• Facebook launched on the Nasdaq exchange in new York
• 80 million shares sold in first 30 seconds of trading
• But share price almost falls below $38 offer value
• Launch delayed amid confusion at Nasdaq
• Follow our Facebook shareholder wealth tracker here

1.42pm ET/6.42pm BST: if you haven’t checked out our live tracker of top Facebook shareholders’ wealth based on today’s fluctuations in the FB share price, you can have a look here.

1.22pm ET/6.22pm BST: Guardian tech editor Charles Arthur looks at what’s next for Facebook:

What to expect now? Don’t be surprised if the next big thing is a Facebook phone – running its own software and developed from top to bottom to involve you in the site all the time.

Zuckerberg’s team has been advised to do this directly, because it needs to reach the “next billion” internet users, and they are mainly going to be using mobile phones, not desktop or laptop computers. Selling its own phone would mean it could make itself the background hum of many peoples’ lives everywhere – and show adverts and collect data on its own terms.

Read Charles’ full analysis here.

1.16pm ET/6.16pm BST: Dominic Rushe checks in on the Internet gaming company Zynga, and what the poor performance of its stock today could mean for Facebook:

Facebook’s shares have recovered after dropping worryingly close to their $38 offer price. But over at Zynga there are still problems.

As we mentioned earlier, it looks likely that Facebook’s battalion of bankers moved to make sure FB didn’t drop below $38. Zynga had no such luck and was down more than 13% at one point. It’s now down nearly 6%.

Zynga is basically a way to trade Facebook, since nearly all of its business comes from the social network. so is this what FB’s share fall would look like if the bankers hadn’t piled in? just sayin’.

1.09pm ET/6.09pm BST: till death do us part – or your company doth go public. will the Facebook IPO cause a spike in shareholder divorces as new millionaires are created and relationships become more liquid, as it were? The Financial Times has a morbidly droll (and paywall-protected) report:

“When Google went public, there was a wave of divorces. When Cisco went public there was a wave of divorces,” says Steve Cone, a divorce attorney based in Palo Alto, near the social network’s Menlo Park headquarters. “I expect a similar wave shortly after Facebook goes public.”

12.55pm ET/5.55pm BST: Facebook staffers have flocked to the social network to bask in the post-IPO glow, the Guardian’s Josh Halliday reports.

Lindsey Cochran, who works in marketing at Facebook, writes: “I vividly remember signing up for facebook in the upstairs quad of 508 Thurston … in April of 2004. I can’t believe I am now going to be a part of such a historic moment. Feeling incredibly lucky!”

Gabe Hernandez, another staffer, says: “While I won’t be in any of the Facebook offices to celebrate today, I am wearing my hoodie in solidarity. Thanks everyone for making my job far from the last place I ever want to be. now stay focused and keep hacking!”

Meanwhile, Zuck has returned to his Facebook to note: “This is a pretty awesome hack.”

12.39pm ET/5.39pm BST: if you don’t own Facebook shares yet, are you currently missing an historic opportunity to get in on the ground level of a company that’s about to break all previous records for stock growth?

Warren Buffett apparently doesn’t think so. Here’s what the Oracle of Omaha has to say about IPOs in general:

It’s almost a mathematical impossibility to imagine that, out of the thousands of things for sale on a given day, the most attractively priced is the one being sold by a knowledgeable seller (company insiders) to a less-knowledgeable buyer (investors).

12.34pm ET/5.34pm BST: have underwriters stepped in to hold Facebook shares above $38?

Business Insider gets a look at the order book, sent in by Twitter user @Bourbon_Meyer.

“It strongly appears that there’s a huge perma-bid at $38 on Facebook,” Joe Weisenthal writes. “Check out the big mass of yellow on the left column… all those bids at $38.”

12.18pm ET/5.18pm BST: Facebook stock has been out of the gate for 50 minutes. After opening at just above $42 the stock dropped to the break-even level of $38. But instead of continuing to fall, the stock staged a resolute recovery:

So what happened? Here’s Dominic Rushe:

Facebook’s shares came dangerously close to falling below $38, the offer price, and have now rallied. this chart shows what happened. the speculation is that the underwriters have piled in and supported the price that we are chasing now. if it’s true, they can’t support the price forever and you can expect FB’s shares to fall next week.

