About 4,000 students in 11 cities will get free mobile devices and wireless internet through a Sprint pilot program aimed at closing the homework gap, the carrier said in a Monday news release. The pilot starts in January, with participating schools invited to join the multiyear initiative starting in the 2017-18 school year. After announcing the 1Million Project in October (see 1610110031), Sprint received 100 applications for the pilot program, the company said. Students get a free smartphone, tablet, laptop or hot spot device with 3 GB of 4G LTE data monthly, Sprint said. Speeds fall to 2G levels if a student exceeds the data limit, it said.

CTIA representatives stressed the importance of flexibility in a final series of meetings at the FCC on a draft order on a common standard for the transition from text technology (TTY) to real-time text (RTT). The order is set for a vote at Thursday’s commissioner meeting, though it could get pulled from the agenda (see 1612080054). "Wireless manufacturers and service providers who choose to support RTT to satisfy their TTY obligations" need "flexibility in the implementation of RTT in wireless networks and devices,” CTIA said in a filing in docket 16-145. “If the Commission permits wireless manufacturers and service providers to satisfy their TTY obligations through RTT, the Commission should ensure wireless service providers and manufacturers have the flexibility to satisfy that obligation through a downloadable application or native functionality.” Officials from CTIA, AT&T and Verizon met with aides to the five FCC members and others at the agency.

The Department of Transportation released an NPRM potentially opening the door to Wi-Fi calling during commercial flights. The Thursday NPRM seeks comment on whether airlines should have to disclose their policy on airborne cellphone discussions or whether the department should ban such calling entirely on flights within or to and from the U.S. FCC rules “prohibit the use of mobile devices on certain radio frequencies onboard aircraft, including for voice calls,” DOT said in a news release: They don't "cover WiFi and other means by which it may become possible to make voice calls.” In 2013 the FCC sought comment on a proposal to allow in-flight calls (see 1312130061). “Consumers deserve to have clear and accurate information about whether an airline permits voice calls before they purchase a ticket and board the aircraft,” said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. The plan would "ensure that air travelers are not unwillingly exposed to voice calls, as many of them are troubled over the idea of passengers talking on cell phones in flight," he said. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Friday urged DOT to prohibit in-flight calling. “Small seats, little legroom and, now, cell phone chatter -- air travel could become even less comfortable if consumers are surrounded by passengers talking on mobile phones,” they said in a news release.

Samsung is clamping down harder in its bid to get any last remaining Galaxy Note7s off the street, the company said in a Friday status update about the recalled fire-prone smartphone. “We’ve had overwhelming participation” in the recall effort, with more than 93 percent of the recalled phones having been returned for a refund or replacement, Samsung said. Given the 1.9 million Note7s listed as in circulation in the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Oct. 13 recall notice (see 1610130044), that leaves roughly 133,000 devices at large. A recent Samsung software update limited the phone’s ability to charge to above 60 percent of its capacity, and that measure apparently helped to reduce the number of devices from the 285,000 that were still on the street as of mid-November (see 1611070038). Samsung said Friday it’s taking the extra step of releasing a new software update Dec. 19 that will prevent any remaining Note7s from charging altogether “and will eliminate their ability to work as mobile devices.” Consumer safety “remains our highest priority,” the company said. Verizon -- in a development that typified the many surprises marking the Note7 since the phone's August debut -- pushed back against Samsung, saying it won't take part in the Dec. 19 software update. Verizon worries that rendering the phone "useless" poses "added risk" to Note7 users who "do not have another device to switch to," said Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon vice president-global corporate communications, in a Friday statement. "We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note7 to work as a mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in an emergency situation." In yet another twist, Sprint in a statement late Friday said Samsung would release the debilitating software update starting Jan. 8, not Dec. 19, as the Samsung website still listed as of 5 p.m. EST. Unlike the Verizon statement, the Sprint statement was neutral on whether it would take part in the update. Samsung representatives didn’t comment Friday.

Sprint, Pokemon Go maker Niantic and Pokemon Co. International said more than 10,500 Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint at RadioShack stores in the U.S. will become playgrounds for the augmented reality smartphone game. In a Wednesday news release, they said that beginning Monday Pokemon Go players can advance their game at the locations, which also can be used to recharge their phones. Since introduced in the summer, the game has run into controversy over data collection practices (see 1609010083). Niantic CEO John Hanke said at a recent congressional hearing (see 1611160045) that the game, downloaded more than 600 million times, complies with federal privacy protections for children and collects only a minimal amount of user data, and that information isn't sold to third parties.

