ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Mobile Minutes: Verizon adds subscribers; The People?s Operator; Ad tech complaints; Drone Periscope

Verizon Communications Inc reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly profit as more users signed up for its postpaid wireless services and subscriber defections fell to a three-year low. The biggest U.S. wireless service provider added 1.1 million wireless retail postpaid subscribers - those who pay each billing cycle based on usage - on a net basis in the second quarter, in line with estimates from analysts polled by market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

As part of his newest venture, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced the U.S. launch of The People?s Operator, a new mobile network from which 20 percent of company profits and 10 percent of customers? monthly bills are donated to charities?at no cost to customers.

There?s something so wonderfully easy about reading this column in a physical newspaper. You turned the page, and here it is, with few annoyances or distractions, in an ultra-high-definition typeface which was custom-designed with pleasurable reading in mind. 

Whether it's a Jeff Goldblum/Tim & Eric lightbulb informercial, invitingMatthew Dear to make music out of industrial machines, or just an arty Instagram shot a of jet engine, General Electric has proven itself to be a brand unafraid of experimenting with platform and format. Next week the brand takes another bold step in its quest to boast about the scope of its scientific and industrial capabilities in a fun, relatable way by using livestreaming app Periscope to launch a week-long content extravaganza called #DroneWeek.