Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

AT&T’s retail operations have the chance to take its innovation to the retail level, yet all they can see to come up with is Microsoft Surface P.O.P. displays.

Here is a case of where Apple is now developing "field trips" for school kids to the Apple store.


Why isn’t AT&T doing the same thing at their Experience Stores?

Think about bringing in a child to teach them about:

1.   911
2.  What is IPTV
3.  What you can do with a home network
4.  How to be the tech support guru in your home
5.   How to program Mom and Dad’s U-verse preferences
6.   How to get Mom and Dad to shut off the TV and pay attention to the kid.
7.   How to develop good texting behavior.
8.  How to protect yourself online.
9.  When to "friend" or not "friend" a stranger.
10. The history and life of Alexander Graham Bell

If you could send your child to an AT&T store for an "educational experience," what would you want them to learn?

Comments:  alan at weinkrantz dot com

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

This is NOT a slam against the AT&T stores or BestBuy, who is now selling the iPhone.

My local AT&T store in San Antonio has a great crew.  They are nice people, very helpful, and back in the good old days when I had a BlackBerry or when my kids would lose one of their low-end phones, you could run over to WalMart, buy another cheapo-phone and the folks at the AT&T store would gladly give me a new SIM card, program the phone again, and smile at my son or daughter, and then thank us for being an A&T Customer.

The reason you should buy your iPhone at an Apple store is because you can really learn to use the phone in ways never though possible by asking questions that often times I have found the AT&T reps just don’t know the answers to.

Another reason:  maybe you’ll switch to the Mac (unless you have already done so) and totally integrate your iPhone with your Mac in ways that you just can’t do with a Windows PC.

Next?  Buy the $100 per year One to One training program from Apple.  For $100 per year, you can have a private session with an Apple consultant once a week.  That comes to about $2 per session. 

I am learning more about my Mac, my iPhone, and how to be more productive in my personal, business and family life than ever before.

Where did you buy your iPhone?  Or if you are planning to buy an iPhone, where are you planning to buy yours?

email me:  alan at weinkrantz dot com.

Source: www.voip-news.com

With the new Apple iPhone SDK giving developers a chance to craft and create all sorts of applications for the iPhone 3G, it’s no wonder that VoIP applications are popping up left and right.

What does that mean for AT&T? Not a whole lot. The company will get their monthly dues, regardless if the user is hooking into Wi-Fi to make some calls.

According to PC World:

The main reason for AT&T’s equilibrium, Frommer says, is that it’s already locked iPhone users into 2-year service plans with bundles of the domestic calling minutes you’re already planning to use. “The worst that could happen: You bump your calling plan down to a cheaper one,” Frommer writes.

I think he meant “the best that could happen.” Frommer doesn’t seem to think such a change is a big deal, but I’d really be interested in seeing if anything like that actually happens: users opting for minimum plans because 1) they do plan to make VoIP calls and 2)they want the iPhone mainly for mobile Web surfing and related stuff — data.

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

I was in McAllen, Texas over the weekend heading over to South Padre Island.

Stopped by 3 AT&T stores and of course, even in the Rio Grande Valley, there was not an iPhone to be found.

I decided to opt out of the race to get one, and if my local store has one this week, then fine. 

If not, I am really ok with it because I still have updated the latest software version, am testing the MobileMe service (am already a .Mac user) and loving some new applications including:

Guitar Toolkit

TypePad

Remote

Twitterific

Loopt

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

You can purchase and download applications for iPhone and iPod touch from the iTunes Store using iTunes on your Mac or PC or using the App Store included with iPhone 2.0 software on iPhone or iPod touch.

For information about syncing applications in iTunes, review the information here.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Source:  from CNET / NYTimes has a very good story with a business angle on why this matters.

Download the new iTunes version here.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Here’s a company that we haven’t heard a lot about lately: VoIP-PAL.com.

So what’s up with it? VoIP-PAL.com has — in their words — terminated its agreement with Big Apple Consulting USA . . . actually, according to the press release it did nearly six months ago on Jan. 17. Odd that it’s just being announced now, right?

