Carriers pay Apple the subsidy that is able to keep the iPhone down to its $199 price point even after cramming in loads of new features in every release. For Apple, this is good. For consumers, this is good. For carriers, this is very bad.

During 2009 and 2010 before Verizon Wireless was selling the iPhone, its EBITDA margin was at an average of 46.4 percent. Right after the Verizon iPhone became a reality, the profit margin dropped to 43.7 percent. Last quarter, which was the first quarter to include iPhone 4S sales, Verizon’s margin was at 42.2 percent.

Fortunately for Verizon, its margins are comparably high to those of AT&T and Sprint. AT&T’s EBITDA service margin last quarter was 28.7 percent, an 8.9 percent decline year-over-year. Sprint’s margin last quarter was even worse at a sad 9.5 percent. The year before that when Sprint wasn’t selling the iPhone, its margin was 16 percent.

The good news is since Apple sells so many iPhones, carriers are still making plenty of money off of them. Don’t ever lose sleep about them not making money — if something doesn’t add to their bottom line, you can bet carriers will not go through with it.

[via CNN Money]

Regardless of color, the Lumia 900 is a gem of a phone. It has a 4.3-inch WVGA ClearBlack display, an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss rear-facing camera with dual LED flash, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, a 1.4GHz single-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, and support for AT&T’s LTE network.

Though not confirmed by Nokia or AT&T, the handset is rumored to debut in mid-March with a rock bottom price of $99.

[Via SlashGear]

Both Cozen and Plank report getting a message from AT&T saying they would be throttled, even though their data usage for the month was about 2 GB. Cozen even took his concerns to AT&T customer service, which confirmed the throttle warning was correct. As expected, the carrier offered to switch him to a tiered plan to avoid the throttling. Before you get up in arms, this 2 GB level may be region-specific as many customers claim they use well over 2 GB without throttling. Nonetheless, this report serves as a reminder to AT&T customers on an unlimited plan – if you don’t keep your usage in check you might find yourself on the verge of being throttled when you least expect it.

[Via MacRumors and WSJ; image from Shutterstock]

But that’s not all. The electronics retailer is also providing free shipping along with a free $50 gift card with any activation (as we discussed before).

As a reminder, the Galaxy Note rocks a huge 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD touchscreen, 8-megapixel camera on the back, 2-megapixel front-facing one, 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity, S Pen stylus, 16GB of built-in storage, and so on.

You can check out the Galaxy Note in Ceramic White from here, and in Carbon Blue from here.

What can we learn from all of this? AT&T really doesn’t care about their customers, they care about keeping competition at bay. It’s why they buy up all the spectrum they can and never actually bother using it. It’s why they pay lobbyists to make sure they get what they want. It’s just business as usual.

Can you do anything about it? Sure, switch to Verizon, who continues to keep their mouth shut and plays the “let the best network win” game. That’s how it should be done.

[Additional Reading: The actual letter Dish Network sent the FCC]

We already got a chance to play with the Galaxy Note at CES this past January and while the idea of a 5.3 inch phone sounds a bit ridiculous, we were surprised to see just how pocketable the handset is. That said, despite its thin profile and stunning Super AMOLED HD display, it just might be too much phone for some people.

AT&T-bound and up for pre-order starting today, the Galaxy Note is proof that a device this large can be popular. We’re sure Dell is feeling a little silly right now, as Samsung has shown the company what the Streak 5 could have been.

The Galaxy Note is essentially a larger Galaxy Nexus with TouchWiz  (and LTE) but it Samsung has also introduced the S Pen with the US variant of the Phoneblet. While we question if stylus-pens will catch on, as it seems ancient these days, the S Pen has some pretty nifty features when paired with the Note. We’ve seen similar implementations from HTC with its Flyer tablet, which failed to impress. But at this point in Android land, if anyone could make a stylus somewhat popular, it would have to be Samsung.

While we do like the way Samsung pokes at the Apple fans of the world with its ad-campaign, we would have preferred a brand new ad instead of something recycled. Nonetheless, we’ll have to see if the commercial was effective when the handset lands on the 19th. Already sold? Head over to AT&T’s site to secure your Galaxy Note now.

