Verizon launching 4G wireless network

US telecom titan Verizon will launch a new generation wireless network on Sunday that delivers data as much as 10 times faster than 3G technology currently used by smartphones.

The "4G LTE" network debuting in 38 major metropolitan areas and at more than 60 airports will be aimed at business "road warriors" who want super speedy connections for laptop computers, according to Verizon.

"This next-generation network will provide speeds significantly faster than existing wireless networks," Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis told AFP.

"Downloading a video that takes 10 minutes now will take one minute on a 4G network."

Verizon worked with South Korean electronics firms LG and Pantech to design USB modems people can plug into laptop computers to connect to the LTE network.

The devices will be priced at 150 dollars each, with 50-dollar rebates available if people sign two-year service contracts with Verizon.

Data plan options will be to pay 50 dollars per month for a five-gigabyte allowance of data monthly or 80 dollars each month for 10 gigabytes of data, with users paying 10 dollars per gigabyte for overages.

The modems switch to 3G coverage in places where the LTE network isn't available, according to Verizon.

"Our 4G LTE launch gives customers access to the fastest and most advanced mobile network in America and immediately reaches more than one-third of all Americans right where they live," said Verizon chief executive Dan Mead.

"That's just the start. We will quickly expand 4G LTE, and by 2013 will reach the existing Verizon Wireless 3G coverage area."

Verizon expected smartphones synched to the 4G, short for "fourth generation," network to be available by the middle of next year.

Android sweeps Apple, BlackBerry in US market

There is more bad news for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) as its smartphone sales have slipped to the third position in the US market.

According to the latest data by the NPD Group, the US-based smartphone market tracking company, the BlackBerry's share of the US market in the third quarter fell to 22 percent from 28 percent in the second quarter.

On the other hand, the sales of Apple's devices rose marginally to 23 percent from 22 percent in the second quarter, pushing the BlackBerry maker to the third spot in the US smartphone market.

The steep fall in sales of the BlackBerry maker, which until recently dominated the US market, came despite the high-profile launch of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 in August.

But it was not Apple, but the surge in the popularity of Google's Android operating system (OS) which did the most damage to RIM in the US market.

The sales of Google Android devices jumped as much as 11 percent from the second quarter to account for 44 percent of all smartphones purchased in the third quarter.

"Much of Android's quarterly share growth came at the expense of RIM, rather than Apple,'' Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at the NPD Group, said.

"The HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide,'' he said.

According to the data, Android's operating system has made such an impact on the market that the share of RIM OS has declined by 53 percent, and that of Apple iOS has fallen by 21 percent since 2009.

Because of this onslaught from Android OS, "Apple faces challenges in further expanding its domestic market share, while still retaining exclusivity," said Rubin.

Just two weeks ago, Apple CEO Steve JObs had taunted RIM, saying,"we have now passed RIM, and I don't see them catching up with us in the foreseeable feature."

But it is Android OS that is becoming the major worry for him and BlackBerry bosses.