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AT&T Gears Up for the iPhone
ElvaWSJ writes "In preparation for its exclusive launch of the cellphone industry's most anticipated device, AT&T is pulling out all the stops. It is adding about 2,000 temporary employees to cope with the influx of shoppers in the first few months. And it is planning for enhanced security to control the potentially large crowds and avoid theft of the phones, which will go for a steep $499 or $599, depending on memory capacity. Some sales agents expect to see people camping outside the night before. 'Apple, which plans to start selling the phone in all of its 162 retail stores on June 29, did not disclose any plans around training or staffing for the launch. Apple will also start selling the phone online on the launch date, but AT&T will first launch only in its stores ... AT&T, which is requiring iPhone shoppers to sign up for a 2-year contract, has not yet revealed the service fees it will charge iPhone customers.'"
and why have I never heard of it?
Sweet informative mod.
I'm a fan boy, I'll drink the Kool-Aid and ask for seconds but WE KNOW this... Let me know when we are going to get the pricing info.
tell me when we get the contract terms, and let me know if I can get it pre-paid.
please give me some real info, Mr. Ramero.
It must be something from Google since the little i is the same as in their customizable homepage, iGoogle.
The Farewell Tour II
...as with every phone before it, if it's on AT&T's network, it's GSM. That means no, you can't use it on verizon, yes, you can use it on T-Mobile.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2 007-06-20-at&t-iphone-push_N.htm
... without giving money to AT&T. :-(
Not on sale at Apple stores?
So, the user interface is so easy, that a just-hired AT&T customer service person can't screw it up. This user interface must be the best of all time!!
What is so special about the Apple phone that it needs "special" service fee? If it's a phone, and if it's using the same GSM spectrum in the same way as any other cellular GSM phone, it should cost the same as plans for their existing phones.
Is data going to cost more? Again, will there be something different in the way this iPhone sends/receives data for such things as mobile internet? If not, why does it need special pricing?
More likely, a stolen phone will be programmed to automatically take a picture of the person holding it, read their fingerprints on the touch screen, silently send out its GPS-derived position, and then use a Sony battery to burst into flames in the thief's hands and pockets!
Seriously, if this thing doesn't have the latest security protection against theft and misuse, it's a waste of money.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
AT&T is the same company that cooperates with the government, installing multiple secret rooms used to filter (and store?) your Internet communications. Unfortunately, this isn't some kind of big-brother schizophrenic paranoia.. it's real.
I'm an Apple fanboy myself, but for this reason I canceled my AT&T service and will not purchase an iPhone until they can be unlocked or subscribed with another provider.
More here and here. If you want to watch a Frontline about the domestic survellience program, check it out here.
Oh, and every Apple Fan bashing web traffic whore posing as a "tech journalist".
Simple put, they want it to fail. They are tired of having every single lame attack on Apple being repulsed by reality of Apple's success. The company that was supposed to be dead 20 years ago continues to make "tech journalists" look like fools and that's a damn good thing. The invented reasons why people don't want an iPhone are now more numerous than the feature set, and most of theses asses have never so much as seen an iPhone in the flesh.
I wanted the iPhone to be a success for Apple's sake, but now I want it to be a runaway smash hit just to continue to annoy the naysayers and expose them as the frauds they are. Maybe, someday, they'll stop letting their irrational biases taint their Apple articles and maybe, just maybe, stick to the facts and be the journalists they are actually paid to be.
Yes, I realise that this is a pipe dream.
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM
Verizon uses CDMA - gross
GSM is one of the three cell protocols in use in America right now. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, Sprint and Verizon use CDMA, and Sprint-Nextel uses iDEN/TDMA. When you're roaming, you're probably using the "other network"'s towers
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
I can understand there being a ton of excitement over this thing, since it's supposed to do to cellphones what the iPod did to MP3 players.
HOWEVER...
The current state of cellphone service in the US is such that 90% of existing cellular users will not be able to buy this phone, because only a small handful of users will be nearing the end of their existing contracts. Furthermore, the high price of this phone is going to dissuade some people that were on the fence already. Furthermore...Cingular isn't exactly a shining beacon of customer service these days, and their presence in some markets is outright laughable.
I just really don't see how they can expect a lines-around-buildings type of launch for this thing except in a few urban areas in high-profile stores.
Am I interested in the iPhone? You better believe it.
Am I prepared to get one? Absolutely not.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
Ever heard of locked phones? Just because the phone uses GSM doesn't mean it'll work on anyone but AT&T. There's unlocking methods available, but that doesn't mean they'll work.
AccountKiller
There just isn't anything else to say about Apple's phone. The only thing surprising is how much money Apple is spending to get the constant press coverage or Slashdot type stories all over the Net.
I got to check one out a week ago and after all the silly hype it was like "heh, yea this looks like what one would imagine a phone designed by Apple would be like". There simply isn't anything compelling about the phone. It sure as hell isn't something that would ever compel me to give up my current phone which I love.
You're obviously USian.
b ile_Communications
GSM is the standard protocol that the world uses.
Except for the US. It uses IS-95.
So, because the iPhone uses GSM, it'll only work with two US carries, and THE REST OF THE WORLD.
GSM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_System_for_Mo
IS-95: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IS-95
As a former Henrico County Citizen, I can tell you first hand that 2000 extra employees will not be enough!
No you're not the only one. But I wouldn't exactly say it's going to flop. I think it will do well, just as most other smart phones and pda's do well. Nothing overwhelming. It may seem like a flop just from the amount of hype that Apple and AT&T are trying to generate. There certainly will not be any long lines or opening day campers. There will be no fights breaking out and there will not be riots in the streets when the supply iPhones runs short. When people are in the market for a new phone, they will likely look into the iPhone. Some will bite, many won't. I can certainly see market share picking up in the next few years though.
