Verizon's Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot launches March 31st

Though it won't be the first Verizon LTE device to share its white-hot connection over WiFi (that honor goes to the recently-launched Thunderbolt), Samsung's SCH-LC11 -- announced back at CES -- is shaping up to be the network's first dedicated hotspot to hit retail. We've just been dropped the carrier's internal equipment guide showing a launch date in all channels (stores, telesales, and online) this coming Thursday, March 31st; pricing is an open question, but carriers tend to price these modems pretty aggressively on contract since they know they're going to eat you alive with the data plan for the next two years. Of course, in this case, we're more than willing to get eaten alive if it means we've got a 20Mbps WiFi connection in our pocket at all times.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Opera Mobile Store launches, has lots of apps for lots of phones

Amazon is set to be launching its own little Market for Android sometime this month, but Opera just flinched first, flipping the switch on the Opera Mobile Store. It's an online clearinghouse for apps available for "virtually any mobile platform and device" -- which right now covers Android, BlackBerry, Palm, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and good 'ol Java. (iOS is notably absent, but supposedly coming with links back to the App Store.) Apps are provided by Appia with the vast majority costing nothing. The vast majority are also junk, but such is the case in most app stores. It's online now, featured in the Speed Dial on the many and various mobile flavors of the Opera browser, meaning you're just a tap or two away from getting MySpace profile pics on all your contacts. It honestly doesn't get much more compelling than that.

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Opera launches the Opera Mobile Store, available in over 200 Countries

Oslo, Norway – March 8, 2011

Opera Software, the leading provider of mobile browsers around the world, today announced that the Opera Mobile Store is now open and available at mobilestore.opera.com. This storefront is a featured Speed Dial link in the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers, which makes the storefront immediately accessible by more than 100 million people who use an Opera browser on their mobile phones. The Opera Mobile Store has been built and delivered through a strategic partnership with Appia, the leading provider of open application marketplace technology. The Opera Mobile Store offers both free and paid applications for virtually any mobile platform and device. The Opera Mobile Store is available to Opera users and users of other mobile browsers, on all popular mobile phone platforms in more than 200 countries. The Opera Mobile Store uses Appia's storefront commerce technology and leverages a wide catalog of applications for phones with Java, Symbian, BlackBerry and Android operating systems. The storefront experience is customized to each user's phone, providing a tailored catalog based on the phone's operating system, local language and currency.

"The launch of the Opera Mobile Store supports Opera's core belief in an open, cross-platform mobile Internet experience by providing Opera users with an integrated storefront of mobile applications," said Mahi de Silva, EVP, Consumer Mobile, Opera Software. "Our partnership with Appia delivers to all Opera Mobile and Opera Mini users easy access to a wide variety of great content, on any device, all over the world."

To support the Opera Mobile Store, Opera Software has also launched the Opera Publisher Portal, providing developers with an easy way to get their applications onto the Opera Mobile Store and in front of millions of Opera users every month. In its pre-launch state, the Opera Mobile Store attracted more than 15 million users in February, from 200 countries, achieving more than 700,000 downloads per day. These metrics establish the Opera Mobile Store as a top 10 mobile application store around the world.

"The Opera Mobile Store presents a remarkable opportunity for mobile application developers to distribute localized content through a single, far-reaching marketplace," said Jud Bowman, CEO of Appia. "Appia is thrilled to partner with Opera to deliver an incredible storefront of applications to Opera users and beyond."

About Appia

Appia is the world's largest open app marketplace and white label storefront platform, supporting all operating systems and handsets. Today, Appia powers app storefronts for more than 40 partners reaching more than 200 million mobile subscribers in 200 countries and counting. Customers include four of the world's top five handset manufacturers, three of the top four mobile operators in the US and three of the top ten mobile operators globally including Samsung, Opera, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. The Appia Developer Program provides partners with a ready to launch catalog of over 140,000 paid and free apps from more than 30,000 global application developers. Appia is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Dallas, TX, and Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.appia.com, or follow @Appia.

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform web-browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com/.

HTC Arrive is Sprint's first Windows Phone 7 device, launches March 20th for $200

Teased since Microsoft's launch event for Windows Phone 7 back in October of last year and recently launched in Europe as the 7 Pro, HTC's Arrive today becomes the very first CDMA device for the platform to be announced with a date and a price. Sprint picks up the QWERTY tilt-o-matic this coming March 20th for $199.99 on a two-year contract after $100 mail-in rebate, featuring a 3.6-inch WVGA display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with flash and 720p video capture, 16GB of internal storage, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi -- oh, and Sprint is quick to remind us that the phone will be launching with Microsoft's anticipated copy and paste update, too. In-store pre-orders begin today with the purchase of a $50 Sprint gift card; follow the break for the full press release.

