AT&T Online Ad Attacking Verizon Is Misleading, Justifies the “There’s a Map for That” Ads

By now, you’ve probably seen Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” TV advertisement, which is aimed at Apple’s “There’s an App for That” TV advertisements (picture to your left). As the only provider of the Apple iPhone in the United States, AT&T did what it thought of as the only thing it could to put a stop to Verizon’s damaging ads… they filed a lawsuit against Verizon, telling the judge to have the ads pulled. No dice. The judge denied AT&T’s request, but apparently, the company will get another chance in mid-December to argue its case.

Scrambling for a response to Verizon’s ad, AT&T did two things: first, it tossed Luke Wilson into a room and had him toss around some postcards that represented AT&T’s network coverage (no mention of 3G coverage—just “network coverage”), and second, it created interactive online advertisements. Good job, AT&T; attack on as many fronts as you can, within your advertising budget. However, I think AT&T’s arguments on why its service is better than Verizon’s are extremely weak and inaccurate.

Starting at the top of this list, we have Nation’s fastest 3G network. Great! Got that out of the way. Take that, Verizon! But, wait, what’s that asterisk? Oh, that would be a disclaimer stating “3G coverage not available in all areas.” This verbiage also appears in TV ads. Isn’t that what Verizon has been discussing in its recent TV ads? This first list item seems to enforce Verizon’s argument.

Second, AT&T has listed Talk and surf or download simultaneously as one of its network perks. This is true. Not much to disagree with here.

The next item on the list, Most popular smartphones, is blown way out of proportion. AT&T definitely has the most popular smartphone in the iPhone, but other than that, the wireless service provider doesn’t have a killer device; Verizon doesn’t really have one, but with the recent release of the Motorola Droid, that’s debatable. Overall, I think this line item should have read Most popular smartphone, singular.

And finally, we have the most misleading, gross misinterpretation of AT&T’s service—Access to over 100,000 apps. It’s well known that the iPhone has tons and tons of apps. However, I think it’s important to note that these 100,000+ apps are only accessible to iPhone users.

Overall, I think this ad is primarily speaking from the point of view of AT&T’s iPhone customers, which still only represents a minority of the company’s subscribers.

 

Note: I’m an AT&T customer.

Resources: Newsday: Judge rejects AT&T's bid to pull Verizon ads

Zune HD and brief thoughts on the software and hardware

Ok, this is going to be really brief, but here are two things that I think the Zune should have: Bluetooth for stereo headsets and speakers and support for Asian languages.

It’s a bit of a long shot, but I would like to see the next-generation of Zunes with Bluetooth. It would definitely give it more firepower against the iPod, but because of the demand on battery power that Bluetooth uses when it’s on, I know that might not be feasible or practical to keep the battery life at such exceptionally high levels. Coincidentally, though, Bluetooth 3.0 will be rolled out to manufacturers soon, and one of the improvements in the technology is lower drain on battery power. If the rumored Zune HD had Bluetooth 3.0, it would probably make it the first device to hit the market with that mobile technology. This sounds completely possible to me with the Zune HD rumored to be released in fall 2009. Having the newest technology in a refreshed device would totally gain followers for Microsoft. The only obstacles for implementing Bluetooth 3.0 into the next-generation Zune are price and battery demand, two of which I have no insight into.

The second should-have (will-have?) for the Zune is the long-awaited support for Asian languages. If the Zune is indeed going international, the Zune must have support for Asian languages for it to succeed overseas.

*The image of the rumored Zune HD above is from Engadget. (http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/10/is-this-the-zune-hd/)

Video submission for a mobile Web site and mobile browser contest

Last week, I stumbled on a Web site called PocketNow, a Web site dedicated to mobile phone news. One of the articles was a contest for readers who could come up with the most creative ways to use Skyfire, a mobile browser for Windows Mobile. The winning submission would receive an HTC Touch Diamond (a pretty sweet and expensive phone) and the runner ups would receive a Skyfire t-shirt.

I thought my entry was pretty innovative, but I guess I didn’t have the best scenery, which is what they were looking for. Oh well, at least I got a t-shirt! :D

Get with it, people!

I'm going to just come out with it; I don't agree with President Obama's decision to postpone the digital convergence from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009.

People, we've had two solid years to figure out how to individually handle this transition, either by buying a new TV that meets the new digital requirements, buying a digital converter box, or, hell, requesting a voucher for a free one. I think most people didn’t felt any sense of emergency or just were confused, but really, there’s no excuse for not being prepared. The Internet is for research, and even for the few that don’t frequent the Internet to do research, all you have to do is ask a friend, inquire about it at an electronics store, call your cable provider. There were/are so many resources for people to figure out what’s going on, but nobody takes advantage of them.

Companies like AT&T and Verizon have spent, and now possibly wasted, millions of dollars waiting for the analog TV airwave to become available so that they can use it to develop new technologies and services. Because of this five-month delay, we’re taking a step back not just in technological innovation, but in building new opportunities for our economy.

The device that I never leave home without: An intimate introduction

Other than the obligatory necessities that one can never manage without having when venturing out into the public, such as a wallet; keys; purse, backpack, manbag, or fanny pack; and the occasional jacket, I’d like to focus on my cell phone.

