Ron Schenone

AT&T Gearing Up For Apple iPhone Launch – Good Luck!

Posted by on Jun 11, 2007 | 6 Comments

In less than 20 days the Apple iPhone will be hitting the streets and hopefully AT&T will be up to speed by launch date. One of the delays in launching the iPhone has been to allow AT&T to rev up its network to handle the anticipated throngs that hopefully will be buying the new Apple iPhone in the weeks after the launch takes place. AT&T hopefully will have the capability to handle the load that the new Apple iPhone will call for in handling both calls and data.

Which brings up a interesting point. Wonder if it doesn’t? Let say that AT&T can’t meet demand. Who is going to get blamed? It is funny that this should even have to come up. But we here in the US are not noted for our stellar wireless communication system compared to other countries or areas like Europe. In Japan their communication system puts ours to shame. It seems that the most technological country in the world has fallen into a maze of regulations and cry babies who are all trying to hang on to their corporate profits, while limiting our abilities to make wireless connections.

“Can you hear me know” has become a joke. Yesterday as my daughter was making her way up through Davis, CA. on her way to Sacramento it took 3 connections before I could even hear her. Plus she was still barely audible. This is from a state that houses silicon valley and in a area where the California State Legislature holds court. One would think that the cell connections in the Sacramento area would be fantastic. Such is not the case. When I was in San Francisco last month it was the same thing. I use AT&T cell service. You have to stand on top of a tall building in some areas and scream ‘can you hear me know!’ :-)

Back to the Apple iPhone and AT&T cell service and the question who will be blamed. If the iPhone flops because of poor service than we would have to look squarely at AT&T. But if the service is good, which I doubt it will be unless you are less that 1 meter from a service tower, than we would have to look at Apple.

So what do you think? Will the Apple iPhone take off like a jet or sink like a rock because of poor cell service?

Comments welcome.

PS Not that I am picking on AT&T but my personal experience with ALL carriers is that they all have their moments. Which sounds better than saying that they all stink, which is my real opinion. :-)

[tags]at&t, apple, iphone, service, [/tags]

  • marc klink

    It will do well in spite of the cell service. I said in another post, I think Apple should have used a CDMA carrier, as 3G is shown to be vastly superior to EDGE. Perhaps Verizon and Sprint saw this as something that would make the rest of their offerings look bad. Or maybe it wasn’t pride, just dollars.

    At this point in time, I think it would not be prudent to bet against anything Steve Jobs allows to see the light of day.

    If iPhone really takes off, perhaps Apple will buy TMobile, as their parent company is trying to dump them.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Marc,
    I wouldn’t bet against Apple either. :-)
    Ron

  • http://www.applephoneshow.com Scott Bourne

    I think this is an interesting question. Both AT&T and Apple are taking risks here. I am sure from AT&T’s perspective, it is a big risk. They are dealing with an untried cell phone maker. While Apple has a good reputation, it’s still a risk. Likewise, Apple has to give up control of how well the product performs to a separate company – this is not something Apple does lightly.

    For some time I have speculated that if the iPhone fails to capture the intended market share, it will probably be because the carrier service is underwhelming. Hopefully AT&T is up to the task.

    I agree with the comments above that say don’t bet against Apple – I am not so willing to say I wouldn’t bet against AT&T.

    As for the comments about Edge v. 3G. Depending on where you live, relying on 3G can be a nightmare. I’ve been places on the east coast where you can’t get 3G service at all or if you can, it simply works poorly. I don’t think that’s going to be our problem with AT&T. Their Edge network is reliable and fast enough for most things like email. I’m more concerned about the thing Steve Jobs says is the killer app – the phone. How will the call service be?

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Scott,
    Thank you for your comments. It should be interesting to see what happens.
    Ron

  • http://www.iphailure.com JC

    The first glaring shortcoming is the iPhone’s inability to harness GPS technology. With the introduction of Verizon’s ultimate media Razr and the Motorola Q far behind us, GPS would seemingly be standard on any current release of a new smartphone. What’s more, AT&T’s TeleNav solutions, currently offered on various other AT&T phones, is a no show on the iPhone. There is some really interesting articles about this @ iphailure.com

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi JC,
    Thanks for the info and link.
    Ron