While the iPhone was available from the four main U.S. carriers from 20th September, those who want to stick with smaller regional carriers have so far had to wait. 1st October is now known to be the magic date for nine carriers, with others expected to announce shortly.
The nine companies who have so far announced that they will have both the iPhone 5s and 5c available from that date (via MacRumors) are:
Earlier this month we told you that Verizon-backed ItsOn, a company building software for carriers that provides users with dynamic pricing plans on mobile devices, was planning on introducing a new mobile service that takes advantage of its software. Today ItsOn has officially announced Zact, a mobile service that provides flexible, adjustable data plans that allows users to pay for only what they use, customize voice, text, and data plans in real-time at any time, and share data on an unlimited amount of devices: Expand Expanding Close
Now that T-Mobile offers the iPhone, how do the four national carriers compare in terms of costs? A couple of websites have done the sums.
Our friends over at Zagg did a blog post that suggested three of the four networks come out at exactly the same annual cost when attempting to get as close as possible to like-for-like tariffs, while going with T-Mobile’s contract-free option will save you $580 over two years.
Based on unlimited talk and text, and 4GB of data per month. Sprint offers only ‘unlimited’ data (claiming not to throttle), though is not noted anyway for fast data speeds.
While this is true for individuals, it doesn’t tell the whole story … Expand Expanding Close
Consumer Reports just published its annual ratings report on wireless carriers, and the general consensus is that the Big Four tend to promise a lot—but their customer satisfaction scores prove they struggle to deliver.
None of the major carriers —Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile— could deliver an overall satisfaction score above 72 percent, as NBCNews mentioned, and Consumer Reports further added that cellphone companies rate the lowest among service providers.
Meanwhile, three smaller companies —Consumer Cellular, U.S. Cellular, and Credo Mobile— held the highest scores for customer satisfaction. U.S. Cellular, for instance, which is the largest of the three with service mostly in the Midwest, topped with a score of 88 percent.
The ratings report complied rankings from over 63,000 reader responses. The final results placed Big Red, a.k.a. Verizon, at No. 1 for overall service quality and availability, while Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T soon followed, respectively.
Verizon is apparently preferred by heavy-data users, but the latter three carriers scored better in the 4G-service department. AT&T had the fewest amount of problems for 4G service overall. Satisfaction scores also varied by location, however. The survey cropped data from 23 metropolitan areas and found AT&T rated significantly better than Verizon in places like Chicago.
Check out NBCNews for more details. The full results of the survey will become available in Consumer Reports’ January 2013 issue.
Apple’s rumored HDTV might be called the iTV, according to a new report fromBloomberg citing Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek. In a note to clients this morning, Misek also claimed Apple might buy licenses for programming through possible partnerships with Verizon and AT&T and could “leverage content into a YouTube-like model” by taking advantage of user created video from iPhone and iPad users. He also noted “Lower margins and higher risks” will most likely keep Apple away from creating original programming. Misek did not comment on a possible timeframe for the product’s launch.
Misek’s scenario of Apple partnering with carriers for content follows a report from Reuters today that confirmed Verizon and Coinstar’s Redbox division have partnered with plans to create a video streaming service to rival Netflix and Hulu Plus. Verizon and Redbox plan to offer its first product resulting from the partnership in second half of the year. As for the possibility of Apple calling its HDTV product the “iTV.” Apple will of course have to work out rights to the name from the major United Kingdom TV network of the same name.
Just last week, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster weighed in claiming Apple was talking with a “major TV component supplier” about “various capabilities of their television display components.” He also offered three possible scenarios for how Apple will approach content on its HDTV product suggesting a simple integration of third-party live TV services, to a live TV/web content combination, to an iTunes monthly subscription.
In related news, you might have come across a BestBuy survey recently that aims to gauge interest in an Apple HDTV concept. If you are interested in seeing what BestBuy dreamed up for the survey, a copy sent to us by a reader is available below (Thanks Alan!):
