative impact” on their lives if they did not have the service.

In Turkey, some 2 million transactions — most of them cash withdrawals from ATMs — were made last year using Turkcell’s mobile service.

The focus of the cellphone market has been shifting to software development since Google and Apple entered the mobile market during the past two years.

The market for software platforms on cellphones is led by the Symbian operating system but it has lost ground over the last year to Apple, Research in Motion and other newcomers.

Nokia , the world’s No.1 cellphone maker, last year bought out other shareholders of UK-based smartphone software maker Symbian and has pledged to make its software royalty-free to other phone makers in response to new rivals.

Since then, 78 companies have said they plan to join the Symbian Foundation to get access to its software.

Atelier, Bank of America , Gemalto, Imagination Technologies, Mobica, Nanoradio, Omron Software, SanDisk , SESCA, SiRF Technology and VirtualLogix said on Thursday they would join the foundation.

In December Google’s Android camp announced new members, increasing its membership to 47.

Nokia will contribute Symbian’s assets to the not-for-profit Symbian Foundation, uniting with leading handset makers, network operators and communications chipmakers to create an open-source platform.

Nokia has said it sees the Symbian Foundation as a faster way to bring new products to market. Foundation members also avoid having to pay fees to outside software developers.

Nokia expects to release the first Symbian Foundation software this year and introduce a new platform by June 2010.

Verizon Wireless today announced Friends & Family(R), a new feature that gives customers total control over how they use their plan minutes. Beginning Sunday, Feb. 15, Verizon Wireless customers will be able to identify five or 10 numbers as a Friends & Family calling group. Minutes used when placing or receiving calls to anyone in the calling group will not count against customers’ plan minutes. Customers can even include landline numbers or wireless numbers of those who haven’t yet switched to the nation’s largest, most reliable network. Friends & Family gives customers a flexible way to control their wireless spending and still talk to those individuals who are most significant to them. Changes to the Friends & Family directory are quick, easy and free.

“This is a milestone in the industry,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “For the first time our customers can take control over their personal calling plans, build it to suit their needs yet still reap the benefits of being on the nation’s most reliable wireless network. And since there are no long distance charges, those numbers can be anywhere in the country. There is no charge to sign up and no charge, ever, to make changes to their Friends & Family calling directory.”

Customers wanting to take advantage of Friends & Family must have a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Single Line plan with 900 or more Anytime Minutes or a Nationwide Family SharePlan(R) with 1,400 or more Anytime Minutes. Customers on an eligible Nationwide Single Line plan, which starts at $59.99 monthly access, may select up to five numbers to add to their Friends & Family directory. Customers on an eligible Nationwide Family SharePlan, starting at$89.99 monthly access for the first two lines, may select up to 10 numbers for their Friends & Family directory to share among account users. Nationwide plans include Unlimited Night & Weekend minutes, no domestic roaming or long distance charges, and access to Mobile Web. Verizon Wireless customers also enjoy unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling with America’s largest calling family of more than 80 million customers.

Existing Verizon Wireless customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/myverizon to sign up for My Verizon and check their eligibility for Friends & Family. Once a customer makes a change to his or her Friends & Family numbers, the new numbers will be effective the following day. Verizon Wireless expects to offer Friends & Family lines for business customers later this quarter. With this offering, business customers will have the convenience of managing their Friends & Family through the My Business online account management tool.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit www.verizonwireless.com.

Sprint  today announced the wireless carrier’s aggressive goal of reaching a 90% phone collection rate for reuse/recycling compared with annual wireless device sales by 2017. With more than 140 million cell phones discarded every year in the United States, the need for responsible wireless phone recycling is greater than ever. Sprint has instituted a “Zer0 e-Waste” policy with the providers who receive and process the recycled phones it collects, ensuring they are recycled safely, ethically and responsibly.

“This is a challenge for the entire industry,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. “Sprint is the first to set an aggressive 90 percent recovery goal. Sprint is committed to lead the industry in conserving natural resources, decreasing energy use and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.”

“EPA commends Sprint for taking the lead among its industry peers in setting a 90 percent recycling goal for its wireless recycling efforts,” said Matt Hale, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Conservation and Resource Recovery. “In providing consumers with easy to use recycling opportunities, Sprint is helping consumers to conserve valuable resources.”

A recent Sprint survey examining consumers’ mobile phone recycling habits found that nine out of 10 surveyed own at least one and as many as five old, unused mobile phones. To encourage consumers to recycle their unused wireless devices, Sprint offers two free and easy programs: Sprint Buyback and Sprint Project Connect^(SM).

• Sprint customers can participate in the Sprint Buyback program by going to www.sprint.com/recycle or calling toll-free (866) 364-5680 or going to any of the more than 1,200 Sprint-owned retail stores nationwide. The wireless device recovery effort allows customers to return eligible Sprint or Nextel devices for account credits.
• Anyone can recycle with Sprint Project Connect. The program accepts all wireless phones, batteries, accessories and data cards, regardless of carrier or condition. Free postage-paid envelopes are available at any Sprint-owned retail store, and come in the box with most new phones sold by Sprint. Free postage-paid mailing labels are also available at www.sprint.com/recycle. Since 2001, Sprint’s recycling and reuse programs have raised more than $6 million for charities. Today all net proceeds generated from the wireless equipment collected by Sprint Project Connect support Internet safety for kids through Sprint’s 4NetSafety^SM program. Charitable partners include the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the NEA Health Information Network.

Sprint is committed to reducing its impact on the global environment by working with consumers to increase participation in responsible recycling practices. In 2008, Sprint collected more than 3 million units, equal to 34 percent of devices sold, an increase from 22 percent in 2007. Of the handsets that Sprint collected in 2008, more than 90 percent were reused. More information on Sprint programs that protect the environment is available at http://www.sprint.com/responsibility/sustainability.html.

“More than 1.5 million households in New York qualify for the Lifeline services – offering these participants the opportunity to have the same access and privileges many individuals take for granted when it comes to using cell phones,” said Jose Fuentes, Director of Government Relations for TracFone. “The SafeLink Wireless service is truly unique because we are providing a service that no other company has made available before – a free cell phone and free monthly minutes to qualifying low income families,” added Fuentes. SafeLink Wireless offers low income families accessibility, freedom and the security in knowing that should an emergency occur – wherever they are, they will stay safe and stay connected.”

SAFELINK WIRELESS® SERVICE ELIGIBILITY OVERVIEW BY CITY

Top 10 New York state counties with the most eligible Lifeline participants:

Program Eligibility

Lifeline program eligibility in the state of New York consists of the following:

• Family Assistance
• Safety Net Assistance
• Food Stamps
• Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Medicaid
• Veteran’s Disability Pension (non-service related disability)
• Veteran’s Surviving Spouse Pension (non-service related disability)

The SafeLink Wireless service will be provided to low-income families for up to one year. Participants may renew service and will be required to re-submit eligibility documentation upon their year completion. If the participant no longer qualifies for this free service, they will be notified and will be able to keep the cell phone to continue enjoying the benefits as a regular TracFone customer. Unused minutes will never expire and will automatically rollover. When recipients surpass their allocated 68 airtime minutes, they will be able to purchase prepaid SafeLink Wireless airtime cards or TracFone airtime cards, including double minute cards. Existing TracFone customers qualifying for the SafeLink Wireless service may keep their current cell phone, and receive bonus minutes (one-time bonus only) for choosing to keep their current cell phone.

To learn more about the SafeLink Wireless service, including eligibility requirements, please call 1-800-977-3768, or visit www.safelinkwireless.com.