But – and it’s a big but – there have clearly been problems with the IPO at Nasdaq, orders for shares were backed up and may have caused these weird price movements.

There are however signs that investors are underwhelmed. Zynga shares were suspended after they crashed this morning – not a good sign as the game firm is largely dependent on Facebook for its business.

12.03pm ET/5.03pm BST: One stock that really doesn’t like what it’s seeing in the Facebook IPO: Zynga, the Internet gaming company.

Zynga, which depends on Facebook for a platform for its games, had an underwhelming IPO of its own in December, when it fell 5 percent in its first day of trading.

So far today Zynga is down 13 percent.

UPDATE 12.07pm ET: Trading in Zynga shares has now been halted.

11.56am ET/4.56pm BST: A look back at the hot tech IPO of 20 years ago:

Celebrating Facebook IPO today while reflecting on AOL IPO 20 years ago. Valuation was $70 million. most thought Internet was a fad. #wrong

— Steve Case (@SteveCase) May 18, 2012

11.50am ET/4.50pm BST: as the Facebook share price settles back to $38, the Guardian’s Nils Pratley contributes his analysis of the pricing dynamics. if the stock goes too high, insiders who sold in advance of the IPO may resent the investment bank. A share price of around $41 would satisfy most everyone, Pratley writes:

A 10% pop should satisfy the IPO advisers. When you start getting to 20%-plus, the insiders who are selling feel short-changed and accuse the investment bank advisers of misjudging demand. 10% is ok – it meets the “leave something on the table for the next person” rule.

11.36am ET/4.36pm BST: how will Facebook shares perform in the first day of trading? Tell us what you think.

For extra credit, let us know in the comments what you think the high price and the low price of the day will be.

11.34am ET/4.34pm BST: how big is trader interest in Facebook? 82 million shares were traded in the first 30 seconds, according to Nasdaq.

The stock price is bumping along at the $40-$41 level. you can follow the stock price here.

11.30am ET/4.30pm BST: And they’re off. Facebook is now on sale – and the first shares cross at $42.05, a good deal higher than the $38/share rollout price.

For the time being, at least, the company has 100 billion reasons to cheer.

11.30am ET/4.30 pm BST: mark Zuckerberg and colleagues ringing the opening bell for Nasdaq at 9.30am ET.

Looks anticlimactic now.

11.27am ET/4.27pm BST: IPO delayed indefinitely by glitch in market: this isn’t the headline Facebook was looking for this morning.

Wow, Nasdaq found the only way possible to upstage the Facebook IPO.

— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) May 18, 2012

11.23am ET/4.23pm BST: Nasdaq has announced that there has been a delay in the start of Facebook trading. We’re reaching out to sources at Nasdaq to find out more about the holdup.

The latest delay is the third or fourth of the morning. Nasdaq itself puts out time call information. Meaning the market itself is failing to predict when the market will go to work.

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that traders are having problems changing or canceling their orders ahead of the Facebook IPO.

Will Zuckerberg have to change his status again?

11.02am ET/4.02pm BST: Reuters is reporting that the opening of trading has been pushed back a bit:

RT @ProducerMatthew: Reuters: Facebook IPO extended by additional 5 minutes, to trade at 11:05 AM ET – NASDAQ

— Anthony de Rosa (@AntDeRosa) May 18, 2012

10.46am ET/3.46pm BST: Facebook as a growing concern. whatever happens with the stock price today, the immense market draw of the company is plain to see in a chart tracking users, from about 300 million in March 2009 to 900 million today (blue is all Internet users worldwide; brown/gray is FB users):

10.42am ET/ 3.42pm BST: T-minus three minutes and counting: Nasdaq has just announced that trading in Facebook shares will begin at 10.45am ET.

10.37am ET/3.37pm BST: A major status update for the Facebook cofounder: as mark Zuckerberg rang the bell to open the Nasdaq exchange, his account automatically spread the news.

Zuckerberg tagged fellow executives Chris Cox, vice president of product; the chief finance officer David Ebersman; the vice president of finance Cipora Herman; and his trusted No 2, Sheryl Sandberg.

10.21am ET/3.21pm BST: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin came in for a drubbing last week when it was revealed that he had disclaimed US citizenship in favor of residence in Singapore, which does not have a capital gains tax. Saverin responded to the criticism by saying that his move was not a tax dodge; he simply prefers Singapore.

