Share According to a Redmond Pie report published this morning, a Best Buy employee has allegedly confirmed that the electronics store chain is preparing for the arrival of the Apple iPhone 4G. Wait, of course we know a fourth generation iPhone is on the way. We’ve all seen pictures of the whole device and the stripped down parts, right? The detail that makes this rumor an interesting one is that the iPhone 4G in question is to be released for use on the Sprint network.

Back on May 13, 2010, Geek Shui Living reported on the alleged, impending release of a CDMA iPhone for Verizon. Citing the Wall Street Journal and several other sources, we explained why it would actually make sense. With the latest, unconfirmed iPhone/Sprint intelligence, the CDMA portion of the rumor seems to be the only consistent detail in the stories. At the same time, if the information published by Redmond Pie is correct, it actually reaffirms the logic Geek Shui Living followed in our aforementioned iPhone/Verizon post. What’s the whole story behind the latest leak?

Redmond Pie indicates it was the recipient of communications relating to an iPhone post on an unnamed site. Allegedly, a Best Buy employee emailed the site with an explanation that, indeed, the iPhone would be sold for use on the Sprint network very soon. His comments, as originally published by Redmond Pie, included the comments: “I work in an electronics store that has a mobile phone store within it. I can confirm that Sprint will be carrying the iPhone beginning in June. They’ve begun to grease the wheels for advertising. There is no news in regards to a Verizon version however.”

In turn, the site responded, asking for whom the person worked and if they could provide evidence to back up their claim. The source responded, “Best Buy in a Pennsylvania store….Can’t present evidence as it breaks our privacy policy to our clients.” The source also added, “It’s coming though. We expect the shelf display within a week or two.”

Technically, we’re looking at Redmond Pie reporting on an unnamed site, who cites an unnamed source. Unnamed sources are the basis of many a legitimate news story, but when it comes to anything that mentions Apple, the iPhone, or any carrier other than AT&T, the whole story has to be taken at face value. Obviously, if the story were true and the iPhone 4G (or HD) with its brand new OS 4.0, were to be released on Sprint or Verizon, a collective cheer could likely be heard throughout the United States.

It has been widely speculated that Apple will use the WWDC, to be held June 7-11, 2010 in San Francisco, CA, to formally announce the availability of the iPhone 4G. Since much of the surprise has already been ruined by the Gizmodo iPhone 4G scandal and the more recent appearance of an iPhone 4G in Korea, a CDMA version of the iPhone on any network would definitely be a newsworthy event. Unfortunately, we’ll just have to wait patiently for WWDC to find out for sure

Qik was on hand at the Sprint EVO 4G event to tell us a little about the EVO’s exclusive video calling feature and to demonstrate the video calling app’s relatively low lag times. As you can see from the video, the lag between the two EVO’s conducting the video chat is as low as we could hope for.

What’s more, the Qik app can make use of either the front-facing or the rear-facing camera. That means you can video chat with a friend in a two-way face-to-face conversation, or you can simply show your friend what’s happening on the other side of your EVO 4G. Now that’s a really cool feature.

All in all, the video chat feature is a big selling point for the EVO 4G – on top of the massive 4.3-inch touchscreen, the 8-megapixel camera, HDMI video output, and HD 720p video recording.

Make sure to check out all our HTC EVO 4G hands-on coverage here and here and here.

For those who are waiting for quite a multimedia powerhouse, Sprint has finally announced the HTC EVO 4G release date and price tag.

It’s finally official: The HTC EVO 4G release date is set to June 4, and it’ll be selling for $200 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. Sprint’s Everything Data plans start at $70 per month. A $10 per month Premium Data add-on will apply to connect the HTC EVO 4G (specs) to the Mobile WiMAX high-speed data network. For another $30 per month, you can turn your EVO 4G into a mobile hotspot and share your data connection with up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, gaming devices and digital cameras. Check out our video of the HTC EVO 4G for Sprint here:

Where will the HTC EVO 4G work at full data speed?

For more information on where the HTC EVO 4G will connect to the Mobile WiMAX network, check out Sprint’s 4G site. At the time of writing, Sprint offers Mobile WiMAX in 32 markets, covering 41 million people. By the end of 2010, Sprint expects to cover up to 120 million people, by expanding its service to markets such as Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Will apps be optimized for the increased data speed?

Android applications will be enhanced by access to the increased data speed, and a Sprint 4G developer guide is available today from the Sprint ADP website. The Sprint 4G developer guide provides details on how developers can take advantage of the HTC EVO 4G’s hardware and software capabilities and Sprint’s high-speed data network.

