Mobility Watch

When Apple announced it had chosen to go with Cingular (now AT&T) as the preferred carrier for its new iPhone, observers in the peanut gallery (myself included) blogged about whether Verizon Wireless, the Cadillac of cell phone carriers, would ever get a shot at it.

Turns out Verizon Wireless did have a shot at it.  Two years ago.

Verizon Wireless turned it down.

It seems Apple wanted a percentage of the monthly service fees, control over how and where the iPhones would be sold and control of the customer relationship.  Verizon would have none of it.

“We said no.  We have nothing bad to say about the Apple iPhone.  We just couldn’t reach a deal that was mutually beneficial”, according to Verizon Wireless vice president Jim Gerace. 

This raises some interesting questions about the deal Cingular has cut with Apple.  The most intriguing question:  Will one of Cingular’s most powerful distributors, Wal-Mart, get to distribute the iPhone along with the rest of Cingular’s lineup?  And how about Radio Shack?

As of now Cingular stores, Apple stores and their associated websites are the only places we know of that will have the iPhone for sure.

Apple, iPhone,  Cingular Wireless, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Wal-Mart

[via USA Today] 

Where do these rumors get started? 

MacRumors would be the place.  Actually, MacRumors is quoting Jim Cramer’s RealMoney.com, which indicates that the new AT&T (Cingular) is so anxious to use iPhone to gain market share, that it is willing to give away 18 months of free service with the purchase of a new iPhone.

This would certainly help to convince reluctant carrier-switchers to move to AT&T (Cingular).  It’s also led to the suggestion that the $500 entry price point for the iPhone is NOT a subsidized price; that this is the actual full retail price of the phone.  The theory is, if AT&T (Cingular) doesn’t subsidize the price of the phone as it usually does, it can subsidize the price of the service. 

AT&T also wouldn’t want people just to buy the phones at retail, and then go somewhere else (like T-Mobile) for service.  Keeping the monthly service cost low for iPhone buyers helps guarantee they’ll stick with AT&T long enough to appreciate them (they hope!). 

It’s led to another interesting suggestion:  The fact that the $500 entry level Apple iPhone isn’t subsidized, Apple may introduce some other products, like a touchscreen iPod (without a phone).  A subsidy on iPhones would cause the phones to sell for less than a touchscreen iPod without a phone, and that wouldn’t make much sense.

iPhone, subsidy, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile

When Cingular Wireless bought the former AT&T Wireless for $41 billion a few years back and became the biggest cellular company in America, a lot of wireless wonks predicted the buyout would be a failure, and that Verizon Wireless would come back and catch Cingular.

Those wonks may still end up being right, at least about Verizon catching Cingular.  During the third quarter of 2006, for instance, Verizon added 1.9 million customers.  Cingular only added 1.6 million.  But Cingular is no failure these days.  With just-announced profit margins in the 40 percent range and a new Apple iPhone on its way in June, Wall Street loves Cingular and its parent company, which strangely enough is known as AT&T.

As Cingular adopts the AT&T brand, it would appear that the big are just getting bigger.  Verizon and Cingular are at each other’s throats over who’s best, particularly in terms of coverage.  T-Mobile. which has competitive signals in some, but not all, markets, can offer gimmicks like My Faves and tout the relative popularity of T-Mo’s cusomer service.

Carriers like Sprint, whose calling plans and data packages are some of the lowest in the industry, continue to struggle.  Customers find out the hard way that Verizon, with its reputation for best coverage, generally has the highest prices.  Cingular (AT&T) has poured millions into improving coverage and reputation the last few years, while generally undercutting Verizon’s prices.

As a result Cingular is enjoying the best of two worlds - it’s a “discount” carrier  (compared with Verizon, anyway) with coverage that has improved to the point that a lot of customers can’t tell the difference between Verzon and Cingular.  Until they look at their bills at the end of the month.

[via Business Week]

When the Super Bowl goes on TV February 4, say a little ‘thank you’ to what makes it all possible.

Advertising.

Sitting through the ads for Bud Light and Degree deodorant (or leaving the room while they’re on) pays all the bills (except your cable or satellite bill, if that’s how you get your local channels).

How would you feel if Bud Light or Degree deodorant or even prescription medications for ED would pay your wireless bill for you?

For now, the major cell phone carriers (Verizon, Cingular/AT&T, Sprint) will experiment with a few little banner ads on screen along with menus for information services and such.

