From All Things Digital, May 5, 2008:

To some, Sprint’s longstanding reputation for lousy customer service, poor network coverage, high churn and Keystone Kops-style management disorganization might be a bit–how can I put this delicately–off-putting. The beleaguered company’s subscriber numbers are dropping like failed calls, as are its shares. Sprint’s stock price has fallen nearly 60% over the past 12 months. It posted a $29.6 billion loss for 2007 and has had its debt rating cut to junk by Standard & Poor’s.

Not the most attractive of acquisition targets. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in this case T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom (DT) which is reportedly considering a bid for the wireless outfit, whose worsening losses have left it ripe for a buyout.

From All Things Digital, April 29, 2008:

Apple (AAPL) and Canadian wireless provider Rogers Communications (RCI) have finalized a deal that will soon bring the iPhone to the RIM BlackBerry’s backyard. In a brief note issued this morning, the company said it has reached an agreement to offer the iPhone in Canada.

“We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year,” Rogers chief executive Ted Rogers said in a statement just full of details. “We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned.”

Good news for Rogers, which had suggested prior to the iPhone’s launch it would offer the phone in Canada, but was later forced to admit it hadn’t yet inked a deal with Apple.

From Silicon Alley Insider, April 17, 2008:

Nokia (NOK) reported a mostly in-line Q1, but shares are down 10% on the Helsinki exchange (and in pre-market trading here) after the company said it expected the worldwide cellphone market to decline in revenue this year versus 2007, despite 10% y/y growth in units shipped.

The company expects average phone prices to continue to drop as emerging markets make up a big chunk of its growth.

Sprint Nextel's new plan to hang on to fleeing customers: An all-you-can-eat calling package priced $10 below its competitors.

Sprint plans to sell an unlimited calling plan, which also includes unlimited walkie-talkie usage and unlimited text messaging, for $89.99 per month, new CEO Dan Hesse announced during the company's Q4 earnings call this morning. T-Mobile offers a similar plan for $99.99, sans walkie-talkie. Verizon Wireless and AT&T offer unlimited calling for $99.99 per month, but charge extra for text messaging.

The stock market is off to a strong start Thursday thanks to overnight strength in Asia and Europe. The tech sector is getting a boost from a Citigroup upgrade of Cisco and Research in Motion's raised subscriber guidance.

One potential fly in the ointment: iSuppli is slashing its forecast for NAND flash chip demand and prices, which could have negative implications for NAND users like Apple and producers like Intel and Micron. Meanwhile, this  is another potential hit for Toshiba, which made a big bet on NAND technology this week after bowing out of the HD-DVD business.

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In the beginning, there wasn't a whole lot of logic behind the Nasdaq's early bounce Tuesday. And in the end, the bounce got busted. Because really, what the heck do muni bonds have to do with tech stocks anyway? Not much, and thus the early "Buffett Bounce" faded.

The Nasdaq traded as high 2349.55 early on as the broader stock market jumped on news of Warren Buffet's bid to acquire the municipal bond liabilities of the struggling monoline bond insurers, like MBIA and Ambac.

But the Dow and S&P closed well off their intraday highs and the Nasdaq ended down a fraction at 2320.» More