Cricket Wireless, which has an operations hub in metro Denver, said today that it will begin selling the iPhone 4 and 4S on June 22.

The prepaid carrier will offer the devices with $55-a-month unlimited talk, text and data plans.

The Cricket iPhone 4 will cost $400 and iPhone 4S with 16 GB of storage will run $500. In comparison, Apple sells an unlocked iPhone 4 for $550 and unlocked iPhone 4S for $650.

Other regional carriers have also landed the iPhone along with three of four the majors, with T-Mobile being the only national carrier to not sell the iPhone.

Prepaid customers have long flashed CDMA-compatible phones to Cricket, but doing so often eliminates some of the devices’ features.

Bargain hunters can purchase a pre-owned Verizon iPhone 4, which uses CDMA technology, on Craigslist for between $200 to $300, and many area Cricket resellers will flash the devices.

(Mark Lennihan, Associated Press file)

Did Apple CEO Tim Cook really say there won't be a 4-inch iPhone?

Tech blogs are going crazy over Apple CEO Tim Cook’s comments about the iPhone’s design. They believe Cook indicated Wednesday at the D10 conference that Apple will not release an iPhone with a 4-inch screen.

Here’s what Cook said in response the question: “Why don’t you have more than one iPhone or more than one iPad?” (according to a transcript on The Verge):

Our North Star is to make the best product. Our goal isn’t to make the design for this price point or this schedule, or line up other things, or to have x number of phones. It’s to build the best. There’s not a policy or commandment that ‘I shalt have one phone…’, it’s about making the best. If we find we can do more than one… but do we have to? …

One thing is that we’re not fragmented. Look at the percentage of users who upgraded to iOS 5. We have one App Store. We have one phone with one screen size, one resolution. So it’s pretty simple if you’re a developer.

In a follow-up question Read more…

Here’s a quick look at one of the more anticipated iPad accessories this year, Logitech’s new Solar Keyboard Folio.

Two “dye-sensitized solar cells” on the outside of the folio charge the NiMh batteries, which have a two-year life span.

The folio works with the new iPad and the iPad 2 and will retail for $130. Logitech is currently taking pre-orders, and the product site on Amazon shows a two to three week wait.

I’ll have a full review in a couple of weeks. Initial impressions: I like the size, weight, easy installation and removal of the iPad and, of course, the solar-powered feature. But the keyboard is not full size, so it may be a little small for some users, and the faux leather may not be too durable.

To connect with Denver Post technology writer Andy Vuong, please “like” him on Facebook at facebook.com/byandyvuong.

You can also visit insidetechknow.com.

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Skype is coming to Xfinity.

Skype on Xfinity, a new widescreen HD video calling service, will be available to Comcast subscribers this summer.

Comcast is rolling out the service to select cities this week. With Skype on Xfinity, customers will be able to make and receive video calls from their TV in HD picture quality, as well as send and receive instant messages via Skype while watching TV.

Personally, I could care less about texting on the TV, but the HD video calling without the need for a Smart TV sounds cool. Read more…

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Stephanie Comfort will step down as EVP at CenturyLink in July.

Stephanie Comfort, the former top strategy officer at Denver-based Qwest, will leave her post as executive vice president of corporate strategy and development at CenturyLink on July 1, the company announced today.

Comfort was one of four Qwest senior executives who joined CenturyLink after the companies merged in April 2011. CenturyLink announced in March that Chris Ancell, former president of Qwest’s business markets group, would leave as part of a restructuring.

The other former Qwest executives – Steve Davis, senior vice president of public policy and government relations and Girish Varma, senior vice president of IT services – remain with Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink. Read more…

Holding the iPad for hours on end while reading a digital book and surfing the web gave Kevin Trotsky some aches and pains, and an idea for a business.

Though the iPad is light compared to a laptop, it is far heavier than a paperback or Kindle e-reader.

Unable to find a suitable accessory to help him hold the tablet for long stretches, Trotsky and his girlfriend launched a startup called Octa at the end of 2010 “to make technology easier to use and easier to enjoy.”

“We have all of these gadgets and different things that we’re learning to integrate into our lives and there’s not a lot of great ways to mount them or position them or hold them when you’re trying to use them, especially in the mobile devices,” said Trotsky, 34. Read more…

(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an iPod in this 2005 file photo.

If you are among the millions of consumers who purchased an iPod between September 2006 and March 2009, you are likely a party to a class-action lawsuit filed against Apple.

The lawsuit claims that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company violated federal and state laws by issuing software updates in 2006 for iPods that prevented the music players from playing songs not purchased on iTunes. It alleges that the software updates caused iPod prices to be higher than they otherwise would have been, according to an email that’s being sent this week to consumers who are believed to have purchased an iPod during the three-year period. Read more…

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Dish satellite-TV subscribers can now automatically skip over commercials for most recorded prime time programming.

The new “Auto Hop” option for the company’s Hopper whole-home HD DVR system is being activated today. The Auto Hop is an extension of the Hopper’s PrimeTime Anytime feature, which records three hours of HD content from ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC each night and stores it for up to eight days. Now subscribers can watch that recorded content without commercial interruption. Read more…

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Blogmutt works like a dog to fill your blog, so the tag line goes.

Boulder-based BlogMutt, a 2010 graduate of the Denver Founder Institute, said today that it has secured funding from two prominent Denver area technology veterans.

Jon Nordmark, founder of Denver-based eBags, and Jim Franklin, chief executive of Boulder-based SendGrid, are part of BlogMutt’s seed round, which stands at about $250,000.

“These are two of the most respected tech CEOs around,” said Scott Yates, BlogMutt co-founder and CEO. “Having those two invest is a huge validation of our market, our model, and our traction.” Read more…

AP file photo

LightSquared's majority owner Philip Falcone.

Nearly two years ago, hedge-fund billionaire Philip Falcone’s LightSquared announced plans to outfit Denver with a blazing-fast 4G wireless network in the second half of 2011.

Those plans never panned out, in large part because LightSquared’s proposed LTE network was found to interfere with GPS signals and navigation equipment, including gear used by aircraft, leading to regulatory rejection of its business plan.

With the company possibly heading toward bankruptcy, Dish Network co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen has snatched up $350 million worth of LightSquared debt, Read more…