This is exciting news because two days ago I reported here at SMSEO that the iPhone 5 release date was going to be October 7 with pre-orders opening up on September 30th.

According to the AT&T VP, as reported to other top level managers, “Expect things to get really, really busy in the next 35-50 days, so prepare your teams accordingly.”

Perhaps the most impressive underlying story in all of this is Apple expects to ship 26 million iPhone 5’s by the end of 2011.  Based on the amount of rumors surrounding the Apple iPhone 5, and the frenzy that is being stirred online when just the slightest iPhone 5 rumors hits, I expect the iPhone 5 to sell more units than all other iPhone’s combined.  Which will probably mean also that the iPhone 5 will sell out much sooner at the retailer locations.

In a document that leaked through the FCC’s website last week, apparently AT&T has not be completely honest about their intents on merging with T-Mobile.  According to AT&T’s entire campaign up to this point with law makers and investors, the reason AT&T wanted to merge with T-Mobile was to help AT&T expand their LTE network from 87% coverage in the U.S. to 97% coverage.  Only problem is, the amount of money it would cost AT&T to acquire T-Mobile ($39 billion) is a whole lot more than the $3.2 billion needed for AT&T to build out to 97% on their own.  This raises all kinds of red flags and points directly to the real intent behind AT&T wanting to acquire T-Mobile.  At the end of the day, AT&T wants to eliminate T-Mobile from the competitive landscape.  AT&T doesn’t want, or need, T-Mobile’s LTE network.  AT&T could actually build out to 97% LTE capacity without for about 10% of what it would cost to acquire T-Mobile.  Sounds like AT&T has some explaining to do to law makers and investors.

via dslreports

News is coming out of China tonight that the Apple iPhone 5 will be released to the market sometime during the second week of September (September 9 – 15), this according to Yahoo China.  Apple is expected to release over 400 million units of the iPhone in the first batch of shipments.  And as in standard for Apple with a new iPhone release, this batch will sell out nearly overnight.

The Apple iPad 3 (or the iPad HD, depending on what rumor you follow), is no longer expected to be released with the iPhone 5 in September.  Shipments for the next generation iPad are now expected to be sometime before Thanksgiving.

The iPhone 5 is gearing up to be one of the hottest iterations of the iPhone to date.  AT&T is already clearing out iPhone 3 inventory to make way for the new iPhone 5, and Verizon (and Verizon investors) are growing VERY impatient with Apple because, according to Verizon CEO, Apple keeps delaying the iPhone 5 release.

The iPad HD coming in Thanksgiving is also a bit of a shock from a shipment standpoint for Apple.  It’s been expected that the iPad 3, or iPad HD, would be released with along side of the new iPhone 5.  But with an estimated release of “before Thanksgiving”, that would no longer be the case.  And the delay of the iPad 3 / iPad HD is something that is sure to not make investors very happy.

According to incoming Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, the iPhone 5 is not expected until the fall, “and I think you will see a significant jump there when we get to that point,” said McAdam, whose promotion from COO to CEO was announced also yesterday (via NYPost).

But if that’s the case, then wouldn’t the same scenario be happening on at AT&T?

You’d think… however, AT&T’s iPhone sales are continue to plow ahead at a much faster rate than Verizon’s.

Everyone’s waiting for the iPhone 5 to hit sometime in September.  The name of the game now is, for AT&T and Verizon, figuring out how to clear out previous iPhone version’s inventory.

Lowell explained in a conference call that because Apple has been slow in bringing the iPhone 5, to replace the iPhone 4, that is why AT&T is still leading in iPhone sales.

When Verizon started selling the iPhone in February, all the talk was about how disgruntled AT&T customers were going to jump ship and head over to Verizon.

Well that just hasn’t happened.

In the 2nd quarter, Verizon’s iPhone sales trailed AT&T’s and fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Verizon activated 2.3 million iPhone 4’s compared to AT&T’s 3.6 million iPhones.

The AT&T iPhone sale figure is likely to increase dramatically with the new pricing discounts on refurbished iPhone 3GS’s.

