AT&T has decided enough is enough, and publicly responded (via a press release) to the claims made by Verizon Wireless in their latest ads.
AT&T cites as fact:
AT&T’s wireless data coverage reaches 303 million people – or 97% of the U.S. population, where they live and work. Our data coverage consists of 3 different types of technology:
3G. 233 million people or 75% of the population are covered by AT&T’s 3G network, the nation’s fastest.
EDGE. 301 million people or more than 96% of the population are covered by EDGE.
With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE
GPRS. Covers 303 million people, allowing you to talk, text, e-mail and access basic websites optimized for wireless.
AT&T is the #1 network for smartphones, with twice the number of smartphone customers than Verizon, our closest competitor. Some of the reasons include:
Most popular smartphones. Unlike Verizon, AT&T offers the most popular smartphones in the industry.
More wireless apps. Unlike Verizon, AT&T customers have access to more than 100,000 applications, more than with any other wireless company.
Talk and E-mail at the same time. Unlike Verizon, AT&T’s 3G network lets wireless customers simultaneously talk and surf the web or do e-mail.
Fastest 3G in the nation. Unlike Verizon, AT&T has the nation’s fastest 3G network.
Responding to a negative ad is always a gamble, as it sometimes legitimizes the claim being made against you. In this case though, I think AT&T is correct in going after Verizon.
AT&T doesn’t have the coverage that Verizon does, and everyone pretty much knows it. However, I do believe that Verizon isn’t giving AT&T its due with regard to EDGE, which is a pretty fast fallback technology.
I have no love for AT&T, but I’m enough of a realist to understand that each of the cellphone companies have their issues.
Category: News
It’s nearly two weeks after Apple’s new Magic Mouse debuted, and supplies are extremely constrained. Apple’s own website shows availablity as 5-7 days. Amazon lists their availability at 2-3 weeks. Most other retailers have yet to see any supply of the new wireless mouse.
This of course begs the question – is the Magic Mouse a hit? It seems strange that in a down economy people would be willing to cough up $70 for a wireless pointing device. Of course, this is Apple we are talking about, and most of the reviews for the Magic Mouse have been positive.
We’re still anxiously awaiting our Magic Mouse. Once we have it in hand, we’ll post a review.
Category: News
Snow Leopard is out, and if you own an Intel Mac, you should upgrade. Save a few bucks by ordering through Amazon.com, who are selling Snow Leopard for the low price of $25. You can help us out by using the link below.
Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-User)
Category: News
The cat is out of the bag (excuse the pun), and yes, Snow Leopard will be shipping on Friday, August 28th.
If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, you can help us out by using the link below to order Snow Leopard from Amazon.com.
Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-User)
Of course, if you bought a new Mac after June 8th 2009, you can get Snow Leopard through Apple’s Up-To-Date program for $9.99.
Category: News,Software
The long awaited/rumored MobileMe iDisk iPhone application is now available in the App Store. The app itself is free of charge, while MobileMe will set you back $99/year (Amazon has the 2008 boxed edition, which is still a valid sign up code, for only $58, which is a great bargain. Click here 
for OS X Factor supported link).
Category: News
Much of the Apple iPhone community is in an uproar over Apple knifing the Google Voice baby. While the debate rages as to whose fault it is – AT&T, or Apple’s – it ultimately makes Apple look bad. And it has made many developers scratch their head and re-evaluate their commitment to Apple’s handheld device.
Apple’s got a good thing going with the iPhone apps written so far, but they would be smart to remember their history. RIM CEO JIm Balsille offers this reminder:
“About 10 years ago there was a well-known PDA company with 40,000 apps and 100,000 developers,” he said. “We had just one application, which turned out to be a very good application. And you see what happened.”
Think it couldn’t happen? When some of your brightest stars in the development community feel like this, you better bet that it can.
Category: News
Apple released a new version of Final Cut Studio today. Touting over 100 new features, Final Cut Studio includes Final Cut Pro 7, with enhanced ProRes support, and new iChat theatre support for real-time collaboration. New versions of Motion, Color and Compressor are also included.
Final Cut Studio costs $999 ($300 less than the previous release), and upgrades are available for $299 from the previous version.
Category: News
Apple has unveiled new versions of Logic Studio and Logic Express today. Logic Studio gets AmpDesigner and PedalBoard, two new features for guitarists. Additionally, new versions of MainStage and SoundTrack Pro are included. A new feature, dubbed FlexTime, promises to make time shifting of audio much easier for Logic users.
Logic Studio is $499, with upgrades from previous Logic Studio versions costing $199.
Logic Express adds FlexTime, PedalBoard and AmpDesigner, but eschews MainStage, WaveBurner, SoundTrack Pro and all the audio loops that come with Logic Studio.
Logic Express is $199 with upgrades from previous versions costing $99.
Category: News
Much has been made about the god awful Adobe Installer/Updater for their Creative Suite and associated apps. Personally, I find the Adobe Updater to be the single worst designed application on my Mac that I’m forced to live with. To say it is widely panned and loathed would be an understatement.
That said, Adobe seems to have gotten the message. The team responsible for the installer/updater has even launched a blog detailing their goals for the next release.
I definitely welcome the transparency that Adobe has given this issue. I sincerely hope that when Creative Suite 5 ships sometime next year, I will have one less thing to complain about.
Category: News
According to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, Apple Legal asked Microsoft to stop running their Laptop Hunter ads. Microsoft, of course, declined reports the WSJ.
Personally, I don’t get these ads. For one thing, while Microsoft makes a sale on every PC laptop sold with Windows, that Windows license fee is a lot less than the full retail license cost of Windows. And since Mac users don’t get a bundled version of Windows with their Macs, they are potential customers for a full retail version of Windows for use in either Boot Camp or a virtual machine emulator like VMware Fusion 2
or Parallels Desktop
.
So, by trying to steer people away from Macs with these ads, Microsoft is actually turning off potential customers who would be possibly paying a premium for their product (retail copies of Windows). I don’t see the logic in this, but then again, I never see the logic in anything Microsoft does.
Category: News
