AT&T

Verizon Hopes to Rain on iPhone Parade with its Own Storm

Bernie — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:13:24 -0400

Verizon is priming the pump with announcements about the upcoming BlackBerry Storm, their latest attempt to counter the iPhone craze. They have good reason to do so. Some recent research suggests that close to half of AT&T’s new iPhone subscribers in recent months came to them from Verizon Wireless. The Storm is RIM’s first touchscreen BlackBerry smartphone. No firm release date has been announced, but Verizon says the Storm will be out for the holiday season and will be “aggressively priced.” That means somewhere between $150 - $200. The other marquee touchscreen smartphones, including the G1, iPhone, and Instinct are in that range.

Some unique features of the Storm include a tactile touchscreen, compatibility with iTunes, and dual CDMA and GSM modes. The tactile touchscreen gives the user a subtle signal when touched. The dual mode functionality takes aim at probably the iPhone’s biggest weakness right now – being exclusively tethered to AT&T. Although, practically speaking, the Storm will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless for a while. And while the Storm is a smartphone that will appeal to BlackBerry’s entrenched enterprise user base, RIM and Verizon will aggressively target consumers in the hopes of slowing down the iPhone’s momentum with that larger market segment. First quarter 2009 will be an interesting one to watch because it will be the first full quarter for the smartphone competitive battle between Apple/AT&T, Google/T-Mobile, and RIM/Verizon.

AT&T U-verse TV and AccuWeather.Com Debut Weather On Demand

Bernie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:20:32 -0400

Dallas, Texas, October 7, 2008 - AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and AccuWeather.com® today announced the initial launch of Weather On Demand, an interactive feature that allows AT&T U-verseSM TV customers to find the weather information they want, in the city they want, at the time they want — all at the touch of a button. Weather On Demand content is provided by AccuWeather.com, "The World's Weather Authority."

U-verse TV customers in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Indianapolis and San Diego can now enjoy the feature at no extra charge. AT&T plans to make the feature available to all U-verse TV customers in 2009. Read More ...

iPhone’s Competitive Prowess

Bernie — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:31:39 -0400

According to the NPD Group, 30% of iPhone purchasers (and corresponding AT&T wireless subs) from June to August 2008 churned from other wireless providers. Nearly half of those new AT&T wireless subs came from Verizon Wireless, 24% from T-Mobile, and 19% from Sprint. So by NPD’s estimate, just under one-third of new AT&T wireless subs came to them as a direct result of the iPhone, and Verizon Wireless felt the most iPhone pain.

Lucky for Verizon, Sprint, on average, is losing 1 million subs per quarter in 2008, many of whom are fleeing to Verizon. So while Verizon lost a fair number of subs to AT&T and the iPhone, they made up for it by welcoming all those disgruntled Sprint customers. Upcoming third quarter numbers will provide a more revealing view of this competitive battle. So far, Verizon has fared quite well next to the iPhone challenge (thanks in part to the aforementioned Sprint). But the third quarter will be the first full quarter of the iPhone 3G bonanza. I’ve seen estimates that suggest 7 million+ total iPhone sales in the 3Q08 alone. All of those sales won’t be AT&T customers, but the majority will. Look for a blowout wireless quarter for AT&T. Now, will Sprint continue to deliver for Verizon?

AT&T Launches Online Experience Store

Bernie — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Dallas, Texas, October 2, 2008 - The mobile shopping experience just got a makeover. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced the launch of its Online Experience StoreSM, allowing shoppers to "touch," experience and purchase wireless devices and services online. The digital storefront introduces a new 3-D shopping model, giving customers rich, interactive demonstrations and tutorials in five categories of wireless products: phones and devices, music, video and Web, messaging, and e-mail and productivity. Read More ...

AT&T Reorganizes

Bernie — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:14:12 -0400

AT&T will reorganize its structure in to four business units including consumer, business, infrastructure and diversified businesses. The consumer business unit will combine all consumer focused wireline, wireless, broadband, and video units into a single business line headed by former wireless chief Ralph De la Vega. The business unit will focus on global enterprise markets and the diversified business unit will manage ancillary business lines including Yellowpages.com. The move was first reported and confirmed by the Wall Street Journal. De la Vega will be tasked with converging all consumer services into an effective “three screen” strategy. The goal of course is to create a consumer experience which leverages all of AT&T’s assets and creates a competitive advantage over their arch competitive rivals – namely cable companies. "The biggest impact of the reorganization will be on the cable companies, because they'll face a more unified consumer offering from AT&T," said Roger Entner, a telecom analyst at Nielsen IAG, to the Journal.

The move is not surprising. Cable companies have been competing quite well with telcos and for the most part, have always had a singular consumer focused sales organization. Baby bells like AT&T, despite massive attempts to reverse their legacy, still have vestiges of a monopoly utility mindset (with wireless services being a unique exception). Reorganizations like this are prudent, if they are done to address the absolute need to become market focused and competitively fit, and are not just window dressing. It’s no mistake that the former wireless chief now is in control of the consumer ship. Now, if he can only work a little iPhone magic on those depressing 2Q08 DSL numbers.

