[jscottk]

He sold DSL (if I remember correctly) for Pacific Bell (which I do remember correctly), which was bought out by SBC, which became, wait for it, AT&T (which is annoying, because I left AT&T for Pacific Bell years ago to get away from AT&T).

I remember when the iPhone was introduced that everyone was praising Jobs to the high heavens because he was going to single-handedly change the US Cell Phone industry. What happened in stead was that agreed to an exclusive contract, which, doesn't change the phone industry, but reinforced its ways. The only way to fix our cell phone system is create a phone as hot as the iPhone, then make it available on every system - AT&T, T-mobile, Verizon, US Cellular (I always find it hilarious that everyone thinks Verizon is the ONLY national CDMA carrier), Sprint, etc, AND make it easy to switch carriers if the one you chose wasn't up to the task. aka Competition is GOOD for customers. This is especially true of cell phones as no one system can possible be all things to all people and offer good service everywhere (where I live in Northern California - US Cellular is better than land lines, Verizon is a close second, and AT&T is, well, if you like reading "no service" on your phone, then they're the company for you).

Would this mean that Apple would have to change the design to make a GSM and CDMA version? Duh. But, Motorola managed to do it without any problems with the RAZR (remember the RAZR? it was the IT phone for awhile and sold more than 55 million copies).

[rkbaker48]

After several different--and conflicting--conversations with AT&T staff about the costs to migrate to a 3G S phone, and with signal strength deteriorating in places where I need it the most, I've decided to keep my original 8Gb iPhone and hope that Verizon and Apple can offer the iPhone within the next year. I love rollover minutes and GSM coverage, but AT&T is really clueless when it comes to customer service. They're kind of the General Motors of wireless carriers, and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is up to. Plus, every time I go into the AT&T store, their computer system is having problems. I really want the new 3G S, but I'm willing to postpone my gratification. Sorry Apple, but you're the one who picked AT&T as a partner...

[bsteels]

Very good article. They (AT&T) are managing a wonderful opportunity very poorly.
As a very satisfied Mac user, I have found that the AT&T philosophy towards customers does not match Apple's philosophy at all. I would really like to see the iPhone available to more carriers to give some healthy competition and improve customer service. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see AT&T lose the contract with Apple given my limited experience dealing with them...

[nimbusthegreat]

i am someone that switched to at&t as soon as the original iphone was available. it is something i have regretted since day one. i should have bought an iphone and unlocked it to use on t-mobile. at&t doesn't care at all what the customer wants or needs. the service is terrible, the network resembles tin cans with string inbetween and they just don't respond to what customers want.
a friend of mine was at a corporate meeting of at&t's earlier this year and commented on how the head of at&t legal was sitting on stage for an hour talking about how they need to redefine the word "unlimited" so that they can charge their customers more.
they are quaking in their boots about the iphone 3gs because they KNOW their network can't handle the new features. hell, their network can't seem to handle the features we already have. or at least have some of the time.
at&t should change their name to sh&t.

[Sigil]

I "love" AT&T commercials. They list one of the many reasons people switched to them is because they have the "fastest 3G network." Obviously, this isn't true, but it shows that AT&T is on the defensive..They are trying to validate themselves.They are trying to give themselves value. Perhaps, it's not just about their terrible customer service, lack of features and underwhelming service. How about Ego? AT&T maybe scared of being defined by Apple. AT&T just the place you go get service for your iPhone or the Iphone itself when it is sold out....I think ATT is not only overwhelmed by the iPhone's capabilities or features, but its "cool factor" or popularity... I think thy want some of the credit for the iPhone...like the iPhone can truly only be realized on their network. We are the chosen one ...the chosen carrier....

[nimbusthegreat]

hey! it's good to see that at&t corporate has finally spoken up!

[drword563]

For all the negative reasons to avoid ATT mentioned above, I still don't have an iPhone. I think that distrust of ATT is the reason that the iPod Touch is so popular in the US. Where I live ATT has pretty good geographical coverage, but so does T-Mobile, which has great customer service. The Touch is the iphone without the phone, and now that Skype is available as log as I'm near an unprotected wi-fi hub, I can talk on my Touch, even with people in foreign countries. I figure my Touch may last 3 years, at which time Apple's exclusive contract with ATT expire. Can't wait.

