You’ll have to pardon the AT&T executives—they’re just too damn excited about this new version of the iPhone they’ve heard so much about. CFO spoke at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit yesterday, and had this to say about the presumably forthcoming new iPhone model:
Lindner said AT&T has yet to determine pricing for a hotly anticipated new version of Apple Inc’s media-playing iPhone. “There’s not been a product announcement. There hasn’t been any pricing decision made. That’s yet to come,” he said. […] Lindner said he has seen a picture of the next iPhone, but not the actual device.
*Boggle*: what part of “secret product launches” does this guy not get? Over at the mothership, the good Philip Michaels recently opined on the joys of working with AT&T, so let’s just add this one to the wireless provider’s tab. You know, it occurs to me that maybe the reason Apple hasn’t sued the pin-striped trousers off of clone-maker Psystar is because they’re currently dedicating all their lawyers to figuring out how to get the hell out of this exclusive AT&T contract.
Lindner did at least have some interesting non-taboo things to say about the iPhone.
Lindner said AT&T has more than 2.5 million iPhone customers, with the average subscriber spending nearly $100 a month on services after shelling out as much as $500 for the phone itself.
Huh. I’m not sure if that subscriber figure is current, but it is surprisingly close to AT&T’s year-end figures for 2007, at which point they said they had 2 million iPhone subscribers (which, as you may recall, tipped off the mystery of the missing iPhones).
Meanwhile, Apple sold about 1.7 million iPhones in the second quarter—if only 500,000 of those were activated on AT&T, then the unlocking rates are pretty high. AT&T didn’t break out iPhone subscribers in its recent quarterly results.
On the other hand, maybe Lindner was just using the most recently available public figures and I’m just rumormongering. Hey, it’s Friday before a long weekend: what’re you going to do?
And now for another in the long line of tacit confirmations about the imminent arrival of the 3G iPhone. AT&T announced earlier this week that they will “complete” the rollout of their 3G network by the end of June.
The “completion” that AT&Tis bragging about, however, appears to specifically refer to network capabilities, not geographical coverage. At present, the 3G service is available in 275 markets in the US, with that number projected to hit 350 by the end of the year.
AT&T is in the process of rolling out HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) to the last few markets that already have HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) service. HSUPA boosts upload speeds to between 500 and 800 Kbps, compared to the HSDPA speeds of 1.4 Mbps.
Still, this step does bode well for a 3G iPhone coming out of the gate in June. One of the problems Steve Jobs cited at the introduction of the original iPhone was the lack of solid 3G coverage in the US; with that problem now largely remedied, another piece of the puzzle is in place.
[via Macworld]
On the many, many, many lists we’ve compiled of missing iPhone features, the lack of Instant Messaging has consistently been towards the top. Among the theories (conspiracy or otherwise) behind the lack of IM on the iPhone is the suggestion that IM would cut too much into AT&T’s revenue from text messaging: while the provider includes 200 text messages in all the iPhone plans, extra messages sent or received cost a subscriber anywhere between five and twenty cents.
Of course, that can add up, as parents of frequent text-messaging kids have quickly learned, especially for messages that are limited to 160 characters—marginally longer than your average Twitter thought. In fact, as Dr Nigel Bannister of the University of Leicester recently concluded, sending SMS messages in his home country of the UK costs roughly four times as much as data sent back from the Hubble telescope.
So it doesn’t seem very surprising that here in the US, a class action lawsuit has been leveled at seven major mobile providers—Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Alltel, US Cellular, Cellular South, and Virgin Mobile—about the price of text messages. While the specific focus of this suit appears to be on unsolicited text messages that subscribers receive (and are charged for), there may be implications beyond that.
Personally, we think the Mississippi federal judge who ends up with this on their docket should take a look at Dr. Bannister’s findings. Or at least let us send text messages to outer space.
The iPhone Central Depart of Statistical Analysis and Strategic Systems (yes, we do have SASS) brings you some more fascinating numbers, courtesy of Rubicon Consulting (the same firm that told us last month that iPhone users are young, rich, and technologically savvy). It seems that getting in the iPhone game has, rather unsurprisingly, been pretty sweet for AT&T.
Out of the 460 iPhone users that Rubicon surveyed, nearly half (47%) switched from other carriers just to use the iPhone. And in average, going to the iPhone meant a $19 price hike over their current bills.
As a switcher myself (and, let me tell you, haven’t really found myself missing my old friend Verizon), that sounds right on to me. In particular, that $19 figure is conveniently about the cost of the iPhone’s additional $20/month unlimited data package. Makes sense to me and that makes dollars and cents for AT&T.
If, in light of the current iPhone shortage, you were planning on raiding AT&T stores to stock up on iPhones and resell them at high prices, you might be a little disappointed to find that the mobile operator’s retail locations are now limiting the number of iPhones that customers can buy.
According to a leaked internal memo, customers at AT&T stores can now buy only one iPhone each—this was confirmed by Macworld via calls to AT&T stores. In addition, checks and cash will no longer be accepted for buying iPhones: you’ll need to use a credit card.
Well, so much for my new business plan.
Son of a—okay, AT&T. You sure you’re done now? Can I talk? Alright. According to AT&T spokesperson Fletcher Cook, the brief appearance of text suggesting that free Wi-Fi access for iPhone users was an included feature of AT&T’s iPhone calling plan was merely a case of “human error.”
That said, it seems that such a feature is in the cards, as Cook told the New York Times’s Saul Hansell.
“Our Wi-Fi network is a great way of differentiating the AT&T network and giving customers another reason to choose us over a competitor,” [Cook] said.
But more than that, he would not say. So rest assured, Starbucks devotees, you’ll be able to logon with your lattes at some point down the road. The next thing you see in this space about AT&T Wi-Fi should be a rock solid availability date, because I am so over this story.
What are you playin’ at, AT&T? Some tipsters pointed out to Engadget that the My Account page on AT&T Wireless’s site now provides you with two options after you select Apple as your phone manufacturer: the run-of-the-mill, ordinary, “iPhone” and the mysterious “iPhone Black.” Cue the suspenseful music. I snapped some screenshots for posterity before the evidence disappears back into the shifting sands of the web.
Rumors have been flying that the next model of iPhone will feature a glossy black exterior—that’s not entirely farfetched, given Apple’s penchant for monochromatic model madness: witness the original iPod (now classic) and MacBooks. But if you happen to select “View by Picture,” you’ll notice the two images are exactly the same (below). AT&T jumping the gun here? Nah, that could never happen!
[via Engadget]
Geez, AT&T, make up your mind already. First you’re giving free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users. Then you take it away again. Now you’re saying that it’s included in the calling plans?
An eagle-eyed reader over at MacRumors.com pointed out that if you go to AT&T’s iPhone page and hit the “Plans” section, you can read in the teeny-tiny print below the table of different plans the following:
“Included Features: Nationwide Long Distance and Roaming, Access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots, Voicemail, Call Forwarding, 3-way Calling and Caller ID. [emphasis added]”
So, if nothing else, that would seem to confirm the idea that the AT&T hotspots that were offering free access merely jumped the gun on a more formal announcement. Perhaps just like the guy in charge of updating AT&T’s website.
Update 4:52PM ET: Surprise, surprise! The page has been updated, and the access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots feature has been removed. And the cycle begins anew.
[via Engadget]
