Technology
The Real Deal about the 3G
***Confidential AT&T Information. For Internal Distribution Only.***
AT&T and Apple today announced that the iPhone 3G will be available in the U.S on July 11. iPhone 3G combines three products into one small, lightweight device: a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and it puts the Internet in your pocket with the best e-mail, web browsing, search and maps applications ever on a mobile phone.
The new version of the iPhone harnesses the power of AT&T's broad and powerful 3G mobile broadband network, which offers 3G mobile phones download speeds of up to 1.4 Mbps.
Key Device Features:
Operates on Wi-Fi, EDGE, and 3G networks
New enterprise e-mail capability with support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync
New iPhone software development kit (SDK) to support new innovative applications
Note: 2G iPhone customers will be able to download the iPhone 2.0 software from iTunes which enables new features such as access to corporate e-mail via Microsoft ActiveSync.
New Activation Process and BRE:
The iPhone 3G will be activated at point of sale when the device is purchased, in store. The BRE period will change from 14 days to 30 days and will require the device to be returned to place of purchase before service is cancelled.
Pricing and Plans
Device Pricing:
$199 8GB and $299 16GB for new activations and qualified upgrades with 2-year agreement.
Data Plans and Pricing:
The iPhone 3G will be activated on existing AT&T voice rate plans, but new data plans have been created for the 3G device.
All iPhone 3G customers are required to have one of the new data plans and qualifying voice plan.
Customers intending to use the iPhone 3G for access to corporate e-mail, business applications, or access to corporate intranet are required to activate with Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone.
The 2G data rate plans will remain available for 2G devices until further notice.
IRU service discounts for both voice and data pans will apply to iPhone 3G, but not 2G iPhone.
CRU service discounts for voice and data will apply to both 2G and 3G, when on a qualifying data plan.
IRUs will not get a discount on device purchase for 2G or iPhone 3Gs.
Data Pricing will be as follows:
Consumer Data Plan (must be added to qualified voice plan):
$30 - Unlimited Data (E-mail/Web), includes Visual Voicemail
Enterprise Data Plan (must be added to qualified voice plan):
$45 – Unlimited Data with personal and corporate e-mail, web, includes Visual Voicemail
Upgrade Eligibility and Qualified Upgrade Pricing
Upgrade eligibility will be determined based on standard upgrade eligibility rules. Customers must be upgrade eligible to receive the qualified upgrade pricing. However, not all customers will be qualified upgrades. AT&T has not determined the price of the 3G device for non-qualified upgrades.
All customers will be required to sign a 2-year agreement. There will not be a "no commitment" price for the iPhone 3G.
Note: When the 3G device launches, all active postpaid customers in good standing with a 2G iPhone will be eligible to receive the qualified upgrade pricing for a 3G device regardless of service tenure. (Customers that would not otherwise be eligible due to tenure will be made eligible at launch).
Activation Process
The new 3G device will be activated in store in both AT&T and Apple stores. Customers must accept AT&T and Apple Ts & Cs, sign a 2-year agreement, and select the data plan for the iPhone 3G before leaving the store. The current iTunes activation process will no longer be required for iPhone 3Gs, however a short tether process to unbrick the 3G device will be performed in all AT&T stores (tether cords will be provided). Apple stores will also perform this tether process, however in the event that a customer's device is not tethered in the Apple store, their device will be inoperable until they get home and tether through iTunes. Prepaid and Pick Your Plan will not be allowed on the 3G device.
The SSK has been modified to allow customers interested in the iPhone 3G to enter their information, select rate plans and data plans, and print a document that will allow COR reps to quickly access the customer's information in OPUS and save time for data entry in the activation process.
Note: In the interim, 2G iPhones will continue to be activated via iTunes - BAU. This is also true for existing AT&T customers who receive a 2G device as a gift, hand-me-down, etc. and wish to activate the device. Existing AT&T customers who switch to the 2G iPhone must tether through the iTunes process to begin using the device.
Compensation
Because the 3G device will be activated in store, compensation for the 3G device will be BAU. COR reps will receive compensation for upgrades and new activations with a 2-year agreement.
Purchase Limit
The device purchase limit will remain three (3) per customer for iPhone 3G in AT&T stores.
Allocations
If allocations are required at launch, supply chain will allocate based on January-April sales rates applied on a store-by-store basis.
Direct Fulfillment
The DF tool will be available at launch in COR for iPhone 3Gs. Customers will be required to pay for the device when the order is placed and the phone will be shipped to the store in the customer's name.
Existing Stock of 2G Devices
We will continue to sell 2G devices until stock is depleted.
Return Policy
2G Devices
Customers who recently purchased a 2G iPhone may want to return their device once they hear about the 3G model and price point, but the new device will not be available immediately. Since the announcement and launch will be about 30 days apart, we could lose some customers who are within their BRE period and want to return their device before their 14 days expires and wait for the new 3G device. We must acknowledge and address their desire to get the best device for them.
Here's how AT&T will handle 2G iPhone returns:
If a customer purchased before 5/27, we will follow BAU processes – no device returns. However, all postpaid 2G iPhone customers in good standing are upgrade eligible, so these customers will qualify to upgrade to a 3G iPhone when it is available.
If a customer purchased on or after 5/27 (within the 14-day BRE period before the product announcement on 6/9), we will let them exchange their 2G iPhone for an iPhone 3G before August 1. This means that after we launch the 3G model they can return their 2G iPhone, pay the 10% restocking fee, and purchase a new iPhone 3G before August 1.
Note: This modified return policy applies only to customers who purchase from AT&T stores.
3G Devices
The return policy for 3G is changing from 14 days to 30 days for both Apple and AT&T stores.
To cancel service within the first 30 days, the customer must return their equipment to the place of purchase (no exceptions).
