For some reason people just seem to like sending us phone numbers for Verizon Wireless Executive Relations these days. So here's yet another number you can use if you have an impossible issue that regular customer service has not been able to solve:
Danielle Burtrum
412-266-7750
Verizon Helps You Say Wassup?! With Group Chat Lines http://bit.ly/awRWHi
Have you ever tried to plan a get-together with a group of friends only to find yourself texting and calling individual people in a frantic maze of communication? Thankfully there are now web apps that make the process of event planning easier, but what about those times when you need a quick decision and some people aren't by their computers? Verizon hopes to solve this dilemma by offering subscribers the opportunity to sign up for their new Group Communication service.
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For $4.99 a month, Verizon family plan customers can dial a "party line" number that will ring the phones of the other members of their plan. I can picture this being used at an amusement park when a family that has split up wants to rendez-vous again to leave or to eat. Family groups can also include one other number from outside of the family plan, as long as it's a domestic number, mobile or land line.
But what if you need more people, more groups or more non-Verizon numbers? There is also a $6.99 per line per month option that will allow customers to create up to 7 groups consisting of 20 members from any network, mobile or land line. Business can also add this feature to corporate accounts, making it simple to hold conference calls on-the-go - granted you don't have any outsiders that need to be added to the list.
Growing up as a kid, I can remember a time before cell phones when youngsters would ask their parents for their own telephone lines so they could chat with friends at will without hogging the house line. Countless TV shows aimed at kids during this era showed moments when characters would switch back and forth between friends on call-waiting and conference calls to gossip about school, but that practice has faded significantly.
That was back when households were tethered to land-line phones and dial-up modems, but now everyone (even most kids) owns a cell phone and can talk with whoever and whenever. Instead of talking as a group, kids just text with each other, or log on to their social networks of choice and communicate there. The telephone conversation has fallen out of habit recently, especially for younger generations growing up with technology.
Is Verizon's Group Discussion feature an attempt to lure people back to using up valuable call minutes? Will we rediscover the phenomenon of the "party line" conversation that once defined local phone service in the early half of the 20th century? It's vaguely possible, but my guess is the best use for this feature is special circumstances, not casual conversations.
Discuss
The iPhone 4 is here now and it's all that we had hoped for and...well, that's about it. Apple's now predictable keynote began with stats, ended with "one more thing" and detailed a few highlights throughout regarding the company's latest creation, the iPhone 4.
But one thing didn't happen today: we weren't blown away. We weren't surprised. We didn't jump up and down, screaming. We don't even know if we'll rush right out and get one.
In fact, we might just skip the iPhone altogether and get an Android phone instead.
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Blame Gizmodo if you will, for spoiling all our fun with their spy shots of the iPhone prototype "found" in a bar. But we don't think that was the problem. No, the problem is that iPhone has lost its edge. Meanwhile, Android is killing it.
Case in point, here's the conversation this blogger had with the spouse:
Me: It's only $199 to upgrade my iPhone!
Him: Is it 4G?
Me: No.
Him: What's cool about it?
Me: Um, it's got a better camera. And it's faster. And it's has a 3-axis gyro thingy.
Him: What's that?
Me: This thing for games, it helps when you rotate the phone, the game rotates.
Him: That's cool, but you don't really play games, do you?
Me: Not really. But it has HD video recording!
Him: So does your camera.
Me: And threaded email...And video chat!
Him: Over 3G?
Me: Well, no. Over Wi-Fi. And only with other iPhones. But EVO has Qik, and that works over 4G, actually. Hmm, maybe I should just get an EVO.
In fact, maybe I just will.
While I'm at it, here are a few more things that Apple didn't announce today:
No, it was not the "iPhone 4G," it was the iPhone 4. Why? Because AT&T isn't set to roll out its 4G network until next year. And Apple didn't surprise us by finally confirming the mythical Verizon iPhone, not that we expected it at this point. But still. Where's my iPhone 4G already?
Sure, Apple just bought Lala.com, but couldn't they have at least teased us about the forthcoming "cloud iTunes?" After all, that's what Google did. At its recent I/O conference, Google announced that an upcoming version of the Android Market would allow music and app downloads and automatic over-the-air sync. Is Apple even thinking about doing this? We have no idea.
