Category: AT&T / Cingular

In Brief: At&T and Apple Settle Visual Voicemail Lawsuit

AT&T and Apple settled a lawsuit brought by Klausner Technology Inc. on Monday. The lawsuit was originally brought around by Klausner last December for violating its patents on technology that sends visual alerts to computers or mobile telephones when a user has a voice message. The company sought $360 million in damages.

Today Apple and AT&T have agreed to license its “visual voicemail” technology and settled a lawsuit against them. No companies involved revealed the financial details of the agreement.

“The patent litigation with Apple has been settled. The patents have been licensed to Apple,” company founder Judah Klausner.

At&T to Hold iPhone 3G Conference Call Today

AT&T is currently holding a conference call discussing the introduction of iPhone 3G earlier today.

According to supporting materials AT&T will be discussing:

  • Strategy
  • Qs and As

AT&T will focus on the following four aspects of iPhone 3G when selling the device:

  • More powerful device – innovative features and functionality
  • Greater speeds – delivered via AT&T’s 3G network
  • New agreement – replaces revenue sharing with traditional model that supports a significantly lower device price point
  • Opportunity to expand the market – and spur increased demand for wireless data services

AT&T also lists “GPS-enabled YellowPages.com mobile application” as a feature of the new iPhone.

Finally AT&T confirms that two monthly data plan options will be available:

  • Consumer individual unlimited data and e-mail – $30
  • Enterprise unlimited data and corporate e-mail – $45

At&T Hiring Temporary Staff for June

AT&T is repeating last years pattern of hiring retail temps to help in retail stores during the month of June.

A request has been made of Kelly Services temp agency that will see workers join AT&T as greeters for a project known only as “Summer Project Pro.”

In June of 2007 AT&T hired many short-term workers for what turned into crowd control for the release of the iPhone on June 29th.

Temporary workers will begin work on June 16th and end three months later on August 16th, those who remember from last year will note that the temps started one week before the iPhone release to receive the necessary training.

In Brief: At&T Completing 3G Network by June, Offers Refurb iPhones for Discount

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.

In Brief: At&T Limiting iPhone Sales to One Per Customer, T-Mobile Germany Shifts 100,000 iPhones


AT&T Limiting iPhone Sales to One Per Customer

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.

At&T Leaks Black iPhone?

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.

At&T Blocking Out June 15 to July 12 for iPhone Launch?

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

Last year at this time we asked that all vacations be scheduled before June 15 or after July 15, to ensure adequate store staffing and to give everyone an equal opportunity to benefit from an exciting product launch. Thanks to your hard work, we experienced excellent sales during the mid-summer period. This year, the numbers you produced in 2007 will be hard to beat; but as a business, we must rise to the challenge, and make every effort to exceed last year’s sales results. Your management team is counting on you!

We’ll meet the challenge “head-on” by providing an exciting Summer Promotional Launch to enable your sales to soar. We again anticipate heavier than normal customer traffic in our stores, providing an excellent earning opportunity for every front line retail sales consultant (RSC) in company owned retail stores.

To ensure proper staffing during this period, Sales personnel planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their vacations before June 15 or after July 12 to participate in the heavy selling period

Previously approved vacation will be allowed where voluntary rescheduling is not feasible

No additional vacation will be approved for 6/15 – 7/12

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.

At&T CEO: 3G iPhone in Next Couple of Months

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 Deploying Massive 3G Network in 2008

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.

At&T Chief 3G iPhone “Next Year”

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.