Since early July, I’ve had an HTC Touch Dual. I went all out and bought it straight up without any AT&T branding, which is nice if I want to switch over to T-Mobile or if I want to use it overseas with a prepaid SIM card. I had to get an unlimited data plan because I knew I’d use the bananas out of it—and I have. Since January 2, I’ve used 557.61 MB of data for uploading and downloading. I guess streaming live video gets pretty intensive.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do for my next mobile device, though. I’d like to stick with Windows Mobile because it syncs with my computer really easily. Android looks neat, but I don’t use any Google products, except for Gmail, so I’m not sure how useful it’d be to me. I’m not an Apple or iPhone guy and have no need for a farting application. The Palm Pre is pretty intriguing, especially since the mobile operating system is based on HTML and CSS, making in fairly easy to develop programs for that mobile platform.

I’m really digging phones like the HTC Touch HD and the HTC Touch Diamond, but I just dropped three three-and-a-half-Thursdays worth of pay before taxes to buy the phone I have now, which is still pretty top-of-the-line. It’s set up pretty nicely, too. Some mobile applications include:

• Bluehoo for social Bluetooth networking.
• Fring for messaging and as a Skype alternative because Skype only works when I use the speakerphone.
• Google Maps to find directions, specifically to find directions by bus.
• Iris Browser just because Skyfire doesn’t work for me sometimes.
• Japanese Pocket Dictionary for those Japanese words that I don’t understand.
• Kinoma Play for superb quality of YouTube videos and Internet radio.
• Live Search to find places and directions.
• Microsoft Tag Reader for when/if Microsoft Tags become widely used.
• NetFront Browser, which is one of the best mobile browsers out there. It even shows Japanese characters! W00T!
• Qik for shooting live streaming video.
• QuickMark for reading QR Codes.
• Resco Explorer for document management and FTP access (to post or delete content from my Web site)
• Skyfire Beta Browser for a complete, desktop browser experience.
• Skype for hoping that one day, it’ll support Bluetooth headsets on my phone.
• TinyTwitter for my ColumnBreak Twitter feeds.
• Viigo for RSS feeds.
• TV Guide for when I actually want to watch other TV shows besides MSNBC, The History Channel, Food Network, VH1, and Comedy Central.

Well, that was pretty exhaustive. I don’t want to run into any legal issues with posting downloadable links as a middle man, so you’ll have to get them yourself (if they’re available) on the product pages provided above.

Text messaging: urgency and occasionally unnecessary. A rant.

Up until mid-2006, I never was a fan of text messaging. I had enough minutes to call somebody, so why bother with spending two minutes to type a message on a crammed keypad? Then, I went to Japan, the land of text messaging. Making phone calls is still ridiculously expensive in Japan, so most people send e-mails through their phones to their contacts. The plus is that text messaging/e-mailing from a cell phone is fairly cheap; I remember when I was on my SoftBank plan, I had unlimited text messages/e-mail and unlimited Internet for about $9 a month. That’s about three times cheaper than AT&T’s plan in the United States.

With an unlimited text messaging plan, I didn’t mind getting pointless e-mails because they wouldn’t count towards a limit. But, after I returned to the United States, I knew that I wouldn’t use anywhere near 500+ text messages, so why bother paying $10+ alone for text messaging? I’m on a 200 text messages plan, and I use those for sending people casual notes. I don’t start conversations because if I wanted to talk to someone, I would just call them. I don’t see the point in engaging in a one-hour conversation through text messages that I could have in five minutes through voice calling.

And, seriously people, chain text messages? You don’t need to validate our relationship—as family or friends—with a pointless message that says “Little Sandy is sad. Text this to all your friends, and with the tracking number at the bottom, Sandy will see how many people made her day happier.” Hello~?! “Little Sandy” was probably just a bored intern who thought up “little Sandy” as a marketing technique… 15 years ago. Also, didn’t chain e-mails go out of style, oh, I don’t know, around the same time AOL did back in 2001?

Along the same lines, take advantage of the 160-character count in text messages. Texting back “ok” is fine if you know the person has unlimited text messaging, but when you know the person has a limited amount and gets charged for going over, be considerate. “ok” is not worth 15¢. And, jeez, combine messages if you have to. If someone asks “How’s it going? Did you make it home last night without getting lost?” Don’t reply with “I’m doing fine” and follow it up with a new message that says “yeah, I made it home.”

I’m laying down the law for those who text message me, even if it’s inadvertently. Beware, I will use the blacklist function on my phone.

A mobile application for you and even you over there

I'm building a mobile application in Flash Lite that is aimed at Windows Mobile devices, but it will also work on Symbian phones and, eventually, the iPhone and Android—once those two platforms get Flash Lite support.

Flash Lite is an interesting alternative to mobile development, especially for those who just can't figure out conventional application development methods... *cough* me! *cough*

(To give myself at least a little credit on behalf of my efforts, I do know enough coding to give a user the ability to close a program.)

The application, which will also work on Windows and Mac PCs, is a short, but detailed, guide on Japan and covers topics from sightseeing, restaurants, accommodations, and even music and videos.

I'm hoping for a mid-February release, but it all depends on if Adobe releases the Adobe Mobile Packager in mid-January as planned.

I think having it available before May—the cherry blossom season in Japan—would be really neat and produce some decent downloads. Hm, maybe I should come up with a mini marketing scheme for it...

Stay tuned!