FaceTime, Apple's new mobile iChat-like application, will probably be fun, but it's not game-changing. It only works over Wi-Fi for one thing (thanks, AT&T), not 3G. Meanwhile, Qik and Fring already have video chat apps for Android and Skype is hinting at an Android app arriving this year. Oh, and Qik on EVO offers 4G video chat, too.
In the current version of the Android operating system (the operating system!), there's a feature that lets an Android phone function as a mobile hotspot. Carriers can choose to implement this feature or not. The iPhone, meanwhile, can be tethered for $20 extra per month via USB or Bluetooth on AT&T.
Apple wants to compete with Google, but still charges $99/year for MobileMe (for the smallest package) while Google gives away its low-end services for free. That's not working for us either.
Trying to stop your dangerous texting while driving habit? Better get an Android phone. Although universal voice input is probably coming to the iPhone thanks to Apple's acquisition of Siri, a cutting edge, voice-based digital assistant, it's not here yet. When it is arriving, though? Apple's reluctance to disclose future plans has us again, looking to Android, which does this right now.
Navigation on the iPhone? There's an app for that! *Yep, but it's not free. Google, meanwhile, offers Google Maps Navigation for free on all Android phones. Apple, either provide your own app or make nice with Google and use theirs, for goodness' sake.
We were halfway hoping that the recent news about Apple killing off all the "dashboard" apps on the iPhone and iPad meant the company was going to launch its own dashboard-like app similar to Android's widgets. Guess we were wrong here, too.
All this being said, the iPhone 4 is still a great smartphone thanks to other hardware-based innovations like its "retina display" (326 pixels per inch!), its integrated antennas, and its glass and stainless steel casing housing the thinnest iPhone to date: 9.3 mm thick. But maybe now that the hardware has been modernized, maybe Apple can focus on the software?
DiscussiPhone Letdown? 8 Things Apple Didn't Announce
- Rob DianaAndroid This Week: Tablets on Display at Computex; LTE Phone? http://bit.ly/accSGi
Android is making huge strides in the tablet space, as demonstrated by the devices on display at this week’s Computex Show in Taipei. Among them was a 10-inch tablet from Viliv, the Korean handheld computer maker’s first Android-based device. The 10-inch Viliv X10 from the company, which already has a number of tablets running Windows under its belt, is expected to hit the market later this year.
Also of note was the Wind Pad 110, from MSI of Taiwan. The Wind Pad 110 is a 10-inch slate model that should handle high-resolution video with ease, thanks to the Tegra chipset running inside. MSI declined to offer a release date or pricing information for this Android tablet, however.
In the meantime, a new superphone running Android 2.2 and using a Snapdragon 1.5 GHz processor is rumored to be on its way to Verizon this year. The HTC Scorpion is also thought to be compatible with 4G, which on Verizon means LTE, Big Red’s next-generation network. And if this rumor did prove to be true, it would be the fastest phone to ever hit the market. One thing is certain, Android is the platform of choice for superphone makers like HTC.
Good: The big plan, “DataPro”, now costs $25/month and gives you 2 GB per month. That’s $5 cheaper than the previous “unlimited” plan, and, according to AT&T, 98 percent of their current smartphone customers use less than 2 GB per month. Almost all current iPhone users should save some money, even if just $5 per month. (I use about 500 MB per month, on average, and the most I’ve used in the past year is 1 GB.)
Good: The bandwidth overage fee for DataPro is a reasonable $10 for each extra gigabyte. Verizon and Sprint charge around $50 per extra gigabyte in overage fees. If you use more than 2 GB per month, you deserve to pay more than the rest of us who do not. Why is this hard to understand?
Good: These plans are for all smartphones. No more discrepancies between what’s allowed for BlackBerrys or Android phones (e.g. tethering) and what’s allowed for the iPhone.
Good: $15/month for the 200 MB/month “DataPlus” plan is a great starting price, and AT&T claims that 65 percent of their smartphone users use less than that. I thoroughly doubt that 65 percent of their iPhone users use less than that, but I’ll bet many do.
Bad: The overage charges for that DataPlus plan are shitty. They get charged more — $15 — for another measly 200 MB. That’s usurious. For $15, they should get an entire extra gigabyte.
Bad: Tethering is finally going to be supported — a year after it was supported on numerous other iPhone carriers around the world. But tethering costs $20/month and you don’t get any extra bandwidth at all. If you don’t get extra bandwidth, what are you paying for? It’s one thing to charge extra for tethering on an “unlimited” data plan, but it’s outrageous to charge $20 when the bandwidth is already capped. They should just include tethering support at no additional charge in the DataPro plan. (That’s what Rogers does in Canada, after running a six-month experiment to see how it worked out.)