Smaller carriers like Virgin Mobile and Amp’d will go further.  You promise to watch ads, the carriers will provide you with free content in exchange. 

Xero Mobile will go further, by handing out a million cell phones on college campuses - and giving the students 40 percent off their monthly service charge.. if they’ll sit and watch four commercials a day.

A company in Britain called Blyk will go even further - with totally free plans on phones paid for by ads.

What excites ad executives most about all this is that wireless phone advertising can reach a rich audience of 18-30 year olds that other advertising media (including radio & TV) don’t.

Craig Mathias of the Farpoint Group suggests eventually it may be much more than broadcast-style ads on your handset’s small screen.  How about replacing ringback tones with sponsor messages?  You’re waiting for your mom to answer the phone, and instead of the ring tone in your ear, a voice asks you to ask your doctor if Cialis is right for you.

When NetZero first started, it made a name for itself providing free Internet service in exchange for giving up a chunk of your screen for a banner ad.  What would you be willing to give up, if you could have wireless phone service cheap, or even free?

cell phone advertising, AT&T, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile, Amp’d

[via NY Times News Service, Computerworld]

Owners of the new, relatively-slinky and streamlined Palm Treo 680 (marketed in the U.S. by Cingular/AT&T) have had a problem.  A software bug caused the phone’s camera circuitry to remain on, even after you finished using the camera.  And that caused a big-time battery drain.

Palm is supplying owners with a downloadable fix.  This camera update is really just a patch, not an update to the camera’s firmware.  What that means is, if you have to do a hard reset (reboot) of the phone, you’ll need to reinstall the camera update.

Palm’s responsive attitude toward 680 owners is leading to some gripes, from owners of the Palm Treo 700p.  The complaints include screen freezes, difficulties using Bluetooth devices, digital skips and stuttering.  These 700p owners ask:  We’ve been waiting months for Palm to address our complaints, how come the Model 680 owners get immediate attention?

This doesn’t even reach the bigger question looming out there for Palm and several gazillion users of wireless devices running on the Palm OS:  When, if ever, will we have an update to Palm OS 5.4.9 (known as Garnet)?  It’s been in limbo for three years now, and there’s no new version in sight.  Palm-watchers wonder whether the OS, devices running on it and all the third-party software that’s been developed for it will be allowed to fade away.

That fear is magnified as Palm has introduced devices running on Windows Mobile instead of Palm’s own OS.  The Treo 700w, 700wx and now Treo 750 seem to be taking the “high end” positions in Palm’s lineup, with the Palm OS 680 in an “entry level” position.

As Apple gets ready to jump into the wireless handset business in a big way, we’re guessing Palm is doing some serious soul-searching about the future of its Treo handhelds.  A lot of sharpening will be needed to get Palm’s device line back on the cutting edge, where it had been for so long.

Palm, Treo 680, AT&T, Cingular Wireless, Apple, Palm OS 5.4.9

Or Maine.  Huge parts of New Mexico.

Since Cingular Wireless (soon to be AT&T) has an exclusive on Apple’s new iPhone in the U.S., you won’t be able to purchase one unless you live in a Cingular coverage area.  And the coverage map doesn’t always reflect this reality.  Much of the coverage area on the map reflects roaming agreements Cingular has with other carriers.

That means your iPhone will work when you visit those areas.  But Cingular will not allow you to sign up for their service (or buy an iPhone) if your residence address is in an area that has only roaming coverage from another carrier.

And in areas without higher-speed EDGE data service you might lose patience with iPhone’s web browser.

For those of us who couldn’t care less about the new iPhone - we think Vermont is nice this time of year.

Cingular Wireless, AT&T, Apple, iPhone, EDGE, roaming

[via Denver Post]

As Cingular Wireless morphs into AT&T, we’re hearing the first rumbles about “combined” wireline and wireless service plans, for customers who get both from AT&T.

They’re calling it - AT&T Unity.  (Thanks, Boy Genius, for the update.)

Let’s all sing Cum Bay Yah and cherish this moment of togetherness, from AT&T Unity.  Free mobile to mobile calling is there, and free mobile to wireline calling is there.  But read the calling plan closely, because something has disappeared. 

Rollover minutes.  Cingular’s legendary rollover minutes.

The new AT&T Unity plans eliminate rollover minutes for customers who opt to go the route of one service plan/one bill under AT&T Unity.

Is this a hint of things to come?  Will rollover minutes eventually disappear from all the wireless calling plans when AT&T gets its mitts on Cingular and redoes everything? 

