HTC’s Facebook Home-laden First smartphone may only have debuted on AT&T last month, but it appears that the device may be a dud as far as consumers are concerned. According to a report from BGR’s Zach Epstein, sales of the HTC First smartphone have been so disappointing that AT&T will soon be dropping the device from its lineup completely and shipping all unsold inventory back to HTC. → Read More
A few days ago I landed in England and, expecting little, slipped an old UK SIM card into my phone. I’d bought it when living in London five years ago, and hadn’t used it in over a year. But to my amazement it was still active — as was the money I’d added to its pay-as-you-go account sixteen months earlier…and then I received a friendly text message informing me that my data costs were… → Read More
AT&T just released its first-quarter financial statement. Things are looking good at Ma Bell where profits are up although revenue missed expectations. The company managed to get more consumers to sign long-term wireless contracts, and best of all, wireless margins increased on the back of smartphone sales where they accounted for 88% of the company’s sales in the quarter. In short… → Read More
Today’s the day. AT&T has officially put the Galaxy S 4 from Samsung up for pre-order on its website. For now, only the 16GB models in both black and white are available, and only in select areas.
AT&T will likely make more models available in the next few days as pre-orders ramp up. The 16GB model starts at $199 with a two-year contract. According to AT&T, the phone will ship on… → Read More
In the worst-kept secret in Austin history, Google announced in conjunction with the city that it would be the second location to get Google’s Fiber offering. Just a few hours after that announcement, AT&T made its own plans known for Austin, and it includes (surprise) 1 Gigabit Fiber, as well. This ties to its previous announcement of the VIP expansion project for broadband access. The… → Read More
Boingo has just announced via a press release that through a partnership with AT&T, it will now offers AT&T subscribers access to its hotspots at international airports beginning today, with service expansion planned throughout the rest of the year. As part of the same deal, Boingo subscribers will be able to access AT&T hotspots across the U.S. free of charge. → Read More
Facebook today announced that AT&T and France Telecom/Orange are the first two carriers to be part of its Facebook Home partnership program to develop devices with the social network’s new integrated user experience, which will kick off with the a 4G phone, the HTC First. AT&T will be offering it as an exclusive in the U.S. at a price of $99.99 with preorders starting today. HTC First is… → Read More
AT&T has issued a clarification on its Galaxy S4 pricing via the unique method of a small statement in a footnote to an earlier post. Previously, AT&T had announced via its consumer blog on March 28 that it would be offering the Galaxy S4 starting at $249.99 with pre-orders beginning April 16. Now, it has amended that post to add that that’s for the 32GB model, with the 16GB version priced… → Read More
Aereo has a lot of plates spinning. The streaming TV startup just launched a huge marketing push in NY, along with the announcement of a $38 million funding round aimed at expansion to over 20 new cities in the coming months. And if that weren’t enough, Aereo is still in the midst of a fierce legal battle with network broadcasters. Still, the company continues to juggle its issues, not least… → Read More
It’s often been assumed that teens are one of the main culprits in the texting-while-driving epidemic in the U.S. It makes sense — teens are new drivers, and thus more reckless, and they also happen to be expert texters.
However, a new study funded by AT&T finds that adults actually text while driving more than kids. The study was taken from a pool of 1,011 consumers. → Read More
AT&T has just posted an update to its Consumer Blog revealing pre-order details of the Samsung Galaxy S4. The phone will be available for order beginning April 16, for $249.99 with a two-year commitment. Samsung had previously announced that the Galaxy S4 would be coming to the U.S. sometime in Q2 2013, and didn’t reveal launch pricing at its event earlier in March. → Read More
Just days after Bloomberg ran a report claiming that AT&T would release BlackBerry’s long-awaited Z10 smartphone on March 22, AT&T has issued a statement confirming that launch will indeed go forward as reported. Prospective BlackBerry owners will have to shell out $199 for the Canadian company’s new flagship and (for better or worse) sign a two year contract. → Read More
What if your browser could know when you are getting a call on your mobile phone? Earlier this month, Google and Mozilla demonstrated how their browsers’ WebRTC implementations could interoperate. Today, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Mozilla is going a step further. The organization has teamed up with AT&T and Ericsson to show a proof-of-concept called WebPhone, which… → Read More
AT&T has announced a deal with Verizon Wireless that will allow the company to continue to build out its 4G LTE network in the U.S., through the acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum from Verizon Wireless. The 700 MHz band was originally used to broadcast analog TV channels, but the transition to digital TV made them available for auction in 2008. Verizon won Block A during that auction, along with… → Read More
AT&T shared its Q4 2012 earnings results today, reporting overall quarterly revenues of $32.6 billion (an increase of 0.2% year over year), and earnings per share of $0.44, The highlight of AT&T’s quarter is likely its record smartphone sales, however, as the carrier sold 10.2 million smartphone devices, of which 8.6 million, or 84%, were Apple iPhones. → Read More
U.S. carrier AT&T is looking at counterparts in Europe with a view to making a big purchase or entering into a merger, according to a report in the WSJ. The paper quotes people familiar with the carrier’s thinking who say AT&T is considering buying a European counterpart in order to “escape constraints” on domestic growth by jumping into a new wireless market. → Read More
AT&T announced on its consumer blog today that it will finally allow FaceTime over cellular available to all customers on a tiered data plan, after previously offering it first only to those with a Mobile Share plan and then later to those with both LTE devices and tiered plans. Took them long enough. → Read More
Video conferencing is fast becoming a popular tool for communications among a growing number of businesses. But few want to invest the money in deploying the hardware necessary to make enterprise-class video conferencing and collaboration. That’s why Polycom is teaming up with AT&T to roll out a new managed offering to its business customers. → Read More
CES hasn’t even really started yet, but already some prevailing themes of the show have begun to emerge — I’m talking about tech that helps tie together disparate systems in your home into a a single, mobile-friendly experience.