Bad: Why did they change the plans for the iPad so soon after it was announced? What kind of company has a data plan for a flagship product, the iPad 3G — what appears to be the flagship product of the entire industry this year — available for just 30 days before changing the terms significantly? The “$30/month for unlimited, cancel or downgrade at any time” deal was a highly touted part of the iPad introduction. $25 for 2 GB isn’t bad at all, but it’s just downright weird for it to change so soon after the iPad 3G went on sale.
Remember too, that Pandora is coming. I know Pandora already has a popular iPhone app, but I seldom use it because it doesn’t play in the background. It will soon, and once it does, I’ll be using it. I’m sure I’m not alone. How’s that (and Skype, and other background streaming services) going to affect monthly bandwidth averages for iPhone users?
I don’t expect iPhone retail prices to drop this year. I think $99 / $199 / $299 are price points Apple wants to maintain. But these aren’t the real prices for iPhones. They’re subsidized, paid for by AT&T in exchange for all U.S. iPhones being locked to two-year AT&T contracts. Economically, the low-end iPhone could surely be “free”, and the higher models cheaper. But there’s a psychological branding angle that Apple wants to maintain. Apple wants the iPhone to be perceived as an affordable luxury item, not a cheap or free gadget.
A $99 entry-level purchase price is not going to keep many people from getting an iPhone. The biggest barrier for many consumers, I think, is the size of the monthly bill. Under the old rates — where there’s one and only one mandatory iPhone data plan, the cheapest plan you could get was $70/month: $40 for 450 voice minutes, $30 for data, and no included SMS messages. Now, under the new plan, you can pay just $55/month: $40 for voice and $15 for the DataPlus plan. That’s a lot closer to the sort of monthly charges that non-smartphone users are used to.
(Maybe I’m wrong on this, though. What if this month’s new next-generation iPhone goes on sales for $199/299, but the 3GS drops below $99, in a move for market share?)
Before I decided to get an iPad 3G, I thought about sticking with a Wi-Fi-only iPad and getting a MiFi from Verizon or Sprint. The advantage to getting a MiFi: it would work with all of my computers: iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro. The downsides: a 5 GB plan is $60/month, and I’d wind up with another gadget (and charger) to schlep around.
AT&T’s $20 charge just to enable tethering is bullshit, but even combined with an iPad 3G data plan (so as to get 3G service for both an iPad and a MacBook) it’s a lot cheaper than a MiFi — especially if you can get by with the $15/month iPad plan most months, as I expect I’ll be able to. And Fraser Speirs makes the case in this piece that the schlepping/annoyance factor with the MiFi ought not be discounted:
When using the 3 MiFi, there is too much setup involved for casual use. A lot of this is down to the poor design of the 3 MiFi. Here’s what you do to get online:
- Power on the MiFi
- Wait for it to acquire the network (20 seconds, in my absolute-best-case experience - usually much, much worse)
- Turn on the WiFi radio - another 10 second operation
- Turn on the 3G radio - 10 seconds to turn on, another 10 to get to 3G status
- Unlock the iPad, get it associated with the MiFi, get an IP address - another 10-15 seconds
Compare to the 3G iPad: you unlock it, you’re online.
Duncan Davidson expects to save money ($20 bullshit tethering fee notwithstanding) as well:
Running the numbers, if I had been able to use my iPhone for data tethering over the last six months — paying the $20/mo tether charge and $10 for the overage — I would have saved $230 over paying my $60/mo bill to Sprint. Factoring in the $5/mo difference in monthly price, I can expect to save $260 over the last six months of this year if I drop my Sprint card and move to tethering via my iPhone.
So while AT&T’s new plans are not entirely good news, the good outweighs the bad overall.
★ The Good and the Bad Regarding AT&T’s New Data Plans
- Paul Reynolds★ The Good and the Bad Regarding AT&T’s New Data Plans http://j.mp/cPz3dk
- Paul ReynoldsFor now, now plans for Skype on Palm/WebOS & Windows Mobile. Will focus on iPhone, Android, Symbian http://wp.me/p4P8c-w67 from @gigaom
If you are one of the few thousand people who own a Nokia N900, then sometime later this week Skype is going to offer you a ability to make two-way video calls on that device. You would be able to call any Skype user (whether on desktop or laptop) and have a two-way video communication, Russ Shaw, Skype’s vice president of Skype Mobile told GigaOM. Eventually you will be able to call other mobile clients and also to Skype-on-TV.