Head over here to see our hands-on with the Galaxy Note at CES and check out the new ad below!

What do you think of the ad? Effective or “over the top”?

AT&T has already started selling the MediaPad to its enterprise users at varying price points depending on the business account. As for consumers, guess they’ll have to wait for few more days — I couldn’t find the tablet on AT&T’s website, so I don’t know the price.

Specs wise, Huawei’s baby comes with a 7-inch 1280×800 pixels touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 5-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording on the back, 1.3-megapixel front-facing one, Wi-Fi (and HSPA?), and a memory card slot.

• Improvements in the camera app, delivering better overall picture taking experience.
• Addition of Google Music application from where you can shop for millions of songs and download hundreds of free tracks.
• Re-naming of Motorola Gallery, Music and Files applications to My Gallery, My Music and My Files.
• Enhancements to device security, including addition of Android security patches from Google and Cisco Any Connect VPN enablers.
• Emergency Alerts from authorities such as Hurricane warning notifications.
• Amazon Kindle – link to the app for quick access to your library of Amazon digital books as well as access to the entire Amazon library.
• AT&T Messages – link to the app for quick access to all of your texts, calls and messages which have been stored in the cloud.
• Improvements to keyboard functionality for better email experience.
• Improved stability of Mobile Hotspot for better overall performance.
• Enhancements to Webtop to improve stability.

Yep you should update your Motorola ATRIX 2 if you still haven’t. Hit Settings, About phone and find the Update option there. Good luck!

[Via: AndroidCentral]

According to AT&T, CEO and Chairman Randall Stephenson will stay on top and will have multiple lieutenants. Most importantly for this publication, Ralph de la Vega will continue on as CEO of AT&T Wireless. There was not any indication that de la Vega was on the hotseat but I guess it’s possible with the failed and costly acquisition of T-Mobile went down the drain.

While de la Vega remains at the top of AT&T Wireless, he may have lost a little bit of clout, as John Stankey was named to the newly created position of Group President & Chief Strategy Officer. This will focus on future growth opportunities which includes “addressing long-term wireless-capacity needs.” We all know that one of the major reasons AT&T wanted to buy T-Mobile because it needs more spectrum for the future.

Andy Geisse has been named Senior Executive Vice President of AT&T Business and Home Solutions and this includes the U-verse business, enterprise customers and more. Finally, John Donovan has been named Senior Executive Vice President-AT&T Technology and Network Operations.

[Via AT&T]

Last week (January 26th) AT&T sent the FCC a seven page letter basically saying that Dish Network should be given permission to build their network, that they should have to follow the same rules that all wireless operators follow, and that no restrictions should be placed on the “transfer and/or leasing” of Dish’s spectrum. To us that sounds like AT&T wants to cut Dish Network a big fat check and just take their spectrum, why else would they tell the FCC to give Dish Network the green light to start building their network?

In a perfect world the FCC would tell AT&T to stop being a whiney douche, give Dish Network the go ahead, and Deutsche Telekom would give Dish Network the right to use their brand so that they don’t have to invest millions in marketing. That of course is a fantasy, but regardless, expect something major to happen to Dish Network during the next 12 months. They stand to make a lot of money when their spectrum gets the FCC’s stamp of approval.

The Galaxy Note is a monster of a phone with a 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED screen that’s 0.7 inches bigger than the Galaxy Nexus. It has a whopping 800 x 1280 pixels (WXGA) resolution with 285 pixels per inch. Under the hood, the Galaxy Note has a 1.4GHz dual-core chip, 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard storage. It’s powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Samsung’s TouchWiz skin. It also has an 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording, a 2-megapixel front-facing webcam, 4G LTE connectivity and the stylus-based S Pen system for entering notes.

The Galaxy Note will retail for $299 which includes a new two-year contract with AT&T. Check out our video on the AT&T Note from CES 2012.

[AT&T]