If there’s a calling plan on Cingular with rollover minutes that you like, that you haven’t ordered yet, you might want to lock it in now, and hang on to it.  Real tight.

Cingular Wireless, AT&T, AT&T Unity, rollover minutes, Boy Genius

BlackBerry named its first multimedia phone the Pearl, not because of the phone’s color (black), but because of its pearl-like trackball navigator, which was a radical change for BlackBerry users who know and love the scroll-wheel.

But someone at BlackBerry figured out that pearls are usually white.  So we have BlackBerry’s new Pearl model, that’s, well, pearl-colored.  It’s not a stark white, but a soft glossy white. 

And absolutely nothing else has changed, except there’s a MyFaves logo on the back, that the original Pearl model didn’t have.  (T-Mobile hadn’t officially introduced MyFaves when the Pearl came out, although the phone has had MyFaves capability from day one.)

And it’s selling on T-Mobile’s website for the exact same price as the black version - about $150 with a 2-year deal and mail-in rebate.  For now, it’s a T-Mobile exclusive.  (AT&T/Cingular has Pearls, but only black ones.)

Shall I remind you that, at this price, you could buy 4 BlackBerry Pearls for the price of one 8GB iPhone?  Naaaah.

BlackBerry, White Pearl, T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, iPhone

Hardly mentioned in all the whoop-de-doo this week over the iPhone is how Apple’s move into the wireless handset market affects Microsoft.

Windows Mobile, the operating system behind many of the hottest new-generation smartphones (Cingular’s Samsung Blackjack, T-Mobile’s Dash, Verizon/Sprint’s Motorola Q and Treo 700wx) is, according to Phone News editor Chris Price, a victim of groupthink.  Price says Microsoft allows the phone carriers to dictate what happens, instead of Microsoft taking the lead.

iPhone, Price suggests, is an opportunity for Microsoft to do what Apple is doing with iPhone - take control of the Windows Mobile operating system.  And he makes another radical, or radically brilliant, suggestion:  Lift the source code for Zune and transplant it into Windows Mobile.

In one fell swoop, it would take out a lot of the “wow factor” (Price’s term) from the iPhone.  At the same time, it would enormously broaden the Zune brand’s reach in the marketplace.

The iPhone we see right now is high on user interface (the fabulous screen, the multitouch capability) and not so high on smartphone-type capabilities, particularly the ability to sync with the Microsoft Outlook and Office world that business lives in.  Microsoft’s world.

Microsoft has the power not only to enhance the Windows Mobile devices already out there, but to help create new devices with a user interface that rivals or exceeds the iPhone.  Something tells me Microsoft is already working on it. 

After all, Microsoft is still waaaay bigger than Apple.

Apple, iPhone, Microsoft, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Dash, Samsung, Blackjack, Treo 700wx, Zune

 [via Phone News] 

Since Apple chose Cingular (AT&T) as its carrier to roll out the new iPhone, does that mean there will never be a CDMA version of the device, and that Verizon and Sprint will never be able to sell it?

Apple’s decision to produce iPhone as a GSM cellular device has a lot to do with GSM’s predominant position as the cellular transmission system of choice worldwide.  About 70% of the world’s cell phones are GSM.  Certainly Steve Jobs envisioned marketing the iPhone on a worldwide basis.  And although Cingular (AT&T), a GSM carrier, has won first crack at marketing the iPhone here, there’s a strong possibility that iPhones could eventually be sold unlocked, to be used on any GSM system carrier, or that T-Mobile could wind up selling them as well.

But will Apple eventually want to go after Verizon and “the network”?  There are several good reasons for him not to.  For one, the CDMA system is awfully carrier-specific.  Steve Jobs likes the idea of controlling his product’s destiny.  He no doubt appreciates the fact that, if Cingular (AT&T) decided to stop marketing iPhones, he could cut a deal with T-Mobile in a heartbeat.  The GSM system allows for handsets to go from one carrier to another with little hassle.

On the other hand one carrier’s CDMA handsets are pretty much “locked in” to that carrier.  And the CDMA carriers maintain a lot of control over features.  Verizon Wireless is well known for disabling features like certain Bluetooth capabilities on some of its handsets.  Handset manufacturers have very little say in the matter.  Steve Jobs wouldn’t like that. 