Last night Saverin set the controversy aside to offer his former colleagues a hearty congratulations on his personal Facebook page. he misspelled his co-founder’s name – but it’s the thought that counts?

On the eve of the Facebook public float, 8-plus years in the making, I as co-founder wanted to look back and cherish Facebook’s early beginning. Congrats to everyone involved in the project from day one till today, and I especially wanted to congratulate mark Zukerberg [sic] on keeping tremendous stead-fast focus, however hard that was, on making the world a more open and connected place.

10.10am ET/3.10pm BST: Facebook is summoning great spectacle in its rollout this morning – but will the stock price hold up? When the excitement dies, will the company warrant its $104 billion valuation, and the $38 share price?

One main place investors locate value in Facebook is its potential power as an advertiser. With 900 million users and counting – and a potentially vast market in China still waiting to be tapped – Facebook has an unparalleled capacity to put ads in front of eyes.

But earlier this week, US auto manufacturer GM decided that those ads weren’t worth it, ending its Facebook campaign. the company had been spending $10 million a year to advertise on the site, but none of the reports measuring those ads’ profitability came back positive. the Economist spoke with Chris Perry, marketing chief for GM’s brand Chevrolet, who confirmed that “a routine marketing review concluded that the site delivered ‘insufficient’ results.

Companies still believe that Facebook is an indispensable tool for spreading buzz about new products, however:

That viewpoint was echoed by the senior media buyer at a major Detroit ad agency, who asked not to be identified by name because he is not authorised to discuss strategy with the press. Based on clicks-throughs alone, he says, Facebook “doesn’t pay off.” His agency’s approach is to use the service as part of broader social media campaigns.

9.40am: One take on the big offering.

Wocka! Wocka! twitter.com/dmataconis/sta…

— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) May 18, 2012

9.39am: the scene at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park in the run-up to the IPO. the company is valued at $104 billion as shares go on sale to the public.

9.36am ET/2.36pm BST: the Guardian’s Dominic Rushe has been talking to David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect – the only book written so far with Facebook’s cooperation – and a man who has spent many many hours with mark Zuckerberg.

“His impact on the world will be as least as big as Bill Gates and probably already has been,” Kirkpatrick tells Rushe. “Like Gates I’m positive he is going to end up being one of the world’s great philanthropists. I believe he has a very strong social conscience.”

He says this will be a big day for Zuckerberg but that while the Facebook boss may party later, he’ll try to keep things as normal as possible once he has rung the bell.

Then the real work begins…

“I spoke to Peter Thiel [Silicon Valley investment legend and one of Facebook's early backers] and he said Facebook had this peculiar quality, it will either completely dominate or it will completely go away. I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon though.”

Fitzpatrick predicts that Zuckerberg could soon be the world’s richest man.

9.30am ET/2.30pm BST: mark Zuckerberg has just rung the bell opening the Nasdaq market. he did so from a stage at the company’s Menlo Park HQ. then he hugged COO Sheryl Sandberg. the stage is full of other FB execs, with a sea of employees all around. A boom camera is capturing the action in the cheering, waving crowd. Looks like Bonnaroo. “A Woodstock event,” someone on CNBC just called it.

9.28am ET/2.28pm BST: Hackathon Update. it turns out there was one Facebook face who declined to participate in last night’s ritual of camamaderie and computer fun. Zuckerberg apparently called it a night early in the evening, Josh Halliday reports. he went home to his girlfriend Cilla and their Hungarian sheepdog, Beast.

When you’re the boss you get to do that.

9.23am ET/2.23pm BST: CNBC, which is tracking the Facebook IPO, is reporting on the overnight “hackathon” at the company’s Menlo Park, California, campus. In the run-up to today’s big splash, employees spent the night at their place of work writing computer code, over-caffeinating and giving their eyes a little extra practice staring at computer screens. the event reflects the company’s youthful, creative, spontaneous, creative culture.

Employees ordered Chinese food and there was talk of them making a run to In-n-Out Burger, CNBC reports. how does the news change your bet on what Facebook stock will do today? Let us know in the comments.

9.13am ET/2.13pm BST: the delayed debut of Facebook stock this morning affords us time for a walk down memory lane… back to 2004, when FB chief mark Zuckerberg was still just a cocky college student bragging about his hacking exploits in instant messages to friends.