"It's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get." -- H. J. Simpson
Lame.
This device will bomb.
I love it when Taco posts anonymously.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
The iPhone is pushing in the direction that the cell phone industry should have moved a long time ago. Limitations now are not largely technological. And yet I somehow doubt that, the day of release, they will suddenly be awestruck at the recognition of their horrible, shameful pricing plans. Sure, data plans are poised to become much more main stream, but carriers will keep making arbitrary distinctions between voice and 'data' just because they can, and it will be a cold day in hell when we start paying a flat rate for unfettered wireless access as we do with the internet. Their customers are sheep. It's that that will most hinder the adoption and spread of anything iPhone-like... Perhaps when the day comes that Apple bundles a VoIP client the industry will finally feel fear...you know, some kind of competition that forces them to adopt sane policies. I refuse to pay for cell phone service until that happens.
"Strangers have the best candy" -Me
I hope that ATT is going to use this opportunity to improve it's reputation for customer service. However, I suspect that they will simply create innovative new ways to force people into contracts they don't want. I was kind of up on this iPhone thing, I don't really have a problem with ATT, but as we get closer, I don't know if ATT isn't going to return to it's scumbag roots.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Some Cisco thing, I think.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Yes, there will be rabid KoolAid-drinking fanboys that will throw away a phone + plan bought yesterday and buy one of these. However, the fans would most likely have held off buying phones since the January announcement. There will be a lot of people who have plans that have expired or will expire in the next few months. Apple can achieve their sales goals within the normal upgrade stream.
AT+T already has almost 60M subscribers. Apple has set a target of selling 10M iphones in 2008. They coupld probably do that within the AT+T client base without getting anyone to switch.
From a manufacturing stand point, the last thing Apple wants is for everyone to dump their phones and buy iphone on the day of release. Manufacturing huge numbers is very difficult. With the goal of selling 10M phones in a year, almost 1M per month, they'd rather have customers roll in slowly than in one big wave. Plan lock in helps because it means that people will wait until their current plan completes (or nears completion), thus providing a smoothing effect.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I'll bite
Huge Apple Fanboy that I am, I just don't think this one is going to fly- it's too pricey for personal use, and it doesn't have the features to attract the business professional. Other similar devices (like the Motorola Q) run about $200, and can integrate nicely into exchange. I just don't know who is actually going to buy these things, other than people looking for a status symbol (ok, that's going to be everyone at first).
I think the amazing Apple marketing machine is stopping right here, folks.
Yeah, the data plans will cost more than say buying a Treo on Verizon, but this is Apple you morons.
The data will be better. The packets will be shinyer and better designed. The ICMP packets will be way hipper than the ICMP packets that Pocket PCs use. The bits themselves, individually forged and polished by the finest craftsmen in the world. In individual leather pouches.
So yeah, it costs more. But it's worth more, because the web pages that you view with Apple are BETTER than the shitty ones that all the losers with PCs look at.
It costs a little more to be better than everyone else, so just deal with it, K?
How will the iPhone motivate carriers to offer 3G phones in the US sooner, when the iPhone itself doesn't even have a 3G radio? As far as radios/speed is concerned the iPhone is competing with phones from 5 years ago.
I live in the UK, and when I walk into a mobile phone shop, I get shown a selection of phones, all of which work on every tarriff (orange, o2, virgin etc.) and I look, and a nice helper comes up and explains all the features, and after a lonhg explanation I choose a phone I would like. After this, we sit down and I say how much I will use the phone, and the sales assistant will say, well, you could go for pay and go, and that means the phone will cost you £150 (average high end example) and that I can top up any time I want and the amount I top up will give me so many minutes. He will also say you can get this phone on contract, and will present me with several 1 or 2 year contracts for this phone ranging from £15-£50, and of course minutes, and off-peak minutes and data transfer provided will vary. However, what will not happen is when they ask me if I want a contract, they will never charge me for that phone, that's how it works, the phones don't cost them much to produce, and they are gaurenteed your income for 1-2 years so they don't charge for the phone, in absolute extreme cases they will charge £50 for a top end phone on a short contract. Does that really not happen in America? Or does it work the same way for everyone but Apple in America? I mean $600 on a phone where you are probably paying out $75 a month for 2 years anyway?!
Why not the Death Apple?! The chunk out of the apple would go with the dimple in the Death Star... Oh, this is good.
I don't know, but it seems to have become a little bit smaller recently.
Apple uses big-handed model to "shrink" iPhone
That's all they need.
The real money is in version 2.0
Ver 1.0 is just to get a foot in the door. It didn't matter if it was wildly successful but the fact that it is, just means 2.0 will be easier (and more profitable).
You know what I don't understand? How everyone is so excited to pay $499 or $599 for a CELLPHONE, but everybody bitches about paying $499 or $599 for a Playstation 3. One allows to you talk, surf the internet, and play music on a tiny screen; the other allows you to play Playstation games, surf the internet, watch blu-ray discs, upscale DVDs to 1080p, etc. Oh yeah - its easy to understand - hate Sony, love Apple. Am I the only one who can't comprehend spending that much money for a cell phone? I mean, I know everyone wants to eat up whatever Jobs is offering, but come on...its still a cell phone. It's going to have a new version released in a year or two at most.
GSM networks in the rest of the world use 3 frequencies, and in the US a 4th is used. iPhone is a quad band phone, and it will work just fine in the rest of the world.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.