Goldman Sachs (GS) was quite the busy brokerage this morning, as it trekked through the financial sector and also issued a number of other upgrades, including one for Sprint Nextel (S).

The brokerage upped Sprint to buy from neutral, issuing a $6 price target, a nice elevation from the previous target of $3.50. Goldman noted that the reason for the upgrade is churn, and that the company is "about to move the needle." Goldman stated, "Sprint's gross add/upgrade activity slowed sharply in 2008, which ironically should benefit the company over the course of 2010 as the logical pool of churn subscribers is reduced." The upgrade comes basically from a glorified hunch.

According to USA Today, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and AT&T (NYSE: T) are expected to saunter up to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and explain why they will not allow Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) free Google Voice application on the iPhone.

The problem is that Google is throwing stones while it lives in a glass house. Let me explain here -- Google has done the same thing to Skype when it blocked it from use with Google Android. This is truly the pot calling the kettle black, as Google is getting a taste of its own medicine. The question is, why can't these kids get together and play nice?

Dropped calls have been a nuisance since the dawn of cell phones. But which cellular service provider has the best record in terms of the fewest dropped calls?

In a recent survey, ChangeWave asked 3,800 cell phone owners to estimate the percentage of their calls that were dropped during the past 90 days.

The survey, which was conducted Dec. 9-15, 2008, produced a clear winner: Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has the fewest dropped calls of all.

Forget Fake Steve Jobs. The fake iPhone is here. According to Bloomberg, there is the beginning of a booming market for counterfeit Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones in Taiwan and China. "With a touch-screen and Apple Inc.'s logo on the back, the iClones look just like the real thing," the story says.

Apple will probably not offer the iPhone in Asia until next year.

The news points out the Chinese dexterity in stealing consumers electronics designs and it is a significant threat to Apple. China has the world's largest cellphone market and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) is the world's largest cellphone company. And, the phones are being sold into markets including Australia and the U.S.

The fake phones have two advantages. First, they are less expensive than iPhones. Second, they can work on networks outside AT&T (NYSE: T), which currently has the U.S. exclusive for the hot handset.

Steve Jobs may want to take a look over at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which claims that about 85% of the copies of Windows sold in China are counterfeit. That represents hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, perhaps more.

Now, it's Apple's turn to fight the pirates.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Last night Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) gave the Street much more than it had expected. For the quarter, the company earned 55 cents per share (excluding its investment arm) compared with estimates of 51 cents per share. Revenues also came in above consensus -- $2.33 billion versus $2.26 billion.

Qualcomm also managed to increase expectations or average selling price of mobile phones for 2007 fiscal year ending in September from $208 to $216.

However, Wall Street still isn't completely sure about the stock's prospects, primarily due to patent litigation risks. For example, this quarter the company paid almost $20 million to Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM). Qualcom shares are trading down today in active trading.

The stock's valuation looks fairly in-line with comps -- cheaper than Motorola (NASDAQ: MOT) but more expensive than Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO). Although the handset markets are very healthy, Qualcomm remains a rather risky play due to the litigation risk, as aforementioned.

All in all, Qualcomm's quarter was certainly nothing to scoff at. If litigation issues aren't raised this quarter, the stock will most likely be higher in coming months simply due to strength in its handset business as the overall fundamentals for that sector are very strong.

Observing the world of mobile phones, Jim Cramer said that handsets have been one of the greatest growth drivers around and best money-makers. He thinks the uncertainty presented by international governments just helps cell phone makers. The company that can produce the cheapest, he says, and deliver that into the third world will be the winner. He thinks that Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) can do this, and he thinks that NOK is the one to buy. He likes NOK for this reason more than he likes Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) or Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT).

Cramer said they are the lowest-cost provider and they might be selling them at subsidy levels, but he thinks they are establishing brand loyalty in those markets. He thinks Nokia will have the biggest footprint out of the cellphone makers, and as their middle classes grow so will Nokia.

Do those in international markets have brand loyalty? If they go cheap now and that gets established as "the cheap intro brand" then won't the upwardly mobile go look for sa step-up? He might be right here, and he might not. The stock may even go up from here, but I would be willing to bet that it is for different reasons. We'll see.