AT&T + iPhone = Free Year and a Half Service = Assault on Verizon

[Felipe#WP]

This story is COMPLETELY uncorroborated; AFAIK, it's the usual Cramer BS.

Marc

if true, wouldnt it be all over the place by now?

do we really see att/cingular giving away $1200-$1500 in fees? I'm guessing a $30 voice and $40+ data.

it would be so sweet if this were true. apple will sell their 1 bil phones, and in 12 months verizon would buy att wireless.


btw, i'm hoping it is true.

 

[Chatter]

All AT&T and Cingular talk about are increasing revenues and margins; I don't think giving away their most profitable services would be a great step in that direction. The Cingular guy on the conference call says that the iPhone "has lived up to the hype and then some" and that it's both the best phone in the world and the best iPod. Total inanity.

Marc

 

[samkim]

2) As there are potentially three (chargeable) components to a phone call originating from a cell phone, that is airtime charges between the cell tower and the handset, network charges for voice and data that travel a hard wired conduit to either a residence or another transmitting tower where another cellular phone receives a transmitted signal. In that scenario, cellular to celluar is more expensive because of the airtime transmission. But Cingular offers it free. Customers at the conference wanted to know then why can't cellular calls originating on the new Cingular/ATT network to residential phone services be offered free if they are calling ATT residential customers?

I read that this was going to be offerred through an expensive in-network plan.

 

[samkim]

do we really see att/cingular giving away $1200-$1500 in fees? I'm guessing a $30 voice and $40+ data.

If they did it, I think they would offer a very low number of minutes per month for free, with no data - to get the people who can barely afford an iPhone. If it's $15/mo. worth of voice fees, that's $225 for 18 months. They make a portion of that back from the sale of the phone. And they make up the rest when most of the iPhone users start paying after 18 months. It's workable.

 

[Chatter]

Whatever, it's not going to be 1 1/2 years of free service. That's just made up stuff.

Marc

 

[copernicus]

Shaking things up is an understatement....this would only be the beginning. It would be a revolutionary move. Here is a sidebar that I am now recalling that might fit into this puzzle. I attended ATT's National Focus Conference in San Diego this past August. This conference is a yearly coming out party for ATT products and services to their large/midsize corporate customers, where they feature keynotes, workshops, and exhibits. One of the discussions that came up after one of the keynotes during the question and answer period -- was about ATT's merger with SBC and the impending acquisition of Cingular (which was in the final stages of being finalized by the FCC). There were numerous questions about customer charges for services over the ATT/SBC network. I will try to paraphrase to characterize the questions here:

1) If ATT/SBC (The New ATT) owns the network that Cingular Cellular services operate and those networks are already joined to ATT's network, then why can't we get free in-Network calling to residential ATT customers in the same way we get free in-Network calls to other Cingular customers?

2) As there are potentially three (chargeable) components to a phone call originating from a cell phone, that is airtime charges between the cell tower and the handset, network charges for voice and data that travel a hard wired conduit to either a residence or another transmitting tower where another cellular phone receives a transmitted signal. In that scenario, cellular to celluar is more expensive because of the airtime transmission. But Cingular offers it free. Customers at the conference wanted to know then why can't cellular calls originating on the new Cingular/ATT network to residential phone services be offered free if they are calling ATT residential customers?

The Execs at the conference scrambled and back-pedaled a little to try to make sense of it, but admitted there was a savings and that they would have to look into it. Admittedly, ATT brass said they had put themselves in a good position to compete with the their latest acquisitions. Conclusion: ATT can offer be very profitable while lowering their profit margins because they own the largest network in the world. They can give away network time for fractions of a cent, which makes the iPhone give away seem more plausible. However I agree with you-copernicus-the devil is in the details.

Very thought provoking post, whether or not they give anything away.

 

[copernicus]

This story is COMPLETELY uncorroborated; AFAIK, it's the usual Cramer BS.

Marc

 

[archie]

Whatever, it's not going to be 1 1/2 years of free service. That's just made up stuff.

Marc

You mean kinda like the free Push IMAP email service that you get free when you buy the iPhone?! :evil:

Look, phone manufacturers do not like these subsidies because it devalues their phone. Plus it gives them less control on how to market the phone and accessories. You and I both know that this is NOT how Apple likes to operate.

When Apple announced their phone pricing, we all just assumed it was a subsidized price because it was followed up with the announcement that it was only available through Cingular. We probably didn't put the two bits of information together correctly. But we can now safely say that the phone will not be subsidized because of the key bits of information that I listed above throughout my first few posts.

AND... because the iPhone will NOT be subsidized, it stands to reason that Cingular/AT&T will reward Apple iPhone customers by giving them a break of some sort.

I touched on this before but I would not put it past Apple to charge more for the phone to account for and provide an attractively better service plan than what other phone manufacturers are able to provide. In this case - the service is better than what other phones have available in that you get one and a half years FREE.