Then there’s the matter of Qualcomm’s royalties for the CDMA system, which Apple would have to pay in order to make CDMA handsets.  Look how Steve Jobs rebelled against the idea of settling with Cisco over the iPhone trademark.  I’m sure Jobs doesn’t want share anything he doesn’t have to, when it comes to iPhone, including royalties.

While Verizon Wireless appears to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the iPhone, potential partners are reaping a windfall even before the handsets are built.  Foxconn International Holdings in China, which makes handsets for Nokia and Motorola, saw its stock jump 4 percent in a single day Friday when it was rumored to be in line to manufacture some or all of the new iPhones. 

Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, GSM, CDMA, Qualcomm

[via International Herald Tribune] 

Earlier this month we alerted you to the upcoming death of the Cingular Wireless brand, following the buyout by AT&T.  It’s all about synergy, fewer logos to worry about, one set of stationery for the executives.

Next week, we’re told, it’s actually going to start happening.  New advertising and marketing will roll out the new identity for AT&T’s wireless service.  Aside from rumblings we’ve heard that the orange color will be kept, we’re not quite sure exactly what the branding will be.  Red Herring suggests it won’t be AT&T Wireless, or AT&T Mobile.  It’ll just be AT&T.  Whatever it is, it’ll be smeared all over 2,000 or so Cingular Wireless shops and fruit stands nationwide within months.

(Avoiding the AT&T Wireless moniker allows AT&T to distance itself a bit from the discomfort felt by former AT&T Wireless customers, some of whom are suing Cingular claiming they were mistreated following ATTW’s buyout by Cingular.  At the time of the buyout, AT&T Wireless no longer had anything to do with AT&T.)

What AT&T missed out on this week was the chance to grab the buzz from Steve Jobs’ iPhone announcement.  If you were watching closely, the iPhone projected on stage during the MacWorld conference had a teeny-tiny Cingular orange logo on it. 

That logo coulda, woulda, shoulda been an AT&T logo.  If AT&T had had its act together just a little sooner.

Not that it makes much difference - we will be going to AT&T to get our iPhones. 

Or maybe you will be, and I won’t. 

AT&T, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs

We wrote about Sprint discontinuing its Fair & Flexible calling plans for new customers around the first of the year.  The move became official Thursday with the announcement of Sprint’s new Power Pack pricing plans.  Other than the 7PM night & weekend rate start time, there’s no gimmick for Sprint to woo new customers - nothing like Cingular’s rollover minutes or T-Mobile’s My Faves.

Sprint also announced brutal news this week for its workforce.  That workforce will be shrinking by 5,000 this year.  It’s part of the hangover from Sprint’s merger with Nextel, which has been drawn out and painful.  The biggest challenge has been hanging onto Nextel customers.  They’ve been leaving for other carriers because Nextel hasn’t been able to improve service and coverage as quickly as those customers would like. 

Nextel has been fighting to keep those customers by introducing “hybrid” phones that allow Nextel customers to access Sprint’s voice network when Nextel’s own network is unavailable.  Sprint Nextel will also invest $8.5 billion in 2007 to add more cell sites and build out its WiMax wireless broadband network.  Chicago and Washington will be the first cities to get that new technology. 

But Wall Street doesn’t like Sprint Nextel’s overall outlook.  The problem for any wireless carrier is, once you lose a customer to another carrier, it takes two years for that customer’s contract to expire before you can hope to woo that customer back.  It’ll take Sprint $1.1 billion just to cover marketing and handset subsidies this year, to try to do it.  The fact that Sprint doesn’t usually get first crack at the flashy phones like BlackBerry’s Pearl or Apple’s iPhone doesn’t help.

Sprint Nextel and its employees are going through some difficult times.  We’d hate to see them cash it in and be merged with some other wireless company.  Even those of us who aren’t Sprint customers benefit from increased competition.  If 4 major carriers in the U.S. (Cingular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile) were to become 3 carriers, the loss of competition would almost certainly lead to higher rates for us all.

Sprint, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Fair & Flexible, Power Packs, WiMax, Apple iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl 

[via CBR]

O.K., I promise I’ll try to sound just as excited about the MOTOKRZR K1 rollout on Cingular as I was about the iPhone.  Although even the Cingular Wireless people haven’t bothered to put out a news release on this.  (I guess they’re worn out from all the press hubbub that Steve Jobs’ little announcement caused for them.)

But if you head for Cingular’s website it’s there, all right.  It’s the official replacement for the V3 and it’s already appeared in a CDMA version for Verizon Wireless and Sprint.

