So you didn’t think Apple — whose I’m a Mac ad campaign represents the gold standard of classy yet pointed tech advertising mudslinging — would stay quiet forever in the mobile wars, did you?

For weeks, we’ve seen Verizon and AT&T battle over coverage maps, lost toys and more. Now, Apple has lodged its response, defending AT&T’s network and in particular the ability of the iPhone to keep a call live while a user simultaneously surfs the mobile Web — something Verizon’s network can’t support.

Can you network do that, Apple asks? See the video after the jump.

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Verizon Wireless has been somewhat unmerciful in criticizing AT&T’s network and the iPhone in TV commercials rolling out the new Droid phone.

Now, AT&T is hitting back. Check out its new “Postcards” ad (video) after the jump.

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This post is the final in a series leading up to an upcoming Connected Planet feature story on open mobile. Read the cover story HERE. Road to Open: Read part 1 HERE, part 2 HERE, part 3 HERE, part 4 HERE, part 5 HERE and part 6 HERE.

How open is defined depends largely on who is giving the definition and their interest in the answer. To some it’s a buzzword, but to others it has been a game changer. Connected Planet asked several developers and industry analysts to take a shot at defining open. Here’s what they said: more

We’ve been cataloging the ways that open mobile is changing the wireless game (see the latest installment in Sarah Reedy’s blog run-up to our upcoming cover story). Add one more: a new free application in the Android store lets Motorola Droid users run the multimedia dock application without having to buy the $30 dock that up to now was required to enable the application.

So much for that accessories market, Motorola : > more

This post is part of a series leading up to an upcoming Connected Planet feature story on open mobile. Road to Open: Read part 1 HERE, part 2 HERE, part 3 HERE, part 4 HERE and part 5 HERE.

When popular card maker Hallmark decided to break into mobile, program manager Mike Adams knew it couldn’t do it alone. Having run into roadblocks when working with carriers in the past, the company decided to team up with Tarsin, a platform-agnostic development house. Adams said he wanted to create a greeting card delivery app that worked across carriers, something they were unaccustomed to doing at a time when most apps followed the ringtone or wallpaper carrier-specific model. more

Mobile backhaul equipment has been a hot sector in wireless this year and last as operators invest more in high-capacity data technologies, according to a new research report by Infonetics. Backhaul gear investment among carriers grew 59% in 2008 to $3.7 billion globally and will jump an additional 60% in 2009, making it a $5.7 billion industry, the report found. more

T-Mobile (NYSE:DT) has come a long way in competing on prepaid since releasing a half-hearted unlimited, contractless service available to some customers on a trial basis. Last month it launched two new Even More unlimited service plans, and today it announced that it would offer a BlackBerry Curve 8520 as part of a prepaid plan that applies to anyone who’d like to sign up. more

While LTE vendors are still slugging it out for Vodafone (NYSE:VOD) and China Mobile’s (NYSE:CHL) 4G business, a new large-scale network competition has emerged. SingTel today became the latest multinational operator to dangle a big fat LTE contract in front of equipment vendors, announcing plans for a LTE roll out spanning Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore. more

Verizon Wireless’ (NYSE:VZ, NYSE:VOD) chances of launching the world’s first long-term evolution (LTE) network just improved. The first operator to launch a 3G network, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE:DCM) announced today that it will launch commercial 4G services in the final month of 2010. Verizon hasn’t given exact dates for its own deployment in 2010, except to say will launch the service commercially in 25 to 30 markets in the second half of the year. VZW might be planning a grand unveiling at the end of the year, turning on 100 million pops of network coverage in one fell swoop–and Verizon certainly isn’t opposed to theatrics–but it’s much more likely it will gradually roll the service out throughout the latter half of the year, beating NTT DoCoMo to punch in the process. more

According to the blogosphere, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has flipped-flopped on its plans for building its own mobile phone. But if it’s true, the software king will have changed its tune on much more than just its device plans. A Google phone would imply that while the company is busy touting its open-source operating system and encouraging free-for-all access, it is also creating a specific device optimized for its own applications. If Google launches apps that only work on its own branded Gphone, or even just work better on it, it’s contradicting its very strategy with Android. more