AT&T - page 11

The new iPhone 5 is almost among us, dear friends, and on this episode of the CultCast, we’ll tell you everything we know about it, ponder what Apple will actually be naming it, and tell you how to hang on to that unlimited data plan your carrier wants to move you out of.

Plus, looks like there’s a new HD tablet in town, and this one is looking pretty fern good, partner. We’ll tell you why Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is one tablet that could actually give the iPad a run for its money.

Hit the subscribe button and let’s get this party rollin’!

Show notes ahead!

After months of delays, Isis has announced the debut of its mobile payment system. A joint venture by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, Isis made news earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in March, but has been pretty quiet since then. During that quiet period a number of other players in the mobile payment market have stolen the spotlight and announced major deals.

Apple is expected to eventually unveil its own mobile payment system, one that will most likely be based around the iTunes Store payment system, but hasn’t made announcements beyond iOS 6’s Passbook feature. Apple has also kept quiet about whether it will include NFC chips used in some mobile payment systems in the upcoming iPhone 5, which some analysts and pundits consider a barrier to entry into the mobile payment market.

For a company that’s wanting to “sell against the iPhone,” T-Mobile still wants whatever business it can get from unlocked iPhone owners. Earlier today we told you about T-Mobile’s new microSIM kits that will easily unlock an iPhone 4/4S to run on its GSM network.

It appears that T-Mobile is also readying flyers that say “Bring Your iPhone to T-Mobile for BIG SAVINGS!” But can T-Mobile’s network really support iPhone users on 3G and eventually 4G speeds?

If you needed any more confirmation that the next iPhone is launching during the second half of September, look no further. Verizon has put a vacation blackout in place for its employees starting September 21st, and now TechCrunch is reporting that AT&T has the same blackout in place from September 21st to the 30th.

Apple is expected to announce the next iPhone on September 12th with pre-orders beginning on the same day. In-store availability would then begin the next Friday, September 21st.

When a frail Steve Jobs announced it was time he leave Apple for good, it seemed an impossible task for anyone to fill his role as leader and CEO of one of the world’s best tech companies. But someone needed to take the reins, and so on our newest CultCast, we take a look into the first full year of Tim Cook as CEO, and ponder how the soft-spoken operations genius has imprinted Apple with his own unique DNA, and lead the company to heights many thought a post-Jobs Apple could never reach.

Although a lot of people are clamoring to finally have a proper 4G Phone when Apple’s next device is released next month, how important is LTE to the average consumer? Not very, it looks like.

AT&T upset a lot of customers when it revealed that it would only allow those subscribed to its new Mobile Share data plans to access FaceTime over 3G/4G on their iOS devices. Today it has responded to that upset by explaining that because FaceTime is a feature built into the iPhone — and not one that is downloaded by the user — the company can disable it as it wishes and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Earlier today, U.K. communications regulator Ofcom gave Everything Everywhere — the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile — approval to rollout out the country’s first 4G network from September 11. Within hours of that announcement comes a new report that claims Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will be one of the first smartphones to take advantage of it, possibly handing Everything Everything an “exclusive” as the U.K.’s only 4G carrier compatible with the iPhone.

Months ago, it was discovered that AT&T would likely charge for FaceTime over Cellular in iOS 6. You can’t actually use the feature in the iOS 6 beta on any carrier, and it was believed that AT&T would charge it as an additional service, like tethering.

Today AT&T has revealed that it will in fact not charge for FaceTime over Cellular, but customers will have to be on one of AT&T’s new Mobile Share data plans.

In a series of tweets summarizing a new (and still unpublished on the Internet) report by Jefferies, Apple’s forthcoming HDTV is said to already be in full production, and will be sold with a carrier subsidy from AT&T and Verizon. They estimate that two million will be sold in 2013.

Walk into your local AT&T, Verizon or Sprint store and ask to look at the latest and greatest smartphone. A store employee will show you the Samsung Galaxy lll and other Android phones from the likes of HTC and Motorola. You may be shown a Windows Phone like the Nokia Lumia 900. At Verizon, you’re definitely going to be shown about the Motorola DROID RAZR 4G.

You won’t get pitched the iPhone as easily. In fact, many walk into a store with the plan of buying an iPhone and come out with the latest Android phone in hand.

Why? Employees and customers we’ve spoken to agree that sales reps from all three big carriers discriminate against the iPhone on the store floor, but it’s not a conspiracy: profit margins and device-specific incentives pressure employees to intentionally steer customers away.

In a move that makes the Square/Starbucks partnership announced last week look like small potatoes, a group of national and international retailers announced plans to develop their own mobile payment network complete with mobile apps and digital wallet functionality. The move seems almost certain to shake up the nascent mobile payments market where a wide range of companies and organizations have been trying to figure out the secret sauce that will turn mobile payments into a mainstream retail system for the past couple of years.

The Merchant Customer Exchange or MCX, as the new company is known, plans to deliver a solution that offers convenience in both making purchases and in receiving customizable offers from retailers. Development of a mobile app and payment network are underway, but MCX has yet to announce any details about either the app or its network.

My contract with AT&T is finally up, which might be the most glorious moment of my smartphone owning days. I’ve been jealous of my friend’s using their iPhones on Verizon for over a year, and now I can join them and maybe get some better service. Or go to Sprint. Hell, I might even go to Virgin Mobile and save some fat stacks of cheddar on their pre-paid plans.

