The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Rumor: AT&T to add exclusive voicemail features to iPhone

By | September 7, 2009, 8:00pm PDT

Summary: AppleInsider is reporting that AT&T and Apple are discussing new features that could arrive exclusively on the iPhone “before year’s end.” According to AI sources a new setting could be added to the iPhone’s Phone preference that will notify a user if they exceed their monthly Anytime minutes. The overage alert will appear as a push [...]

http://www.uncwil.edu/uniadv/images/att-logo-221x300.jpgAppleInsider is reporting that AT&T and Apple are discussing new features that could arrive exclusively on the iPhone “before year’s end.”

According to AI sources a new setting could be added to the iPhone’s Phone preference that will notify a user if they exceed their monthly Anytime minutes. The overage alert will appear as a push notification (i.e. badge, message, or sound) on the iPhone depending on the user’s preference.

Other exclusive features will reportedly come in the form of a new voicemail setting that will allow users to disable the custom voicemail greeting and the AT&T voicemail introduction heard by other users. The feature, presumably to be pitched as a time saver, will also allow users to automatically bypass all greetings and instructions when placing calls to other AT&T customers.

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Topics

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve
  • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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I doubt Apple is "considering" it.
matthew_maurice 8th Sep 2009
Unless AT&T is going to let Steve and Phil drive a large truck up to
AT&T's vault and shovel bundles of cash into the bed.

Personally, I think Apple is going to drop AT&T exclusivity like a hot rock
the instant they're contractually able to. Here's to an EV-DO iPhone
in July 2010!
0 Votes
+ -
The iPhone is the only phone that saves all messages in the phone itself. You get to see who sent the message (visually) and can choose to listen to the last (or middle) one 1st or just plain delete them.

And it has a nice side effect .... you can save the message .... a memory from someone or the nasty message somebody left you.
0 Votes
+ -
Not that...
heymatthew 8th Sep 2009
I think they mean, they're doing away with the thing where when you call a number and they don't answer, you normally hear:

"Hey, this is Bob. Leave a message." Then you hear, "To leave a message, press 1 or stay on the line. So send this person a numeric page, press 5..."

Now, I think you'll just hear, "Hey, This is Bob. Leave a message. Beep." Or, if I'm understanding right, you can probably just have it go straight to the beep after the ringing stops.

I absolutely love the VM features of the iPhone. Second to none for sure.
This is a carrier based feature that any cell provider could activate!
0 Votes
+ -
Lipstick on a pig.
matthew_maurice 8th Sep 2009
Granted this is just a rumor, but seriously-push notification
of airtime overage and shaving 1.5 seconds off vmail? BFD!

Fix the damn airlink! That will please many more people.
0 Votes
+ -
Direct access voicemail
Diego49 Updated - 8th Sep 2009
Read between the voicemail lines - The only reason to remove the
greatings and prompts for iPhone users is that it will no longer be
needed. Therefore, there must be a new interface. That interface
will allow iPhone users to prerecord voicemail messages on their
phone and send to other iPhone users without hearing a greatings
or even making a call --- Very nice.

Better yet, iPhone users will be able to reply to voicemail
messages by selecting a reply button, recording a message and
selecting send. This voiceback feature will allow iPhone users to
bounce voice messages back and forth, much like text messages.


?

0 Votes
+ -
Forget Voicemail, FIX MMS!!!
esdrasf@... 8th Sep 2009
What in the world!!! Voicemail is just fine, thank you. It works
as it should. We need to finally leave the stone age and have
real MMS. To quote someone else here, "AT&T, please just fix
the damn MMS!"
0 Votes
+ -
Patience!
The Pixie Irish (http://thepixieirish.blogspot.com) 8th Sep 2009
Rumours are nice and interesting but I would like to ask you for a little bit of patience.

Your Pixie Irish
(http://thepixieirish.blogspot.com)
0 Votes
+ -
Wow, Will I Still Get Voicemails A Week Late?
itanalyst2@... 8th Sep 2009
AT&T SUCKS.
Why not focus their energy instead on building an operational, scalable 3G network? You know, something they claimed to have a couple of years ago?
0 Votes
+ -
Fix what we have!!!
paulfox 8th Sep 2009
It is astounding to me that Apple is even considering a
continuation of this unbelievable relationship. I'm tired of
"new features" that really never materialize considering the
failure they've managed in relation to a network that
actually works.

Nevermind the tethering and MMS game.

I HATE AT&T. I am only waiting for the market to open up
so I can abandon my patronage of their lousy company.
0 Votes
+ -
I doubt Apple is "considering" it.
matthew_maurice 8th Sep 2009
Unless AT&T is going to let Steve and Phil drive a large truck up to
AT&T's vault and shovel bundles of cash into the bed.

Personally, I think Apple is going to drop AT&T exclusivity like a hot rock
the instant they're contractually able to. Here's to an EV-DO iPhone
in July 2010!
http://www.computersncs.com/rd_p?p=186122&t=9544&a=29670-
szdnet&gift=29670

I've always wanted to remove those notifications (does
anyone really need instructions on how to leave a voice
mail message these days?!), but it doesn't make sense for
it to be another iPhone exclusive, since I doubt it's
device capability based.

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