Looks like Verizon needs to step up the game a bit to compete with AT&T in the iPhone market.

via NYPost

Otherwise known as The Facebook Phone, the HTC Status just went on sale at AT&T for $50.  With it of course, you’ll need a new 2 year agreement and data package.  But $50 is a solid low price for something coming out of AT&T.

However, I’ll give Sam’s Club a quick plug here.  You can actually get the Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) for only $0.97 – that’s right, with tax included it comes to $1.03 out the door.

But I digress…

The HTC Status is called The Facebook Phone for a reason because it has a button dedicated exclusively to launching Facebook.

This is designed to allow you to quickly update your status and let your friends know what you’re doing, like updating your status on your new HTC Status Android phone.

via Gizmodo

Why would that point to the iPhone 5 you ask?  Simple… AT&T is making room for the arrival of what could be the most popular iPhone to date.

Regardless of the popularity of the iPhone 5, AT&T doesn’t want iPhone 3GS inventory laying around when the new model arrives.

via BeatWeek

I was in a Verizon store today talking to a sales rep about the next generation Phone, presumably called the iPhone 5. After asking him when he thought Verizon would be getting the iPhone 5, he replied with,

Well… it’s rumored that the iPhone 5 will be released sometime in the fall of 2011, and AT&T would be getting it first.  Then, a few months later, Verizon will get it – which puts Verizon getting the iPhone 5 sometime in Q1 2012.

He said that Apple is always VERY tight lipped about any and all of their products, but that from his information so far, this is the schedule Verizon is expecting.

The sales rep didn’t have any comment about their being an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 5 Pro.

I love the image above of this iPhone.  No idea if it is an actual iPhone 5 or not, but the new iPhone dashboard is pretty cool looking. I like the thumbnail view of the app itself – almost like a Google Chrome most popular page.

The other cool feature I’d love to see with the iPhone 5 is the arrangement of apps according to most popular or most frequently used – again, just like the Chrome browser arranges your most frequented pages first in their dashboard.

According to a customer care rep for AT&T, the iPhone 5 (if that’s in fact what it will be called), will not be released in the typical June or July time frame. According to an iPhone customer who contacted AT&T about his upgrade eligibility, the AT&T rep is quoted as responding to his request with:

Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.

It is now become a common theme online that Apple is now expected to announce the new iPhone 5, and perhaps even an iPhone 5 Pro, at its yearly iPod event that’s been typically held in September.

via CultofMac

Skype just announced their new Android app with 3G capabilities. You can now use Skype for voice to voice calling on any Android device on both WiFi connections and now 3G. The Skype iPhone app has had WiFi and 3G capabilities. But with the release of the new Skype Android app, the mobile phone platforms, at least the ones used in mass, is now complete.

Some of the reviews from the Android store are less than favorable however because there is no video to video calling through Skype. One commenter simply said, “no video, so what’s the point?”

Regardless of the features the Skype Android app might be missing, the fact that you can now place calls from both the Android device and the iPhone via 3G is a huge deal in the world of the mobile phone carriers.

Take this trend a few years down the road, and I have to ask myself, where’s the need for cell phone companies?

Could apps like Skype push the likes of AT&T and Verizon to the point where they are simply providing data for all these devices?

Perhaps Skype won’t have too big of an impact on AT&T and Verizon, but with the web becoming more ubiquitous, and voice to voice apps becoming more prominent, you’d have to think there would be an impact at some level.

Thoughts?

AT&T has finally humbled itself and admitted that the iPhone simply overwhelmed their data capacity from 2007 thru 2010. And they said that the problem is only going to get worse as more consumers purchase and use smartphones and tablets.

AT&T admitted their shortcomings in a new filing explaining it’s intent to purchase T-Mobile. Their statement is summarized by them saying, simply, their network wasn’t ready for the iPhone, and won’t be able to handle the new smartphones and tablets that hit their networks.

In the filing, AT&T is quotes as saying a smartphone generates 24 times the mobile data traffic of a conventional wireless phone, and the explosively popular iPad and similar tablet devices can generate traffic comparable to or even greater than a smartphone.

