Special Report: Telephony's Best and Worst of 2007

The Most Unexpected Events of 2007

Disney folds its Disney Mobile and ESPN MVNO initiatives. Turns out Disney said it was all one big test anyway. Only Disney could afford to do that.

Sprint CEO Gary Forsee resigns. Maybe the bigger surprise here was how badly the company was performing — once that was out of the bag, the resignation seemed certain.

Verizon Wireless promises open access. The company's lawyers must have whiplash. Only a few months after staging a legal battle against open access rules for the 700 MHz auction, the company changes course. Not surprisingly, the skeptics abound as to how this actually plays out.

Apple sells 1 million iPhones, and lowers the price by $200. 'Nuff said.

Google makes its own switches. Is there anything Google doesn't do?

A mere 1.6% of Facebook is worth $240 million. Fad or not, Microsoft ponied up a hefty chunk of change for a seat on the social networking bandwagon. Will Facebook go the way of Google — or Webvan?

Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert resigns. He did a good job cleaning up the company's messy financial picture and putting Qwest back on track, but apparently he didn't want to tackle the next phase of converged services, as he departed without a video strategy.

Google emerges as a wireless player. This time last year the world only knew Google as a wired Internet titan with a massive balance sheet. Suddenly it's a force to be reckoned with in the wireless world: It's bidding on spectrum, launching its own mobile operating system and generally giving the staid old boys of the industry migraines.

The cable industry takes an autumnal tumble. Cable was riding high, having recovered from the DSL pricing wars and feeling confident about the power of its bundle. But weak third-quarter numbers sent stock prices reeling and took some of the swagger from the industry's step. Its ongoing battle with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin over re-regulation hasn't helped either, although cable won the latest round.

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