01/27, 5:20pm
Free claims competitors hitting below the belt
ARCEP, the French telecom regulator, has said it is going to inspect low-cost wireless provider Iliad's backbone network to make sure it is compliant with its bandwidth licensing requirements. The action takes place after Iliad's competitors raised complaints about Iliad's network performance and customer service. Iliad, which operates its wireless service under the Free name brand, denied the claims, discounting them as false rumors.
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01/13, 12:20pm
Free may have cheapest iPhone usage plans yet
Free's new mobile division has become the fourth major carrier in France to offer the iPhone. The Iliad-owned group plans to carry the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S on January 27 with one of the least expensive plans yet. At 20 euros ($25) a month for a 16GB iPhone 4S with unlimited voice and texts as well as 3GB of unfettered data before a cap, Apple's smartphones would cost roughly half as much or less to own as a phone with an equivalent plan.
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09/19, 11:40am
iRex Reader 1000 Leak
iRex's hinted-at Monday launch of a next-generation reader will primarily compete in terms of sheer size and connection choices, Forbes says in a pre-release leak. Potentially scrapping the iLiad name, the new e-book device would just be called the Reader 1000 and would outsize nearly any existing viewer of the type with a 10.2-inch e-ink display. The screen would be large enough to comfortably view Word files and other documents in business, which is reportedly one of the new focuses of the 1000.
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09/18, 3:20pm
iRex Major New Reader
The e-book reader designers at iRex today revealed through a teaser page that they plan a major update to their devices next week. While short on details other than to point to a "new era" of reading, the company adds in its blog that the Monday launch will include both new hardware and new software and is not a simple upgrade.
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05/07, 3:10pm
iRex iLiad Book Edition
iRex today sought to compete against some of its more frugal rivals and introduced the iLiad Book Edition. The updated version drops the Wi-Fi used for downloading content and fixes but as a result is less expensive; its €499 ($768) price is €150 below that of the original. The lack of native e-book content that sometimes plagues these readers is also purportedly solved with 50 vintage books already preloaded on the iLiad's built-in 256MB of memory, saving the user from having to buy more online.
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