AT&T Community Forums

Did ATT refuse to carry the G1?

Going off a rumor I saw in the comments section of the review David Pogue of the NYT did of the G1 ( http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/a-first-look-at-googles-new-phone/ ), and elsewhere, it's been said that Google approached ATT with the G1 and ATT flat turned them down. The reason given was that they could expect no revenue stream from application sales and such with the licensing and distribution structure Google has designed Android under. I'd like to know more concretely if this is just a rumor or if it is true.

If it's true, I'm furious. There is absolutely nothing out there that is in the least way comparable to the G1. I've mailed customer support and gotten polite responses to the effect of, 'we acknowledge your displeasure and will take it under advisement, and be of good cheer, we will soon be offering the HTC Tilt'.   What?   If that's not the brush-off and an insult to my intelligence and my years of loyalty as a customer, than I don't know what is. The Tilt, while also made by HTC is a completely incomparable device when considering the G1. Further, the point is not JUST the device features, but the operating system and support of the Open Handset Alliance.

T-Mobile’s G3 coverage is, quite frankly, a joke.   T-Mobile has at the time of that article, 19 cities with some G3 Coverage. ATT.... 280. They are both adding more all the time, but even were T-Mobile to have a huge capital influx and add them at twice the rate of ATT, you'd probably be eligible for ANOTHER handset upgrade before TM started to catch up with ATT.

I'm up for handset upgrade in 5 days and since I've been limping along on a goPhone since lovingly bathing my Blackjack in the Maytag, I'm really biting my nails on what to do or what to think. An iPhone is a weak substitute... Yes, the iPhones are something-y (an attractive description that the board won't let me use... Think.... Marilyn Monroe) and really incredible, but until they can address some deal-killer points they just don't fly with me. (I bought one for my wife.. .she loves it... it's a great handset... It's just not what I want)

1. open the operating system and allow universal app development
2. quit blocking apps like those people used for a short while to tether their laptops before Apple blocked it.
3. quit using proprietary USB hardware/ports/cabling.
4. allow user swappable battery.
5. add memory expansion slot
6. keyboard keyboard keyboard
7. native ability to be mounted like a hard drive on any machine without iTunes being installed.
8. *stupid capacity limits... there are 32gb Micro SD cards available now... why does Apple only offer 16 and that for an outrageous price? (yes I know.... December)... but even then, they still won't have a user accessible swappable memory slot so I can keep a wallet of memory cards and access them with my camera, my other music devices, other cell phones, etc.

*as a point, Google and HTC had better shape up quick... if they think offering a 1gb base model with an attractive sticker price and then charging $50 to go to measly 8gb max internal, then they don't know their market.

The standard GPS + Compass + Streetview standard is great...   I think for other HTC offerings from ATT the GPS is an add-on. I haven't explored my wife's iPhone enough to know what it's GPS capabilities are (ignorance on my part).

I love the fact that you can program your own 'slide' sequence to unlock the phone rather than just anyone being able to drag their finger across and unlock an iPhone. You can make it nastily complicated with many iterations and really be securing your data hard.

I do hope that ATT hears customer outcry and negotiates a G1 offering with Google/HTC. I like the iPhone a lot but I don't want an iPhone... I want an open source phone that was designed with my every desire in mind.

I'd very much like to separate rumor from fact... Perhaps I am miffed with ATT for no reason. Perhaps the G1 is just out of site over the horizon and if I'm just patient and use my goPhone *shudder* a little longer, my patience will be rewarded.

Responses

TheBigLebowski

Guru

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495 Messages

15 years ago

It's a good thing you called. Had you just gone over to T-Mobile and ported your numbers over, you would have been unpleasantly surprised by the $175 charge per line for canceling lines still under contract. It's standard to be upgrade eligible anywhere from 3-6 months before your contract ends.

I think a 32GB iPhone is more a myth than a reality at this point. If I'm not mistaken, the iPod Touch carries 2 16GB flash memory chips inside. The iPhone only has one memory slot. Apple would have already announced a 32GB iPhone if it were going to be available this year. My guess is that the earliest we'll see one would be late 1st/early 2nd quarter of 2009, and that's still a big if.

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Thistledowne

Tutor

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7 Messages

15 years ago

Heh.. well, I can't really do anything till that contracts up so maybe I'll be fortunate there.

