The Verizon iPhone is sounding more and more like a reality next year, leading to speculation about what kind of campaign the company would run to promote the long-awaited marriage of phone and service provider.

With Microsoft's rollout of Windows Phone 7 ranking as one of Microsoft's biggest product launches in recent years, a lot is riding on the ad campaign that will accompany it. The software giant again tapped Crispin Porter and Bogusky, the vaunted creative shop that also developed Microsoft's "I'm a PC" spots and the "Windows 7 was my idea" campaign.

Reports that Amazon plans to jump into the app store race with its own app storefront for Android-based phones at first glance looks like bad news for Google. Here Google is just starting to gain momentum with 80,000 titles in its Android Market -- and along comes the Web's retailing Goliath to eat its lunch on the very platform Google created.

Government bashing was at the top of the agenda at CTIA's fall convention in San Francisco, according to reports Thursday. Steve Largent, the wireless trade group's CEO, warned against too much government intervention in the industry.

Fresh data underscoring Android's remarkable growth seems to come in almost every day now. But Apple may get a new weapon in its arsenal against Google in the smartphone wars, with a new report saying Apple will begin mass producing a new iPhone model by year's end that would allow Verizon Wireless to start selling the device in early 2011.

Reports emerging late Monday that Qualcomm would pull the plug on its FLO TV business by year's end didn't come as a huge surprise, given company statements earlier this year acknowledging consumer uptake had never met expectations for the mobile TV service the company invested hundreds of millions of dollar to create.

Promptly refunding customers for accidental charges is apparently a foreign concept to Verizon Wireless. The nation's largest carrier said Sunday it would pay up to $90 million to about 15 million subscribers who were incorrectly billed for accessing data services they didn't use. Verizon explained it "discovered" that over the past several years customers without data plans were charged for "data sessions on their phones that they did not initiate."

What do you think of when you hear a reference to "mobile?" I think of a mobile phone -- either a regular phone or a smartphone. That's probably what most people think of, a mobile phone. But getting to the point where people -- especially those deciding how big brands spend their ad dollars -- conceive of "mobile" as a term encompassing more than just handsets, is what it may take to really see advertising and e-commerce in the sector grow.

Apple vaulting to the top of the mobile ad marketplace was the most notable shift in the new ranking of mobile ad networks by technology research firm IDC, reported by Business Week earlier this week.

Let's stipulate that Research in Motion president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis doesn't have the flair for delivering the dramatic product launch that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has become known for. Who does? But that places more weight on the new product to sell itself. In the case of BlackBerry-maker RIM's PlayBook tablet computer, unveiled Monday, the device itself didn't close the deal. Despite its sleek appearance, "less than one pound' weight, Wi-Fi connectivity, and other features, a number of key questions remain about the PlayBook.