iPhone is Top Seller at AT&T

The iPhone, launched on June 29th, has been AT&T's best selling handset since that day. According to projections, Apple and AT&T have sold over 1.325 million handsets, representing 13% of AT&T's handset sales.

The early adopters of the iPhone have been categorized as young, affluent males. Still 25% of buyers were between the ages of 50 and 60. Sales are expected to increase, as Apple expects to gain a broader audience with its recent price drop.

The launch of the iPhone was expected to take business from its main competitors. Those most hurt by the iPhone have been Treo users along with Alltel and T-Mobile subscribers. Research in Motion (RIM), Sprint, and Verizon, although affected, have been able to limit their losses. RIM has been able to hold off the iPhone by offering media capable devices to its business customers. Sprint and Verizon have used their 3G networks and support for over-the-air (OTA) music downloads, two features the iPhone does not have, to keep subscribers.

AT&T Finally Offers OTA Music Downloads

AT&T is now able to offer OTA (Over the Air) music downloads to certain handsets. The service is provided via eMusic
, the world's largest retailer of independent music with over 2.7 million songs in its catalog. When a song is purchased using eMusic
, it is automatically downloaded to a users handset. eMusic
will also make a duplicate copy of the song in .mp3 format available online for download to a PC.

AT&T is charging customers $7.49 a month to be able to download 5 songs per month. Additional song downloads are available in packs of 5 for an additional $7.49. It ends up being $1.50 per song. Currently, the service is only available on four AT&T handsets - Samsung A717, Samsung A727, Samsung Sync, and the Nokia N75.

AT&T is late to the game here. OTA music downloads have been available for a while now from Sprint and Verizon. Both carriers charge only 99 cents per song and the service is available on several of their handsets.

With the limited phones available and high per track costs, it's easier to just go directly to eMusic
, where you can get downloads as low as 22 cents per track. eMusic
is currently running a trial for 25 free downloads. Click below to sign up.

Back Up Your Contacts With AT&T

AT&T now offers a solution for those who need to back up their contact information. The service consists of a a web accessible interface that allows users to add new contacts and edit existing contacts. The down-loadable application allows users to automatically backup the data on their handsets daily or weekly. AT&T is charging $2 per month for the service, which is comparable to the price of service already offered by other major carriers like Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon. This service will work great for keeping up to date contact information when upgrading phones or in cases where phones are lost.

AT&T Gets Another Music Phone - LG Trax

AT&T is about to add another music phone to its lineup. But unlike the iPhone, the LG Trax supports high speed mobile broadband speeds by operating on AT&T's 3G HSDPA network. The clamshell device has external music controls and has an internal dedicated music key that will take you directly to the media player no matter what screen you are on.

The microSD slot supports up to 4 GB, giving it the same capacity as the iPhone. I also has a 1.3 megapixels camera. Since this is a 3G phone, it will also work with AT&T's Video Share service, which allows one-way live video streaming to other 3G phones. The phone is expected to be available sometime this summer.

Rate Plans for the iPhone Announced

Apple and AT&T finally released the much anticipated information about rate plans available for the iPhone when it launches this Friday. All the plans will include the following features: unlimited data, Visual Voicemail, 200 text messages, roll-over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Visual Voicemail is a cool application that allows users to view their voicemail messages in the same way they view email messages, allowing you to go directly to a message without having to listen to all of them.

The plans start at $59.99 for 450 minutes, and include options for 900 minutes ($79.99) and 1350 minutes ($99.99). All charges are monthly rates and do not include any discounts on the cost of the iPhone - $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for the 8 GB model. There is also a one-time activation fee of $36.

The iPhone will be available this Friday at 6:00 PM (local time) at AT&T and Apple stores. At launch, the phone will not be available through distribution channels such as Best Buy and Radio Shack.

iPhone Coming June 29th

After months of speculation, the launch date for the much anticipated iPhone from Apple has finally been announced. June 29th is the date shown in new web and TV ads from Apple and AT&T.

AT&T Now Selling BlackBerry Curve

The BlackBerry Curve is now available from AT&T. The Curve has been given the distinction of being the lightest and slimmest full QWERTY BlackBerry device. It is RIM's second consumer oriented device, with the Pearl being the first, and comes with a 2 megapixels camera. It is available for $199 with contract and rebates.

Phonepotential.com first reviewed the device back in April. (Read Article)

The Next Consumer BlackBerry - The Curve

Research In Motion is planning to release it's newest consumer device, named "The Curve", later this quarter. The phone will be exclusive to AT&T (Cingular). It will have most of the features seen in the Pearl, but will have a full QWERTY keyboard.

Some of the features of the new device are
- speaker independent voice recognition for dialing
- a media player and manager
- HTML browser with RSS
- trackball navigation
- 2 mega-pixel camera
- stereo Bluetooth support
- MicroSD slot that supports 4 GB cards
- 3.5 mm jack for standard stereo headsets

See the device at www.blackberrycurve.com

ATT (Cingular) 1st Quarter Results

ATT reported their 1st quarter results for their wireless division Cingular. Overall, the numbers were good, but ATT did not meet analysts' estimates.

Net Additions = 1.2 million (short of analysts' estimates of 1.3 million)
Total Churn = 1.7% (drop from 1.9% this quarter last year)
Post-Paid Churn = 1.3% (drop from 1.6% this quarter last year)
ARPU (Avg. Revenue Per User) = $49.21 (1.5% increase year over year)
Data ARPU = $7.88 (51% increase year over year)
Wireless Revenues = $10 billion (increase of 11%)

Wireless revenue represented one-third of ATT's total revenue for the first quarter.

AT&T to Start Re-Branding Cingular

AT&T will begin a campaign to rebrand Cingular starting Monday, January 15. Cingular will eventually be known as AT&T, not AT&T Wireless. The service will be referred to as "Wireless from AT&T". Executives want to use the same brand for all of the telecom services provided by the merged company. AT&T now provides local and long distance, wireless, internet and TV. AT&T will launch national advertising to let customers know that "Cingular is now the new AT&T." That feature products will end with the Cingular "Jack" spinning or swirling to morph into the AT&T globe. Other commercials are being created simply communicate the brand change. They will feature scenes where it looks like the Cingular "bars" are being illustrated and zoom out to show that it was actually the AT&T globe. As Cingular begins to officially change their name, subscribers will be notified about changes on their bills. AT&T will also begin taking advantage of Cingular's retail presence and advertising AT&T wireline service in stores that are located in AT&T service areas.

About 2,000 company-owned retail stores and kiosks will be re-branded over the coming year, and employees will begin wearing AT&T-branded apparel in the coming months. Even sooner, Cingular customers will start hearing the AT&T name on Cingular voice greetings and begin seeing related messages in their bills. AT&T estimated that about 20 percent of the operating expense savings from its acquisition of BellSouth will come from moving the three operations to a single brand.

Source: www.phonescoop.com

AT&T…The New Cingular

Wireless is expected to be the heart of the newly merged AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., bundling multiple services with cellular and allowing advertisers to reach multiple media platforms through one company. And that wireless heart will be the nation’s largest carrier, Cingular Wireless L.L.C., under the AT&T brand.

The new AT&T eventually will mean the demise of the successful Cingular brand. The re-branding of Cingular will begin shortly, according to AT&T, and will take place over a period of months. AT&T offered few details about the transition, but indicated that it will do a co-branded campaign that is scheduled to start early this year and use the phrase “Cingular is now AT&T.” The company noted that it has already begun extensive new advertising that will transition the BellSouth brand name to AT&T.