Shaw said that it was part of their ongoing close relationship with Nokia. Nokia N900 has dual cameras — one in the front and one in the back. The calls would work on both 3G and WiFi networks, though I bet the performance is going to be far superior on WiFi. Some of the smaller VoIP players such as Fring have already launched video calling enabled apps.
Ironically, on Friday afternoon when I spoke to Shaw, he was unclear when company would launch its Skype-over-3G app for the iPhone, arguing that the company didn’t want to release any product that disappointed customers. And 24-hours later the app was available from the Apple’s iTunes App store. (For now these calls are free but eventually Skype is going to be charging folks for calls over 3G, which tells me they are using a solution very similar to the one they cobbled together for Skype-over-Verizon. For an alternate explanation, check out Andy Abramson’s post who thinks the magic is Skype’s SILK codec and working intimately with Apple hardware.)
Shaw said that the company was focused on seamless switching between 3G and WiFi. Anyway that app seems to have met its goals, prompting even their harsh critics to give it a thumbs up. Skype data shows that the company has seen 12 million downloads from the owners of iPhone and iPod Touch.
Shaw also confirmed that the official Android Skype app will be available before the end of the year. Skype was focusing on iPhone, Symbian and Android OS devices, Shaw said. In other words, Windows Phone and WebOS don’t figure in the company’s plans for now. “We are not doing anything directly on Palm but if a carrier wanted to do that, we can work with them,” he said. It was part of company’s strategy to take a cue from carriers on operating systems with a smaller footprint compared to the big three.
What about RIM? Shaw said that a lot of people want an over-the-top application. Verizon subscribers can get Skype on their Blackberry devices, thanks to a special relationship between the two companies. In other words, for now, all Blackberry owners who want Skype are out of luck.
Motorola was recently rumored to be looking to produce its own smartphone OS, thus bringing into question the company’s commitment to the Android platform. But CEO Dr. Sanjay Jha addressed those concerns this week by saying that currently, “nearly all of my focus is on Android.” He also committed Motorola to bringing Android 2.2 to all of its phones as quickly as possible, as it’s necessary in order to enable full Flash support. Motorola introduced its first Android phone, the Cliq, at our Mobilize conference last year; it also makes the top-selling Droid for Verizon.
Next Friday, Sprint will launch the Android-based EVO 4G, complete with a 4.3-inch screen and integrated 4G. I received a test handset from Sprint this week to review, so have shot a photo tour of it and compared it to two other hot Android phones — the Droid Incredible and the Nexus One.
The EVO is also one of the first phones with a front-facing camera for video chatting, which made the release of Fring’s Android app this week perfectly timed. Fring is a cross-platform chat app that handles IM, VoIP, text chatting and now for the first time on Android — video chatting.
Skype Video Coming to Android, Is 2010 the Year of Mobile Video Chat? http://bit.ly/df3oX9
The fast-growing population of Android users will soon be able to chat face-to-face thanks to a Skype mobile application that will hit the marketplace with video functionality "later this year." As reported on the gadget blog Skatter Tech, Skype representatives have been quoted confirming the release of a carrier-independent app that will allow users to use voice and video to chat on their Android devices. This is a giant step forward for Android users who were disappointed to learn earlier this year that Skype's initial offerings on the platform were restricted to Verizon's 3G network.
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"We're betting big on video, and we intend to set the bar on mobile video calling, and it's something we're going to do this year," said Skype PR representative Brianna Reynaud. "We will be bringing a direct to consumer app to the Android marketplace later this year. This application will be available for all consumers globally to download regardless of carriers."
Though it remains to be seen if any other restrictions or limitations will be placed on the app, this news is certainly exciting to Android users. The announcement also comes amidst speculation that Apple's forthcoming refreshed iPhone will feature a forward-facing camera for video calls. Whether Skype is also working with Apple to launch an iPhone application this year is unknown, and some have suggested that Apple may reserve the functionality for a native iChat application. Either way, a new dawn of mobile video chatting seems to be upon us. The question is, however, will people actually take to this new form of communication?