“We have had many inquiries asking us if we have an investor relations firm working with us,” said Richard Kipping, CEO of VoIP-PAL.com, Inc. “So to clarify, we thought we should announce that VoIP-PAL.com, Inc. suspended its agreement with Big Apple Consulting USA on October 17, 2007 for a three-month period pending clarification on certain matters relating to the agreement. After an internal review we decided to terminate the agreement on January 17th 2008.”

Hmmmph. Well, that certainly begs the question, “But why?”

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

AT&T is making introducing new social media tools and platforms

JuiceCaster 6.0 and Buzzwire — that keep you connected to your online world. JuiceCaster 6.0 enables you to use your AT&T wireless device to instantly share and post your mobile videos and photos with your favorite online communities — including exclusive mobile video postings to YouTube and Flickr. With Buzzwire, you can access and customize an extensive streaming media library that spans popular video and audio content, as well as live Internet radio, directly from AT&T phones.

JuiceCaster 6.0

This unique application from Juice Wireless lets you share videos and pictures from your wireless device to the Web’s most popular social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. AT&T customers also have exclusive access to post directly to YouTube and Flickr as well. Family and friends can instantly view, rate and comment on content directly from their own phones or directly from an online social-networking site.

AT&T customers can use JuiceCaster to:

• Post mobile pictures and video to popular social-networking Web sites and blogs, including Blogger, Facebook, LiveJournal, MySpace, Twitter and Xanga

• Set your status to update automatically on Facebook and Twitter, and receive friends’ status updates on their own phones

• Broadcast existing or new mobile videos and photos to global audiences using YouTube and Flickr, without requiring a computer or Internet connection

• Make content public or create custom groups by adding and connecting with friends directly from AOL, JuiceCaster, Gmail, Hotmail, MS Outlook and Yahoo!

Meet new friends within the JuiceCaster community
JuiceCaster 6.0 is available for $2.99 a month on compatible 2G and 3G AT&T handsets. AT&T customers can simply text Juice to 386 to begin connecting and communicating in a rich social- networking environment that includes profiles, pictures, videos, friend lists, comments, ratings and personal status updates. For more information on JuiceCaster, visit www.att.com/mediamall. 

Source: www.voip-news.com

Revolabs has released the xTag, a wireless microphone. It’s available at the Apple store.

The microphone is for use with Apple computers and connects via USB. According to the company, it has exceptional audio performance for podcasting, VoIP, SKYPE, web conferencing, distance education and speech recognition.

“We are pleased that Mac users will now be able to easily purchase the xTag microphone on the Apple store,” said Gregory Shalov, Revolabs vice president of sales. “The xTag wireless microphone is a perfect solution for educational applications, such as distance learning, podcasting, and recording lectures. It also provides excellent audio for all Mac applications.”

The xTag uses a rechargable battery.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

I think the big follow ups to the Sprint/ClearWire/Google/Comcast WiMax venture will come from Apple and Intel.

Here’s why:

1) Apple was the first PC manufacturer to embrace Bluetooth and then WiFi by building it into their computers and making it so easy to connect to.

2) Apple has a WWDC conference coming up. This is a perfect place to make the news come alive so applications that take advantage of the WiMax network can begin being developed.

3) While everyone is thinking Apple will announce a 3G iPhone, which I think will happen, I also may go as far as saying they may talk about the 4G iPhone that works on the new WiMax network and point the developers to go forth in that direction too.

4) I would not be surprised if Apple also announced with Intel as a partner, some type of retrofit to existing Mac Books and MacBook Pro platforms that enables WiMax.

5) In line with that, I would also expect the next Mac Book Air to offer WiMax on board as well as all new Mac Laptops.

6) Last but not least, I would think that the next generation of Apple Airport WiFi Routers and even the Time Capsules also offer a WiMax to WiFi step down transceiver that makes every WiFi network able to access WiMax.

These are all prognostications, based solely on gut instinct and does not come from any information from inside of Apple. I figure that by MacWorld in 2009 many of these SWAGs will either have happened or will be likely to happen.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

This would be interesting if it’s true.

Apple using WiMax.

But what continues to be the untold story is how Apple keeps lining up with other chip makers separate from Intel.