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Tag: at-t

  • Research Identifies IP Media Phone as $7bn Opportunity by 2013


    The evolution of the media phone product segment may just be beginning but it has the potential to become the 4th screen in the home.

    That’s according to a report by In-Stat, which said the device could also become a next generation business IP phone.

    The researchers say service providers and IP phone manufacturers are introducing media phones to add value to traditional voice telephones and enable IP-based services.

    Already devices such as the Verizon Hub and AT&T HomeManager, which support both IP communications and the delivery of Internet information and multimedia content, have been launched on the market.

    The free report, The Media Phone Has Arrived, can be downloaded from the In-stat website.

    Other findings include:

    • Consumer media phones will generate between $4-$8 billion in annual revenue, worldwide, by 2013.
    • Business media phones will generate $3.3 billion in annual revenue, worldwide, in 2013.
    • The US market will open up in 2009, with Europe coming on line in 2010.

  • iPhone Swells AT&T's Results


    The addition of 1.9 million 3G iPhone accounts helped AT&T to post USD $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter.

    Apple’s handset made up the bulk of the 2.1 million net new customers that the telecom company gained in the period.

    It enabled AT&T to announce full-year earnings per share of USD $2.16, up from USD $1.94 for 2007.

    The Dallas-based company’s result surprised some analysts, who were expecting poorer figures following Apple’s recent reporting of a 36 per cent decline in iPhone shipments.

    The iPhone helped push up revenue for Web browsing and video download by 51 per cent compared to the previous year.

    Total corporate revenue grew 2.4 per cent to USD $31.1 billion and wireless revenue reached USD $11.5 billion.

    Rival Verizon, meanwhile, wouldn’t give details on the number of BlackBerry Storms sold in its first quarter on the market.

    Reports suggest the figure could be around a quarter of the iPhone’s total.

  • HTC Announces North America Version of S740


    HTC is bringing out a North American version of its S740 slider.

    The S743 will switch from the previously Europe-only HSPA 3G to a dual-band 850MHz/1,900MHz link suited to AT&T in the US and Rogers in Canada.

    That apart, the phone will be identical with a lateral slide-out QWERTY keyboard and hardware keys for directions and numbers in place of the touchscreen fitted to the similarly-styled Touch Pro.

    A 3.2-megapixel camera and microSDHC-dependent storage also carry over from the regular S740.

    HTC plans to ship the Windows Mobile 6.1 phone within the first three months of the year as an unlocked, unsubsidized device.

    Pricing hasn’t been announced but expect it to be be high without carrier discounts.

  • iPhone Big Carrot For AT&T


    Thirty per cent of US consumers who purchased Apple’s new iPhone 3G from June through August 2008 switched from other mobile carriers to join AT&T, according to a survey by the NPD Group.

    AT&T is the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in the US.

    Nearly half (47%) of new AT&T iPhone customers that switched carriers switched from Verizon Wireless, another 24 per cent switched from T-Mobile, and 19 per cent switched from Sprint.

    Unsurprisingly, the new iPhone was the top selling smartphone between June-August, pipping RIM’s Blackberry Curve and Pearl to the top slot.

    The Apple device is now the second best-selling mobile phone handset among US consumers, after Motorola’s RAZR V3.

    Before the launch of the iPhone 3G, iPhone sales represented 11 per cent of the consumer market for smartphones (January through May 2008), according to NPD’s iPhone 3G Report.

    However, after the launch of iPhone 3G, Apple commanded 17 per cent of the smartphone market (January through August 2008).

    Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group, said: “While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network.

    Rubin said that in general terms, the iPhone had boosted overall smartphone sales.

    “The launch of the lower-priced iPhone 3G was a boon to overall consumer smartphone sales,” he said.

    The average price of a smartphone sold between June and August 2008 was USD $174, down 26 per cent from USD $236 during the same period last year.

    During June through August 2008, the top four best-selling smartphones based on unit-sales to consumers were as follows:
    1. Apple iPhone 3G
    2. RIM Blackberry Curve
    3. RIM Blackberry Pearl
    4. Palm Centro

  • US iPhone 3G launch sales double first version

    Stocks of iPhone 3G still scarce as more than 500,000 sold in first week by AT&T

    A fortnight after the iPhone 3G was launched many Apple retail stores have no handsets in stock and lengthy queues form outside those that do.

    Now AT&T has provided frustrated buyers with further evidence that Apple’s latest handset is popular – the carrier has sold twice as many Apple iPhone 3G units upon launch as they did a year ago with the first generation iPhone.

    The company also noted that it had more than doubled its smartphone users year-on-year since June 2007, from 8 per cent to 18 per cent.

    Although official numbers have never been published by AT&T, it is generally estimated that 270,000 first generation iPhones were sold in the opening weekend after launch.

    Based on AT&T’s latest comments suggest at least 500,000 iPhone 3G units have been sold in the US by AT&T.
    That will be little consolation to many potential purchasers who have so far not been able to buy a 3G iPhone.

