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Posted
Jul 08 2008, 04:11 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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Apple's new 3G iPhones go on sale Friday, which means that after months of little to no revenue from phone sales, Apple will finally be milking the iPhone cash cow once again. We could be seeing a billion-dollar weekend for the company. Still, while Apple is primed for a massive launch day -- 22 countries will participate -- I expect a bit of chaos will reign, at least in the U.S. The problem is that iPhone buyers will have to buy and activate their phones in either an Apple or an AT&T retail store (AT&T is the iPhone's exclusive carrier partner in the U.S.). That's a strategy intended to prevent people from unlocking the phones and reselling them. If you've activated a cell phone in a store recently, you know it can be a huge pain. It takes 10 minutes at least to get through the paperwork, the credit check and the back-and-forth yadda yadda before you walk out the door. Even if AT&T makes the iPhone activations as pain-free as possible, I foresee lines of disgruntled shoppers who are tired of waiting.
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Posted
Jun 12 2008, 09:41 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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Oh, sure, Apple's new 3G iPhone sounds great at $199, but AT&T is going to pile on a two-year contract, a voice plan that starts at $39 a month and a data plan that adds $30 on top of that. And if you want text messaging, it'll cost you another $5 a month. It all adds up to $1,975 over two years, and Gizmodo takes a look at how that compares with other phones.
Turns out the price isn't that bad. The original iPhone costs $160 less, at $1,815 over two years. But three other 3G phones cost more. AT&T's HTC Tilt costs $2,075, Sprint's HTC Mogul costs $1,955 and the XV6800 by Verizon comes in at $2,175.
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Posted
Jun 10 2008, 09:53 AM
by
Kim Peterson
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We've had time to sleep on Apple's iPhone announcements, and today people are coming out of their Steve Jobs-induced euphoria and looking a little closer at the news. Apple shares steadily crept up today but have recently begun falling to $185.03 at last check. I'll round up the latest iPhone discussions and answer some of your questions below.
Barron's has a collection of analyst reaction to the 3G iPhone. Most of them say that buying AAPL is still a good idea. Analysts were mainly concerned about Apple dropping its revenue-sharing model with carriers, which could bring lower profits. Bernstein Research estimates Apple will sell the iPhone to carriers for between $350 to $700 each. PiperJaffray expects 12.9 million iPhone unit sales in 2008 and 45 million in 2009.
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Posted
Mar 27 2008, 12:58 PM
by
Kim Peterson
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AT&T pledged in 2006 to bring back 5,000 customer service jobs to the U.S. from India, eliminating its low-wage foreign call centers. But CEO Randall Stephenson said this week he can't find enough skilled workers to fill the jobs.
"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio. So far, only 1,400 jobs have been successfully brought back here.
Stephenson gave an especially candid speech, deploring the fact that the high school dropout rate is as high as 50% in some cities.
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Posted
Mar 26 2008, 12:10 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Filed under: Google, Comcast, Time Warner, Sprint, wireless, Intel, Verizon, AT&T, Kim Peterson, Clearwire, WiMax
Rating:
Lots of big numbers are being tossed around today in support of WiMax, a wireless technology that can deliver high-speed Internet access over several miles. Clearwire is a leader in developing WiMax, and has been trying to hammer out a partnership with Sprint for months. But working out a deal hasn't been easy, partly because building out WiMax is so expensive and partly because both companies have their own struggles to deal with.
Now, the two biggest U.S. cable companies are stepping in with loads of cash. According to the Wall Street Journal, Comcast and Time Warner are talking about funding a new WiMax company, one that would be run by Sprint and Clearwire. The company would operate a nationwide WiMax network. Comcast is reportedly offering $1 billion and Time Warner is adding $500 million. Bright House Networks, a small cable company, might pony up between $100 million and $200 million.
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