I don’t know exactly what I’ll do, but I’m free, and that’s the important part. But what about you guys? Do you plan to switch carriers when the new iPhone comes out? Is the grass really greener in other cellular pastures? Or is it pretty much all the same? I’d love to hear your thoughts or stories about switching carriers in the comments.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us whether you’ll switch carriers when you buy the new iPhone

Rumors have been circulating recently that Apple will announce the new iPhone in mid-September, with the official launch set a few weeks after. A new report has given more weight to the rumors with claims that AT&T has cleared their calendars to prepare for the iPhone 5 launch during the third or fourth week in September.

Both Verizon and AT&T are introducing their shared data plans this summer, and Verizon is forcing all grandfathered unlimited data customers who renew their contracts with a subsidized phone purchase onto a shared plan. Whether you’re a fan of shared data or not, you probably don’t know that Verizon offers 5 extra top-tier data plans. For some reason, Verizon doesn’t list the upper-level plans on its website or in promotional materials.

Verizon’s biggest plan offers 20GB of shared data for $150 per month. AT&T charges $200 per month for 20GB across up to 10 devices. With the extra $40 per month Verizon charges per device (AT&T charges $30 per smartphone or tablet), Verizon’s shared plans end up being slightly cheaper than AT&T’s across the board.

Even though selling the iPhone can potentially bring carriers a huge influx of new customers, selling Apple’s treasured phone isn’t cheap. Before they were able to bring the iPhone to their network, Sprint had to give Apple $15.5 billion in committed purchases for four years, which sounded pretty crazy at the time.

In a recent interview, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse explained that committing to the iPhone was a huge risk, but ultimately, betting against Apple could have been disastrous.

It’s safe to say the general consensus is against AT&T charging for FaceTime over cellular in iOS 6. The carrier is expected to introduce some sort of fee for Apple’s video calling service this fall, and AT&T has been trying its best to keep the issue quiet for as long as it can. While you would still be able to use FaceTime over a WiFi connection, carriers like AT&T obviously doesn’t want a bunch of video calls hogging everyone’s bandwidth.

Minnesota Senator Al Franken has been very vocal in the tech scene for years. He famously emailed Steve Jobs about the iPhone tracking debacle back in 2011, and he has continued to stand up for consumer privacy rights with the carriers and companies like Carrier IQ.

Franken recently spoke out on AT&T potentially charging its subscribers for FaceTime over cellular, noting that it would be flat-out “wrong.”

AT&T announced last month that it would be launching shared plans for pooling monthly data allotments between up to 10 devices per account. Instead of paying for a separate data plan for each smartphone, subscribers would be able to use a 1-20GB shared plan across multiple devices, including tablets and desktop computers. Verizon announced a similar strategy in June.

Today AT&T has confirmed that its shared data plans will be available to new and existing subscribers on Thursday, August 23rd.

A report this morning claimed that AT&T employees were being instructed to push Windows Phone and Android smartphones over iPhones to customers. Not only that, but the report claimed that employees are being forbidden from buying an iPhone as a company-owned device. AT&T later released an official statement in a poor attempt to clear the air, saying “The idea that we would steer any customer away from a particular device couldn’t be more farfetched.”

Several readers have since shared their experiences of AT&T reps pushing Android phones over the iPhone, with one even noting that a buddy who works at AT&T gets more commission on Android smartphone sales.

According to a new testimony, it appears that Verizon may be also instructing/incentivising its reps to push other smartphones over Apple’s iPhone.

When AT&T reported last month that their iPhone activations only grew by 3% compared to the last quarter, a few analysts were scratching their heads at first but decided people probably weren’t buying as many new iPhones because of iPhone 5 rumors.

But what if there was a more sinister hand at play in the slumping iPhone sales? According to a new report, that’s exactly what’s happening as AT&T Regional Retail Sales Managers have instructed store managers to stop trying to sell the iPhone.

Best Buy is now selling the iPhone 4 — in white and black — for just $49.99 with a two-year service plan on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint. This is one of the cheapest iPhone 4 deals we’ve seen so far, and it’s expected to last until Apple unveils the new iPhone later this year.

Four new cities were treated to some AT&T 4G LTE goodness today, while other experienced increased coverage. Every carrier, other than Verizon, appears to enjoy switching on four markets at a time. Still, those living in the following cities will now feel better about being included in the world of 4G LTE:

On The CultCast, our listeners ask us all the time whether they should go for the Macbook Pro or the Macbook Air. I say be a real Apple fan — get both. But if that’s not an option, we’ll tell you when which model makes more sense than the other, and which Macbook will be right for you on our latest episode.

And then, Faves and Raves! The fun but poorly-named segment where we pitch our favorite apps and gear then vote on which is best.

Don’t miss this stupendous new episode of The CultCast. Subscribe now on iTunes, or stream new episodes right on your iPhone or iPad with Apple’s new Podcasts App.

Show notes below!

Radio Shack is now offering multiple iPhone models on AT&T and Verizon for significant discounts in its retail stores. These iPhones have been “refreshed and remanufactured,” meaning that they have been either used or repackaged internally. You can get a 16GB iPhone 4S on AT&T or Verizon for $100 off Apple’s $200 retail price, and there’s also a $100 discount for the 32Gb iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4 is also being offered for free on both carriers. All discounted models obviously come with a two-year contract.

Here’s the unit/price breakdown:

AT&T announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2012 today, and yet again the iPhone driving the company’s sales. Of the 5.1 million smartphones the carrier sold, a whopping 72.5% were iPhones.