According to FORTUNE, the upcoming 3G iPhone will be discounted by AT&T to bring the price of the device down to $200.

Citing a "person familiar with the strategy," AT&T is preparing to subsidize $200 of the cost of a new iPhone for customers who sign two-year contracts.

Additionally, they say the new iPhone will be 2.5mm thinner than the original and will have a built-in GPS chip for navigation and other location-based services.

The New York Times' Bits Blog sees several holes in this rumor, especially the claim that the subsidized iPhone would be offered in AT&T stores exclusively, and not Apple stores. Still, it's an inevitable part of Apple's strategy to drastically lower the iPhone's price to bring sales closer to critical mass, with or without any fabled "person" to provide the info.

[FORTUNE via Engadget Mobile]

ICO Global Communications has entered into a partnership with Delphi to develop DVB-SH devices for its "ICO mim" service.

Under the agreement, ICO gets exclusive rights to all DVB-SH devices developed by Delphi for use in the mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum band in North America over the next 3-years.

Delphi will design ICO's first aftermarket devices and units in are expected in December 2008. The alpha trials for the ICO mim service will start later this year in Raleigh-Durham, NC and Las Vegas, NV. 

The partnership with Delphi will also serve as a shoe-in for OEMs as the company will co-market ICO's interactive mobile video, navigation and emergency communications services to automakers.

"ICO is poised to deliver a unique interactive suite of mobile services for American consumers, and Delphi's extensive experience in mobile electronics makes them an ideal partner as we implement ICO's go-to-market strategy," said Craig Jorgens, president of ICO.

(Pictured is an alpha device used to demo ICO mim at CES 2008, it is not a Delphi device.)

ICO Global Communications will be launching its G1 satellite from Cape Canaveral today.

It's not only the largest satellite ever launched by an Atlas rocket, but the ICO G1 is one of the largest commercial satellites ever built and is specifically designed to deliver signals to mobile and portable devices.

If the launch is successful, ICO will be the first mobile satellite services provider to become operational, and the first to deploy DVB-SH (digital video broadcast - satellite-to-handheld) technology in the United States.

There will be a live webcast of the launch starting at 3:40pm ET - the launch window is from 4:12pm - 5:12pm EST - so check it out. If the launch slips, they'll start it up again tomorrow at around the same time.

XM is working with QuickPlay to expand its XM Radio Mobile service, making it now universally available on many BlackBerry smartphones.

What does this mean? BlackBerry users can now get XM Radio Mobile across a variety of major wireless carriers. Channels like XM's 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s decade channels, Top 20on20, Ethel, The City, XMU, Watercolors and Highway 16.

Also, for the first time, you'll be able to hear comedy content in addition to music, with channels like The Virus and XM Comedy now available to BlackBerry users.

Subscribers can opt to have their purchase of $7.99/month charged to their credit card or where available billed directly to their service provider.

BlackBerry smartphones supported by the XM Mobile Radio service require BlackBerry Device Software 4.2 or higher and include the BlackBerry 8800 Series, BlackBerry 8700 Series, BlackBerry Pearl Series and BlackBerry Curve Series smartphones (pictured) with a BlackBerry data plan on major U.S. mobile carrier networks.

The service, and a free 24-hour trial, is available via a downloadable application that can be accessed at xmradio.com/bb from the BlackBerry smartphone's browser, or by texting "XM" to 47201 and clicking on the download link provided.

UPDATE: XM also has a page dedicated to the BlackBerry announcement here.

Photo of the BlackBerry Pearl with XM Radio Mobile available after the jump...

It looks like Americans are moving beyond using their cellphones just to talk, with non-voice functions gaining more and more usage, according to recent research released by eMarketer.

But what struck me as the most interesting was that "play music" came in at an incredible 17% total - that's nearly the same amount of mobile usage as using email, accessing the internet or recording a video.

Obviously the daily activity drops significantly from the total, but even then, mobile music has the same amount of daily usage as internet access.

Check out how this breaks down by age after the jump...

It's becoming a reality. BMW is the first car company to offer Web browsing as a factory-installed option.

And this is using currently available wireless data technology, it's not a WiMax pipe dream or using spotty WiFi. Currently, it's only available in Europe, but it's only a matter of time before it's available here.

Mark Ramsey at Hear 2.0 carries the thought even farther. Rather than simply streaming in the generic "internet radio" from various sources, this type of connectivity allows the automakers themselves to brand their music offerings. So rather than 13,000 internet radio channels, you'd have "Jazz on BMW" or "BMW Rocks" etc. Distribution is no longer an obstacle.

[Watch the Video via Hear 2.0]

AT&T today started offering the Centro, Palm's new flagship smartphone based on the Palm OS platform. The GSM quad-band Centro comes with multimedia capabilities and several services exclusive to AT&T.

The $100 smartphone also comes with a touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and is the first Palm OS-based smartphone to come with XM Radio Mobile.

It is the smallest and the lightest smartphone offered by Palm, and now comes in the new Glacier white color with green keypad accents. A second color, Obsidian black, will debut in about a month.

[Palm Centro]

Introducing the BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway, hot off the presses at the FCC, coming to an executive's office sometime in the future.

It uses Bluetooth to enable a wireless transmission of music from your BlackBerry device to your home or portable stereo. Simply pair your BlackBerry to the Gateway, and plug the Gateway into your stereo (via a 3.5mm line-in or RCA aux input).

Magically all your music tunes get streamed to the speakers of your choice. Think of it like a dock for your phone, only without the wires.

What was it that the NAB used to define satellite radio? Oh right, "nationwide, multi-channel, audio programming." So... what would you call streaming audio over mobile devices?

[via Gizmodo]

Amazon announced today that they will buy digital audio book provider Audible.com for $300 million.

Audible has been partnered with XM for several years now, from including Audible support in the Helix/Inno, to the XM Audible Store, to various co-sponsored events and XM's Sonic Theater (ch 163) featuring Audible content. But I'm assuming none of that will change, since there's no reason for it to.

One interesting thing to think about is Amazon's increasingly aggressive foray into digital media distribution.

Not only do they have a massive DRM-free digital music service, but now they have the leading spoken-word provider as well.

And with the Amazon Kindle (pictured above), users can access and download all of that content over a built-in high-speed wireless EVDO connection... for free.

While Kindle (which Amazon is struggling to keep up with the demand of) doesn't necessarily market itself as a music player - it's primarily an eBook reader - but the capability is currently there. And there could be more to come.

"There are a number of experimental features. We have made them accessible so customers can tell us if we should work on them and make them part of the product," said CEO Jeff Bezos on the earnings call.

It's nothing, yet, but it sure makes you go "hmm."

[ZDNet, TechCrunch]

I've been complaining recently that one of the issues surrounding satellite radio retail products is the amount of wires necessary to get it up and running in your car. For first-time buyers, it's all a bit too daunting (especially with the FM transmitter regulations the FCC has slapped on the industry).

So along comes the Venturi Mini, which uses (gasp!) an FM transmitter to connect your cellphone to your car stereo, now being offered by Verizon Wireless.

With this handy-dandy device, music get streamed via stereo Bluetooth and relayed to your car's headunit. Completely wire-free. It will even pause you music and act as a handsfree kit when you receive a call.

Here's a thought, how long do you think it'll take for someone to come out with a "car dock" that does the same thing?

[Engadget]
Thanks Sean!