I was absolutely speechless when they told me what you just repeated pretty much word for word that they said.

That is one of the most clever marketing strategies I've ever heard of. You have customers happy because they get equipment replacements more frequently than their contract so they aren't counting the days till their contract is up, to get a new phone. I call this the 'Oooooh.... Shiny!!!' syndrome. We live in a disposable society with a really short technological obsolescence curve. and that saves them being disgruntled and ready to consider other carriers if they are the least bit dissatisfied or if there's some really attractive deal going on with a competitor. The engineering and production quality are probably such that a reasonable equipment life span is under 2 years *grin*.

Very clever. It costs them a little more on equipment due to it's being replaced more often, but they are already giving such a ridiculously high markup they can do equipment replacements for pretty much cost (like 1/5th the 'buy it outright' cost) and have the customer elated because they got such a nice phone so cheaply.

6 replacements at 2 months before contract is up and ATT has the customer locked in for an additional 2 years.

Clever clever clever.

You're absolutely right that I'm glad I had the impulse to call first and follow it. I'm a bit manic depressive and some things in life just went into the toilet... buying something nice to feel better is a terrible strategy that bi-polars use to get a temp-fix/pay-later. I was all set to run out and get that G1.

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Smurfette27

Master

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4.2K Messages

15 years ago

So for 75 additional dollars I can upgrade early?

Thistledowne wrote:
Heh.. well, I can't really do anything till that contracts up so maybe I'll be fortunate there.

I was absolutely speechless when they told me what you just repeated pretty much word for word that they said.

That is one of the most clever marketing strategies I've ever heard of. You have customers happy because they get equipment replacements more frequently than their contract so they aren't counting the days till their contract is up, to get a new phone. I call this the 'Oooooh.... Shiny!!!' syndrome. We live in a disposable society with a really short technological obsolescence curve. and that saves them being disgruntled and ready to consider other carriers if they are the least bit dissatisfied or if there's some really attractive deal going on with a competitor. The engineering and production quality are probably such that a reasonable equipment life span is under 2 years *grin*.

Very clever. It costs them a little more on equipment due to it's being replaced more often, but they are already giving such a ridiculously high markup they can do equipment replacements for pretty much cost (like 1/5th the 'buy it outright' cost) and have the customer elated because they got such a nice phone so cheaply.

6 replacements at 2 months before contract is up and ATT has the customer locked in for an additional 2 years.

Clever clever clever.

You're absolutely right that I'm glad I had the impulse to call first and follow it. I'm a bit manic depressive and some things in life just went into the toilet... buying something nice to feel better is a terrible strategy that bi-polars use to get a temp-fix/pay-later. I was all set to run out and get that G1.

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TheBigLebowski

Guru

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495 Messages

15 years ago

I've never heard of this program, although a few people have mentioned it now. You'll have to ask Customer Service what the criteria are for an early upgrade. They're certainly NOT going to let people upgrade early ever few months at $75 a pop. You may have to fulfill so much of your contract (12 months of a 24 month contract), and it may be a bit of a sliding scale depending on how much your monthly plan is.

@kissyroo wrote:
So for 75 additional dollars I can upgrade early?

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badbart

Contributor

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1 Message

15 years ago

If you haven't already switched why not just get an unlocked g1 phone and use it on ATT thats what I did. I wasn't sure about it at first but now that I have the APN settings right it work just fine and there are lots of free apps. If anyone needs the setting just email me.

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cmrunner83

Guru

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758 Messages

15 years ago

@Thistledowne wrote:
Thank you for a nice considered reply. My bad with the G3/3G      too much history with a rev1 233 and many of its successors, and since Apple was likewise being discussed.... yes yes, I know.. .all excuses.   Walled garden.. I like that. very apropos.    Since you confirm what I've heard rumored about the frequency notches not being compatible between providers regardless of what protocol is being used, it makes me all the more baffled at the hot trade currently underway on eBay for 'unlocked' G1s with no contract. It was my understanding that you could not buy a G1 w/o signing a 2 year T-Mobile contract (I think there are some states where you can violate that w/o penalty but I'm seeing auctions from sellers located all over the place). It was also my understanding that the phone could not be unlocked for the first 90 days after purchase. Add to the fact an utter lack of network coverage if those phones are indeed limited to T-Mobile's bandwidth notch, and I'm wondering why trade is so brisk over there.   Are people being less than honest about what they're selling?   Are buyers being fools and not reading the fine print?

