World of Apple

AT&T Completing 3G Network by June

AT&T said Wednesday that it plans to complete deployment of its 3G network by next month.

“By the end of June, connecting to AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband service will be as speedy as logging onto the high speed Internet service that many consumers enjoy at home,” the carrier said in a statement.

The carrier which is the exclusive distributor of the iPhone in the US noted that the final step in the deployment of its 3G network was to setup High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technology in six remaining markets covered by its 3G network, which will boost uploads speeds to the 500 - 800 Kbps range.

“The ability to quickly upload large files from a laptop is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity,” said Kris Rinne, senior vice president of Architecture and Planning for AT&T’s wireless operations. “By fully deploying HSUPA across our 3G footprint, we not only meet the current needs of our customers but also lay the path for our continued evolution to even faster wireless broadband capabilities.”

The company’s HSPA network is the best-positioned among American carriers to grow in line with customer demand, evolving to HSPA+ and providing next-generation speeds without costly investments. AT&T plans to adopt LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology to reach even higher speeds in the long term.

Apple is widely expected to release the next revision of the iPhone in June, it is also predicted that the iPhone will run on 3G technologies taking advantage of AT&T’s continued deployment across the USA.

Offers Refurb iPhones for Discount

AT&T is currently selling refurbished iPhones on its online store.

The 16GB iPhone is selling for just $349 while the 8GB model is selling for only $249.

AppleInsider has republished an internal AT&T memo which informs retail staff that customers can only purchase one iPhone.

“Effective May 14, 2008, customers can only purchase one iPhone at AT&T stores,” reads a copy of the memo. “The prior limit of three iPhones is no longer in effect.”

AT&T also informs retail staff that customers can only purchase using credit or debit cards.

T-Mobile Germany Shifts 100,000 iPhones

CEO of Deutsche Telekon, Rene Obermann announced today that its subsidiary T-Mobile has sold over 100,000 iPhones in Germany.

T-Mobile board member Hamid Akhavan cited that iPhone sales were “about in line” with corporate sales targets.

Recent price cuts of the iPhone in Germany were said to have increased sales.

AppleInsider is reporting that AT&T is now listing a new iPhone model on its website.

The option to select “iPhone Black” is visible alongside the normal “iPhone” for existing AT&T customers who are logged into their AT&T account.

The apparent error adds credence to rumours that the next-generation iPhone will have a black plastic shell.

Last year it was reported that AT&T has blocked holiday allowance to employees between June 15 and July 15. Of course the iPhone subsequently saw its release on June 29.

Boy Genius Report is today noting that another AT&T memo informs employees that vacation will be limited between June 15 and July 12.

The internal memo as follows:

To: All Employees

If customer traffic is manageable, there may be an opportunity to approve vacation toward the end of the period. Managers will communicate updates as they become available.

Gizmodo reports that during an AT&T lunch today, CEO Ralph de la Vega mentioned that “he expected all of their smart integrated devices to be 3G in the next couple months.”

This comment was reportedly followed up with a question from Sascha Segan from PC Mag asking whether that sweeping statement included the iPhone, the CEO repeated, “Let me repeat what I said: I think that you’re going to see our integrated devices be 3G devices in the not-too-distant future, and I mean months. That should be clear enough.”

AT&T announced Wednesday that it will be expanding its 3G network to more than 80 additional cities during 2008.

After the expansion AT&T will be serving 3G services to over 350 cities across the U.S. including all of the top 100 U.S. cities.

The 3G initiative will include the roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nation wide.

Apple and AT&T have both spoke of the 3G iPhone which is likely to see its release in 2008.

Bloomberg reports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson confirmed Wednesday that Apple will introduce a 3G version of the iPhone next year.

“You’ll have it next year,” he said, explaining that he was unaware of how much more the new version will cost than the existing $399 model because Apple chief executive Steve Jobs “will dictate what the price of the phone is.”

The new model which is widely expected since Jobs himself has mentioned that Apple is working on it should please those who have discounted the current model due to its EDGE connection which uses existing 2.5G GSM technologies. 3G coverage across America and many parts of Europe is still as patchy as EDGE coverage.

Following discontent from customers who have encountered costly charges for browsing the Web and checking email on their iPhones while outside the U.S., AT&T has announced a pair of flat-rate international data plans starting at just $25 per month.

A new $60 Data Global Plans will offer iPhone users just 50MB of data transfer in more than 29 countries, including Canada, China, Mexico and in areas throughout Europe and Asia.

The plan, which must be purchased in addition to the domestic voice and data iPhone plan acquired during iPhone activation, also enables international voice and data roaming, as well as international long distance dialing from the United States at standard rates.

Shares of AAPL fell more than 4% on Tuesday as AT&T announced official iPhone figures.

The official carrier of the iPhone in America announced on Tuesday that it had signed up just 146,000 subscribers in the first two days of the iPhone being on sale.

The figure is well below analyst estimates of half a million and 700,000 units.

Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves said that while iPhone sales figures for coming months would be more telling than the first few days, AT&T’s number had disappointed investors as some analysts estimated sales “north of 500,000.”

Hargreaves had himself estimated 400,000 iPhone sales for the first two days, he said.

“The difference (between sales and activations) is going to be what was sold on eBay or activations that didn’t happen immediately. There were some problems with activations but from what we heard it was minimal,” the analyst said.

AT&T on Tuesday will announce in detail its second quarter earnings.

Analysts have been clambering to give an opinion on how many units they think Apple shipped over the weekend, but Apple has been reluctant to release any details regarding sales.

On the other hand AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel gives the most official word on iPhone sales so far.

“We’ve sold more iPhones in the first weekend than we’ve sold in the first month of any other wireless device in AT&T’s history,” Siegel said.

Meanwhile Apple’s store inventory tool is shedding some light by revealing that 95 out of 164 stores have no stock of iPhones today. The online store still shows an estimated ship date of 2-4 weeks.