According to the filing, AT&T’s mobile data volume exploded by a whopping 8,000% from 2007 to 2010.

And they claim that by 2015, their network will consume more data in the first five to seven weeks of that year it did in all of 2010.

via BusinessInsider

Breaking news from Bloomberg – somehow there’s been a breakthrough in the white iPhone 4 distribution chain and apparently Apple will be releasing the white iPhone 4 within the next few weeks.

The new white iPhone 4 will be available from AT&T and Verizon Wireless by the end of April, said one of the people close to the matter who requested to remain unidentified because these plans aren’t public.

Again, by the end of April, AT&T and Verizon Wireless will be selling the white iPhone 4!

Is this just another rumor gone mad, or has Bloomberg received solid information?

And this statistic continued it’s run over into the group of iPhone users. Specifically, Verizon iPhone users where compared to AT&T iPhone users, and Verizon iPhone users only had a dropped call rate of 1.8% where AT&T iPhone users had a dropped call rate of 4.8%.

So regardless of how you cut the pie of mobile phone users, whether it’s iPhone users or regular mobile phone users, Verizon dominates with call stability and connectivity.

Here’s a chart showing the iPhone users on both Verizon and AT&T:

via

According to the survey, AT&T ranked last among the four carriers by 4.6% of users reporting a dropped call, compared to Verizon who ranked number one at only 1.4% users reporting dropped calls.

Here’s the graph:

via ChangeWave

According to GeorgiaDogs.com, AT&T has announced the activation of a new 3G cell tower located in downtown Athens, Georgia. The new cell site will provide enhanced cell phone coverage on the east side of downtown Athens, and around the Oconee River and on The University of Georgia’s north campus. Many students and residents in Athens have been frustrated with AT&T’s coverage while driving from Broad Street and proceeding down the the hill toward the Oconee River as cell signals will frequently get dropped.

In the wake of AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile, Verizon is set to expand their 4G LTE network aggressively in the United States.  Verizon plans on expand the 4G network to an additional 59 cities by the end of 2011.

Here’s the press release from Verizon yesterday:

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Today, Verizon Wireless unveiled an additional 59 markets that will benefit from the world’s first large-scale 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network by the end of this year.  These newly named areas, added to the 39 initial markets launched in December 2010 and 49 markets announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, mean that consumers and businesses in at least 147 U.S. cities will have access to the fastest, most advanced 4G mobile network in America.

David Small, chief technical officer for Verizon Wireless, said, “Aggressively expanding this powerful network beyond major metro areas reflects the reality that the 4G LTE ecosystem is growing quickly. Our commitment to reach deep into medium-sized cities and smaller communities by the end of 2011 means the power of 4G LTE can be harnessed and provide advanced services to law enforcement, healthcare workers, educators, and other professionals, as well as to individual consumers, sooner than many thought possible. So whether you spend time in New York and San Francisco, or Harrisburg, Penn., Saginaw/Bay City, Mich., Huntsville, Ala. and Las Cruces, New Mexico, you can connect to the most advanced 4G network in the country.”

via Verizon.com

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AT&T is on a tear!

Just yesterday, AT&T announced the purchase of T-Mobile for around $39 billion.  And now today, right on the heels of the big acquisition news, AT&T issues a press release announcing the LG Thrill 4G smartphone.  The Thrill 4G will be the first smartphone in the US market with a 4.3 inch stereoscope 3D display that does not require special 3D glasses.  The Thrill 4G is powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo), with no word on an upgrade to the 2.3 (Gingerbread). According to AT&T, the Thrill 4G will launch “in the coming months.”

Below is the AT&T press release issued this morning:

AT&T announced today that it will buy T-Mobile from Deutche Telekom for $39 billion in both cash and stock.  This is one of the biggest mergers in the United States since the beginning of the financial crisis.  Not will this deal dramatically boost AT&T’s 4G expansion efforts, but it will add an additional 46.5 million customers to the telecom giant. On top of the custom base and the 4G, T-Mobile was one of the leading telecoms to carry Android smartphones, which will now help contribute directly to AT&T’s bottom line.

