A memo has just leaked from AT&T saying that the day the iPhone 3GS launched, it broke almost every record AT&T has ever had. Along with that, the day Micahel Jackson died, AT&T’s network was processing around 65,000 text messages a second. Crazy stuff:
1. Fact of the Week: On June 25, the day Michael Jackson died, text messages sent on our network spiked at 65,000 messages per second — the largest volume ever recorded — surpassing events like American Idol voting and New Year’s Eve, when millions of our customers wish their friends and family a happy new year via text.”
2. “iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.
Here’s a look at some of the milestones we achieved:
* Best-ever sales day in our retail stores
* Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores
* Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day
* Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day
* Largest order day in att.com history
* Largest features sales day in att.com history
On this year’s launch day, iPhone sales exceeded sales recorded on 2008’s iPhone launch day, Black Friday 2008 and Dec. 26, 2008 — all heavy-volume sales days. In fact, this year we surpassed 2008’s launch day sales at about noon Central time, and sustained our previous peak hour record, also set in 2008, for 11 straight hours.
A little over a year ago, we heard about TerreStar working on a satellite-capable Windows Mobile handset, and have simply been awaiting on a satellite launch to for the phone to play with. Well, that puppy will be in orbit on July 1st., shortly after which the phone will be available on AT&T (NYSE: T). The pricetag will purportedly be in the $700 range unsubsidized, and will hopefully cost less than $1/minute, which is the current going rate for satellite calls. That’s not too crazy, considering it’s going to space, but you’ll also have quad-band GSM and dual-band WCDMA to rely on if you happen to be within the reach of terrestrial networks. The phone will be sold primarily to local and federal government officials who need coverage in remote areas, so don’t expect it to be available in retail any time soon.
One of iPhone OS 3.0s most anticipated features is its support for MMS, sometimes called pictures messages. Unfortunately, the original iPhone crowd was left out of the party. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) only enabled MMS support for iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 3GSs running the latest iPhone 3.0 OS. Today, a new jailbreak application has been released, allowing the original iPhone (2G) to rock the default MMS service!
The newly released ActivateMMS2G has been published on the Cydia jailbreak applications store. To enable native support for MMS on your iPhone 2G, simply jailbreak and install the ActivateMMS2G app. You need to add “http://cydia.alpden.com/” to your Cydia Sources.
The gloves are off, and in this case… the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is chewed right down to the core. Looks like Sprint (NYSE: S) is pulling out all the stops to land as many Pre subscriptions as they can. In a new ad (above) you can clearly see that Sprint is taking a few jabs at 1st-gen iPhone users.
‘Your iPhone contract is up… Perfect timing!’
They make a good case. Run multiple apps at the same time, save over $1,000 in two years… plus a solid 3G network with 4G on the way. Why wouldn’t you switch to a Pre… um, right? Might be hard to beat that whole Apple/iPhone loyalty thing though.
Point Sprint. Will AT&T (NYSE: T) and Apple return serve?
For those of you dealing with lackluster AT&T (NYSE: T) reception in your home or office, there’s some good news coming out of AT&T this week. AT&T is on track to fully launch their signal-boosting femtocell, called the 3G Microcell (despite being a femtocell), by the end of 2009! The arrival of an AT&T femtocell should finally allow signal-seeking AT&T customers to rest easy in their homes with a veritable mini cell-tower in their living room.
For the uninitiated, the AT&T 3G MicroCell, despite its name, is a femtocell solution that blankets your home or office with 5,000 sq. ft. of wireless 3G coverage. The femtocell ferries all communications from your phone and to the carrier’s network through a high-speed internet connection. Think of a femtocell as a mini cell-tower packed into a device no bigger than a cable modem. The AT&T 3G Microcell will also allow up to 10 AT&T devices can use 3G voice and data simultaneously.
The 3G Microcells are in customer trials at the moment, and wider market trials are expected to go live within weeks. And, according to AT&T’s executive director for radio access network delivery, Gordon Mansfield, “[AT&T is] on track for a full national launch by the end of 2009.”
Figure AT&T will have the 3G Microcell available nationwide by the holiday shopping season. Because, you know, nothing says “happy holidays” like a femtocell!
Now that the iPhone 3.0 OS is up and running, AT&T (NYSE: T) wants additionally monetize its deal with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). That said, they’ve included their AT&T Navigator application/service in the AppStore, and are offering it for $9.99 a month.
