AT&T

Why the iPhone will be open to all GSM carriers this year

Over the past few weeks, rumors have swirled about the possibility of Apple's iPhone being available on more cell phone carriers' services. Of course, this has already been announced overseas in a number of countries, including Italy, Australia and India, but so far, there has been no indication that it'll happen in the US. But if you look at the writing on the wall, it becomes abundantly clear that it will.

Although I believe it will happen this year, there's no doubt that there are a number of hurdles in Apple's path if it truly wants to open the iPhone up to different carriers. First off, the company will lose its revenue sharing deal with AT&T and ostensibly back out of a five-year exclusivity agreement with the carrier. And while these two issues are important to consider, I have no reason to believe Apple can't come out on top by backing out of both agreements.

When the deal was signed with AT&T, one important element that's missing now was true back then -- Apple was an unproven entrant into the cell phone market and the company was trying to establish a foothold. Because of that, it entered into an exclusive agreement with AT&T and used that deal to build up considerable demand. But now, the iPhone is a known quantity and Apple carries all the leverage. Beyond that, it's being faced with a major contender in Google Android-based phones that will be available on almost every carrier, and thus, must act before it's too late.

Suffice it to say that Apple will back out of this deal and make the iPhone available on all carriers. Here's why:… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 719: Yotta yotta yotta

There's a lot of storage headed your way in the coming years. A lotta, in fact. We'd even go so far as to say it's a yotta. Byte. In other news, no one in the tech industry will be taking a vacation between June 15 and July 12, due to the second coming of the iPhone, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu is getting behind a more democratic music industry. Try that one on for size, RIAA. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 719

Comcast mulling metered access, 250GB monthly bandwidth caps http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080507-comcast-mulling-metered-access-250gb-monthly-bandwidth-caps.html… Read more

AT&T: No vacation around the iPhone anniversary

It would be helpful if from now on, AT&T's HR department would just send their vacation policy e-mails directly to tech writers, since they're going to get out anyway and they pretty much apply to us as well.

The Boy Genius Report snagged an internal e-mail that made its way around AT&T earlier today instituting a vacation freeze for all sales employees between June 15 and July 15, in order to support "an exciting new promotion/product launch." Hmm, whatever could that be?

A similar e-mail was sent to AT&T … Read more

Rumor: Garmin Nuvifone headed to AT&T for $499

It's no secret that the Garmin Nuvifone is one of the most anticipated smartphones of this year--partly because of its killer feature set (GPS with full navigation, 3.5-inch touch screen, quad-band world roaming, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera, and so on) and partly because everyone wants to see if Garmin can actually pull this off. However, what has remained a secret is the carrier and pricing, or at least, until now?

According to a story from Engadget Mobile, one of its readers received a customer survey from Garmin asking, "Now, how likely would you be to buy the … Read more

AT&T Mobile TV to launch on Sunday

AT&T Mobile TV will debut on Sunday, along with the LG Vu and the Samsung Access phones.

As reported a month or so ago, AT&T Mobile TV is the carrier's new live mobile TV service that will broadcast television shows to compatible phones via Qualcomm's MediaFlo network. At launch, the service will offer eight channels of programming--CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2G0, NBC News 2GO, and Nickelodeon--as well as two AT&T-exclusive channels called PIX and CNN Mobile Live. PIX will have shows from Sony Pictures Television … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 714: Dr. M for mayor

Somehow, Dr. M has proven himself so diabolically clever that we kind of love him. In other news, will the next iPhone be unlocked, sell for $199 with AT&T contract, cure malaria, wash your dishes, and defeat Kasparov? It will if you believe the rumors. We like to believe them. It's a happy fantasy world. Also, Wikipedia is broken. Where have you heard that before? Oh, yeah. Here. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 714

AT&T to sell iPhone at a discount? http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/04/29/ att-to-cut-the-price-of-apples-new-iphone/ http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9931806-37.html … Read more

A $200 3G iPhone? Yeah right.

Why is everyone making such a big deal about this $200 iPhone report from Fortune? Evidently, the same folks who are praising AT&T and Apple didn't read the report and are naive enough to believe that this is ever going to happen. There's no chance that the next iteration of the iPhone, presumably featuring 3G, will sport such a low price tag.

According to Fortune, "When the 3G iPhone is introduced this summer, AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone sales partner with Apple, will cut the price by as much as $200, according to a person familiar with the strategy."

That price cut will put the two versions of the iPhone -- an 8GB model and a 16GB model -- at $199 and $299, respectively.

Fortune said that a person close to the dealings believes the subsidy will only apply to AT&T stores and if anyone purchases the 3G iPhone in an Apple store, they will be forced to pay full price. According to the report, all cash lost on the subsidy would be recouped on the service charges after a few months.

Fortune and its hotshot source is kidding, right?… Read more

Report: AT&T to sell 3G iPhone at $200 discount

AT&T plans to sell the 3G iPhone for $199 when it arrives in AT&T's stores in June, according to a report, in a sign that Apple may have given up on locked iPhones.

Fortune is reporting that you'll be able to buy a $199 iPhone in AT&T's stores, and only in AT&T's stores, when the new model arrives around the one-year anniversary of the iPhone launch. The report says Apple will sell 8GB and 16GB versions of the new iPhone for $399 and $499 in its own retail … Read more

Touchscreen Blackberry on the way?

I'm still the only Mac guy I know who doesn't have an iPhone, primarily because AT&T service doesn't work in my house in San Francisco (it must be the fog.)

I still like my Blackberry 8870 (on VZW) despite the fact that it feels like I am operating in 1998 and all my friends are in 2008. It would be nice if RIM would modernize these things, especially for we addicts who prefer an outside keyboard. The new 9000 series seems to go a ways toward that until the carriers jump in and screw it … Read more