AT&T revs up damage control for post-iPhone exclusivity existence
Summary: In light of Verizon's pending announcement shortly, AT&T is already gearing up for the great iPhone war of 2011.
In light of Verizon's pending announcement shortly, AT&T is already gearing up for the great iPhone war of 2011.
According to The Wall Street Journal, AT&T will "run new ads that will highlight what the carrier says are the iPhone's greater speed and better functioning on its network," and it is again attributed to "a person familiar with the matter."
By no means is this the end of AT&T. Nor does it mean that Apple is pulling the iPhone (and future generations of the smartphone) away from AT&T. After all, the overwhelming majority of countries around the world where the iPhone is sold is available with multiple carriers.
A Verizon iPhone will certainly push AT&T harder than its ever been pushed, especially with incentives like unlimited data plans thrown in the mix. Hopefully some healthy competition will do the company some good, inciting AT&T to start wrangling in other devices. Samsung's Galaxy S series was a good start, and hopefully we'll see more handhelds along those lines, especially if T-Mobile really does shoot for the low-end market.
Related coverage on ZDNet:
- War of words between AT&T and Verizon escalate over iPhone
- AT&T: Five reasons the sky won't fall when iPhone goes to Verizon
- Will iPhone-Verizon deal, ChromeOS slow Android's momentum?
- Yes the iPhone is Coming to Verizon; Deal With It!
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Talkback
RE: AT&T revs up damage control for post-iPhone exclusivity existence
Not quite
I'm no huge fan of Big Red, but from what I can tell, all they're doing right now is pandering to the crowd that wants the iPhone 4 with the "big gee-bees". My guess is that Android handsets are still more profitable to them right now. Most of the iPhone bashing was more AT&T mudslinging than anything. Yeah, VZ ran ads about multitasking and being able to hold the Droid X 'any way you want', but the overwhelming majority of the anti-iPhone ads were against the network they were on. If the other article I read today is accurate, and VZ has been in negotiations for this for two years, it'd be in their disinterest to bash the platform too heavily.
Joey
RE: AT&T revs up damage control for post-iPhone exclusivity existence
ATT network supports simultaneous Voice and Data channels
For a customer without any call dropping issues on ATT, or a customer located in an area serviced relatively equally by both providers, that's a pretty important feature.
RE: AT&T revs up damage control for post-iPhone exclusivity existence
RE: AT&T revs up damage control for post-iPhone exclusivity existence
RE: AT&T revs up damage control for post-iPhone exclusivity existence
I do not know how often @croberts does however, I do it often. As the client and I discuss an issue it is very convenient having the client receive the photo in their e-mail seeing what I see. It is not always convenient to carry a laptop and digital camera to locations, that is where iPhone on AT&T shines.
Other times while discussing issues there is a need to look on the web providing the client information they need. Thus for some talking, e-mailing, using SMS, taking photos or, surfing, at the same time is a nonissue, for others of us it is a wonderful time savings feature we and our clients appreciate. YMMV