Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg gave a particularly candid interview with the Financial Times recently, revealing that he'd like to see Verizon take full control of Verizon Wireless -- a joint venture with Vodafone in which Verizon holds 55 percent -- given that Verizon is "doing 100 percent of the work." Zing! Despite saying that Voda's "been a great partner," the bulk of the conversation makes it sound like relations are definitely strained between the two telecom giants, and Seidenberg thinks that once bigwig Arun Sarin hands over the Vodafone reigns to Vittorio Colao next month, "maybe he'll want to do something different." You know, "different" as in "sell off $60 billion worth of Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications." Also interesting is Seidenberg's revelation that Sarin wanted Verizon to snap up Alltel last year before it sold to private equity firms, but thanks to Verizon's majority on the VZW board, they were able to put the kibosh on the plan, apparently over concerns that they'd end up in a nasty bidding war. Alas, all's well that ends well, we suppose.

[Via mocoNews]

Consider yourself an Apple fanatic? Gotta have the latest and greatest the moment it's available? Ok... prove it. We have it from a trusted source that the world's first iPhone 3G will be on sale at 00:01, Friday July 11th, in New Zealand -- that's still Thursday, July 10th at 5:01 in the AM in Cupertino or 13:01 hours in London. At that precise minute, Vodafone NZ will swing open the doors of its Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch shops to your overeager HSDPA jones. So, now that you know the next move is all yours.

Read -- 00:01 NZ time calculated globally

With Planet Earth's wireless juggernauts jumping on the LTE train while there's still room, we suppose the latest report from ABI Research isn't all that shocking. According to it, there will be some 32 million LTE network subscribers by 2013, and with the commercial launch not expected to go down before 2010, our abacus suggests that we're talking about 32 million over just 3 years. The firm asserts that the Asia-Pacific region will account for most of those folks (around 12 million), while the rest get split 60% / 40% between Western Europe and North America. You think we're just going to let you make this outlandish claim and then fuhgetaboutit, don't you ABI? Nah, we're creating a Google Calendar reminder for this day in 2013 right now to check back and see just how accurate you really were.

[Via SlashPhone]

Sure, we may have run the HTC Touch Diamond into the ground in recent memory, but seeing as we're not remorseful bunch, here's a bit more. Vodafone's business shop has dropped the Touch Diamond on its pages, tangible proof that a real carrier launch is just around the corner. While still slated as coming soon, we now know it will be priced from £free and they're even throwing in a free Bluetooth car kit. Good on ya Vodafone, now hurry up already, we're awful tired of waiting.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Remember that time Vodafone was targeting May for the launch of the BlackBerry Bold? Yeah, those were the days! Let's not dwell on the past, though -- no use crying over spilled milk, our mommies always used to say. Instead, let's focus on exactly when Vodafone thinks it can launch the Bold now, which happens to be August -- and this time, the word comes from an official Voda website that was intended for public consumption, so they have more eyeballs on it and more liability if they miss the date. Thing is, the description of the phone lists the Sony Ericsson W980i, not the Bold, so maybe there's just a little smidge of buffoonery going on behind the scenes. August sounds totally plausible, though, so we're sticking with it until we hear otherwise.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Update: It's been updated to July -- sweet. It's like the opposite of a delay!

This morning we're getting a first look at unsubsidized prices for the iPhone 3G in Europe. Vodafone Italy have set an out-of-contract price for the iPhone 3G at 499/€569 ($773/$881) for the 8GB/16GB models, respectively. Subscription rates have not yet been announced. While steep, those prices are actually smartphone-reasonable in Italy (and around Europe) where an HTC Touch Cruise with its WiFi, tri-band HSDPA data, GPS, and touchscreen sells for €549. Capisce?

[Thanks, Andrea]

Truth be told, Fixed Mobile Convergence still isn't talked about much (comparatively speaking) 'round these parts. Yeah, we've seen a few FMC routers scattered about, but Vodafone's taking a stand by rolling out its Station in Italy. The box, which was developed in cooperation with Huawei, is an integrated switch / router with ADSL2+, WiFi, UMTS / HSPA (via a removable USB key) and four Ethernet ports. Essentially, it's designed to combine voice with fixed and mobile broadband services, and it enables users to make calls on their handset through a fixed line connection when they're kicking back at home. We're also hearing that the device will eventually make its way to other Vodafone markets, but there's been no word yet on future rollout dates.