BRILLIANT!!!!

 

[Chatter]

Free push IMAP service has been around for a while; you can get it now at AOL and they'll give you a domain for free as well...

Marc

p.s. Archie - You're just making everything up, just like Cramer.

 

[archie]

Free push IMAP service has been around for a while; you can get it now at AOL and they'll give you a domain for free as well...

Marc

p.s. Archie - You're just making everything up, just like Cramer.

Yeh, free, as in pay for the monthly AOL service first and then get free push email.

By the way, AOL's version of push is not designed and optimized to operate in mobile solutions in which battery life is at a premium. If you recall this was the argument from before. You know, when I was "making everything up".

whatEVER :shake:

 

[Chatter]

Archie - You keep demonstrating your IGNORANCE. The AOL email is completely free (no need to sign up for AOL), as in FREE. And the domain is FREE - try it yourself.

And there is no commercial IMAP service that is optimized for mobile solutions, if you're referring to P-IMAP. None. (No fair counting iPhone's vapor Yahoo service, which will NOT be P-IMAP either).

Why you insist on embarrassing yourself in front of everyone is beyond me.

Marc

 

[G-funkster]

debunked:

Rumor Smashed: iPhone Will NOT Come With 1.5 Years of Free Service
...
"The report is nonsense. We've always said the only way you can get the iPhone is with a Cingular rate plan."

so much for that, it seems.

 

[archie]

Archie - You keep demonstrating your IGNORANCE. The AOL email is completely free (no need to sign up for AOL), as in FREE.

This is what you said.

Free push IMAP service has been around for a while; you can get it now at AOL and they'll give you a domain for free as well...

Marc

I was assumming when you said free push IMAP was free from AOL... and that it was... push IMAP email... that was what you meant.

You see what happens here?

 

[archie]

Archie - You keep demonstrating your IGNORANCE. The AOL email is completely free (no need to sign up for AOL), as in FREE. And the domain is FREE - try it yourself.

And there is no commercial IMAP service that is optimized for mobile solutions, if you're referring to P-IMAP. None. (No fair counting iPhone's vapor Yahoo service, which will NOT be P-IMAP either).

Why you insist on embarrassing yourself in front of everyone is beyond me.

Marc

Marc,
Why YOU insist on embarrassing yourself is beyond ME.

As far as your ridiculous claim of being "no fair counting iPhone's vapor service", I disagree. It IS fair because you can get the service now if you want to pay for it and it WILL be available for the iPhone FREE. Which leads me to my next point, there ARE commercial push IMAP services that are optimized for mobile solutions. One is called the Blackberry email system, another is called push IMAP email. I would like to refer you to this Internet Society draft here.

It says "the primary feature of P-IMAP is that of great extended capabilities to push changes actively to a client, rather then requiring the client to initiate contact to ask for state changes."

I hope that it helps for me to talk in circles like this. I didn't know what else to do because nobody here seems to get it.

 

[Pearl_Diva]

Honestly, I feel Apple and/or ATT will have to do SOMETHING for the customer because $600 is very high for a locked phone and 2 yr. contract. They will not be getting too many consumers with that requirement.

Now if it's unlocked and you can buy it through Apple and not necessarily ATT, that's another story.

 

[archie]

debunked:



so much for that, it seems.

I particularly like the way that Brian Lam specifically refers to my hypothesis here at TreoCentral.

So, why give away the minutes and data for 18 months, leaving 6 months of paid service on the 2-year contract? Bunk...unless that 50% margin on the totally unsubsidized phone is going into Cingular's pockets. That could rewrite the way phones are sold...Yes! UGH, no. Must...resist...rumors.

Let's get the word out that this isn't true.

–Brian Lam​

And do you really think that Brain Lam holds any credibility after all the lame negative Apple related stunts he has pulled over the last 2 years? And do you really think that Cingular is going to tell Brian Lam their business strategies?

 

[Chatter]

Archie - There are so many untruths in your last post that I shake my head in disbelief. I give up; it's impossible to argue with a moron, and I'm content to let other readers figure out for themselves who is right.

Marc

 

[archie]

Archie - There are so many untruths in your last post that I shake my head in disbelief. I give up; it's impossible to argue with a moron, and I'm content to let other readers figure out for themselves who is right.

Marc

I want you to name one thing.

Please take it easy on me, just one thing. :evil: Meant to entice you.

 

[archie]

You know, Brian Lam also claimed to be the third cherished news reporter to get an advanced screening of the iPhone. Yeh, it was Time Magazine's Lev Grossman, New York Times' David Pogue along with... Gizmodo's Brian Lam?

Yeh, RIGHT!

 

[archie]

And then right after the keynote, he posted a size comparison chart that had it obsurdely oversized next to comparable phones. Everybody here at TreoCentral was freaking out (understandably) because it was apparently so big.

He also incorrectly stated specs.