[JohnnyO]

Good article.

I wonder what percentage of AT&T wireless users have iPhones. I would guess it is less than 10%. If that is the case, AT&T may have many other, more important constituents to worry about. Some of them (the military, for example) may be much more lucrative than the typical iPhone customer. If AT&T has to choose which base to keep happy, I'd guess they would choose their larger customer group.

[Sigil]

It isn't just what they can and can't do. It's how they are going about it. Also, 10% may be accurate or way off the mark. However, the funds they receive from iPhone customers can't be ignored not to mention the publicity of being the sole provider in the states. That said, ATT customer service approval wasn't no where near good pre-iphone. I was with Cingular....... They got many customer via acquisition and the iPhone. The old school way... not through innovation or customer service. Their commercials are misleading. They do not value the customer. They will divulge your informations. They will mislead you with double talk and half truths. They will not keep you informed. They are in league with Voldermort. The iPhone and smart-phones (like it) are the FUTURE. If the can't handle the iPhone, they are in trouble. If they have your way of thinking, they will end up like Microsoft...no longer innovating, but just playing catch-up.

[MacJoe1]

I think there is something seriously wrong on the software/network end at AT&T. As mentioned on a few threads last week, I bought one of the first iPhones back in June 2007. Last week when I went to find out if I could buy an iPhone 3GS (32GB) at the $299 price I was told that I would not be eligible for that price until April 28, 2010. Which made no sense. The folks at customer service agreed with me, that I should be eligible now, but they said they were not able to change the eligibility date in the system, that it had to come from higher up ("corporate"). So I asked them to have corporate change it, and "long story short" by Saturday night, nothing had changed (been working on it since Wednesday).
So I tracked down the email address of the CEO of AT&T wireless and sent him an email explaining the whole situation Saturday night. He got back to me in a number of hours and told me he would have one of his people "look into it right away." He was true to his word and I got a call on Sunday from one of the VP's people and basically what I was told is that no one knows how to go into their system and change that eligibility date. They worked on it last night and most of today, and still no luck, and this is with the top "tech people" at AT&T wireless working on it (I've gotten a number of calls from them throughout the day). What we ended up with is that I need to go into an AT&T store and buy the new iPhone 3GS there, because then the person at the AT&T store can look at my account and see the copious notes from everyone from the customer service manage to the VP to the CEO, all saying, "Yes, this guy is eligible for the $299 price on the 32GB phone." I can't buy it from Apple because no one at Apple has access to the account notes, they only have access to the AT&T network system, and the system says I'm not eligible.
After having dealt with this for almost a week and talked with almost a dozen different folks at AT&T, I believe them when they say they cannot change the network system so that my eligibility will read properly. The situation is a bit of a pain for me as I won't be able to buy my iPhone at an Apple store which I would prefer to do, but what I find truly disturbing is that AT&T designed and built their network system, and no one at AT&T knows how to go in and change something in the network system as simple as the Upgrade Eligibility function.
Something is seriously wrong there.

[cseeman]

Makes you wonder what Jobs return in late June is going to bring.
.mac is now MOBILEme. There's that server farm they're buying. Who know what other infrastructure they've got going or buying.

I can just see the big announcement.
SJ: I know you didn't get a "one more thing" at WWDC. I know you've heard how you can find your missing iPhone with MobileMe. You certainly know the AppStore is owned by Apple and not any carrier. There's one more thing . . . . . . MobileMe is now is now an iPhone carrier . . .

and Steve rattles off all the new features including the cross grade plan for those who want to break their AT&T contracts and me to the new MobileMe carrier.

Worcester said:

Personally, I think Apple always knew what the iPhone would do to the cell phone world... and cell phone carriers. I suspect Jobs' plan all along was to create a popular product, then use the massive customer base against whatever "partner" was providing service to the phone.


I mean, what does a cell phone company cost these days? Apple has pretty deep pockets :)

>

[mel5051]

MacJoe1 I know your pain!

When I went to get my 3G at the Apple store they told me that since I wasn't the 'master' member on the Family Plan that I COULD NOT buy it from them. They told me I HAD to go to the A T & T store. I got to the A T & T store and they told me I HAD to go to the Apple Store!!!