Those messages are now a matter of public record. The Guardian’s Josh Halliday writes:

Zuckerberg appears to confirm in one message that he secretly hacked into the website of the Harvard University newspaper, the Crimson, by guessing the emails and passwords of two people in the college database.

“So I want to read what they said about me before the article came out and after I complained,” he told a friend. “So I’m just like trying the email/passwords of everyone who put that they’re in the Crimson. I wonder if the school tracks stuff like that.”

In another message, Zuckerberg boasts about deactivating college students’ accounts on the internal Harvard social network, ConnectU. “I got bored so I started deactivating accounts on ConnectU haha,” the future cyber-grandee writes.

8.52am ET/1.52pm BST: Trading action on Facebook shares is not likely to commence until 10:30am ET at the earliest, as bankers work through the mechanics of the offer, market sources said.

8.30am ET/1.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg will ring the bell for the opening of the Nasdaq stock market at 9.30am as he kicks off a share sale that will value the company at $104bn.

We’ll be live blogging the day’s events here in new York, and you can see how the fortunes of Zuckerberg and the social network crew rise (or fall).

Not since Google’s initial public offering (IPO) has a share sale been as closely watched. It’s Super Bowl for social media: every commentator in the land has an opinion on whether the firm is really worth that sort of cash, and is lining up to share it.

At $104bn, Facebook is being valued at more than the combined value of Nike and Goldman Sachs. Last year Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn. Goldman’s were 10 times that.

But this is a company with massive potential. Facebook will have more than a billion people logging in to its service this year – that’s more than three times the populations of the US – and it hasn’t got started in China. nearly 400 million people log on six days a week. In the first three months of this year those people “liked” or commented on Facebook items 3.2bn times a day.

Google added a verb to the lexicon; Facebook redefined “friend” and “like”. now Zuckerberg has to find a way to make his social network live up to its massive promise.

8.30am ET/1.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg will ring the bell for the opening of the Nasdaq stock market at 9.30am as he kicks off a share sale that will value the company at $104bn.

We’ll be live blogging the day’s events here in new York, and you can see how the fortunes of Zuckerberg and the social network crew rise (or fall).

Not since Google’s initial public offering (IPO) has a share sale been as closely watched. It’s Super Bowl for social media: every commentator in the land has an opinion on whether the firm is really worth that sort of cash, and is lining up to share it.

At $104bn, Facebook is being valued at more than the combined value of Nike and Goldman Sachs. Last year Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn. Goldman’s were 10 times that.

But this is a company with massive potential. Facebook will have more than a billion people logging in to its service this year – that’s more than three times the populations of the US – and it hasn’t got started in China. nearly 400 million people log on six days a week. In the first three months of this year those people “liked” or commented on Facebook items 3.2bn times a day.

Google added a verb to the lexicon; Facebook redefined “friend” and “like”. now Zuckerberg has to find a way to make his social network live up to its massive promise.

• Facebook
• IPOs
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Stock markets
• United States
• Internet
• Social networking

Tom McCarthyDominic Rusheguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. all rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Facebook IPO: social network makes stock market debut – live blog

Apple is looking to increase the iPhone’s screen size from 3.5 inches to at least 4 inches, according to a Wall Street Journal report, a move that’s presumably being made because of stiff Android competition.

This is not the first suggestion Apple will put a bigger screen on the iPhone this year. In fact, such speculation has been rumored for some time, yet Apple has consistently kept the iPhone display at 3.5 inches for every iteration of the device since its launch in 2007.

As the Apple hype machine is put in motion with just a few weeks until the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, talk about what the new iPhone will bring is intensifying. Since Apple didn’t do any radical changes to the iPhone design last year, a revamped look is expected to come this year.

The Wall Street Journal report does not give any specifics on how big the screen of the new iPhone would be, saying it would measure “at least 4 inches diagonally,” which indeed would be bigger than the current 3.5-inch display. But if it’s any indication, an earlier report from Reuters put forward the more precise diagonal measurement of 4.6 inches.

Perhaps what fuels the interest in a larger-screen iPhone is that in the past couple of years Android manufactures have been pushing the size of their phone displays close to 5 inches, in a bid to differentiate themselves. With a bigger-is-better mentality, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a 4.65-inch screen, all the way up to 4.8 inches on the Galaxy S III or 4.7 inches on the HTC One X.