In 1993, AT&T ran a series of commercials suggesting the breakthrough technologies the company hoped to bring to its customers in the future. The ads include technologies prevalent today, including e-readers, in-car GPS, tablet PCs and even automated toll booth systems like EZ Pass. One innovation featured in the ads that has yet to take off significantly is the idea of video replacing standard phone communication.
Skype chat on the desktop and enterprise video conferencing solutions have become popular in recent years, but they haven't gone gangbusters and replaced the way we communicate all together. In fact, in the same interview with Skatter Tech, Reynaud said that only one-third of Skype calls are video calls, so the majority of users are simply using the voice functionality.
This is not to say that video-calls on a mobile device shouldn't have a place in our current technological ecosystem. Video chatting on a phone could be great for special situations, like when a group of friends are getting together and they call up an absent friend and pass the phone around the room. It's going to take some time for the novelty of mobile video chat to ware off before it finds itself being used more and more as a common means of communication.
We as humans, for better or for worse, have evolved into incredible multi-taskers. We listen to music, watch videos, read stories, check email, update our social status - sometimes all at the same time. Video chatting, from my experience, does not fit in well with a multi-tasker's mindset. Think of all the things we do while talking on the phone - driving our cars, eating, doing laundry, etc. Now think of trying to do anything else while video chatting; it's nearly impossible because it requires the majority of your attention.
Will mobile video chatting take off? That still remains to be seen; however, regardless of these assertions, it is good to see Skype expanding its mobile platform to more carriers and devices. I only hope as an iPhone user that video chat from Skype finds its way onto my device sometime soon as well.
Discuss
Skype Video Coming to Android, Is 2010 the Year of Mobile Video Chat?
- Louis GrayRT @gigaom: Verizon to Shift Usage Forecasting to Consumers With Tiered LTE Pricing http://dlvr.it/1Fdjr
[Direct Link]I liked a YouTube video -- Verizon Droid Incredible walkthrough - AndroidCentral.com http://youtu.be/bxGgc-RbhWg?a
[Direct Link]
“The step after ubiquity is invisibility,” my old friend from Apple Al Mandel explained to me years ago. And it’s true. Telephone service was once rare but is now universal and anything truly universal eventually become a commodity. No wonder phone companies no longer make money from long-distance calling nor — as Verizon’s sale of its New England landlines business confirms — even make enough money from local phone service. Now it is all about mobile and thank God for texting and ringtones, the telco execs say… for awhile. Well I think the same thing is about to happen to Facebook — privacy issues or no.
Facebook is huge with 350 million members but that’s not the problem. The problem is that my Facebook friends list is too long and so is yours. I have 809 Facebook friends. My wife has friend envy because she thinks my friends are generally more interesting than her friends. I wouldn’t know because I’m only on Facebook once or twice a week for a few minutes. But even that’s enough to know my friend list is too long.
Here’s what happened the other day. I had some news about the Startup Tour so I shared it on Facebook and looked for reaction from my 809 friends.
Nothing happened.
Well not nothing, but not much. I couldn’t immediately see my own post, for example, because in the time it took for me to go from writing it to reading it the post had scrolled off my screen, pushed out by generally inane people saying generally inane things about generally inane stuff I didn’t care about. That’s the downside of having 809 friends.
This didn’t happen when I had 350 Facebook friends. Then I’d write something important to me (I only write important things in Facebook and you should, too) and dozens of people would reply. But now they don’t because my screen is scrolling too fast and their screens are scrolling too fast, too, so the actual opportunity for intercourse (you know what I mean — get your mind out of the gutter) is nothing. It’s gone.
Facebook is useless to me. We’re all too connected to really connect.
Yes, I hide all the Mafia warriors and the Farmers and those people lately who are so thrilled to be breeding weird little animals. I hide as many of my inane friends as I can. I don’t join any groups and I am a fan of nothing, but it still doesn’t matter. There are people whom I’d actually like to know what they are doing and maybe they care about me, too, but we just no longer meet-up.
Facebook is being really stupid lately about making money from its traffic by violating user privacy. If the system goes kerblooey then pundits will point to that and say, “They abused their users, see.” But that won’t be true. Fans are used to being abused. How else do you explain Metallica?
If Facebook goes under it will be because of its own success. If Facebook doesn’t go under it will be because they learned in the nick of time the same lessons as every other successful serial publisher since the dawn of printing — that there is an ideal circulation size to monetize a given advertising base and you can easily get too big to make any money.
In this case there turns out to be a corollary effect that says you can be too big to be useful to your readers, too, which is why Facebook’s demise — if it happens — will be so swift.