Additionally, HTC EVO 4G customers will be able to enjoy capabilities they have never experienced before with a new video chat service from Qik. The two-way voice and video capability will be available as an upgrade to the preloaded Qik app on the HTC EVO 4G to enable conversational, interactive, real-time sharing between mobile devices or from mobile-to-desktop.

HTC EVO 4G’s Many Highlights

- Simultaneous voice and data capability in 4G and Wi-Fi coverage areas, enabling Web surfing and more while the conversation continues.

- Offering a new way to search with pictures instead of words, Google Goggles works with everything from books, DVDs and barcodes to landmarks, logos, artwork and wine labels.

- A 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, ensuring smooth and quick movement within phone menus.

- Two cameras – an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3-megapixel camera.

- Built-in mobile hotspot functionality allowing up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the data connection ($30 per month).

- Integrated HD video capture with the ability to capture and share live video via Qik Web site, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter.

- Ability to easily watch video with the device on an HDTV via an HDMI cable (sold separately).

- Custom Web browser optimized for the 4.3-inch display and Sprint 4G speeds to deliver a full, no-compromise Internet experience.

- A kickstand built into the back, making it easy to watch videos on the go.

- Adobe Flash technology ensures that rich Internet content, such as embedded video and animation, are displayed the way they are meant to be seen.

- Pinch-to-zoom and automatic text reflowing provide easy Web page views.

Price and release date

The HTC EVO 4G will be available from Sprint on June 4, selling for $200 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

 May 10, 2010

By Mike Dano

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) appears to have a serious problem, and as far as I can tell the company is doing its absolute best to ignore it completely.

I’m not talking about AT&T’s network performance. There has been plenty of ink spilled over whether AT&T has been able to keep pace with dramatic increases in data traffic, whether smartphone signaling is causing the problems, and exactly how much money the carrier is investing to improve network capacity. This is all very interesting and important, but it’s not what I’m writing about.

What I’m writing about is Americans’ perception of AT&T, and how the carrier is responding. Specifically, I’m writing about how late-night pundits including David Letterman, Jon Stewart of the “Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update have made AT&T the butt of their jokes. If you haven’t seen these bits, let me summarize: The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone would be a great device if not for AT&T’s shoddy service.

I would think that having a company’s wireless service ridiculed by virtually all of late night’s top comedians would represent a major blow to that company’s brand position, and I’m not alone.

“It’s a huge problem for AT&T,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst of technology market research and consulting firm Parks Associates. Scherf said concerns over the performance of AT&T’s network have spilled out of the “technorati” and into mainstream America.

Further, it’s not just Jon Stewart who appears to be having problems with AT&T’s wireless service. According to a new survey from ChangeWave Research, which asked 4,040 smartphone users in March how many dropped calls they had experienced in the past three months, AT&T customers reported 4.5 percent of their calls were dropped–three times higher than Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) customers. Those results come on the heels of similar findings by Consumer Reports. (To be fair, the results of such user surveys are notoriously erratic.)

Nonetheless, at least some AT&T customers are unhappy, and the big names of late night are having a field day. What is AT&T’s response?

“When any customer tells us about a problem, we take it seriously and do our best to fix it,” a spokeswoman from the company said in response to my questions. Then, she proceeded to trumpet AT&T’s network performance. Among her claims: “AT&T’s call retainability is within two-tenths of a percent of the market leader.” She also questioned the results of the ChangeWave survey. Click here to read AT&T’s full response to my query.

Now, I am no branding expert, but I’m pretty sure that AT&T touting its superiority is not a good response to David Letterman joking that the next-generation iPhone “didn’t work anyway–it uses AT&T.”

According to Parks Associates’ Scherf, AT&T needs to respond to the jabs with regret and humility rather than defiance. AT&T should say: “We care about you and your experience … and we’re going to solve these problems,” Scherf explained.

I agree AT&T seems to be a little tone deaf to the whole situation, though I’m not sure what the carrier’s response should be. I do know, however, that this is one problem that “Seth the blogger guy” can’t fix. –Mike

Read more: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/problem-ts-wireless-network-punchline/2010-05-10#ixzz0nYDTQMnN
]]> http://sprintbiz.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/a-problem-atts-wireless-network-is-the-punchline/feed/ 0 The Consultant http://sprintbiz.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/android-demolishing-iphone-in-sales/ http://sprintbiz.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/android-demolishing-iphone-in-sales/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 17:51:20 +0000 marksa25 http://sprintbiz.wordpress.com/?p=176 ]]> Posted by Seth Weintraub

By Lance Whitney

Verizon’s customers are a happy lot. AT&T’s? Not so much, still.

