Marketing and Technology News

iPhone ‘Surfing’ On AT&T Network Isn’t Fast, Jobs Concedes

Apple and AT&T CEOs Say Wi-Fi Gives Boost; Seeing Parallels to Mac

I love Apple products as much as much as the next guy. But, if you are considering an iPhone now, consider this. AT&T’s “Edge” data network is slow. And the iPhone uses this data network at the moment.

Have you seen those Sprint commercials where the loudly obnoxious guy has the two data cell phone users clocking their download time in a restaurant? There is some truth to that.

AT&T’s (formerly Cingular) cell phone service is acceptable. I have been a customer for many years. But should you depend on their network for broadband-type data transfer on mobile devices? I don’t think so. At least, not yet.

In a recent interview ahead of the iPhone launch, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T Inc. CEO and Chairman Randall Stephenson addressed concerns that the device has slow Internet access on AT&T’s cellular network.

Mr. Jobs acknowledged that the company’s new iPhone won’t surf the Internet as fast as he would like on the network, called “Edge,” but added that the device’s ability to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots would give consumers a speedier alternative for Web browsing. For his part, Mr. Stephenson said the iPhone represents a broader push by AT&T into Wi-Fi services, including, potentially, mobile Internet calling. The two men also discussed the iPod’s “halo effect” and reflected on the origins of their corporate partnership.

The iPhone’s first real chance to prove itself began Friday at 6 p.m., when the public was finally able to get its hands on the product. If it’s successful, the product — a cellphone combined with entertainment and Internet functions, all of them controlled by finger taps on a touch-sensitive screen — could force changes across the wireless industry, forcing cellphone makers to respond with new twists in their own hardware. Already, eager fans lined up at AT&T and Apple stores around the country to buy the device.

Source: Wall Sreet Journal

http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@comcast.net

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