F. J. Taylor

AT&T: The (Apple) Brand Destroyer

This article was totally bizarre!!

@JeffDB - AT&T has "radical left wing politics"???? What color is the sky on your planet? AT&T has been a far-far-right org almost since its inception. These are the same guys who called for the overthrow of Allende in Chile when he nationalized their holdings there - and got it, along with having him assassinated, and lots of other nasty actis in South America and elsewhere.

They were mega-donors to Dubya and his Dad, and Ronnie Ray-gun before them, and they never saw a right-wing politician or cause they didn't like.

Not sure what their policy towards homosexuals is, and don't really care, as a person's gender or preference is of minus zero interest to me, and none of my business, though I think they should have the same rights as anyone else. Same for abortions - the last worst form of birth control, but preferable in many case to unwanted kids being born - or even wanted, but to the WRONG parents. (I worked in Juvenile Halls and the Neglected and Abused Home for some time, and BELIEVE ME, there are a lot of folks who should NEVER have kids - or even be near them... and there are kids who would have been far better off never having been born than being born into the places they were.) It is also none of my business (or the govt.'s, or yours for that matter) what other people do.

Not sure how a person can have "Christian values" and be an investor anyway - did you ever consider the harm many of the companies do to the planet and the people of the world? As I recall, Yehoshua said something about "sell all you have, give the money to the poor, and follow me." and his comment about how it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Unless the Bible on your planet is as different as the AT&T.)

He did NOT say (to the best of my knowledge), "Yea, verily invest in ye great trans-national mega-corps, and give unto them your gold, for they shall multiply it many times, even as the loaves and fishes, (unless they lose the bundle in their maneuverings and chicanery and with the mega-bonuses they pay unto their CEOs) and despite the damage they do unto tose in the Third World, be thou not vexed, because that exploitation of men, women, and children will gain thee many gold ducats, and they are only sons of the cursed Ham anyway, so piddle upon them." (Nothing personal - we are all just as bad here - I just don't pretend I have Christian (or any other religious) "values" - which (historically speaking) usually means you have to hate and / or kill someone else who believes differently...

As to AT&T - I can understand some of these comments - AT&T as a corporation sucks. Most corporations suck. Even Apple has its suck moments, and I have been an Apple fan for years.

Their tech and customer service personnel have improved greatly in recent years, but they remain hard to actually get to, and yes, AT&T has done damage in some respects to the iPhone, especially in the buying aspects and the "one size fits all" data plan.

As to the dropped calls - I have had pretty good luck with them, and I just found out an interesting factoid - if you are on speaker and you forget or want it more private and hold it to your ear, your ear can cause the mute to go on, seeming to be a dropped call.

Other than that, their coverage is great.

Verizon (who I had for many years, and only left for iPhone) had good coverage and GREAT service - and if they go with iPhone in the future, I may look at them again.

Meantime, Apple is a GREAT product and stock.

(Full disclosure: Bought when it was 86, sold half at more than twice that, still have shares, long on Apple.)

AT&T Tops Verizon - But Which Customers Are More Satisfied?

I was a Verizon customer for many years - in fact, since the early '90s when they were Airtouch in our area. Great service, great staff - but they finally made one big mistake - turning down the iPhone.

I recently (reluctantly) switched to AT&T, and now have 2 of my 4 lines of service with them. I will soon be switching the remaining lines as the other contracts roll off. Why? Because of the iPhone, mainly, but the service and reception are excellent - in fact, locally better than Verizon. Dropped calls? So far, none.

Stockwatchah and RDiddy are wrong on several major counts.

First, iPhone is hardly AT&T's only choice - they have a large inventory of other phones - including the vaunted Blackberry - although iPhone is outselling them all by 25% or better... however, for those with slender budgets, or those who don't need or want much in a device, there are plenty of choices.

AT&T doesn't take a "$400 hit" on every iPhone - they subsidize about half the cost - we pay the rest. My 16 GB cost me $199 - plus a two year contract. Over the term of that contract, they make approx. $1400 per phone for the basic package, plus extra charges for features like texting. That is pretty good ROI.

More importantly, they have also gained MANY new customers they wouldn't have seen otherwise - like me and my entire family - my stepson was the first to get one of the first gen, then I did (after waiting a LONG time for various reasons), and I also got one for my stepdaughter. My wife is next. Meantime, my brother has bought one, and his company (Carhartt) supports them, so he is using it for his main phone and e-mail system when traveling.

