Editor’s note: Each week someone will run us through the noteworthy headlines in mobile and convergent device user experience. This week: Dan Harrison, Developer, Punchcut.

// Early termination “fees” ruled illegal in California.  But how about termination “rates”?

California Superior Court ruled against Sprint Nextel this week, making early termination fees illegal and asking Sprint to cough up millions in reimbursements to its customers.  Although similar lawsuits have taken place in other states, this the first one to make these kinds of fees illegal.  However, the big carriers have the FCC on their side: now that they all offer coverage nationwide, the FCC feels that the federal government should be making these decisions, not individual states.  To fix the problem, the carriers could reclassify these fees as “rates”, since a fee that falls under the word “rate” is subject to federal government regulation.

While the case is likely to be appealed, some argue that consumers may have to pay a lot more up-front for a new handset in the future:

“AT&T’s two-year contract is the only reason the iPhone 3G costs $199. If subsidies vanish, what happens to hardware lock-in? Could an era of expensive, but unlocked, hardware be just around the corner? It’s highly probable.”

In any case, it may turn out to become less of an issue, as most carriers have changed their termination fee policy so that the longer you maintain your contract, the less of a fee you’ll have to pay when you try to get out of it.  Maybe in the future new phones will be subsidised separately –you could pay for your phone like you buy a car: no money down, 0% interest and maybe even a cash back bonus!

// Cracks in the 3G

Hairline cracks have been showing up on the iPhone 3G as of late, and Apple seems to be telling customers that the problems are cosmetic and not covered under warranty.  This seems reasonable for iPhones that have been dropped of scuffed up, but some users are reporting that scratches are appearing mysteriously on their own.  While there’s no official word on the problem from Apple, some are speculating that the plastic fits too snugly around the metal edges of the phone, and others say that as the battery warms up inside the phone the plastic expands, leading to the mysterious marks.

// Popular iPhone game to spark adolescent romance?

The Guitar Hero-like iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge, which is ready to hit 1 million downloads any day now, has raised the interest of all kinds of people including record companies seeking to get people to tap tap to their artists.  But the CEO of Tapulous, the company who makes the game, says Tap Tap Revenge can also be the modern answer to a first date.  During a demonstration, where he was playing the game in two-player mode with the interviewer, he said,  “Look how close we are… If I were a 14-year-old boy playing with a girl I liked, this game would be the best chance to kiss her.”

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