AT&T and DirecTV Reach Partnership Agreement

Bernie — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:21:56 -0400

AT&T and DirecTV announced an agreement where AT&T will resell DirecTV services as a part of their “AT&T Advanced TV” video portfolio. The agreement will begin after January 31, 2009, when AT&T’s current agreement with DISH Networks expires. It’s a big, although expected, blow to DISH Networks, who had great success with leveraging their AT&T partnership for subscriber growth. Observers from afar could conclude that AT&T stopped aggressively marketing their DISH bundle in favor of U-verse long ago, which certainly contributed to DISH’s slowing subscriber growth, culminating with an actual decline in subscriber counts in 2Q08.

"Our focus is on providing customers with a better TV experience than cable," said Jeff Weber, AT&T vice president-Video and Entertainment in a company statement. "AT&T | DIRECTV complements our premier AT&T U-verse TV service and gives customers another great choice for state-of-the-art, 100 percent digital programming." DirecTV now has a virtual coup with “bell company” telco partnerships, including agreements with Verizon, Qwest, and AT&T. DISH has current resale agreements with large independents, including EMBARQ, Windstream, and CenturyTel. Now the real question – how long before AT&T buys DirecTV?

AT&T Enhances Enterprise Mobility Offerings

Bernie — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:54:49 -0400

Dallas, Texas, September 22, 2008 -- AT&T Inc. today announced new capabilities to extend an array of applications to mobile devices that are used by companies in targeted vertical industries.

AT&T Mobile Enterprise Applications offers hosted and managed mobile integration solutions and application consulting services for companies that want to extend their business-critical information to mobile employees. Supported by the Antenna Mobility Platform™ (AMP) developed by Antenna Software, a leading provider of mobile enterprise technologies and solutions, AT&T is expanding its delivery of mobile field service automation, sales force automation and information technology support applications. Read More ...

AT&T Launches 4th Screen with Home Manager

Bernie — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:08:16 -0400

AT&T announced the launch of Home Manager, “an innovative home phone that combines access to Internet content and popular wireless phone applications with traditional home phone service.” Home Manager looks like a “fourth screen” strategy, where the home phone "screen" joins the Internet/computer, cell phone, and television screens as a purveyor of content. Home Manager uses a portable broadband connected seven-inch color touch screen for access to a variety of features and content, including visual voicemail, weather reports, e-mail access, local news, a portable speakerphone and more. Features include:

Address Book Synchronizing - synchs address books across the touch screen and home handset with AT&T mobile phone contacts
Web Based Information Listings - access to weather, e-mail, stock profiles, sports, news, photos, movie listings, recipes and more
AT&T Yellow Pages - free, unlimited access to White Pages and Yellow Pages online directories, which can also be uploaded to cell phones and email
Visual Voice Mail - see and listen to messages via a single wireline-wireless mailbox on both the touch screen and cordless handset, which is compatible with AT&T U-verse Voice and AT&T Unified Messaging
Digital Picture Frame – displays digital photos on the frame as a slide show or screen saver

The new application is similar to efforts put forth by Embarq, and their eGo product. Both are designed to add value to wireline phone service, and hopefully give customers reasons to keep their telco wireline service, rather than forgoing it entirely for wireless only, or churning over to cable and VoIP competitive offerings. "We're building on the reliability of our wireline platform and advancing it with touch screens, mobile phone applications, visual voicemail and more. A phone today is not just for talking — it's about having the content and the information that's important to you right at your fingertips,” said Brian Shay, senior vice president, Converged Services for AT&T in a company statement. The application will sell for $299, and includes the portable touchscreen, one integrated cordless handset and one base station. It’s currently available in about nine markets. 3screens.net, a blog focused on AT&T services, offers an interesting independent review of Home Manager - well worth a read. The service seems quite interesting and will peak the interest of some, but the $299 threshold seems quite high, especially in these uncertain economic times. This will be an interesting one to watch.

AT&T Toys With Convergence

Bernie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:30:20 -0400

AT&T offered a preview earlier this week of their vision for convergence. They demoed technology that’s not publicly available yet, including linking the iPhone to U-verse services. For example, the iPhone can turn into a remote control for U-verse video services. Other applications will include the ability to download programming from a U-Verse DVR to an iPhone for mobile playback. AT&T CTO John Donovan tells Dow Jones, "You're going to see dramatic changes in the how we look and feel to our customers."

AT&T has taken its lumps lately, with slowing broadband growth and questioning of its FTTN strategy with U-Verse. Its trump card is wireless, and the iPhone is leading the way. AT&T knows it’s going to have to start integrating wireless into its wireline, broadband, and video strategies to take some of the shine off of its cable competitors. Wireless is their answer. The sooner they can integrate wireless and iPhone applications into their broadband and U-verse experience, the better off they’ll be. They need some of that “cool” factor in place for their entire product portfolio to hedge against any possible success from cable’s forthcoming attempt to integrate WiMAX into their triple play portfolio.

AT&T Confirms Whole Home DVR

Bernie — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:53:18 -0400

AT&T confirmed a previously reported soft launch of whole home DVR. The service, called Total Home DVR, allows up to eight connected televisions to view recorded DVR content. AT&T joins Verizon FiOS who offers a similar product. Both companies are trying to gain a competitive edge, using multi-room DVR strategies to differentiate themselves over cable and DBS competitors. DVR differentiation will be interesting to watch over the coming months. Cable may try to exploit a networked DVR service, which could help level the playing field with multi-room DVR options. Networked DVR received a new lease on life after a recent court ruling in favor of Cablevision, which tried to launch the service last year, but was sued by several movie studios to stop it.

AT&amp;T