ZTE is keeping the Black Friday spirit alive beginning Sunday with a promotion on the Axon 7 Mini smartphone that runs through Dec. 10 exclusively at Best Buy. The Axon 7 Mini, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, is $199 in gold ($100 off) and $249 in gray ($50 off), said the company.

Corning introduced Gorilla Glass cover glass for mobile devices in 2007, and today it’s used on more than 4.5 billion devices worldwide, Chief Strategy Officer Jeffrey Evenson told the Credit Suisse technology conference Tuesday. Gorilla is the “cover glass of choice” of more than 40 OEMs, Evenson said. Though the growth rate of smartphone shipments is slowing, Corning still thinks it can double its sales of Gorilla cover glass for smartphones “over the next few years in this category,” he said. “Beyond increasing high-end smartphone penetration and expansion of that market segment,” Corning sees “three options to drive sales growth,” he said. One is to migrate Gorilla Glass into new devices, and another is to “get more sales dollars per device by capturing a price premium, increasing the content per device, or both,” he said. A third option is “gaining share” in the category, he said. Improving the “performance and functionality” of Gorilla Glass “is key across the opportunity set,” he said. Corning’s fifth-generation Gorilla Glass “is much stronger at any given thickness than the previous generation,” he said. “We’ve been able to improve its durability without sacrificing its thinness and designers can also choose how they want to deploy this capability. They could choose to keep the same durability and move to thinner designs, or stay the same thickness and increase the drop performance.”

IDC sees global smartphone shipment growth grinding to a halt in 2016 after a double-digit increase in 2015, the research firm said in a Tuesday report. Smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1.45 billion units, with a year-over-year growth rate of 0.6 percent in 2016, IDC said. Though overall growth “remains positive,” that's “down significantly” from the 10.4 percent unit increases in 2015, it said. But 4G smartphones are still expected to show double-digit "uptake" at 21.3 percent year-over-year growth globally for 2016, reaching 1.17 billion units, from 967 million in 2015, the firm said. Much of the growth is coming from “emerging markets,” where only 61 percent of 2015 smartphone shipments were 4G-enabled, compared with 77 percent expected in 2016, it said. “All signs point” to 2016 becoming the first full year of shipment declines for the iPhone, it said. But “by no means is this doomsday for Apple in this category,” said IDC. With the iPhone’s 10th birthday in 2017, “it is hard to believe Apple doesn't have something big up its sleeve,” said the researcher. But the “challenges of low-cost competition remain, and Google getting into the premium space certainly doesn't make things any easier” for the iPhone, it said.

IHS Markit thinks the iPhone 7S Pro due in 2017 will be Apple’s first model to use an active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) panel, it said in a Monday white paper. IHS thinks Apple will use AMOLED’s flexibility to “achieve a bezel-less design” on the iPhone 7S Pro, it said. “The screen would remain flat, but the edge would be curved and sandwiched with the bezel, similar to the Apple Watch.” With a curved-bezel model, the iPhone 7S Pro would have a “slim and agile design” with rounded corners, it said. Apple representatives didn’t comment. An Apple patent (US 9,256,250) published in February at the Patent and Trademark Office described methods of fashioning flexible OLEDs with “fastened bent edges” as a means of minimizing the “inactive border area” around the display (see 1602100054).

Carriers benefit financially from providing cellphone installment plans, Fitch Ratings said in a news release Thursday. “The advent of cellular equipment installment plans (EIPs) and the securitization of pools of the payments on those plans diversifies cell phone carriers' financing, provides liquidity and can lower carriers' overall financing costs,” it said. “EIPs can also provide transparency to consumers in terms of device cost, rather than having carriers heavily subsidizing it.” Since 2013, carriers have moved away from subsidizing customer phones, replacing that practice with financing costs with loans or leases, it said. “This creates a distinct receivable, separate from the contract on the wireless service, which can be pooled into a securitization. The carrier may then issue debt with exposure to its broad book of customers.” Carriers like Sprint are paying close attention to equipment-leasing costs (see 1603090024).