As far as running out and buying something else - I didn't buy it because it was the latest "fad" - I have been asking Apple for a PDA / phone for years. Now they have exceeded even my expectations and their own usual brilliant design and execution, with the world's first true hand-held MID (Mobile Internet Device). It is as amazing as it looks, running a modified mobile version of the great OS X, instead of the Windows Mobile or one of those other laughably poor so-called "platforms." (Stockwatchah, like many others who obviously don't understand the device, seems unaware of the difference between a "smartphone" and a MID.)

It is simply the best phone I have ever used, bar none - and I will NEVER use another - unless Apple comes out with an even more amazing one. Everyone I know who owns one feels the same way - even my brother, who was a big Motorola and Windows user until last year. (He now has a desktop iMac as well.)

It also seems to be repeating the "halo effect" of the iPod - that is, it is drawing a lot of new users to Apple from Windows.

So I am rather dubious that their assumptions (most of which seem to be based on lack of knowledge of the product and / or the market) are useful in gauging either the iPhone or AT&T's market share. The ONLY area where AT&T is actually shining now is in wireless (where everything is headed anyway) - and that is driven primarily by iPhone sales.

(BTW, Verizon is still kicking itself over their remarkably stupid decision to turn down the iPhone, according to some insiders I know... Speaking just for myself, I am very sorry to have been forced from the Verizon fold - but they made the wrong move - and I have told them so.)

I imagine that if and when Apple opens up the opportunity, there will be a rush of other service providers to jump on. Apple has succeeded in not only producing the first true MID, and making it wildly successful, but in breaking the mold of the wireless service provider business model - where the SPs are calling the shots. Apple will probably provide the iPhone in future to those companies who agree to Apple's terms - a share of the proceeds - instead of joining Motorola and the rest in a race to the bottom to build cheaper and crappier throw-away handsets.

A Real iPhone Challenger - Barron's

HO-hum... yet another "iPhone killer" - yeah, right! Like Zune and the rest killed iPod?

HTC? Never heard of it till now. Never even SAW one. (I've seen hundreds of iPhones, however.) AND it runs Windows??? If it doesn't run Apple OS, I am not interested. I am a former DOS / Windows user and systems administrator who migrated to Apple about 10 years ago and have never looked back - so I want as little to do with MS dreck as possible.

The only close competitor iPhone had was Blackberry - and with the new generation, that is going to be sucking eggs soon.

I have no idea where these gentlemen are getting their outlandish ideas - but I can make a guess... Redmond.

Wanted, Dead or Alive: The iPhone Killer

I would like to order some of Mr. Yag is smoking. It is clearly of great potency. The notion that Windows ANYTHING is equal to, let alone superior to, Apple is such an absurd notion that it is difficult to know whether to laugh or cry. FYI, I was a DOS and later Windows user for over 15 years - and I only wish I had transitioned sooner! Even before OS X, Macs were clearly the superior machine and experience. I know many former Windows sufferers who feel the same way.

As to Voyager being an "iPhone killer" - Right! Like Zune killed the iPod, eh? I love Verizon, and dislike AT&T for a number of reasons - but I am switching as soon as iPhone 2.0 is out...

Apple's AT&T Deal Is Costly

I am as big an Apple fan and user as exists on the planet - even in the years they were in Coventry, I was a Mac booster. I have sold hundreds of people on them, and watched with pleasure as sales and shares eventually grew.

That said, I am not a Kool-Aid drinking Mac-aholic. Apple and Mr. Jobs have ALWAYS had a snooty attitude, control issues, and hubris that would make a Greek tragic hero blanch.

They are unapproachable as a firm, their attitude is "We know best." (even though nobody has a corner on the marketplace of ideas).

I have waited and asked for a product like the iPhone for 10 years or more, and now that they deliver it, they try to force me to join a network that I'd sooner stick pencils in my eyes than join again. (AT&T in the US, and other equally unacceptable non-choices overseas).

I posted words to this effect on the Apple website users forum, only to have it removed by the Apple equivalent of Big Brother.

I understand the above posters' points, but think the author had a few valid points as well - I am living proof, as I have sat on my hands to resist buying the product I have waited for so long until Apple either opens it up or signs on with a network I choose to do business with. (My choice is Verizon.)

Until then, there will be one iPhone unsold, no matter how many others they sell, locked or unlocked. And no, I refuse to buy a crippled unit that might well become a brick!

I also refuse to buy Leopard till they de-bug it. Even Rush Limbaugh (a long time Mac user, fan, and booster, who I have minus zero else in common with) has stated publicly his dissatisfaction with Leopard - but he will probably get more attention than I will!

I hope the other Apple users who posted here read this and think about what I am saying - I don't think even the long arm of Jobs can reach Alpha and take this post down!