Verizon’s new iPhone 4 commercial, and their first, has been uploaded to the YouTube channel earlier today.

The interesting spin on this commercial is that it is not attacking AT&T, like you’d probably think it would.

Instead, Verizon’s theme of the commercial is “Two is better than one”.

The “two is better than one” concept shows that even though Apple is ready to move on from the exclusivity of AT&T, it still recognizes the critical role that AT&T plays in the sales and growth of the iPhone.

Check it out – here’s the very first Verizon iPhone 4 commercial:

via TechCrunch

Verizon announced today that they will start selling the Apple iPhone starting February 10th with both the 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte models being available.

The long anticipated wait is finally over – Verizon announced today that it will start selling Apple’s iPhone starting February 10th, 2011.

The price for the Verizon iPhone starts at $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB model – both require a 2 year contract for that pricing.

Some analysts expect Verizon to sell 9 to 13 million iPhones in 2011.

The subsidy that Verizon is paying to Apple is approximately $400 per phone, however, because of the data packages required for the device, Verizon will start making money from the deal in approximately 2 years.

So for all of you who’ve been waiting for the Verizon iPhone, February 10th is your lucky day.

Now we get to really see how many people plan on ejecting from AT&T.

Will you be standing in line at Verizon on February 10th?

via CNBC

If you’ve been looking for a sign that Verizon iphone is coming this month, here’s one of the biggest indicators of the century.

Starting this Friday (tomorrow), AT&T is going to sell the iPhone 3GS for only $49.

That’s right – no additional zeros anywhere in that figure – $49.00 straight up for the iPhone 3GS at AT&T starting tomorrow.

This is for the 8GB iPhone 3GS and of course, you’ll still need to get a data package from AT&T – which is really all they care about anyway – but still, $49 for an iPhone 3GS is hard to beat.

Again, I see this as a logical move for AT&T since they are about to lose their exclusivity on the iPhone as Verizon is about to come on board.

via Mashable

Up until now, the rumors about a Verizon iPhone have been just that – rumors. But when someone as established as Forbes.com gets into the fray, then I’m thinking that the Verizon iPhone is on its way.

Forbes.com is reporting that a new version of Apple’s iPhone, the CDMA version as opposed to AT&T’s GSM version, will soon be released by Verizon.

Along with a looming Verizon iPhone, the phone carrier is expected to announce a whole lineup of Android smartphones at the upcoming CES conference.

Verizon’s iPhone is bad news for AT&T

Again, according to Forbes, AT&T will see their iPhone sales cut in half from 2010 to 2011. Additionally, analysts expect 2.3 million current iPhone users to defect to Verizon.

If this occurs, AT&T is projected to lose $6 billion in revenue in 2011.

via Forbes.com

Is the Verizon iPhone 4 imminent?

If I had to picked one question I’ve been asked by readers of SMSEO more than any other over the past 3 months is, “when do you think Verizon will release an iPhone?”

It’s clear that people are ready to pick up a Verizon iPhone.

In fact, a recent survey shows that nearly half of all AT&T iPhone users would jump ship (bail on AT&T) and switch over to Verizon when / if Verizon did ever release an iPhone – here’s the graph from MacRumors showing the stats:

New Evidence of A Imminent Verizon iPhone

Quoting anonymous sources, Digitimes reports that there is a shipment goal of 5 million to 6 million CDMA iPhones to be shipped to North America and Asia Pacific in the first three months of next year. Unlike AT&T’s GSM cellular network, Verizon’s network is CDMA. (source: Mashable)

Exactly when we’ll see a Verizon iPhone is something that nobody knows, but the evidence is certainly building that Verizon will be launching their CDMA iPhone 4 very soon.

So would you switch your iPhone carrier from AT&T to Verizon?

Would you buy an iPhone from Verizon?

