Two weeks ago, in a post about AT&T's spotty third generation wireless coverage, I posed a simple question: "How about an announcement telling customers how AT&T has been working with Apple to help boost the quality of its iPhone service?"

Now, that seems to be exactly what is happening. AT&T (T) reported on Tuesday that it had spent $65 million upgrading its wireless network in San Francisco since 2008. The phone company said it upgraded about 850 cell sites because of the rising demand put on its network since the iPhone started selling two years ago. That's good news to many iPhone users, whose phone has become synonymous with "dropped calls."

Boy, this mobile advertising scene is starting to get complicated. So Apple (AAPL) spoke to mobile online advertising company AdMob before the company's CEO Omar Hamoui inked its recent $750 million deal with Google (GOOG), Bloomberg and others have reported. This was unusual as Apple has typically steered well clear of advertising or of anything that required a serious sales force beyond its retail domain.

A mobile advertising network requires both a salesforce but also its own marketing efforts and other assorted business functions currently not native to Apple. The AdMob purchase was a comfortable fit for Google, in all probability, because AdMob's vice president of engineering and top technical officer Kevin Scott is a Google alum (he served as senior engineering manager).

Search giant Google (GOOG), which looks increasingly like a phone company, paid $30 million for Gizmo5, the Web-based calling startup, DailyFinance has confirmed with people familiar with the matter. The deal is done and the startup's staff has begun work integrating into the Google Voice team in Mountain View, Calif.

Skype was also in negotiations to buy Gizmo5 before the VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) giant's founders reached a settlement to re-take an ownership stake in the company. TechCrunch first reported the news earlier this week. The deal is a crucial step for the search titan because Google Voice now gains the technology to connect inbound and outbound calls to standard land-lines and cell phones, something it had lacked.

Wireless network operator Clearwire (CLWR) is pinning its fortunes on the booming mobile data market. But while wireless data usage grows at a blistering pace, investors should take a look a close look at how Clearwire's technology stacks up to the coming technologies from much larger rivals such as Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) before getting on board.

"If ever there was a rising tide that is lifting all boats, this is it," Clearwire CEO William Morrow told investors after the company reported third quarter earnings on Tuesday. Adjusted earnings losses narrowed to 43 cents per share from 45 cents per share, while revenue was up 13% to $68.8 million.

Phones are ringing off the hook at businesses that facilitate making calls over the Internet. With the apparent resolution of the spinout of Net calls pioneer Skype several days ago has come frenzied dealmaking in the VoIP -- short for voice over Internet protocol -- space.

First, Google bought startup Gizmo5. Now, as TechCrunch reports, there is a bidding war ongoing for JahJah, a Skype-like service that offered low-cost calling to tens of millions of users of Yahoo's (YHOO) instant messenger service. Numbers thrown around for the deal are a whopping $200 million to $400 million, a significant sum in the current environment.

The $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob by search giant Google (GOOG) signals a new stage of the battle for the soul of the mobile Internet between Google and its arch-rival Apple (AAPL). The acquisition gives Google the strongest player in the fast-growing market for putting advertisements on smartphones. And it's the latest brawny move by Google in an unspoken war that has broken into pitched battle in the past two weeks.

Lots of people claim that Apple's (AAPL) iPhone is the first smartphone to really unleash the potential of the Internet on a handset. And they are right. iPhone users suck up so much more Web time than Blackberry (RIMM) users (even though far more Blackberry units have been sold over time) that Apple partner AT&T (T) has struggled to handle the load and, by many indications, still can't keep up. But let's not forget that the iPhone's Web utility was not the only killer app in the mobile devices space.

Long before the iPhone hit it big, the GPS market was hockey-sticking. I watched this trajectory with amazement as Garmin (GRMN) devices went from geek gawkware to standard hardware for housewives in the O.C. and salesmen cruising the office parks of middle America looking to bag more clients.

AT&T (T) is suing Verizon Wireless for misleading advertising. But its actions could do the company more harm than good. The reason for the lawsuit: Verizon (VZ) has been mocking Apple's (AAPL) iPhone "There's an App for That" ads. Verizon TV ads show off a coverage map depicting its larger, third-generation (3G) wireless coverage next to AT&T's smaller 3G coverage map. In its advertisements Verizon quips: "There's a Map for That."

That may irk AT&T, but the company does not dispute Verizon's larger 3G coverage. But it is suing Verizon for highlighting its spotty coverage in a misleading manner. In Verizon's ads, the maps display blank space in AT&T's coverage area. The intent, according to Verizon, is to show where AT&T lacks 3G coverage. But AT&T claims the ads imply that AT&T provides no coverage at all in those areas.

