It would seem At&T is not quite as good at keeping mum as Apple is about new and upcoming releases. Whether “accidentally on purpose” or just by accident AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has let the cat out of the bag and put an end to the speculation that a 3G iPhone will be available this next year. According to him, it definitely will be. Stephenson spilled the news at a dinner, late Wednesday at the Churchill Club, in Santa Clara. He did not go as far as to say when, stating simply that it will be sometime this next year.
This could possible see a slow-down in the sales of iPhones over the Christmas season. After all why buy the slower one when it’s possible a new 3G one could be announced as soon as MacWorld. Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray doesn’t believe it will effect sales “enough to make a difference”, but still you can bet Apple and Mr. Steve Jobs wasn’t too happy about the pre-announcement at this particular time.
If you’re planning on taking a trip outside the u.S. chances are you want to bring your iPhone along so you can keep up on e-mail, use google maps, and search the web to find all the hot spots in whatever totally foreign town you’re dropping in on.
AT&T just made that a little easier by creating the Data Global Plan. The plan will give users 50MB of data a month in 29 different countries. The plan costs an additional $60 a month and enables international voice and data roaming. International long distance dialing is also allowed at the United States standard rates.
Smaller plans are offered at $25 a month for 20MB of data, for those who wish to have the phone available but not use it too much.
Both plans have overage charges of $.005/KB and rates outside the 29 countries is set at $.0195/KB. The rates are in addition to the plans you already have.
Sprint has signed an exclusive deal with Palm to be the sole carrier to release their Centro at least for the first three months. Palm was upfront about the first three month deal when they unveiled the phone Thursday night, yet they refused to talk about any other carriers carrying the phone after the 90 days were up.
The company almost seemed to be slightly peeved over the iPhone’s super successful launch when President and CEO of Palm, Ed Colligan answered in response to a query about the target market of the phone, “This (Centro) is not attempting to be an ‘iPhone killer’”. The iPhone is part of that 5% of the market; we’re going after the other 95% of the market.”
The iPhone out may have not been out long enough to take up a significant portion of the market, but it is the first that any other smart phone is compared to.
The long awaited (well, long in two months is forever dudes long) iphone hack to free the iPhone from AT&T’s slow and sometimes just plain lousy service has been done. By who? - well a 17 year-old kid named George Holtz who actioned off one of the iPhones on e-bay for a new Nissan 350z. His e-bay auction did get shut down by pranksters offering millions for the iPhone but Holtz still made out pretty well.
Not many could probably do what he has done however as the tools he used involved; an iPhone, a trusty case opener, a soldering iron, fine pitch wire, an unlock switch and a Red Bull energy drink. Basically you must solder new connections into the microcircuitry - another basically - if you really want it done hire Holtz to do it for you, unless you’re really good at soldering or unless you don’t mind a $600 paperweight.
AT&T has decided to reign in on their obsessively detailed iPhone bills after the world mocked the company over bills that were pages and pages and pages and more pages long. So much so that they were mailed like a package, some totaling over 300 pages, as was the case with Justine Ezarik, who placed a YouTube video showcasing the bill.
The reason the bills were so long is that they detailed every time a person went on the web, every time they sent a text, every time they sent a picture regardless of whether they had unlimited minutes or unlimited texting.
After the resounding flack about the numerous trees being cut down just to cover people’s iPhone bills AT&T has wisely decided to begin just sending a summary of the bills which will typically average about three pages, small enough to be sent in a standard envelope.
For all those who bought the iPhone and use alot of text messages don’t get too excited when you get a large looking package from AT&T - it’s not a welcome gift from the company, instead it is a bill - a heavily detailed and completely itemized bill.
Justine Ezarik a freelance graphic designer and Pittsburgh-based blogger posted this YouTube video of the bill. She told ABC news, “”I thought it was hilarious. Prior to that, I had Sprint. I’d send 35,000 to 40,000 text messages and not even think anything of it.”
Many however, are annoyed by the large bills which they consider a waste. Ezarik’s bill cost $7 just to mail it.
Rob Enderle, a Silicon Valley Tech analyst said, “AT&T should get a new tagline — use AT&T, kill a tree.”