LG has already shown off its vision, complete with NFC-enabled ovens and washing machines that send diagnostic information to your smartphone, but AT&T’s… → Read More
AT&T’s Screen Pack is not going to kill Netflix. It’s not going to compete with Netflix. It’s not going to take on Netflix. It’s merely going to exist alongside Netflix until AT&T gets bored of it, and either rolls it into its existing offering as a nice add-on, or decides to do away with it. → Read More
Veteran music streaming service Rhapsody has been around for over a decade. It’s managed to survive in a turbulent (and oftentimes) crowded market, even as it has been eclipsed in popularity by services like Rdio and Spotify. In fact, Rhapsody was the first on-demand service to offer unlimited access to a substantial catalog of music for a flat monthly subscription fee, paving the way for startups… → Read More
The FCC has today announced a new Task Force to deal with the difficult task of creating policy for a next-generation communications network based on an IP infrastructure, as opposed to the copper-line POTS (plain old telephone service) network which has been in place since the late 19th century.
The Task Force is part of the National Broadband Plan, passed in 2010, which aims to help the… → Read More
AT&T today announced AT&T Alerts, a service to help make shoppers aware of nearby deals via opt-in discounts delivered directly to their phones via SMS based on geo-location. At launch, participating retailers include the Gap, Staples, Duracell, Motorola and more. AT&T is clearly trying to capitalize on the same opportunity being targeted by Groupon, startups like Roximity, and other… → Read More
AT&T definitely didn’t win any fans with its initial reaction to Apple’s decision to open up FaceTime video chat services to cellular networks. Now, though, it seems like the carrier may be making FaceTime available even to users on grandfathered unlimited data plans as the service begins to roll out live, though whether that’s an intentional move remains to be seen. → Read More
Regardless of how you feel about the concept, Samsung’s Galaxy Camera is finally making its way to the United States. AT&T has just announced it will it launch the curious camera on November 16 (i.e. this Friday), and that it will cost Google-devoted photographers $499 — that’s with or without a data plan. → Read More
Last month, open Internet advocacy groups threatened to file complaint against AT&T with the Federal Communications Commission due to AT&T’s decision to limit the use of Apple’s FaceTime video calling application. AT&T said that users wouldn’t be able to use FaceTime over its cellular network, unless they were also on the carrier’s Mobile Share Plans. Well, good news, folks: AT&T… → Read More
Well, there we have it: after vaguely pointing to a November launch window for its first batch of Windows Phone 8 handsets, AT&T has finally decided to get a bit more specific.
Nokia’s long-awaited Lumia 820 and 920 will both launch on November 9 (that’s this Friday, in case you were curious), with pre-orders for the handsets beginning tomorrow. → Read More
AT&T and T-Mobile have signed an agreement that lets subscribers to either company roam on either network in devastated parts of the country where Hurricane Sandy has left users with poor cellular coverage.
In the past 72 hours, our nation’s mobile carriers have been through quite a bit. Sandy left a wake of destruction in her path. In fact, this morning the FCC said that 25 percent of… → Read More
If you think Sandy’s slow, steady passing is a sign of good things to come, think again. It’s going to take days (at the very least) to restore power to many of the 7 million+ people living in darkness, and cell service is expected to get worse before it gets better.
According to the FCC, 25 percent of cell towers in ten states were disrupted or damaged during the Hurricane. Landline outages… → Read More
Hurricane Sandy, what may essentially be the biggest storm to hit the North Eastern seaboard in history, is barreling toward us, through the Atlantic, at this very second. It’s estimated to cause between $2.5 and $3 billion in wind damage alone, and has already claimed dozens of lives on its way to the States.
To that extent, the nation’s major wireless carriers want you to know they’re ready… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