If Facebook really wants to get profitable it needs to get smaller by kicking-off users who don’t make it money. Then it has to be be really nice to the ones they keep.
Their alternative is ubiquity, invisibility, then failure.
My bet’s on failure.
Let’s Get Small
- Rob Diana
A Verizon reality check http://bit.ly/a97pa3 (<-- good points)
Marco Arment:
AT&T and Verizon are much more similar than not.
Mainly in their contempt for customers.
Meh. The billing one is the most appropriate.
- Reformed Goadkicker
Today at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York City, Michael is on stage to talk about the future of mobile with Facebook’s Chris Cox, Google’s Vic Gundotra, and Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley.
Below find my live notes (paraphrased):
MA: there’s so much with privacy issues around Facebook. What’s happening?
CC: It’s been an intense and humbling couple weeks for us. We’ve spent a lot of time talking to advocacy groups. Mark wrote a post. Starting tomorrow we’ll be rolling out “drastically simple” privacy controls.
MA: What’s the go-to phone for all you guys?
DC: iPhone.
CC: HTC Incredible.
VG: Incredible too. It’s the go-to phone for today because it’s really fast. And the Verizon network is awesome. Sprint has a great device too.
MA: I once threw a Sprint phone out a window because it was so bad.
VG: You throw things (laughs).
MA: Remember when the guy from Google stood in front of my car?
VG: No.
MA: Why not the EVO?
VG: It’s not shipping yet. I did have one buy my wife took it from me.
MA: The phone I have is this (some crappy feature phone). It’s the new black. This phone cost $24. It had 300 minutes included — it makes calls that never drop. It’s like there’s a hamster in there that just keeps running.
Facebook, Foursquare, and Google Talk The Future of Mobile
- (jeff)isageekFacebook, Foursquare, and Google Talk The Future of Mobile
- Louis Gray
iPhone 3GS to Sell for $97 at WalMart is a post from Chris Pirillo
If you still haven’t bought the iPhone 16GB 3GS, now is your chance. Walmart will begin selling the device in its stores for only $97.00 beginning Tuesday, June 1st. The offer is only good when purchased in conjunction with a new two-year AT&T contract, but it’s still one hell of a deal. The handset has been selling for about a hundred dollars more than that until now. Most people speculate that the reason for the price cut is – of course – due to the upcoming release of the new iPhone.
“It is our commitment to always lead on price,” Mehrdad Akbar, Walmart’s senior category director for wireless, said in a prepared statement about the price change. Although it might seem that the timing is unexpected, it’s really not. When Apple introduced the iPhone 3GS last June, they immediately slashed prices of the previous model. It’s a known fact that when a new model of any (popular) phone is introduced sales of the current model decline sharply. Additionally, Apple has already claimed that Gizmodo’s leak of the prototype iPhone a few weeks ago was “seriously damaging” to sales of the existing handset. Perhaps this move will help bolster sales back to where they hope to be at this point in time.
Another possible theory for the reduced price happening now comes from the rampant rumors floating around regarding the iPhone coming to other providers – such as Verizon or Sprint – later this year. As stated in the first paragraph, this deal is only valid when purchased in conjunction with a new two year AT&T contract. If you’ve been holding out on buying an iPhone because you’re hoping for another carrier to come along, you’re still going to be waiting a little while longer.
If you don’t already own an iPhone, will this price cut convince you to grab one for yourself?
I guess "losing prototype phone" is the new corporate "leak".
- felix
The day after the Federal Communication Commission released its wireless competition report (it was the first year since 2003 that the agency didn’t declare the industry competitive) AT&T said it would raise the early-termination fee on smartphones including the iPhone from $175 to $325 as of June 1. This may be an indication of the carrier’s imminent loss of iPhone exclusivity, but it’s also bad timing from a major carrier.
Carriers justify early termination fees because they subsidize the price of hardware for cellphone buyers in exchange for those buyers agreeing to a one or two-year contract. Verizon last year raised eyebrows when it increased its termination fee on smartphones to $350 and had to justify its moves to the FCC. No one was impressed with its defense, but Verizon is still charging the higher ETF (although it is now dropping the amount owed each month by $10 a month). AT&t will also lower the fees by $10 per month, and is lowering the early termination fees on non-smartphones from $175 to $150.