As my colleague Jared Newman explains, many snub the idea of a bigger iPhone display because easy one-handed operation is a big part of the iPhone’s design, and that’s just not possible with a display of around 4.6 inches. In defense of a larger-screen devices, Android manufacturers have found that that allows them to create thinner designs on phones. by making the screen bigger, Apple also would be able to deliver a more radical redesign of the iPhone. The question is, will Apple manage to maintain the highest pixel density phone display on the market if it decides to go big?

Follow Daniel Ionescu and Today @ PCWorld on Twitter

iPhone screen size may increase to at least 4 inches

After jetting into the UK earlier in the day, Kim Kardashian was spotted stepping out of her hotel in London to tend to overseas promotional duties.

The E! reality star seemed quite excited for her visit across the pond, as she tweeted a few hours ago, “Just touched down in London town!!!!”

As for the reason behind the trip, Kim is boosting interest in a few of her endorsements including the diet supplement QuickTrim and her perfume, True Reflection, while also expected to hold a meet and greet at Debenhams department store on Friday.

After her fan event, the 31-year-old is lined up to host the UK launch of her best-selling weight management product at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and, during the launch, Kim will be working on an upcoming episode for season seven of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” – as the footage from the event will air in an episode following next week’s season premiere.

Kim Kardashian: White Hot in London

The HTC EVO 4G LTE isn’t the only upcoming Sprint product that had its availability made official today, as the folks at the now Network have also confirmed the launch details for the Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot. as you could probably guess from the name, the 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot packs in support for Sprint’s upcoming LTE network as well as the carrier’s WiMAX and 3G networks. the device can connect with up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices at once, and it’s also packing a microSD, a screen for displaying information related to battery life and the number of devices connected as well as a 3,600mAh battery that Sprint says will offer up to eight hours of use. Expect the Tri-Fi Hotspot to hit on May 18th for $99.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract.

When it comes time to select a plan to go along with the Tri-Fi Hotspot, there are a few different options to choose from. At the bottom end is a $34.99 per month option that’ll net you 3GB of combined 3G and 4G data. Moving up a step is a $49.99 plan that offers 6GB of 3G and 4G data, and for the extremely data-hungry among us, there’s also a $79.99 option that includes 12GB of 3G/4G data.

It seems that just about any new network launch brings with it a mobile broadband device compatible with the service, and the 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot is that device for Sprint’s LTE network. It’s nice to see that the Tri-Fi Hotspot not only includes 3G connectivity but also WiMAX support in addition to LTE, meaning that folks can still get use out of it even if they’re not in an area with Sprint LTE. Speaking of LTE, Sprint has reiterated that its LTE network is expected to go live by mid-2012, and so far the carrier has announced six markets (Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio) that’ll be part of the initial rollout. Stay tuned for more info on Sprint’s LTE network launch as we get it.

Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot, Nation’s First to Support 4G LTE, 4G WiMAX and 3G, Available May 18 Exclusively from Sprint

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. & VANCOUVER, British Columbia (BUSINESS WIRE), May 09, 2012 – Sprint (NYSE: S) and Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) (TSX: SW) today announced the May 18 availability of the first-ever device to combine 4G connections over LTE and WiMAX networks, Sierra Wireless™ 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot for the Sprint network. Sierra Wireless Tri-Fi Hotspot provides the best combination of speed and coverage to Sprint customers as the upcoming 4G LTE network expands and allows families, small businesses and traveling co-workers to easily share high-speed connections.

Beginning May 18, customers will be able to purchase a Sierra Wireless Tri-Fi Hotspot for $99.99 (excluding taxes) after a $50 mail-in-rebate with a two-year service agreement. Customers can purchase the device and sign up for 3G/4G plans at select Sprint retail stores, www.sprint.com, 1-800-SPRINT1 and through business sales.

Sprint data plans for the device start at $34.99 for 3GB of combined 3G/4G data while on the Sprint network. Customers also can choose the $49.99 plan with 6GB of combined 3G/4G data or $79.99 for 12GB of 3G/4G data, which deliver 20 percent more data for the same price as AT&T and Verizon’s similar plans.