At least those are the findings of a survey (PDF) released last week by ChangeWave Research that found Verizon tops among cell phone users for customer satisfaction and fewer dropped calls.

Of the 4,040 wireless subscribers questioned for the survey in March, 49 percent of Verizon’s customers said they were very satisfied with their service. In second place was Sprint Nextel with a 35 percent satisfaction rate. T-Mobile and AT&T both tied for last with only 23 percent of their customers who said there were very satisfied.

(Credit: ChangeWave)

Verizon also came out top in the fewest number of dropped calls, with its customers reporting only 1.5 percent of their calls lost over the prior three months. The dropped call rates were 2.4 percent for Sprint and 2.8 percent for T-Mobile, while AT&T was at the bottom with customers reporting 4.5 percent of their calls being lost. The dropped call rates marked Verizon’s best since September 2008 and AT&T’s worst over the same time frame.

(Credit: ChangeWave)

Customer loyalty, specifically churn rate, was another factor measured in the survey. But here Verizon and AT&T both fared well, with 7 percent of Verizon customers saying they plan to switch to another carrier over the next three months, and 8 percent of AT&T customers saying the same. The churn rate was 10 percent for Sprint and 14 percent for T-Mobile at the bottom.

Though AT&T’s other grades were poor, ChangeWave believes its churn rate is relatively low thanks to its deal with Apple as the only U.S. supplier of the iPhone. In total, only 8 percent of all the people surveyed said they plan to switch carriers, the lowest level ever recorded by ChangeWave.

For those customers who do plan to switch, where will they go? The popularity of the Motorola Droid led to a big jump in the number of people who said they’d switch to Verizon, according to ChangeWave’s December survey results. The number has gone down 4 percentage points since, according to the most recent results, but is still the highest of the four carriers, with 27 percent of people who plan to switch reporting they’ll jump to Verizon.

Among other subscribers looking for a change, 18 percent said they’re switching to AT&T. That was the second-highest rank in the current survey but 3 percentage points lower for AT&T than in the December survey and 19 points lower than it was in the September 2008 survey.

Only 7 percent of those switching say they’ll move to Sprint, while 5 percent indicated a leap to T-Mobile, however, those numbers do show an improvement over the last several quarters. In the case of Sprint, ChangeWave believes the boost is due to the carrier’s new 4G wireless plan and its lower prices but is uncertain whether or not this trend will continue.

Finally, how might a non-AT&T iPhone shake up the cellular landscape? The news would certainly be good for Apple.

Among Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile subscribers in general, 49 percent said they’d be very or somewhat likely to buy an iPhone if their carrier offered it. But among specific carriers, 53 percent of Verizon customers said they’d be very or somewhat likely to buy the iPhone, 44 percent of Sprint customers said the same, and 39 percent of T-Mobile customers would likely jump to an iPhone.

(Credit: ChangeWave)

But with Verizon typically the most rumored carrier that would get an iPhone if and when AT&T’s exclusive contract ends, ChangeWave sees a huge demand for it among Verizon customers and believes such a move could have a “profound and likely transformational impact on the industry.”

Three times as many as Verizon, according to a consumer survey released Tuesday

Click to enlarge. Source: ChangeWave Research

AT&T (T) announced in January that it was spending $2 billion this year to improve its much maligned cellular network.

But you wouldn’t know it from the survey of smartphone customers released Tuesday by ChangeWave Research, the consumer polling division of InvestorPlace.com.

In a poll that asked 4,040 smartphone users in March how many dropped calls they had experienced in the past three months, AT&T — the exclusive U.S. carrier of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and iPad mobile devices — came in dead last among the country’s four largest carriers.

Verizon (VZ) customers reported losing only 1.5% of their calls over the past three months, the lowest in the smartphone industry and the lowest percentage for a carrier ever recorded by ChangeWave.

AT&T customers, by contrast, reported 4.5% of calls dropped in the last three months. That’s one out of every 22 calls — three times as many as Verizon’s and the worst percentage ChangeWave has ever seen.

This is not good news for AT&T or for Apple, which has cited AT&T’s plans for improving its network as the reason it is sticking with the carrier — at least for now.

In the same survey, Sprint (S) was the country’s second most reliable carrier, with 2.4% of calls dropped, and T-Mobile (DT) the third, with 2.8% of calls dropped.

Below: A chart tracking the results of similar surveys dating back to Sept. 2008. It shows a growing number of dropped calls for AT&T and a steadily falling number for Verizon.

The number of calls that get dropped by one’s carrier correlates closely with overall satisfaction, according to ChangeWave, as evidenced by the chart below:

The survey was conducted between March 9 and March 23.