It’s not unusual that AT&T is following suit behind the nation’s largest carrier, although it is ironic timing given that high ETFs generally reduce the freedom of consumers to change providers, making the industry overall less competitive. Of course, having the nation’s top two providers set similarly high termination fees doesn’t look that great for competition either.
Related GigaOM Pro Content (sub req’d): How AT&T Will Deal With iPad Data Traffic
In an effort to keep you up to date with my iPad experiments, I’m now a few weeks in and feeling pretty good about the purchase. I take the iPad with me quite often, and have lots of business uses for it. There are still a few things that bother me (I just want simple transfer of files, and the ability to use something like Finder), but overall, I feel like the platform works well, and I can recommend it.
Reminder: I’m using the wifi version not the 3G version, and so far, that’s been going well, too. With the addition of my Novatel Mifi service, I have 3G from Verizon’s network, which I find pretty darned fast and powerful. I don’t have an opinion on the size. They only had the big drives when I bought it, but I’ve got tons and tons of room, even with seven movies and many video podcasts loaded onto the box.
So far, the apps that I use the most on the iPad are:
I’m going to say it once more: I’m annoyed that Keynote doesn’t “just work” with a sync between the desktop version and my iPad. This device would be the ULTIMATE presentation tool, if apple would just fix this one bit.
The battery life on this device is ridiculously good. After owning an iPhone 3G back in the day, and currently owning a Macbook Pro 15″, once I made a few tweaks (like darkening the screen brightness just a little bit, and keeping wifi off until I needed it), I’m getting hours and hours of battery life out of the device. It lasts for an entire cross-country jaunt, like Boston to Oregon, for instance.
As for hardware, I have the docking keyboard. I will also try out the bluetooth keyboard soon (bought one for home, but might steal it for my testing). The reason I like the docking one is that I don’t have to remember batteries, and because it gives the iPad somewhere to sit.
No, the iPad can’t replace a laptop. I do a lot of video projects, so I need my laptop for that. The iPad helps me single-task, which is really useful, but sometimes, I need lots of apps open, and I have to work in between them. I need my laptop for that.
Yes. The iPad is something else. You can use it for status. You can use it for quick messages. You can use it for viewing entertainment. You can read and edit many office documents on it.
I’ve been to three business meetings in the last 7 days where someone other than me is using an iPad to keep notes, check for information, and search the web for more information. It just feels natural.
Absolutely not. You don’t need one. It’s not going to change your world. If you’ve got a smart phone, this is a bit different, but not so much so that you’ll change the world with one. If you’re a writer, it’s really easy to justify this thing as a powerful focusing tool (as I’m finding out from writing the new book). But need? Too big a word.
Instead, it’s interesting and worth considering. It’s definitely got some valid uses for accessibility, for working with seniors, for all kinds of other applications outside of nerd-minded technology. Will we see an iPad in every house? Now that’s possible.
One quick note: I’ve got iBooks and Kindle for iPad. I note a lack of Nook for iPad. If I’m B&N, I’m working fast to correct this (if Apple is allowing such), because otherwise, there’s a huge distribution gap. Amazon knew better than to hold people hostage to their device. I hope Barnes & Noble does the same.
What are you thinking about iPads? Do you have one? What else are you using it for?
SocialMash:> Google Throws in the Towel on the Nexus One Web Store http://ow.ly/17nlX9
After disappointing sales of the Nexus One Android phone, Google has officially given up on its mobile web store experiment.
In a blog post published just a short while ago, Google all but admitted that its web store — and thus Nexus One sales — has underperformed. The decision comes after multiple carriers dropped the Nexus One from their line-ups, including Verizon Wireless.
Here’s what Google had to say about the web store:
“But, as with every innovation, some parts worked better than others. While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose [sic] from.”
Due to the failure of the web store, Google is making two major changes to its Nexus One and Android strategy. First, it is making the Nexus One more available to retailers. Second, it will eventually cease selling the Nexus One online, opting instead for an “online store window” to showcase a plethora of Android phones.
Despite the spin, today’s announcement can’t be considered anything less than an admission of failure. People weren’t willing to buy a phone they couldn’t play with first, and Nexus One sales suffered consequently. Apple must be jumping for joy right now.
Tags: android, Google, google nexus one, google phone, nexus one
SocialMash:> Google Throws in the Towel on the Nexus One Web Store http://ow.ly/17nlXa
- Jim WilkersonGoogle Throws in the Towel on the Nexus One Web Store
- (jeff)isageek
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