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Days ahead of the unveiling of its national broadband plan, the FCC released an application for the iPhone and Android phones–as well as a Web-based application–that allows users to test the speed of their broadband connection and see how it stacks up against the advertised speed of the network. The tests provide users with information on their downlink and uplink speeds as well as on latency. The information that is collected will be used by the FCC to help it determine broadband policies. Article, FCC post

Lenovo is betting that the mobile Internet will be a catalyst for growth over the next few years, just as the Chinese computer maker is getting into handsets.

“Mobile Internet is very important,” Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said in an interview with the AP. “Even today, notebook sales already are higher than desktops. Mobile Internet products are going to be 70 to 80 percent of our sales … within three to five years.”

The company, which has collaborated with many companies in the wireless industry in the past on netbooks with embedded wireless modules, sees mobile Internet devices as an area that the company can “attack,” Yang said. In January, Lenovo bought back its mobile handset division for $200 million; it had sold the company in 2008.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Lenovo unveiled a smartphone running Google’s Android platform that it plans to release for the Chinese market this May. The company is joining a raft of other PC makers, including Acer and Dell, in jumping on the Android bandwagon.

For more:
- see this AP article
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

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There is good news for application developers, mobile marketers and anyone in the wireless industry who wants a piece of consumers’ attention while they are on their smartphones, according to a new survey from research firm Compete. The survey found that most smartphone users are actively using their devices throughout the day.

Though smartphones make up a minority of the overall handset market (comScore yesterday reported that 42.7 million Americans own smart gadgets, out of a total base of more than 200 million), they are booming in popularity. According to IDC, smartphone sales surged 30 percent in the fourth quarter, and the market will continue to gain momentum this year.

The Compete survey, conducted in January and February and covering 1,246 smartphone users, found that most people use their smartphones while waiting in line or for an appointment, while shopping and while at home. The survey found 74 percent of smartphone owners use their device for personal reasons.

Additionally, the survey found that 36 percent of those surveyed were most interested in receiving grocery coupons on their smartphones and 29 percent were interested in getting a barcode they could scan with their device.

For more:
- see this Compete survey

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MetroPCS appears to be interested in a merger with prepaid rival Leap Wireless, but a key company executive declined to elaborate on the topic.

“Obviously, we’re very interested in the combination of our companies,” MetroPCS CFO Braxton Carter said at an investor conference. He declined to provide a specific timetable for such a deal or whether it was even on the table.

Though not surprising, Carter’s comments are notable because MetroPCS had refused to comment on reports that both it and Leap have hired bankers to advise them on strategic options. Carter noted much has changed since MetroPCS tried to acquire Leap in 2007, and that many of the factors that motivated that effort are no longer relevant–but he said there are still reasons to move ahead with such a deal.

Leap spokesman Greg Lund declined to comment on Carter’s remarks.

Carter also touched on MetroPCS’ LTE plans. He said the company hopes to have LTE deployed in many of its markets by the second half of the year, with more markets coming online next year. The company wants to launch prepaid LTE services without device subsidies. Interestingly, Carter said MetroPCS will focus more on LTE handsets than data cards.

For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)

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