Feature wise, AT&T Navigator comes with automatic content updates (maps and other details), voice and on-screen turn-by-turn directions (for driving and/or walking), speech recognition, real-time traffic alerts, 3D maps, business listings from YellowPages.com, in-route customization, and online trip planning through a dedicated website.
So if you’ve been using AT&T’s navigation app on some other phone and got used to it, there’s no reason not to try it on the iPhone, as well. Alternatively, you can wait for other navigation software companies to release their own solutions… Full press release follows after the jump.
I usually don’t write up press releases regarding operator variants of devices that have long been released in Europe, nor do I care about the latest crippled handsets coming out of America, but this hockey puck is just too ugly for me not to riff on.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is practically dead, and creatively has been stagnant since the Motorola RAZR launch. The QA1 is supposed to save them. The hockey puck, officially known as the “Karma,” makes me want to push forward my time tables for when the company is going to go bust. The Facebook and MySpace shortcuts on the front are merely links to the mobile versions of said social networking services, but I do have to admit that the 3.5 mm headphone jack on top is a nice touch. You’ll be able to buy the hockey puck on June 28th, it will cost you $130 out the door, but there is a $50 mail in rebate you’ll get between now and when you’re a grandfather. You’ll have to maintain a $40 a month voice plan and $20 a month messaging or data plan to get this thing. That’s right, $60 a month, minimum.
Do yourself a favor. Buy an iPhone 3G. Stay away from this. Far far away.
We knew the iPhone 3GS was fast - just a couple minutes with the iPhone 3GS in-hand is enough to prove as much - but now we have a more applicable idea of the iPhone 3GS’s speed. Anandtech ran a series of speed-tests on the iPhone 3GS, comparing it against the iPhone 3G, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) G1. The results speak for themselves. And they say that the iPhone 3GS is king!
After loading various webpages, using WiFi to rule out any inconsistencies in 3G network speeds, the data showed that the iPhone 3GS had an average speed-advantage of 122% over the iPhone 3G and a 21% advantage over the Palm Pre. The faster 600Mhz ARM Cortex A8 processor in the iPhone 3GS is likely due most of the credit for the bump in speed, what with its ability to handle 2 instructions simultaneously. But, the advantage over the Palm Pre’s OMAP3-based processor (not a slow processor by any means) is surprising.
In testing applications launch times (dialer, camera, email, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps, web browser), the iPhone 3GS proved the fastest of the bunch. Application load-times weren’t markedly different between the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, but when comparing the Palm Pre and T-Mobile G1, it’s obvious that the iPhone 3GS is the quicker of the bunch.
Now, if only we could precisely measure the iPhone 3GS’s enhanced 3D graphics capabilities and compare them to the iPhone 3G…
Had some trouble getting your iPhone 3GS activated, huh? Well, you’re not alone. It seems iPhone 3GS owners were experiencing problems trying to activate their shiny new handsets on AT&T (NYSE: T)’s network through the iTunes-based activation process. AT&T was aware of the issue - as well they should be, seeing as how they’ve been through this type of iPhone activation fiasco before - and issued a statement assuring frustrated customers that the problem will be fixed soon. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), for it’s part, is helping save face in light of its US partner carrier’s embarrassing snafu by offering affected customers a $30 iTunes credit. Apple sent out emails over the weekend notifying customers that they’d be getting the iTunes credit to help assuage their iPhone 3GS activation woes.
The iTunes credit probably won’t make up for having to stare at a brand-new iPhone 3GS without being able to call friends and brag about your new toy, but it’s better than nothing. Look at it this way, if AT&T hadn’t screwed up (again) and embarrassed the hell out of Apple (again), some of you wouldn’t be getting emails from Apple confirming your iTunes credit.
Now, go blow that $30 on farting and burping iPhone apps!
Hey, hey! Whadaya know, this weekend we actually had some official BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) OS releases! Rogers (NYSE: RCI) Wireless and AT&T (NYSE: T) got down and dirty with specific OS releases.
Gotta love it when an official OS release drops. However, if you’re on either of these carriers and carry the 8900 or 8110, be sure to backup your device and take all necessary precautions before proceeding. As always, happy OS updating!
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For those of you dealing with lackluster AT&T (
Had some trouble getting your iPhone 3GS activated, huh? Well, you’re not alone. It seems iPhone 3GS owners were experiencing problems trying to activate their shiny new handsets on AT&T (