So apparently Microsoft has made a half-billion dollar deal with Verizon to have its Bing search engine be the exclusive search application for Verizon smartphones. And just when we were starting to like Verizon!

Verizon's latest software update apparently auto-sets devices' default search applications to Bing. But if it were just a default setting, that would be one thing. Removing the sub-menu of alternative default choices is another. Apparently you can still search Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia et al. You just can't set it as your default search engine. What a pain! And an affront.

With AT&T angering customers left and right, you'd think Verizon would welcome all defectors with open arms, excluding no one. But now, unless you want to accept Bing as your sole search provider, you'll no longer want to get a Verizon smartphone either.

The change is most notable in the latest from RIM, the Blackberry Storm2, but expect all other Verizon Blackberry models to fall in line soon enough.

Included in the bargains are several $99 deals (with 2-year contracts, of course) on smartphones like the HTC Touch Diamond, the Blackberry Storm, and the Samsung Omnia. The biggest price drop (also to $99.99) is for the HTC TouchPro which came down from a staggering $419.

The Blackberry Curve (recently revealed as the top selling smartphone of 2009 Q2) is getting a price cut down to an incredible $49.99.

Even the newer Verizon smartphone handsets are getting discounts (though not as heavy ones, of course) like the Blackberry Tour which will sell for $149, and the Samsung Saga, both carried by Verizon Wireless, are not discounted in this sale.

According to Boy Genius Report (which broke the story) the TouchPro2 should be out soon, while the Storm2 will probably not see the light of day until sometime in November. That gives smartphone users plenty of time to devour the good bargains available now.

Clearly whether they're doing it to compete with the iPhone's slash in prices (and particularly the $99 iPhone 3G 8 GB model) or in an effort to clear out TouchPro and Storm handsets to make way for their successors, one thing is for sure: Verizon Wireless is now deeply entrenched in the smartphone price wars.

Previously only available on Sprint and AT&T networks, the Palm Centro will now be available on the Verizon network, finally giving users the mobile high-speed internet access they’ve been craving. Unlike the AT&T version, the Verizon Palm Centro is compatible with the EV-DO network, giving the device previously unheard-of web and email speeds. And all this at an appealing $99 price point.

The Verizon Palm Centro comes in one color – dark blue. Otherwise it’s the same BlackBerry look-alike as all the other Palm Centros.

The Palm Centro for Verizon Wireless includes a full QWERTY keyboard and a pre-installed GoogleMaps application that can pull up and research data directly from users’ Contacts. And in addition to all the usual email apps that normally come with the Centro, the Centro for Verizon also includes Wireless Sync, Verizon’s own proprietary emailing solution.

Unfortunately, the device will not, however, include support Verizon’s favored V-Cast multimedia solution. (At least not yet.)

Palm says that thanks to this new arrangement with Verizon, it now plans to ship out 2 million units by the end of the year.

Called "Verizon Wireless E-Mail and Web for Smartphone", the plan includes an array of attractive features:

• Unlimited data allowance for internet browsing and email access
• Support for up to 10 email accounts (including Yahoo!, AOL, and Windows Live)
• Familiar branded email interfaces

And all directly from your smartphone.

The plan may look familiar to BlackBerry users on the Verizon network, as it's already been available for them. But now users of other Verizon smartphone can enjoy the convenience as well, starting with:

• Verizon Wireless SMT5800
• Verizon Wireless XV6800
• MOTO Q9m

In line with the service's top competitor's rate, Verizon Wireless will be offering unlimited web and email access for smartphones for $29.99 per month (on top of any existing voice plan)

I wonder if this means Verizon will be changing its slogan to: "Can you read me now?"

Technology advances fast, and that's why today's experts see many amazing advances in smartphone technology in store for us in just two years from now. A chief Motorola executive summarizes it this way, by pointing out the three key trends that will alter the very "role and nature" of mobile devices to come:

• content digitization
• ubiquitous, global broadband
• PC miniaturization

This combination of elements will define what's to come in smartphone innovation in just a matter of 24 months or less, namely in the way of:

• hardware
• operating systems
• the internet "ecosystem"

Already, in the way of global broadband, companies like Verizon and Sprint have spread their 3G networks across the whole of the United States, with T-Mobile and AT&T not far behind.

In terms of sheer processing power and the placing of the computing power of the PC into your pants pocket, industry leader Intel is readying the new Moorestown chip, promising smartphone users even greater access to the power these increasingly faster networks offer.

And as for the world of the worldwide web, already corporate giants in other areas of technology are seeing the value of getting into the smartphone game. Consider web search giant Google, whose upcoming mobile platform Andriod is poised to revolutionize the smartphone market, engendering the creation of whole new smartphone devices by all the major manufacturers.

There's much more ahead for smartphone users, and not very far ahead at that. Stay tuned, because it's all coming soon to a smartphone near you.

A Verizon Wireless communications analyst released a report on what the type, style, preferred features, and common uses of smartphones says about the user, stating for example that a flip phone user likes being in control whereas a candy bar phone user likes to keep things simple.

Forbes, meanwhile, published a huge article on the personal significance of color choice in smartphones, noting that the most popular color for smartphones is blue, that red smartphones indicate outgoing, dramatic, and spontaneous personalities, whereas virtually nobody wants a yellow smartphone, though gold is another story altogether, suggesting a penchant for wealth, luxury, and prestige.

A story on MSNBC, meanwhile, looks at the correlation between brands of smartphone and personality types, noting for example that Blackberry users like staying in touch at all times, while Palm users enjoy multitasking, whereas iPhone users are avid multi-media hounds.

Pretty soon, it seems, a simple personality test will become the preferred method for shopping for one's next ideal smartphone. Ah progress!

CNET reported today on the Samsung BlackJack II being offered for free on Buy.com for anyone signing up for a two-year AT&T contract. While not the fastest or easiest phone to use, the Samsung BlackJack II nonetheless has some impressive qualities, including:

• a GPS
• a 2- megapixel camera
• and AT&T HSPDA network support

Researching this phenomenon further, I found that Buy.com actually offers several smart phones for free with activation, including:

• Palm Centro
• RIM BlackBerry Pearl
• Motorola RAZR

From here, I checked into how commonly this phenomenon occurred at competing cell phone and smart phone vendors and found that everybody's doing it. In addition to more of the aforementioned brand names, I also found all sorts of other smartphones (such as Sony Ericsson, Nextel, and Nokia) offered for free by all the major carriers:

• AT&T (and the former Cingular)
• Verizon
• T-Mobile
• and Sprint

Now there's a way that people on a limited budget can still afford to get a smartphone of their own (though maybe not the latest and greatest model), just by signing up for the wireless service they're going to need to get anyway.

To boot, most of the participating smartphone vendors will even throw in free shipping with the deal.

With such great deals flooding the net, and every phone manufacturer and wireless carrier competing for your hard-earned dollar, we may soon see the day when you never have to pay to obtain a smartphone again.