AT&T may have an exclusive contract for the iPhone but that is not going to stop them from competing with Apple’s iTunes for mobile phone music downloads.
AT&T opened up its new music store today when it joined with eMusic to make eMusic Mobile. The store features a music catalog of 2.7 million songs which users can download directly to compatible cell phones. Currently there are four cell phones compatible with the service: the Samsung a717 and a727; new versions of the Samsung SYNC; and the Nokia N75.
Rather than selling the downloads singly AT&T is selling them in blocks of 5 with a monthly subscription. $7.49 is the cost for one month and five songs. Users can buy additional packages of five songs as well but must always pay the min. of $7.49 a month.
Users can transfer the songs from their phones to the computer or visa / versa, filling the one gap that Apple left when it chose not to have the iPhone capable of downloading songs without being hooked up to a PC.
Verizon has stated that while initially it did lose customers to AT&T after the launch of the iPhone, it is no longer.
COO Denny Stigle said, “We are now seeing two Verizon Wireless customers in for every one we lose.”
Initially AT&T said that it gained 58,400 customers from it’s rivals estimating that 40% of the initial 146,000 customers came from other carriers.
While this may have leveled off, at least according to Verizon, industry experts are saying that it is unlikely the iPhone phenomenon is over. The holidays are expected to be extremely lucrative for the iPhone as it is expected to top wish lists.
The iPhone has been hailed as innovative, the best web browser ever, beautiful! - yet the service for most, is less than spectacular.
Apple’s decision to go strictly with the AT&T network is definitely hurting. Bottom line, as good as the iPhone is the EDGE network is slo-o-ow.
It’s understandable why Apple would go with AT&T’s GSM network as this is the standard network across Europe. Verizon and Sprint use Qualcomm’s CDMA technology. Why they choose EDGE over 3G is another matter. Apple says it decided to go with EDGE because it would take more power to use 3G making the iPhone battery life shorter. However, since WI-FI (if you can find it the web on the iPhone is awesome), takes up a ton of power and this is the iPhone’s high speed option, the problem was probably more due to the fact that AT&T’s 3G coverage has huge gaps. (Too many customers to miss out on.)
Iday is tomorrow and while Apple said that customers can purchase two iPhones per person from their stores, many AT&T stores will only be letting go of one per person, thus extending the chances for those in the back of the lines but totally ruining your chances for your friend who has the day off to buy one for you!
There is good news though, you can find out just how many phones your local store has (thus informing you of whether you have a long road trip to a more likely store instead of standing in line all day only to be totally flummoxed!) by checking for iPhone availability starting at 9:00 p.m. tonight on a special Apple web page set up on their site.
Apple has also announced that they will be staying open till midnight on iDay, June 29th. Apple will also be starting new summer “iPhone” hours opening early at 9 a.m. starting this Saturday.
It would seem At&T is not quite as good at keeping mum as Apple is about new and upcoming releases. Whether “accidentally on purpose” or just by accident AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has let the cat out of the bag and put an end to the speculation that a 3G iPhone will be available this next year. According to him, it definitely will be. Stephenson spilled the news at a dinner, late Wednesday at the Churchill Club, in Santa Clara. He did not go as far as to say when, stating simply that it will be sometime this next year.
AT&T just made that a little easier by creating the Data Global Plan. The plan will give users 50MB of data a month in 29 different countries. The plan costs an additional $60 a month and enables international voice and data roaming. International long distance dialing is also allowed at the United States standard rates.
AT&T has decided to reign in on their obsessively detailed iPhone bills after the world mocked the company over bills that were pages and pages and pages and more pages long. So much so that they were mailed like a package, some totaling over 300 pages, as was the case with 
AT&T opened up its new music store today when it joined with eMusic to make eMusic Mobile. The store features a music catalog of 2.7 million songs which users can download directly to compatible cell phones. Currently there are four cell phones compatible with the service: the Samsung a717 and a727; new versions of the Samsung SYNC; and the Nokia N75.
COO Denny Stigle said, “We are now seeing two Verizon Wireless customers in for every one we lose.”
The iPhone has been hailed as innovative, the best web browser ever, beautiful! - yet the service for most, is less than spectacular.