You would think that T-Mobile would be able to afford their own marketing campaign for promoting their 4G network. Instead, T-Mobile took a play straight from Apple’s playbook with their new 4G network commercial that attacks AT&T’s 3G network. I agree that AT&T should be dominating the 4G market right now. After all, they have been the sole benefactor to the iPhone for the past 3 years. But regardless, T-Mobile basically stole Apple’s marketing strategy with this commercial (see video below):

T-Mobile’s new 4G commercial attacking AT&T

via Engadget

AT&T is upping the ante with their iPad offer, especially now that we know Verizon will be selling the iPad WiFi at all US Verizon retail stores starting October 28th. AT&T released an update today stating they will sell all three iPad WiFi + 3G models directly to enterprise (business) customers. This is part of AT&T’s effort to help companies increase productivity and mobile flexibility for their employees. The payment models will be “post paid” and the enterprise initiative will launch on October 28th.

Thoughts?

via PR NewsWire

The Wall Street Journal has taken a survey asking if current iPhone users (those with AT&T) would switch to Verizon once the new Verizon iPhone was released. Over 14,000 people responded to the Wall Street Journal survey and the overwhelming response was yes – we will switch to Verizon – the actual number came in at 73% saying “Yes” and 27% saying “No”, the wouldn’t switch. So much for the theory that iPhone users are happy with AT&T. It looks like no sooner will the Verizon iPhone hit (which is expected sometime beginning in 2011), and iPhone users will jump the AT&T boat.

Thoughts?

People are reporting that the AT&T wireless website went down last night – did you notice? When people visited the AT&T wireless site, they were greeted with the following message:

“Online access for Wireless and U-verse accounts is temporarily unavailable
We are currently upgrading our online account system and it is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again.
If you need immediate assistance, please contact customer service at:
Wireless – 800-331-0500 or 611 from your wireless phone
U-verse – 800-288-2020”

This obviously doesn’t bode well with the average AT&T customer who, quite frankly, has just about had it with AT&T’s wireless website being down for maintenance.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe with the Dell Streak release yesterday, people started flooding to the website to see how to order. Or maybe it’s the Blackberry Torch… who knows.

So did you notice the AT&T wireless site being down?

via iPhone 4 Pre Order Crashes Twitter, AT&T Websites

Sprint says they are testing 4G coverage in New York City, and people are even reporting occasional 4G connections throughout Manhattan. But the biggest question is this – who will be the first carrier to actually deliver 4G to The Big Apple?

New York City is a huge market with millions of mobile data customers. From the iPhone, iPad, and now the emerging Android tablets, NYC is sure to be one of the highest demand cities for 4G speed.

Yet even though Sprint says they are currently testing their 4G connectivity in New York City, there are two other carriers that have remained relatively silent on the issue – and that this Verizon and AT&T.

Certainly Verizon or AT&T could allocate more resources to bringing 4G to NYC. And I’m wondering if one of them, or both, are secretly working behind the scenes on bringing 4G to the New York metro area.

If this is the case, then Sprint better be pushing hard right now to bring 4G online in New York, or else any day now we could see a new release from Verizon or AT&T that 4G is now online.

Or better yet, we could see a 4G satellite launched that will put the United States under one big 4G cloud. Then the whole “who can bring 4G coverage to New York City” debate will be a moot point.

None of which would be good for Sprint!

There are 2 websites right now that have reported the Dell Streak’s release date of being August 13th. The problem, however, is that the two sites (here and here) do not mention references to their sources from which they got the release date.

And I’ve checked the other authoritative mobile phone sites, and there is yet no mention of the Dell Streak release date.

So can anyone confirm, or deny, the Dell Streak release date of August 13th?

The Dell Streak will be available on AT&T and would cost $299.99 with a new two-year AT&T contract. Without contract, the tablet would cost $549.99 and it would be unlocked.

However, last week Dell made the mistake by updating their website with the new Dell Streak along with some previously unknown information.

The Dell Streak is a data phone and tablet device hybrid. It will have a 5 inch display touch screen, will be running exclusively on AT&T’s 3G network – as opposed to previous rumors of running on T-Mobile’s network – and has a retail price of $549.

However, just like AT&T did – and continues to do – with Apple’s iPhone, they will do likewise with the Dell Streak.

The subsidized price of the Dell Streak will be $299 if you sign a new service agreement with AT&T.

Dell Streak Video

via DriversHQ