Honestly, I just need to set up some short cut keys on my keyboard here. One would write the story of escalating litigation between Apple and Samsung. The other would write up how AT&T is scrambling to scrap something good out of an increasingly doomed effort to acquire T-Mobile.

The Journal, I suspect, has a shortcut key whenever they need to quote PFWTM (People Familiar With The Matter):

Talks on asset sales intended to help AT&T Inc. win approval for its acquisition of T-Mobile USA have gone cold, according to people familiar with the matter, the strongest sign yet that AT&T may abandon the $39 billion deal.

While AT&T could still try to fight the Justice Department in court, alternatives to a full-blown merger are looking more likely, the people said. Those options include AT&T’s taking a stake in the smaller carrier or doing a joint venture to share network technology, they said.

The regular old acquisition exists more as a mathematical possibility now. The bigger question becomes what T-Mobile will do after the deal falls apart. Parent company Deutsche Telekom has already said it wants out. So what becomes of that company, those customers, that bandwidth, that lady in the commercial?