Now that the vow of silence rules in the Federal Communications Commission's 700MHz auction have lifted, the big players in the sale are posting their battle stories—tales of winnings, heroic strategies, and plans for future glory. Braggers include Google, Verizon, AT&T, and Qualcomm.

Google: We won by not winning 

"Partly as a result of our bidding, consumers soon should have new freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones and other wireless devices," two Google attorneys crowed on the search engine giant's official blog yesterday. The company did not win any spectrum in the auction, but Google's real goal, as most observers suspected and was disclosed Richard Whitt and Joseph Faber, was to keep the competition going until the auction's C-block reached the FCC's minimal reserve price: $4.6 billion. The C-block, of course, represented Google's Holy Grail in the auction, with its regs requiring the spectrum owner to open the zone to any and all applications. More