Knowledge's Blog

LAS VEGAS – AT&T Inc. is adding cell phones running Google’s Android operating system to its lineup, bringing what could be the iPhone’s greatest rival into the fold of the device’s sole U.S. carrier.

AT&T’s head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, said Wednesday that AT&T plans to sell five Android phones from Dell, HTC and Motorola during the first half of this year. De la Vega was speaking at an event Wednesday ahead of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Android is shaping up to be the strongest challenger to Apple Inc.’s iPhone — more than 30 million of which have been sold in the past 2 1/2 years.

With AT&T’s announcement, the four largest U.S. wireless carriers will offer phones running Google’s software. There are about 20 such phones on the market, including ones made by Motorola and HTC and Google Inc.’s own Nexus One, which was announced Tuesday.

Also Wednesday, De la Vega said AT&T will sell phones running Palm Inc.’s WebOS operating system in the first half. Palm offers two phones with that software, the Pre and the Pixi. Both have been offered in the U.S. only by Sprint Nextel Corp.

Dell has already built versions of its phone, called the Mini 3, for carriers in China and Brazil. Its efforts to expand to the U.S. market is part of its effort to diversify. Its main customers, U.S. corporations, have slowed spending on technology since the economic meltdown of 2008. Once the largest PC maker in the world, Dell has slipped to third behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Taiwan’s Acer Inc. The one bright spot in the business, the consumer PC division, has become less profitable as people have leaned toward inexpensive portable computers.

NEW YORK – Wireless data hogs who jam the airwaves by watching video on their iPhones will be put on tighter leashes, an AT&T Inc. executive said Wednesday.

The carrier has had trouble keeping up with wireless data usage, leading to dropped connections and long waits for users trying to run programs on their devices. AT&T is upgrading its network to cope, but its head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, told investors at a UBS conference in New York that it will also give high-bandwidth users incentives to “reduce or modify their usage.”

De la Vega didn’t say exactly how or when the carrier would change its policies, but he said some form of usage-based pricing for data is inevitable.

Right now, the carrier doesn’t limit data usage for smart phones. It also doesn’t make it easy for subscribers to know how much data they’re consuming.

“We need to educate the customer … We’ve got to get them to understand what represents a megabyte of data,” de la Vega said. “We’re improving all our systems to let consumers get real-time information on their data usage.”

Just 3 percent of “smart” phone users are consuming 40 percent of the network capacity, de la Vega said, adding that the most high-bandwidth activity is video and audio streaming. Several applications on the iPhone provide nonstop Internet radio.

De la Vega also defended the network’s performance, saying testing showed that AT&T’s third-generation, or 3G, network was faster than that of competitors, and that major problems are concentrated in New York and San Francisco, which are packed with smart phone users.

AT&T is locked in a TV ad war with Verizon Wireless, which is touting its wider 3G network coverage. The two recently agreed to drop two lawsuits about their dueling claims.

(This version corrects that AT&T doesn’t limit data usage on phones. 5-gigabyte limit applies to data cards.)

There’s been a lot of talk in 2009 about the next generation of wireless technology, known as 4G wireless broadband, but the current generation of 3G wireless technology is far from dead.

For many wireless operators, especially those that have built their networks using the global standard GSM, the current 3G wireless technology called HSPA still has some legs left.

And while many carriers are planning their 4G networks, hundreds of wireless providers throughout the world are also expected to upgrade existing network infrastructure with the latest versions of the 3G wireless technology to increase speeds and offer new services.

And because these network speeds will match current 4G speeds, consumers will likely see no difference in capability.

For this reason, the next few years will likely continue to be all about 3G technology. And 4G services, where they will be available, will likely appeal only to niche audiences.

“The average consumer doesn’t care about peak data rates or network acronyms,” said Dan Warren, the GSM Association’s director of technology. “They just care about the experience. They want to be able to watch YouTube or get live traffic updates on their smartphones. And they don’t care whether it’s a new network or a current network that is being upgraded.” Click here to read more.. »

Apple iPhone Ad – Did You See My Email? from Arik Hesseldahl on Vimeo.

On the heels of a judge’s decision to allow Verizon to continue running commercials that attack AT&T’s 3G network, Apple is reportedly prepping an iPhone ad campaign that defends AT&T’s capabilities.

Apple will kick off the campaign Monday night with two ads that show an iPhone user talking to a friend while simultaneously surfing the phone’s browser for information about movies and restaurants, or accessing e-mail, Engadget reports,

“Can your phone and your network do that?” a voiceover asks at the end.

The ads come several days after a judge denied AT&T’s request to pull several Verizon ads that criticize AT&T’s 3G network. Earlier this month, AT&T sued Verizon, claiming that Verizon’s ads erroneously suggest that customers not connected to AT&T’s network will not be able to use their phones at all. Verizon’s response – the truth hurts.

Recently, AT&T debuted an ad starring actor Luke Wilson, which defended the company’s network.

An AT&T spokesman said that questions about the ads should be directed to Apple. Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.

(CNN) — Two sources say Apple is building a hybrid “worldmode” phone that Verizon could use

Judging from reader comments in this space, there are a lot of cellphone owners in America locked into Verizon (VZ) contracts who would buy an iPhone in a minute if they didn’t have to switch carriers to get it.

Verizon has made it pretty clear that it would cut a deal with Apple (AAPL), were it not for a couple of impediments: 1) the contract that makes AT&T (T) the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. carrier, and 2) the fact that Verizon’s network (based on CDMA2000 technology) is incompatible with Apple’s smartphone (which uses W-CDMA (UMTS)).

The first roadblock — AT&T’s contract — is set to expire next year, according to a widely cited 2008 USA Today article that included an interview with chairman Randall Stephenson. (Stephenson declined to comment on the details of the contract.)

The second barrier could also disappear were Apple to build a new iPhone that is compatible with both AT&T and Verizon’s networks.

Last week, AppleInsider reported on rumors that Apple may be doing just that. Its source was a leaked OTR Global report, based on unnamed sources in Apple’s Taiwanese supply chain, that said Apple was making a “worldmode” phone using a new hybrid chip from Qualcomm (QCOM).

On Wednesday, a second source for the rumor emerged, this one with a date attached. According to GigaOm’s Colin Gibbs, Northeast Securities has issued a research note, based again on supply chain sources, that says Apple will launch a W-CDMA/CDMA2000-enabled iPhone through Verizon by the summer of 2010.

This assumes that Apple and Verizon can cut a mutually satisfactory deal. But judging from the tone of bitter resignation coming from AT&T executives lately, it sounds like Steve Jobs and Randall Stephenson may have finally come to terms.

UPDATE: AppleInsider on Thursday claimed to have found additional evidence that Verizon is getting an iPhone, but offered conflicting scenarios about when and how that might happen. See here.