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Many things shock me about AT&T and their behavior over the past year, but the one thing that shocks me the most is that the entire PR department has not been fired. It’s been one PR disaster after another. Here comes the latest, a report that the AT&T website has stopped selling the iPhone in New York. They have now given three completely different reasons for this, none of them making much sense. Basically they are simply coming across as completely inept. People have already been unhappy with AT&T this year, mostly for network quality and uneven 3G coverage, now this. How can you stop selling phones in America’s largest city and not have a planned message for the obvious questions that are going to come? This is PR 101.

The entire communications and messaging from AT&T has been so abysmally bad of late it’s hard to imagine this is one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. The iPhone was an absolute blessing at first, bringing thousands of new customers to AT&T but now the iPhone has become a curse on AT&T. The iPhone is a world class cell phone, the first of it’s kind. I guess AT&T isn’t world class enough to live up to the challenge of supporting it.

Here is what I can report.

It’s fast, really fast, much faster than my iPhone 3G.

The screen is fantastic. Again, better than my iPhone 3G.

It’s simple and elegant. The most elegant phone, both in hardware and software next to the iPhone. Does it surpass the iPhone? Hard to say and it may just be a personal judgement call for most. But thank goodness, this is the first real, serious competition for the iPhone and it should get Apple scrambling to innovate and improve things on the iPhone. This will be great for customers.

Here’s my bottom line. For more technically savvy users who are getting tired of Apple’s maniacal control over the iPhone, the Nexus One from Google will be great. They will love it and it will sell well to this market. The geek cread on this phone is off the charts. For the mass audience who doesn’t know or care much about the inside baseball aspects of the market, they will likely be perfectly happy with the iPhone. What they will get unhappy about is the continuing problems with the AT&T network. If AT&T exclusivity does run out next year and Apple is able to open up to more carriers, I think AT&T is in real trouble. I do think Apple does need to distance themselves from AT&T as they are like a boat ancor that will bring the iPhone down eventually.

Android phones up to this point haven’t been exciting or interesting at all. The Motorola Droid was the first to change that and this Nexus One will move things along even faster. 2010 is going to be a fun year for mobile. It’s Android vs. iPhone. Game on!

Posted via web from David Jacobs’s Connected World

computers (some call them smart phones) that are more powerful than my first personal computer, the beloved Apple //e. My first cell phone was given to me by my work. They wanted all managers to have cell phones so you could be reached anytime, anywhere. The joys of being a manager. It was one of those super cool, thin Motorola jobs that were all the rage at the time. State of the art. Then September 11 happened and so many things changed. Luckily it was morning before I had gone to work so my wife and I and Virginia, who was just a baby , were all home. But we started wondering, what if I wasn’t home? What if the attack had happened close to were we lived? Immediately we recognized the need to communicate. Just to coordinate actions, to know where everyone is and where everyone was going. I bought my wife a cell phone the next week. Now cell phones are so cheap, they are finding there way into the hands of kids. I wasn’t a big fan of this at first, but when your kid turns around 9 and starts galavanting around the neighborhood more on their own you start to like the idea. Life is more complex now, faster. Who is going to pick up the kid from the birthday party? I thought Mrs. Jones was bringing you home. Nope. She thought we were. If you kid has a way to communicate, one quick phone call resolves the situation easily.

At first we tried those “kid” phones that are easy for them to use and can only dial certain numbers, ect. Nice idea but the reception was so poor it was worthless. It was just as easy and inexpensive to just get her an AT&T phone and add her to the family plan. But herein lies the trap. Being a child, your kid is likely to loose, misplace or otherwise become eternally separated from his or her phone at some point. If you go into AT&T they will tell you that your kids phone is not up for a discount renewal for possibly a very long time, depending on when the loss happens. In my case, Virginia’s phone is not up for a year. Buy a new phone? Pay the retail price. No thanks. Cancel her line? Pay a $175 early termination fee. Gee, thanks. I’m on the hook for $10/mo for another year for a

phone she doesn’t have. I looked right at the AT&T rep. What am I supposed to do? For a while he just looked at me like I don’t know sir, you’re pretty screwed. “I can’t believe this” I said. Finally he took pity on me and said I could buy a GoPhone and he would give me a replacement SIM card to put in it. A GoPhone would only be around $50. Of course, they don’t sell them at the AT&T store. Of course not, why would they. I went down to Best Buy and took a look. The GoPhone are prettysucky but they would work.

Problem #2: Your daughter has turned 10 and is obsessed with texting. Yes a phone, fine, but can I text? With a real keyboard? Dad, I’ve tried it on a regular phone pad, it’s no good. I can’t argue with that. it does suck. Your first thought is probably my first thought which was she doesn’t deserve a texting phone because she lost the first phone. True, but here is my logic. If I get her a decent texting phone, she will be so happy and obsessed with it she’ll never let it out of her site. It will be way to valuable to loose. But there are no GoPhones I can find retail that have a keyboard. The one I found online wants to force me to sign up for a plan. I just can’t win. Finally I turn to craigslist and you actually can get a Samsung Blackjack for around $100, which is the same price as the texting GoPhone. So I think that’s what I’ll do until her contract is up at which point I will drop her from AT&T. Fuck ‘em. They didn’t help me out, so they loose my business.

Here is the lesson learned. If you want to get you kid a cell phone, go with a pre-paid phone on a network with no contracts like Virgin Mobile. They have decent phones and you won’t be screwed if the phone gets lost, stolen or damaged. Plus, you can always move to a different provider anytime.

I’m waiting. For a better battery and 32Gig. You know 32Gig is not far off with the way solid state memory is going these days and certainly there will be a better, more power effecient 3G chipset comming at some point. With a full 32Gig, I could fit my entire iTunes library on the iPhone. Truly at this point it will have taken the full place of my iPod. 16 Gig is better, but still not really there yet. Delayed gratification is supposed to be good for you and for the frist time in awhile I will practice it. I have other priorities right now anyway other than upgrading my phone. I do want an Apple TV though…