Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Telecompetitor’s Bernie Arnason has a very good take on how Apple and AT&T "own" the term 3G - at least in terms of the noise level they have created for this term.
Read Bernie’s insightful post here.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
This video of the new iPhone 3G being delivered is actually my local Experience store at the Quarry Market in San Antonio.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
With so much noise and misinformation about the upcoming release of the 3G iphone, here is what should be the most accurate information I have been able to
collect:
AT&T is making it easy for customers to prepare for their iPhone 3G purchase by posting "Get iReady" tips and frequently asked questions at www.att.com/iphone. The site also will include a link for customers to check their upgrade eligibility and other wireless account information.
iPhone 3G will be available for $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. These prices require two-year contracts and are available to the following customers:
Existing AT&T customers who are not currently eligible for an upgrade discount can purchase iPhone 3G for $399 for the 8GB model or $499 for the 16GB model. Both options require a new two-year service agreement. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB).
Current customers may also choose to wait until they become eligible for an upgrade discount. Eligibility is generally determined by amount of time remaining on a current contract and payment history.
Current AT&T customers who are upgrading to iPhone 3G will pay an $18 upgrade fee and new AT&T customers will pay the standard $36 activation fee.
AT&T brings iPhone 3G customers the best coverage on the globe and the largest mobile-to-mobile calling community with unlimited calling to AT&T’s 71.4 million wireless customers. iPhone 3G customers can choose from four individual AT&T Nation plans, which bundle voice and unlimited data (e-mail and Web browsing).
iPhone for Business
Business customers interested in iPhone 3G should contact an AT&T business sales representative or review their account information online to determine their eligibility for upgrade pricing. Corporate e-mail and other business applications require the Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone, which is $45 a month and bundled with an eligible voice plan. Small business customers may qualify for AT&T BusinessTalk, the industry’s only shared plan specifically for small businesses. Additional details on iPhone business offerings are available at www.att.com/iphoneforbusiness.
iPhone 2.0 Software
All iPhone customers will benefit from the iPhone 2.0 software, which will be pre-loaded on all iPhone 3Gs and available as a free download for current iPhone customers.
The new software will include numerous enhancements, such as business-class e-mail access via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync; the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), which allows a business to easily create applications customized to its needs; and the App Store, which offers a wide-range of applications — from games to business, education to entertainment and productivity to social networking.
For example, AT&T has developed YELLOWPAGES.COM Mobile for iPhone, which takes local mobile search to a new level by allowing users to discover businesses and local events based on their popularity among other iPhone users, get directions and access business reviews.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Read all about it- and more over at Gizmodo.
Great job GizGuys!
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Looking to see where you can get 3G from AT&T today?
You can click on your state and then your city and the coverage map comes up.
Look here.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
It’ wasn’t me.
But Gizmodo just posted an internal AT&T Retail Memo outlining pricing and availability for the new 3G iPhone.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
I felt the best use of my time and this blog was to search for, and post what I thought were the best post-iPhone 3G news stories.
Here goes:
Saul Hansell’s BITS Blog summarizes interview with AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega. The new plan goes up $10 and why current iPhone users may not get the $199 price point.
Om Maliks’s GIGAOm Blog begs the right question: is 3G Ready for the iPhone Stress Test? Om also interviews Ralph de la Vega here right after the official launch.
Michael Miller’s Forward Thinking Blog gives the best overview of not only the 3G iPhone, but information and insight on Mobile Me
Eric Zemin’s Over The Air - InformationWeek Blog has a skeptic’s view of why not to buy the 3G iPhone
And just for fun, the Intomobile Blog has FCC documents which it can now release showing Apple’s application for the device.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
No, I am not doing 3G iPhone coverage today. There’s lot of other sites like Gizmodo or Engadget where you can get what you need there.
Since this is an AT&T focused blog, and and the big news today was about the 3G iPhone, I thought it was be best and most productive to talk about the importance of 3G, what it means, and where it’s going.
Blogger, Robert Scoble, did an on the street interview with John Donovan, CTO of AT&T. John is in charge of the AT&T research labs, network deployment- all the technology that gets out there. In the new position, Donovan is responsible for managing the company’s global technology direction and innovation road map, including product development, network and engineering operations. The AT&T Labs and the security and intellectual property organizations is also in his set of responsibilities.
John focused on AT&T’s plans for 3G. In the video, he talk about the eventual deployment of 350 cities, the concept of filling in the footprint from within, and the scalability of 3G.
John’s broader message was pretty simple: the more bandwidth you deploy, the more people will use it and use it in more places, hence the need for increased mobility applications.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
As I anxiously await the pending announcement of the 3G iPhone, I am starting to examine just how fast is fast when it comes to 3G.
The phone company as we no longer know it, has announced that a more than 20 percent increase to the top end of the company’s typical 3G network downlink speed range and a 50 percent increase to the top end of the typical uplink speed range for wireless laptop card customers¹. The upgrades are results of recent network enhancements, including the deployment of High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technology across all existing 3G markets before the end of June.
In both transitioning and ramping up for the new iPhone and for other customers with 3G phones, AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network is now available in more than 275 major U.S. metropolitan areas. Later this month, AT&T will become the first U.S. carrier to have fully deployed High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology across its entire 3G network. By year-end, the company plans to offer 3G service in nearly 350 major metropolitan U.S. areas. Even by Texas standards, that’s a pretty big deal.
The new typical wireless broadband speeds for LaptopConnect customers¹:
Downlink — Between 700 Kbps (kilobits per second) and 1.7 Mbps (megabits per second), formerly 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps
Uplink — Between 500 Kbps and 1.2 Mbps, formerly 500 to 800 Kbps
Customers who use AT&T’s LaptopConnect wireless cards can use these new speeds to access large files and multimedia applications faster than ever before¹. The new typical speed ranges reflect the results of recent measurements performed during thousands of tests in multiple markets.
The number of AT&T LaptopConnect subscribers increased more than 83 percent between the first quarters of 2007 and 2008, showing strong demand for on-the-go data use.
Between 2005 and the end 2008, AT&T will have invested more than $20 billion in network improvements and upgrades — an average of $5 billion a year. The company’s HSPA network is in the best position among American carriers to grow in line with customer demand, evolving to HSPA+ and providing next-generation speeds through a software upgrade without costly investments across the breadth of the network. As HSPA technology evolves between 2009 and 2010 to HSPA+, peak speeds could reach 20 Mbps. AT&T plans to adopt LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology to reach even higher speeds in the longer term.
¹ LaptopConnect customers must be using one of AT&T’s four current devices that support HSUPA technology or a laptop with embedded HSUPA technology. The four devices are: AT&T USBConnect 881, Sierra Wireless AirCard 881, Option GT Ultra and Option GT Ultra Express