HTC Arrive for Sprint (press shots)

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First Windows Phone 7 Device for Sprint, HTC Arrive, Available Beginning March 20 for $199.99

New Windows Phone 7 phone brings the Start screen to life with Live Tiles for a glance-and-go experience; offers Xbox LIVE and Zune integration with Microsoft Office Mobile

Starting today, customers can pre-order HTC Arrive at any Sprint Store;
For more information, visit www.sprint.com/arrive

Available from Sprint on March 20, the HTC Arrive™ smartphone (announced by HTC globally as HTC 7 Pro) offers the Windows Phone 7, glance-and-go experience combined with an innovative design that features a sliding full QWERTY keyboard and tilt-up display. Its unique Start screen with Hubs gives easy access to the user's most valuable content and customizable Live Tiles come to life with real-time updates from the Web.

Depending on the app, the Live Tiles might show pending messages and appointments, news and weather, or game notifications and friend status – all continuously refreshed. It also lets the user customize people, apps, playlists, pictures, and other favorites to the Start screen, so they're available at a single touch.

Windows Phone 7 Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view and offers quick and easy access to the users' most valuable content. The six Hubs are built on specific themes, including:
• People Hub brings together relevant content based on the person, including photos and live feeds from social networks. People Hub provides a central place from which to update status or change profile pictures across multiple social networking sites. Skim Facebook®, Windows® Live feeds & photos, then call, text or post to friends and get directions to their place.
• Games Hub is an on-the-go arcade and the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone. Play solo, or use the free Xbox LIVE service to match wits with friends wherever they are and view player avatars, profiles and achievements.
• Pictures Hub houses your entire collection and makes it easy to share pictures to a social network in one step. It can also bring together a user's photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view an entire picture and video collection, including photos saved to the phone and pictures friends posted on Facebook or Windows Live. You can even send favorites to friends, or post them to Facebook or Windows Live, all from one place.
• Music + Videos Hub is an anytime entertainment center. Play a music collection – synced wirelessly from a PC – or stream or download new tunes. There's even a built-in FM radio and high-resolution screen that's perfect for watching TV shows, movies or your own video clips. Add an optional Zune Pass subscription to get millions of songs for one low monthly fee. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers.
• Marketplace Hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.
• Office Hub brings the familiar experience of the world's leading productivity software to your phone. With access to Microsoft Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents.

HTC Arrive key features include:
• Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon Processor
• 3.6-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch capability
• Full HTML Web browser with Bing Search and Maps for turn by turn directions, address mapping and even street level views via voice search or typing
• Windows Phone Marketplace offers a single view to showcase apps, games, music and premium Xbox LIVE games
• Corporate email (Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®), personal (POP & IMAP) email and text messaging
• 5MP camera with flash, autofocus and digital zoom and 720p HD camcorder. The camera button will snap photos fast, even if the phone is locked.
• 16GB internal memory for storing pictures, videos and large files. With an additional 25GB of storage in the cloud at no additional charge using a Windows Live ID.
• Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n)

HTC Arrive will be available beginning March 20, for $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade and after a $100 mail-in rebate (taxes not included) in all Sprint retail channels, including the Web (www.sprint.com) and Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1).

Beginning today, customers can pre-order HTC Arrive at any participating Sprint Store with the purchase of a $50 Sprint gift card. Customers who pre-order HTC Arrive will have their name added to the Device Wait List and be contacted to set up an appointment to complete their purchase beginning on Sunday, March 20. Through the pre-order process, customers will have peace of mind knowing they are able to get the device they want and receive the full retail experience, including Sprint's Ready Now customer service experience.

Sprint customers get more with unlimited data plans on the Sprint Network. Sprint offers real simplicity, value and savings versus competitors, making it easy for customers to get the most out of their phones without using a calculator to tally up costs or worrying about how much data they've used.

HTC Arrive requires activation on one of Sprint's Everything Data plans, plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint's Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $39.99 per month vs. Verizon's comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and Web (excluding Verizon's Southern California plan; pricing excludes surcharges and taxes).

Sprint Everything Data plans qualify for automatic enrollment in the Sprint PremierSM loyalty program1. Existing Sprint customers can switch to an Everything Data plan without extending their service agreement. New lines of service require a two-year service agreement.