[Via GigaOM]

Alright, Vodafone's making this too easy: going to its link for the LG Secret is currently producing a "Sorry, we could not find the product requested" error, which only serves to reinforce the phone's stealthy name. We're figuring they're just working out a few technical details on their end, but at any rate, LG's fashionable 5 megapixel slider should now be available from Voda retailers in the UK, offering a 2.4 inch scratch-resistant display, carbon fiber shell, HSDPA, and all the other spoils that go with being a high-end device these days. It clocks in at just 11.8mm to boot, which should be slim enough to make it a secret in your pocket, too. Looks like the carrier's selling it for anywhere from free to £250 (about $491) depending on the plan you select, so cost shouldn't be a concern (upfront cost, anyway) if you absolutely must have this one.

[Via MobileBurn]

You know how you quit your job that one time because you just weren't seeing results and the coffee kind of sucked? Well, not this guy. After five years at the helm of the world's largest phone company, Arun Sarin is leaving his CEO spot at Vodafone at the ripe old age of 53. His #2, Vittorio Colao, the current Regional CEO of Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa for Vodafone, will be taking the top spot, with the handover to happen on July 29th. Sarin's rule of Vodafone included a failed bid for AT&T Wireless and considerable expansion into emerging markets like India, Turkey and Romania. It's certainly paid off for the company, with full-year profits of $13.25 billion. According to the man himself, "I've done what I came here to do. The time is right and the time is now." It does appear he'll be sticking around a bit in an advisory role, and rumor has it his next gig will be private equity-related.

There's apparently no shortage of interest in Huawei's generous offer to sell a healthy chunk of itself to one or more foreign investors in exchange for cold, hard cash, and the list of interested parties is turning out to be quite a who's-who. AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone have all emerged as potential suitors (with the latter two possibly working on a deal together, we'd imagine), suggesting that carriers have a lot of interest in sidestepping manufacturers altogether and manufacturing at least a few phones all by themselves. Bids are officially due next week and the stake is expected to fetch up to $2 billion, so if you've got service through any of these carriers, rest easy knowing that your monthly fees could be helping to fund a megasale.

[Via Cellpassion]

The industrious Boy Genius has apparently unearthed more juicy tidbits about that rumored BlackBerry touchscreen device. Word from BG is that the new iPhone-ish handset is now internally dubbed the "Thunder," and will come to Verizon and Vodafone as an exclusive device. The phone will reportedly have four physical keys (send, end, menu, and back), sport a hybrid CDMA EV-DO Rev. C / GSM HSPA radio, and could come equipped with a 4G LTE component. Outside Waterloo's labs, the device could be known as the BlackBerry 9500 -- though it's possible that designation could change. BGR has included a self-made mockup (above) of what the device may look like, but as of now, no one has laid eyes on this mythical creature.

Vodafone's just got a tiny, minor, insignificant announcement to make this morning: it's signed with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten markets, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy (so much for Telecom Italia), India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. Expect the phone later this year -- that's all we know for now. Score one (or ten?) for Voda.

[Thanks, iB3nji]

New plans being lauded by Vodafone in the UK are going to run mobile internet fiends £7.50 (about $14.80) less than they otherwise would've thanks to the inclusion of unlimited data right in the bundle. The packages start at £25, and those over £40 also get their pick of unlimited texts, unlimited landline calls, or unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls. As any skeptic could've easily guessed, there's some critical fine print attached to the deal: the "unlimited" isn't so unlimited, getting capped at 500MB as part of Voda's fair use policy. For a sub-$15 plan that's not intended for tethering, that doesn't seem to be a problem -- but seriously, why even throw the word "unlimited" out there then?

Although it should be painfully obvious, we can't deny that chatting about sensitive information in public takes place practically everywhere. To that end, a new study commissioned by Vodafone UK found that over 70-percent of all workers "talk business on their mobile phones in public, with one-in-five talking about business-critical subjects such as sales leads." Worse still, 15-percent admitted to "openly discussing confidential new products or services whilst traveling," while 26-percent admitted that they have actually followed up on a lead in which they received via listening in to another's public call. Not surprisingly, the company recommends that individuals utilize more discreet methods of communicating in public, suggesting texting and emailing in particular. Of course, it's a good bit more difficult to tell a story through those two methods, but it's a lot better than having your most promising client snatched out from under you, yeah?

[Via textually, image courtesy of Miloh]

Simmer down, we're not talking about yet another homegrown 3G standard from China here. Oh no -- Vodafone, Softbank and China Mobile are teaming up to establish a Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) that will "promote the development of new mobile technologies, applications and services." More specifically, the trio is aiming to accelerate the "commercial deployment of mobile internet services" such as mobile widgets. For starters, the initiative hopes to conjure up a platform for said widgets that can leverage the unique capabilities of mobile operators, and it's most certainly keeping the door to the party wide open for anyone who wants to get in on the action. As expected, we're not clearly told what to expect from this little tie-up, but we'll be keeping an ear to ground for any developments.