With this versatile device, customers can extend their Sprint 3G/4G experience beyond their laptops to up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as cameras, music players, personal media players and portable game consoles. in addition, its microSD™ slot allows teams to share files and presentations with network storage, and it can be used as a digital media server. it is simple to set up and connect with no software required.

“Sprint and Sierra Wireless are once again giving customers the flexibility to enjoy 4G performance in any Sprint 4G WiMAX market along with our upcoming 4G LTE markets or Sprint’s reliable 3G network when outside a 4G area,” said David Owens, vice president-Product Development, Sprint. “Sierra Wireless Tri-Fi Hotspot combines simplicity with compact portability and security to make it ideal for both personal and business use in a variety of situations.”

Powered by a 3600mAh battery, Sierra Wireless Tri-Fi Hotspot offers up to eight hours of use and up to eight weeks on standby, helping to ensure it is always ready when needed, even for power users who work away from their desks all day. Similar to Sierra Wireless’ Overdrive Pro™ 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, this device offers a highly informative display screen that provides all the information needed for daily use, including the hotspot name and access code, battery life, number of devices connected, and whether the current connection to the network is 3G or 4G.

“we are excited to be part of Sprint’s 4G LTE network deployment and launch,” said Dan Schieler, senior vice president, Mobile Computing for Sierra Wireless. “the Tri-Fi Hotspot ensures Sprint customers can reliably make use of the best network connection available to them in a given location and continue to enjoy the freedom of mobile broadband virtually anywhere they go.”

With Sierra Wireless Tri-Fi Hotspot:

Consumers and businesses can work remotely anywhere in a 4G coverage area (or virtually anywhere with 3G) and easily connect a laptop, smartphone, tablet or wireless phone through a single connection.

Teams that are traveling can share Internet access with each other at hotels, airports and conference centers.

Taxis, limos and shuttle buses can provide Internet access for customer use while en route to their destination.

Health care teams can rely on an easy, reliable, power-up-and-go solution to use in Emergency Response Team (ERT) Go Kits or while treating patients bedside.

Engineering, construction and insurance teams can instantly upload data, pictures of sites, accidents and images remotely.

Reporters first on the scene of a breaking story can share access to upload stories and photos while at the scene, without missing a beat.

Sierra Wireless and Sprint have enjoyed a long collaboration in leading-edge technology deployments, including in the launch of the Sprint 4G WiMAX network. To assist in Sprint’s LTE network deployment, Sierra Wireless developed the world’s first LTE Band 25 devices for use in network testing and then provided these devices to Sprint and its network infrastructure partners to facilitate the network deployment.

The Sprint 4G LTE network is expected in mid-year 2012 in limited markets. for more information on Sprint 4G LTE, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE.

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint no. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

About Sierra Wireless

Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) (TSX: SW) offers industry-leading mobile computing and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications products and solutions that connect people, devices and applications over cellular networks. Wireless service providers, equipment manufacturers, enterprises and government organizations around the world depend on us for reliable wireless technology. we offer 2G, 3G and 4G wireless modems, routers and gateways as well as a comprehensive suite of software, tools and services that ensure our customers can successfully bring wireless applications to market. for more information about Sierra Wireless, visit www.sierrawireless.com.

“AirCard” is a registered trademark of Sierra Wireless. other product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Sprint to launch Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot on May 18th

Since its launch in 2007, the iPhone has consistently grown its presence in the market, behind Apple’s marketing & ability to create a cult-ish following. Today, it has become the second largest smartphone platform in the industry. The smartphone industry itself has grown by nearly 50% over the last year. looking at this, it’s natural to assume that the iPhone will continue its growth trajectory, just like Android has. not so fast, let’s take a deeper look.

1) Short Term – Apple’s products, specifically the iPhone and iPad, follow a sales cycle where sales peak at the launch of a new product and tail off just before the launch of the next version (for example, before the launch of the iPhone 4S). now that the iPhone 4S launch is complete, expect this same trend to come to continue with demand slowing and tailing off until the launch of the iPhone 5. but there are another few more wrinkles here that were responsible for the iPhone’s Q4 performance:

(i) Pent-up demand for the iPhone – as the gap between the launch of the iPhone 4 and the 4S was 15 months, it created great pent-up demand- for the new iPhone model. Apple’s strategy of following 2 year contracts created demand from iPhone 3GS users who were not able to upgrade to the iPhone 4 last year.