    AT&T also reported that they added 1.3 million new subscribers, pushing its user base to 72.9 million, making it the largest carrier in the US over Verizon.

    Apple will continue its iPhone 3G roll-out next month by releasing the touchscreen smartphone in 20 more countries.

    The second-generation iPhone has so far been launched in 22, with an estimated 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold globally in the first weekend after its release.

    With another 20 markets opening next month, Apple to take its tally up to 70 countries by the end of the year – with the goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

  • Apple's earnings from iPhone could be higher than first estimated






    As pricing details continue to emerge about the new iPhone, one analyst estimates that Apple stands to make more from each device than previously thought.
    Gene Munster, of investment bank Piper Jaffray, said that AT&T’s complete official pricing for iPhone 3G units suggests Apple is making more from the reportedly abundant iPhone stock than estimated in the past.
    Although the US$199 starting price is much lower for the customers themselves, the US$599 pay-as-you-go price suggests that the carrier subsidy cuts much deeper.
    If so, then this hides potentially greater profits for Apple, which could be asking US$500 for each iPhone versus an earlier estimate of US$425.
    “This discrepancy leads us to believe our [average selling price] is conservative,” said Munster.
    The analyst said that a change of this level would boost Apple’s revenue for 2009 by eight per cent.
    Reitzes also points out that steep drops in the prices of NAND flash memory could further help Apple’s bottom line by reducing the manufacturing costs of each iPhone.
    However, such is the iPhone’s hunger for flash chips – Apple is understood to have ordered 50 million of Samsung’s eight gigabit (one gigabyte) – that Samsung’s supply is reportedly being put under pressure.
    Each iPhone typically uses multiple stacked chips.
    Some of Samsung’s smaller customers are apparently being told that their own orders are being reduced to keep Apple in healthy supply.
    The situation has been compounded by Samsung reducing production in April and May to prevent an oversupply later in the year, while Apple also reportedly ordered half as many NAND chips in June.
    Meanwhile, Toni Sacconaghi, research analyst with Bernstein Research, said he now expects Apple to sell 8.5 million iPhones for the rest of the calendar year, bringing his forecasted total for all of 2008 to 11 million units.
    The analyst expects 19.5 million units to be sold in 2009.
    Sacconaghi thinks the company can take 15 per cent of the post-paid US handset market in calendar 2009, and 6 per cent share of the post-paid market outside the US.
    “These are impressive numbers given the iPhone remains positioned at the very high end of the mobile handset market,” he said.
    Outside the US, Sacconaghi notes that the significant increase in the number of countries in which Apple will sell the phone should lead to much higher non-US sales than for the first generation phone – he expects the penetration rate will be 2.5 times higher.

  • DirectTV says high definition content is helping attract new subscribers

    The US’s leading provider of HDTV has credited its 95 channels of HD content as one of the main reason for increasing subscribers even as the economy falters.
    Paul Guyardo, DirecTV’s chief marketing officer, said the company had not been greatly affected by the US economic slowdown.
    DirecTV added 275,000 subscribers in the first quarter, compared to just 35,000 for rival Dish Network.
    He attributed the satcaster’s market-leading HD offering as a major factor in the increase.
    “I don’t want to say that we are recession-proof, but I will say that we have not been dramatically affected by the recession,” Guyardo told Advertising Age.
    “Right now is a time when people don’t necessarily have those discretionary dollars to go out to entertainment outside of the house.
    “And so now more than ever, they’re turning to their television as a source of entertainment. And at the end of the day, DirecTV is an exceptional value.”
    Guyardo said that DirecTV launched an aggressive marketing campaign last year to promote its expanded HD lineup, at a time when many consumers were starting to tighten their belts.
    The satcaster expanded its high-def channel total from nine to more than 70 last Autumn.
    “All of our awareness studies would suggest that people clearly do understand that DirecTV is the undisputed leader in HD,” he said.
    Despite adding only a small number of new high-def channels this year DirecTV is currently the leading US provider of high definition TV programming.
    With a new satellite due to come on-stream, it is unlikely to lose the top spot in the near future and is expected to expand its current offering of 96 national HD channels.
    Dish Network lies in second place, with approximately 80 channels, while the cable operators Comcast, Cablevision and Time Warner offer 40-60 high-def channels in some markets.
    In other markets, this figure drops to less than 30 HD channels.
    Verizon currently has fewer than 40 HD channels but says it will up this to150 by the end of 2008.
    AT&T’s U-Verse TV service also offers around 40 HD channels and hasn’t announced any expansion plans.
    Guyardo said that DirecTV was well positioned to attract future HD subscribers.
    “People are still investing a ton of money in big, flat-screen TVs – HDTVs,” he said.
    “The growth has definitely levelled off, but the growth is still there. And I think they want a quality picture on their 50-inch Plasma.”