It’s Tuesday, January 11 and that means Verizon executives will be taking the stage in New York City to announce the iPhone has finally arrived on the carrier after years of speculation and rumors. The question now is, how will AT&T respond?The W…
Click image to embiggenAT&T has officially announced its iPhone 4 plans and release date. According to a press release that was just sent out, AT&T stores will be carrying the iPhone 4 on launch day (June 24, 2010). Pre-ordering for the device …
During a JP Morgan conference with analysts this morning, AT&T’s Wireless CEO, Ralph de la Vega, was quoted as saying, “I’m addicted to the iPad.”
He went on to say that the iPad has, “changed the way I work” and that he was recently able to get through all of his email on a flight that included in-flight Wi-Fi service.
Business Insider reports on the conference that Vega was attending. According to their report, Vega was talking about how iPhone customers on AT&T won’t make the switch to another carrier when the exclusivity between AT&T and Apple ends.
He gave the following reasons of why users won’t switch:
- 70% of AT&T’s customers are on family plans, which can be a hassle to move everyone over to a new carrier
- 40% of customers are on corporate discount plans
The CEO didn’t give any additional information about the exclusivity deal, like dates. It looks like we will just have to wait and see if his predictions about the deal comes true.
via 9to5 Mac
The iPhone has likely become a love/hate relationship with its carriers: On one hand, profits are surging like never before. But the huge data demands for the device are taxing the 3G infrastructure and exposing weaknesses in their systems. Who’s going to pay for those upgrades?
We like to bash AT&T here in the United States for dropped calls and lousy 3G data speeds on our iPhones, but the reality is that carriers all over the world are having a tough time keeping up with the ever-increasing data usage of its users. AppleInsider has a report which analyzes the problem as the World Mobile Congress industry event is underway in Barcelona, Spain this week.
Vittorio Colao, the CEO of Vodafone, used the event to confirm on Tuesday that the demand for data in mobile devices has become a problem for all carriers. In a piece carried by Reuters, the CEO specifically pointed the finger at Google and claimed the company should not be allowed to control the flow of money by “dominating” the search and advertising markets.
Colao’s suggestion is for carriers to get a piece of the pie by charging customers more for greater bandwidth, or even for guaranteed high speeds. He even goes so far as to suggest that they charge the content providers themselves, at the same time as they guarantee bandwidth speeds as well. The CEO claims that under the current business model, it’s difficult for carriers such as Vodafone to invest in their networks.
Those investments are likely to soar in the years ahead, as the faster 4G long term evolution (LTE) wireless standard becomes a reality. In the U.S. alone, carriers transitioning to LTE will spend an estimated $1.78 billion each in just the first year alone.
Back in December, Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of mobility and consumer markets for AT&T, made tech headlines with the comment that it was inevitable that higher-bandwidth users would start paying more for what they use. Assumptions were made that such tiered pricing would be introduced for the iPhone, but the carrier quickly denied those rumors — for now.
(Image courtesy of Apple-Touch.com)