As to 32gb SD cards... my bad.   I mixed my mental tenses and was thinking of an article I'd read about them very likely being available in the not too distant future and at a reasonable pricing structure.   I realize I'm comparing apples (no pun intended) to oranges here, but I simply meant to imply that Apple could satisfy a huge portion of their users by making a slide off back with an accessible battery (yes.. walled garden with machine gun emplacements) and could conceivably make the whole thing 1mm thicker and let the user array several micro SD form factor cards.

As to the customizable 'slide lock' security, I only know what I've seen in a video Google put on YouTube. It was pretty cool, but it was visual and not all that techy. I assume that if it didn't already let you customize precisely what you wanted protected behind that barrier it could in very short order. That's the beauty of this phone. It doesn't come with a video recorder for the onboard camera... it seems silly, but not when you realize that the thing is completely open with a published API and people clambering to start writing to the platform. I expect to see programming contest flyers in the halls of the Engineering buildings at school any day now.

As to the USB interface... Apple never needed to develop their own proprietary ports for what is essentially a USB 2.0 pipe for charging, external control, or data transfer. I believe (my 'rumor mill' may have failed me here) the G1 uses a standard type Mini-B USB connector that most of us have two or three sitting in our drawers at home and work because every device under the sun uses the interface now.

I don't like the G1's lack of a headphone jack but I understand why it couldn't fit along with the keyboard and everything else and still have a footprint that's even remotely close to the iPhone. I'm certain people are going to be losing the little 1/8" "Sony" TRS stereo headphone jack => Mini-B USB dongle required to use the device as an mp3 player. As there won't be any licensing royalties on something like this, you'll probably find them being sold for a couple of bucks at RatShack in very short order.

More on the Slide Lock question...I've always despised ActiveSync, and Palm Desktop so I'm rather hopeful that the 'openness' of the platform extends to letting the market decide in terms of popularity which of any number of competing synchronization utilities people like best.   I'm not certain, but if Google has just written the operating system and distributed the API, they may be hoping that developers jump at the opportunity to write software to just make use of the methods provided in the API. Or, likewise they may have provided a very rudimentary, lightweight, not-fully-featured sync utility with the same goals in mind.   As even that utility would be open, people could start writing add-ons or forking it to a whole new utility.

I had already resigned myself to probably having to get an iPhone, but I hate to surrender w/o at least one final desperate drowning shout-gulp...   The nice thing about it however is that it won't be too painful a pill to swallow (Sorry, I'm terrible for mixing metaphors). The iPhone will be a prison of sorts, but it will be very posh with Martha Stewart preparing the meals... very nice, but I'd still like the freedom to order out Chinese or get a burger when the mood strikes me. One can get tired of choice prime rib and vegetables in Hollandaise sauce.... What???!!!??   Steak and Lobster AGAIN!?!?!

Thanks TBL. Guess I'll mark you as solution as it's probably the closest I'll get to having my grumpiness assuaged. I hope discussion will continue however.   I hope the execs do have peons trolling these waters and reporting back species, numbers, and general health and any other data that might serve to persuade them to cater to their customer base.

Cheers!

PS... I think I forgot to mention... Cut and Paste!

Message Edited by Thistledowne on 10-20-2008 08:42:56 PM

Message Edited by Thistledowne on 10-20-2008 08:45:15 PM

My friend has a G1 and I must say it is a really cool phone! Before he let me play around with his, I thought they were ugly in almost every way and was not interested at all. I haven't played with his phone for too long, yet. Maybe the next time we hang out. But I was able to navigate around the phone and check out the customizable screen, menu screen, and all his apps... I am starting to really like the phone. Haven't checked out the email or internet on it myself, yet, but he did show me the internet. (I'd still want to play with it. I think navigating in the iPhone's browser will still be superior..) I'm kinda considering buying an unlocked one down the road.. So far, I think the UI is pretty good! I am used to the iPhone's and, while the G1's is definitely different, it worked well and I liked it. Still haven't played with the phone too much, though...

As far as the locking part of the G1, yes you can customize that into a pattern of your choosing.. But, you do know you can lock the iPhone with a password, right??

Message Edited by cmrunner83 on 01-09-2009 12:00:52 PM

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