Verizon Moves Towards 4G

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Verizon Wireless recently finished tech tries for their 4G LTE network with user trials being launched in five cities. They announced this on a conference call with various partners that will work on devices for their 4G network.

“Technical trials are staged [and] tiered in accordance with industry standards,” stated David Clevenger, executive director of public affairs at Verizon Wireless. “They’re [now] completed.”

“The next phase is friendly user trials, which means we re looking for feedback on the network,” added Clevenger.

Source: ZDNet

Nook Wi-Fi Launched

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Barnes & Noble announced that they will be offering the Nook Wi-Fi for just $149. The price of the 3G version of the electronic book reader will be reduced to $199.

“People who love to read will find tremendous value with the new Nook Wi-Fi, the most full-featured, low-cost eReading device on the market, and our bestselling Nook 3G now at an even lower price,” said Tony Astarita, Vice President, Digital Products, Barnes & Noble.com. “This expanded choice offers best-in-class, best-priced dedicated eBook Readers featuring eBook sharing, access to our vast eBookstore, great free and exclusive content and much more. And with expansion of fast and free Wi-Fi access beyond Barnes & Noble stores to thousands of AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots, we re bringing additional freedom and flexibility to all NOOK 3G and Nook Wi-Fi customers.”

Right now the Nook, which Barnes & Noble launched in October 2009, is facing fierce competition from Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad.

Call Of Duty On Late Night

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Jimmy Fallon has been a great source of promotion for gaming since assuming the seat of the Late Show. That trend will continue on June 22 when he will show off Call of Duty: Black Ops on his program. That’s some great promotion for Activision’s upcoming Call of Duty game, developed by Treyarch.

Monday saw Kudo Tsunoda coming on to demo Kinect. On Wednesday, Fallon will continue his nerd-oriented guests with Joshua Topolsky, EIC of Engadget.

AT&T Canceling Some iPhone 4 Pre-Orders

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AT&T and Apple have had a harried pre-order period for iPhone 4, with errors reported in the brief period where it was available. Now, it appears, not all of these pre-orders are going through.

“Several tech sites are reporting canceled orders on the part of either AT&T and Apple for a variety of reasons, including unverifiable information, an incomplete authorization process, or sometimes no reason at all,” writes Rachel King. “We haven’t seen notes like this from Best Buy yet, but let us know if that happens to you. In these cases, credit cards shouldn t be charged. But still, talk about completely frustrating.”

“If you pre-order an iPhone 4 and aren t so sure about your order status now, check your receipts and call the customer service number of the company you ordered it with just to be sure,” adds King. “And if you haven t ordered one yet but want one soon (instead of waiting for weeks to get one in the mail), maybe it would be best just to clear your schedule and camp out at your local Apple or AT&T store next weekend.”

Source: ZDNet

Offerpal Talks Offer-Based Ads

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Offerpal Media recently published a paper talking about the best practices for monetizing virtual currencies. The white paper, titled “Beyond the Offerwall: Monetizing virtual currency through in-game promotions,” showed that offer-based ads increase revenue, draw in new users and increase CPM.

“Traditional ‘offerwalls’ remain the most effective foundation for developers to monetize their virtual currency, but only about 10 offer of a game’s audience tends to find them,” said Mihir Shah, Chief Revenue Officer of Offerpal Media. “In-game promotional campaigns allow our game developers to reach a broader audience, do much more interesting user and demographic targeting, and get best-in-industry payouts based on higher volumes and contextual relevance from major advertisers. We uniquely understand that this is a direct response business first and foremost, not only a payments business.”

Find out more at www.offerpalmedia.com.

Burger King Sneaking Back Onto Xbox 360

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Burger King was pleased at the way the Xbox 360 games it released were received. Now, the company is planning to reenter the Xbox 360 market sometime during the holiday season; the number and nature of the game was not stated.

“Our first endeavor with Xbox 360 took the gaming world by storm, so we couldn’t pass up the chance to come together on another cutting-edge program,” said Burger King’s chief marketing officer Mike Kappitt “During this year’s promotion, our guests can look forward to an even greater adventure that will stimulate the imaginations of gamers and entertainment-lovers of all shapes and sizes.”

Megan Fox Modeling For Armani

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Megan Fox may not be in the Transformers films anymore, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be on prominent billboards across the globe. The Jonah Hex star will be modeling jeans and undergarments for Giorgio Armani.

Megan Fox in the, er, flesh.

These sorts of promotions work well for all the parties involved; it keeps Fox’s face out in the public and it gives Armani a recognizable star that, by any standard, is beautiful.