The search engine market is likely to get much hotter in the coming year if Apple (AAPL) adds a mobile search engine as the default option on its popular iPhones. Apple has no choice but to enter that game. The Cupertino, Calif. company has been giving (GOOG) a tremendous branding and revenue opportunity -- free of charge -- by incorporating Google Search as the default option in Safari browsers, the only browsers on iPhones.

That the two titans are going to clash, big time, is a foregone conclusion. There have been some warning signs. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, resigned from (or was asked to leave) Apple's Board of Directors in August. Another Apple director, Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson, left the Google board not long after. He did this, ostensibly, to avoid conflict of interest.

Last week, we discussed how Verizon Wireless is consciously trying to associate its forthcoming Droid smartphone series with a more macho identity than Apple's iPhone, long-linked to the "geek chic" aesthetic. In its new ad, "Stealth," Verizon continues in this direction with a militaristic spot that depicts an air-wing of Stealth fighters launching Droid-containing missiles into the American landscape to the bewilderment of locals.

But the real combat is taking place off the air, where AT&T has filed a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless charging that Big Red's "There's a Map for That" campaign -- which highlights AT&T's spotty 3G coverage -- is "misleading." The air and legal warfare illustrate the competitive ferocity of the mobile phone market heading into the holidays.

As the hype mounts for Verizon (VZ)'s launch of its Google (GOOG) Android-powered phone, investors have started anticipating what a hit could mean for Google's and Verizon's bottom lines.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) got hammered yesterday after analysts said that the Droid might become a major competitor in the business market, where Apple (AAPL)'s iPhone has largely failed to gain ground. And Droid handset-maker Motorola (MOT) has seen its shares surge, partially around anticipation that the operating system may give it a hit phone after a long drought.

It sure was fitting that Google (GOOG) killed an entire product segment on Oct. 28, just a day before the 80th anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash. And appropriately enough, on Wednesday the tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled mightily. Contributing to that fall was the pummeling of GPS makers Garmin (GRMN) and TomTom (TMOAF), whose shares plunged 16% and 21%, respectively. TomTom shares kept falling the next day, dropping by 11% more.

That's because search giant Google unveiled what appears to be a revolutionary GPS guidance unit for smart phones running Google's Android operating system. Collectively, those two GPS companies lost more than $2 billion in market cap. Even shares of iPhone maker Apple (AAPL) fell by a startling 5%, more than retracing all the recent gains the stock had made after posting stellar earnings last week.

After teasing its forthcoming Droid attack on Apple's iPhone in an ominous TV spot earlier this month, Verizon Wireless has launched a print marketing blitz aimed at sowing the seeds of doubt into the hearts of potential iPhone buyers. The ads make it abundantly clear that Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon (VZ) and Vodaphone (VOD) and the largest wireless provider in the country, isn't going to stand back while Apple and AT&T reign over the smart-phone market.

Below the surface of these ads, however, is an interesting study in shifting attitudes toward popular male identity. Verizon appears to be challenging a prevailing definition of "geek chic" sex appeal, lately personified by Justin Long's "Mac" character, Apple's blasé, hoodie-wearing hipster.

According to the Google (GOOG) Voice sign-up page, users now need just one phone number for the service. Previously, users were required to have both a number with a telephone carrier and a second one issued by Google. The search company says that it now offers "a single phone number that rings all your phones." The company adds, "We're excited to announce that you now can get Google Voice with a Google number OR with your existing mobile phone number."

This could be a nightmare for traditional phone companies. The upgrade will allow users to bypass the voicemail features provided by current telephone service providers. It also makes it simple for Google Voice customers to make cheap international calls using the Google infrastructure. The product is not widely available now, but Google says that it will be soon.

When Verizon Communications (VZ) announced its third-quarter results on Monday, they were largely in line with analyst estimates. But they fell short in an area that could be cause for concern: Verizon added fewer postpaid wireless customers than Wall Street had anticipated.

The telecom giant said that Verizon Wireless, a joint venture with Britain's Vodafone (VOD), added 900,000 postpaid customers versus consensus estimates of between 1 million and 1.1 million. Even though Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., the latest report stood in contrast to that of rival AT&T (T), which said it activated a record number of iPhone customers over the quarter. Indeed, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 3GS may have taken the wind out of Verizon's sails.