My son worked for an AT & T wireless dealership and he called his people and they set me up with the manager at the Farmington Hills, MI store near my house. They said my SON had to be there not me!!

Second day: My son went in to the AT & T store with me. They said only a Manager could do what we needed!!

Day FOUR!: Manager finally left word with a salesman to let me purchase the phone.
Day FOUR: Got home plugged in the iPhone to charge and found I had NO INTERNET!! I had purchased the UNLIMTED for everything!!

Day SIX: Finally got everything working! MY WORD!

[Jason Snell]

adobephile said:

This worthless article does nothing but pander to the ignorant mob, as evidenced by the majority of comments.

Stated with your usual grace, adobephile...

But if I had wanted to pander to the mob, I would have written a screed about how outrageous it was that AT&T wants to hold people to their original two-year subsidized contracts. Which I didn't do, because I am not really willing to argue that point.

Also, I can't control the comments. Any article about AT&T would have engendered the kind of response we've seen here.

I've seen a few people complain that this is just stupid cultists bitching about dumb features like MMS and tethering. Well, yeah, I'll agree those aren't the most amazing features around. But they're kind of the marquee features of the 3.0 update, AT&T has known about them for months, 20-plus international carriers are supporting them at launch and -- here's the clincher -- even Apple went to the trouble of calling out AT&T during the keynote, pointing out their absence. Doesn't sound like a non-issue to me.

As I said in the introduction, I don't really understand people loving ANY phone company. There will always be people pining for Verizon, until the iPhone is on Verizon. Then they'll complain about Verizon too! My article isn't about why the iPhone should be on Verizon. My article is about me being amazed that AT&T appears to be blowing its relationship with Apple and booting its chance to keep its iPhone customers for a long time, apparently because it's either being instransigent or simply is incapable of change.

Maybe no phone company could do that. Maybe it's asking too much of all of those dinosaurs. But AT&T took the chance on the iPhone. It had first ups. And for the 3.0 launch, it's whiffing.

[distortedloop]

cseeman said:

Makes you wonder what Jobs return in late June is going to bring.

I'm not convinced it will bring anything immediately. There's nothing he could announce in three weeks that wouldn't piss the hell out of everyone. Think about it. If he announces a newer better iPhone, everyone who just bought/upgraded the 3GS will go ballistic. If he announces new improved laptops, or even the fabled Mac Tablet, those who ran out and bought the just released new Macs will go ballistic. Any "and one more thing" that he might come off CAN NOT be cell phone or computer related.

Quote

.mac is now MOBILEme. There's that server farm they're buying. Who know what other infrastructure they've got going or buying.

I can just see the big announcement.
SJ: I know you didn't get a "one more thing" at WWDC. I know you've heard how you can find your missing iPhone with MobileMe. You certainly know the AppStore is owned by Apple and not any carrier. There's one more thing . . . . . . MobileMe is now is now an iPhone carrier . . .

and Steve rattles off all the new features including the cross grade plan for those who want to break their AT&T contracts and me to the new MobileMe carrier.

You said it right there in your last sentence why this will never happen in the near future. Millions of people are running out and pre-ordering and planning to stand in line to buy a new iPhone 3GS and get locked into a new 2-year contract with AT&T in the process. Only a madman would announce two weeks later that he's offering a new cellular phone network that those people could have switched to without incurring contract cancellation fees. The only way Apple would not garner more hate than it's ever in its history by doing that would be to offer a rebate that covered those cancellation fees. That would just be stupid business; incurring a $175 extra charge to gain subscribers when announcing two weeks earlier, or postponing iPhone 3GS announcement two weeks would save that charge. That's just silliness.

As for server farms, well, it takes more than a big server farm in one part of the country to run a cell network. Where are all the Apple cell towers? They gonna be an MVO? Plus, the server farms not even breaking ground yet. I doubt it, but nice fantasy.

As for a surprise Steve Jobs "and one more thing" anywhere in the near future, the best we could hope for is some hot new AppleTV product that is sooooo hot that despite AppleTV being a flop so far, it makes the entire public go crazy wanting one. Maybe an AppleTV/TiVo/iTunes cable service for On Demand straight from Apple; that's the kind of thing all those new servers are good for!

And if the AppleTV/TiVo/iTunes thing does happen, don't forget that you heard it from me first. LOL