(ii) Selling older iPhone models at lower prices – In order to compete with Android at the lower end of the market as well, Apple made a move to sell older models at lower price points. this undoubtedly boosted sales, but would have cannibalized sales of the iPhone 4S as well.

(iii) Late launch of Galaxy Nexus – In conjunction with this, the most anticipated Android handset, the Galaxy Nexus, didn’t launch in the US until December 15th. this created a similar sales cycle effect on Android sales in Q4, with buyers holding off purchases until the Galaxy Nexus was available. Due to this impact, smartphone sales in the US slowed in Q4 and Android’s share of handset’s sold in the quarter reduced to about 48% (in the US market).

2) Long Term – now that we’ve understood the iPhone’s Q4 performance and have a fair understanding of where it’s headed in 2012, let’s have a look at the long-term outlook of the iPhone. despite the iPhone being a premium product, it is available from carriers in the US & Europe on contract, for carrier subsidized prices. Even though the handsets are available on contract for the same prices as high end Android phones, Apple demands a much higher subsidy from carriers (at $450 per device) than what Android manufacturers do. as a result, the iPhone is far more expensive for a carrier to sell than an Android handset. The impact of these subsidies gets even worse once we take into account the move by Apple to sell older iPhone models at lower prices. why do carriers go along with these terms? The easy answer is because they want to maintain their market share and are afraid of losing customers to other carriers. but the real answer is a little more complex than that.

One of the reasons is that increasing smartphone penetration (currently around 50%) drives increasing data usage, which is the real revenue driver for carriers. as smartphone penetration increases, the carriers would have less motivation to continue their massive subsidies on the iPhone. as a result, they would either demand better terms from Apple or increase prices of contract iPhone sales to consumers. The most likely outcome is the increase of contract prices, which would have a direct impact of sales volume. another factor compounding this problem is the network data crunch caused by the staggering growth in data usage. as carriers need further investments to shore up their network infrastructure, they will be even more unwilling to allow Apple to bully them into submission. I’ve heard arguments that this is similar to the case of Walmart squeezing supplier margins. That is a false analogy, because Walmart doesn’t need an individual supplier as much as Apple needs individual carriers – I need a whole new paragraph to delve into this, so keep reading.

Why does Apple need carriers? Apple’s profitability is driven by the large margins it makes on its products. as the iPhone is responsible for over 60% of Apple’s revenues, the iPhone’s pricing model is one of the key factors driving their profitability. In developed markets, with the carrier subsidized model, this isn’t a problem for consumers. but in emerging markets, where Android is even more dominant and the iPhone doesn’t have much of a presence, carriers aren’t as willing to bow to Apple’s demands. In addition to this, the carrier subsidized smartphones haven’t really taken off in countries like India, where outright purchases are more popular. In India, the iPhone is priced at least 20-25% more than high end Android handsets and Samsung is overtaking Nokia & RIM to be the market leader. Apple clearly has had a difficult time penetrating emerging markets, which makes its dependence on carriers in developed markets even more critical.

In conclusion – Carriers will have no choice, but to raise prices of iPhones on contract, which will undoubtedly impact the market share of the iPhone.

The Future of the iPhone

As the launch date for the iPhone 5 gets closer, certain details about the new phone’s design appear to be firming up. or, if not firming up, then at least getting repeated more widely, and from an increasingly diverse array of sources. some of the most common ones include a larger screen and some kind of metal rear panel.

Today, iLounge has published details of the new iPhone, and they appear to confirm many of the rumors. according to iLounge’s sources (which have proven pretty reliable in the past), the next iPhone will, in fact, have a 4-inch screen. the new phone will apparently make room for the larger screen by getting a height boost of 10 millimeters – from 115 millimeters to 125. Width is reported to stay virtually unchanged.

The new iPhone is also, it seems, going to get a metal panel on the back. Interestingly, only part of the rear panel will be metal – a metal plate near the middle. the upper and lower portions of the rear panel will be made of some other material – plastic or ceramic, most likely. if true, this is a fairly unusual move for Apple. Historically the iPhone’s rear panel has been one single piece (be it plastic or glass). Blending two different materials in one rear panel is a design choice that Apple has tended to avoid (with good reason).

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