If the customer cancels service after 30 days, they will be charged the ETF. The customer is not required to return the device to cancel after 30 days.
Special Notes Regarding 2G Devices
After the iPhone 3G launches, activations of 2G iPhones for new AT&T customers can be performed in COR stores or in the existing iTunes tether process. COR reps will receive compensation for activations of new AT&T customers done in store.
2G upgrades will continue to be activated via the existing iTunes tether process.
Existing 2G data plans will remain available for 2G devices until further notice.
Note: 2G iPhones are out of stock in the DCs, and the Direct Fulfillment tool for 2G is turned off. 2G iPhones have been removed from the "myRewards" incentive catalog.
Their rate plans are as follows:
With a two-year contract, the price of an 8GB iPhone 3G will be $199; the 16GB model will be priced at $299.
Unlimited iPhone 3G data plans for consumers will be available for $30 a month, in addition to voice plans starting at $39.99 a month.
Unlimited 3G data plans for business users will be available for $45 a month, in addition to a voice plan.
No mention of any included SMS messaging but we guess that it will be extra.
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iPhone/ Blackberry Bold Comparison
www.iphoneblog.com does a special report of the Blackberry Bold soon to be released by RIM, and the first gen iPhone. Although not completed the Bold does a decent job of competing with the iPhone sans touch screen. With the expected release of the iPhone 2 or the iPhone 3G as it is being called, there is no telling what the real setback is going to be for all smartphones.
Read More for video.
The iphone has just taken off its clown suit and showed off its tux and introduced itself as Bond
Yesterday Apple reintroduced the iPhone. How? By showing all of us that it is not a phone, nor smartphone. It is a miniature computing/ communications device. They showed us some skin by flashing us some insight to what is inside the OS of the phone, in the end it was understood that the iPhone is really more like a thinned out full OS, making it like the Macbook AIR for the pocket.
Apple turned over the SDK for software developers, to unleash havoc in the cellular work and relief to the business world.
For starters, the licensed the active sync protocol for Outlook exchange capabilities. What does that mean for business? Well syncing with the office is more like it, your email gets pushed to your phone like the blackberry, your contacts are synced across the U.S. even as your secretary is adding numbers to your contact list in the office computer, it shows up instantly on your cell, so you have the latest info. A new meeting? Your secretary adds it to your office computer (with Outlook) and you corporate Exchange server sends the latest calendar info to your phone instantly.
Software: Um what can i say? 3D gaming, and robust apps have access to some of the latest technologies Apple has to offer. Apple has added SQLite to handle database type apps which will offer some heavy duty capabilities. Apple also has permitted access for the applications to the camera, address book, calendar, and wireless features to that anyone can create applications that can do all sorts of fun or serious things. For example, Apple demonstrated the ability to play games by using movement of the phone with its accelerometer, and 3D like sound so if you are playing a game with headphones you can hear when something is behind you without needing 5.1 surround. The question is weather you can use the video output to watch the game you are playing on an HD screen?
This will be a phone game changer, with near laptop capabilities for the traveler ( like the macbook Air) Apple is introducing a new way people interact with technology. It will take years for any mobile phone manufacturer who have been making "iPhone killers" to out maneuver this move by Apple.
All I can say is with the combination of Business apps, and network capabilities, and mobile entertainment, (games, movie rentals, podcasts) which for the first time , can connect you to your office and home in ways that no one has ever thought of.
Sit back and enjoy the revolution.
Comcast changes the rules (quietly)
02/08/08 10:13 PM Filed in:
Technology
After it has been proved that Comcast have been short changing users of BitTorrent from having the full speeds that customers have been paying for, the cable internet company decided to make it official by burying in their fine print riddled Terms of Service agreement. According to Ars technica, a representative from the company stats that this is the first change in two years.
After it was found that Comcast practices of limiting internet speeds to customers there was a class-action lawsuit by an angry customer. The FCC has been getting its own earful complaints, and according to Ars Technicas report , "Comcast has denied throttling BitTorrent traffic, saying that the ISP just "delays" or "postpones" it on occasion. One analogy used by a Comcast executive was that of trying to make a phone call and getting a busy signal for a time, until the call actually goes through. A more accurate explanation of Comcast's use of TCP reset packets, to build on the phone analogy, would be talking on the phone with someone and then both of you hearing the other's voice saying "hang up." That's the effect of the forged reset packets: convincing the BitTorrent clients that the other(s) have stopped responding."
Our Take: Comcast is just one of the companies playing consumers. Many do not know that there is a quiet battle being made again by the big companies ( like recording labels (wanting to control music prices and distribution), oil companies( deterring the electric car), Walmart (forcing companies to use China for manufacturing nearly anything it sells), to name a few) to control internet traffic and wanting to change the pricing rules to customers. For example the idea of tiers for the amount of internet access you want. Kind of like how many minutes you want for your cell phone, but with bytes. How much internet do you want to download. Now if that happens, it can hamper the way the internet is merging with our lives.
Soon video online will be mainstream, renting movies online, tv on demand, streaming music, podcasts ( online ham radio like shows), video podcasts etc... can potentially be next on the Comcast agenda. The more internet you desire, the more you pay, and if it goes beyond a certain amount the can cut you off.
Companies like Verizon are known for limiting their unlimited plans if they feel you are abusing access. We are in a world where we make calls now using the internet, entire new industries are reliant on the access you have. Who should be permitted to limit that? The companies? Google? Yahoo? The Government? Who really controls the internet? Have we become to reliant to this online abyss? Phones are now internet compliant, soon TV's will stream video using ethernet or wifi, cars will have internet access, we are literally in the beginning stages of being an internet based zombie society and we don't even pay attention to how, who nor why.
Pay attention people, we can loose control like we have with fuel, and the constitution. Let me know what you think.