When you get past the flashy, glossy front and dig into the phone you’ll find: 

The GSM version does NOT include 3G capability, but Motorola promises that this puppy is about as video-friendly as a non-3G phone can be.  It’s really all about multimedia capabilities.  And its slinky appearance, of course.  It may not be slinky enough to satisfy Steve Jobs, but then, what is?

Expect to spend $200 on this one after the usual incentives and 2-year commitment to Cingular.

Motorola, KRZR K1, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Verizon Wireless, Sprint

[via Motorola]

The good news is, Cingular has not announced plans to mark up the price of iPhones to above their retail price.  The way some car dealers do with hot new models.

The bad news is, eBay sellers will probably do exactly that once the iPhone gets out there.  (So far, the only eBay auctions related to iPhone are connected to email addresses and domain names.)  Any guesses on how high the price of a $600 iPhone might go, for the highest bidder? 

So what are people smitten with the Apple iPhone supposed to do while they’re waiting for the actual phones to be released?

Cingular has thoughtfully put an email notification blank on its website.  Let Cingular know who you are and you’ll be among the first to be able to part with $500 or $600 for an iPhone.

You don’t want to pay for one?  Guess what?  Those insidious “reward” sites that let you “earn” a free plasma TV or a free laptop, are now offering you the chance to win a free iPhone!  Isn’t that exciting?

Will the world go wild for iPhone?  I’m tempted to jump in with the skeptics like Mitch Wagner, who say there’s a good chance this phone could sink like a lead balloon.  He points to one aspect of the phone that has limited the success of other “smartphones” in the past - the iPhone’s use of a touchscreen for all input.  No buttons?  No real QWERTY keyboard?  No dial pad?  Users of phones who often “feel” their way to dial a number will be lost. 

A high percentage of phones at this price point are bought by businesses.  And the bean counters will be scratching their heads over the value of iPhones versus far-cheaper BlackBerrys or Palm Treos.  Wall Street analysts are thinking it over and beginning to realize that there’s less to iPhone than meets the i. 

(And the price of stock in the parent company of BlackBerry, which dropped 8 percent yesterday, was rebounding somewhat today.)

Apple, iPhone, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, BlackBerry, Palm Treo

It’s incredible.  All Steve Jobs has to do is get up on stage, dangle a phone in his hand with Apple’s name on it, and by the end of the day stock in the parent company of BlackBerry drops almost 8 percent.

The iPhone may be one very cool product, but it can’t and certainly won’t replace BlackBerry.  Analysts like Michael Gartenberg at Jupiter Research are grousing about iPhone’s shortcomings, which include no 3G (third generation high speed data) capability, no third-party software capability (no Slingplayer!), and no support for Microsoft Office attachments.  And why didn’t Apple include wireless download capability from iTunes?

Then there’s Larry Dignan of ZDNet, who says his own Motorola Q handset feels like an Edsel next to iPhone.  Dignan predicts doom not only for Motorola, but for LG and Samsung to boot.  And as for Sprint, Dignan says Cingular’s marriage to Apple is the next to last nail in Sprint’s coffin.  (Yes, I’ve read the reports about Sprint’s layoffs and gloomy outlook for 2007.  iPhone is not Sprint’s biggest problem.  Not even close.)

Jeez, remember how expensive the iPhone is, and all the things it doesn’t do.  Dignan seems to think phones like BlackBerry’s Pearl will be relegated to the trash heap by Apple’s iPhone.  I think the opposite:  People who wander into a Cingular store to see the iPhone might just fall in love with the Pearl and everything it can do.  Especially when they realize they can buy three Pearls for the price of one iPhone.

Don’t get me wrong.  iPhone is a game-changing product for wireless manufacturers and service providers.  It’s liable to be the new phone of choice for the likes of Paris Hilton.  But it offers no serious advantages for business people, who will remain attached to their BlackBerrys or Palm Treos.  And for non-business users, any phone over $200 is a tough sell.  Never mind $500 or $600.

Eventually I believe Apple will extend its product line (just as it extended its line of iPods) to include lower-cost handsets, that appeal to “the rest of us”.  But by then, the other manufacturers will have developed handsets to compete with the iPhone’s heightened coolness factor.  The game may be changed by Apple’s iPhone, but the game is by no means over.

Apple, iPhone, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, Palm Treo, Motorola Q, LG, Samsung, BlackBerry Pearl