The problem with smartphones: they’re losing their cool and wow factor

It has been six years since Apple introduced the original iPhone. The event was likened to a seismic shift that ignited the push to adopt smartphones in the United States. Now with up to 70 percent of subscribers owning smartphones, the big three carriers are searching for ways to encourage upgrades.

However, the push comes as consumers complain the ‘wow’ factor is missing from the industry. The slowdown in smartphone upgrades – evident in Samsung and Apple’s sales – fell nine percent in 2012 with 68 million U.S. subscribers upgrading their devices, according to a Wednesday Wall Street Journal report…

The root of the problem is two-fold: 70 percent of post-paid carriers subscribers in the U.S. already own a smartphone and the impression that there is less reason to update current smartphones.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

With smartphone penetration approaching 70 percent of contract subscribers last year in the U.S., there are fewer customers left to upgrade to the Internet-ready devices and data plans.

And among existing smartphone owner, fewer are seeing the need to buy the latest Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy as the pace of innovation slows.

In an interview, a 26-year-old Alabama man who still uses a Samsung Galaxy S2, said “it will be a few years before a breakthrough and people buy phones like when Apple first introduced the iPhone.”

Shares of both Apple and Samsung have taken a battering as Wall Street investors voice concern about lower growth for the iPhone and the just-released Galaxy S4.

Investors, used to years of steady growth in the smartphone sector, now worry the best days are behind the two cell phone giants.

For carriers, the wide adoption of smartphones in the U.S. means the days of featurephone owners upgrading to more powerful handsets with data plans has almost reached an end.

While the carriers welcomed paying subsidies of around $400 to attract an iPhone user who will buy a data plan, upgrading a smartphone owner carries little benefit.

In response, carriers have enacted longer periods between upgrades and added new fees to slow the updates, according to the report.

While some carriers – such as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have begun offering quicker upgrades if customers opt out of subsidized handset prices – they are also investigating other revenue streams.

T-Mobile, the nation’s fourth-largest telco, is looking toward wearable devices such as Apple’s rumored iWatch to save the day.

“There is a whole new generation of wearable devices coming that could have some impact on the industry,” T-Mobile CEO U.S. CEO John Legere told the newspaper.

However, as we wrote earlier today, the market for smartwatches is set to grow tenfold next year amid rumors of technology giants entering the market.

In addition to Apple’s iWatch, Samsung and Google are reportedly working on own wristwatch products while Microsoft is developing a smartwatch with a transparent aluminum chassis and LTE capability.

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T-Mobile testing LTE in major U.S. cities ahead of official launch later this month

With all the necessary regulatory approvals concerning T-Mobile’s merger with MetroPCS under its wings, the Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier is expected to accelerate its 4G LTE plans. It’s a tad surprising that T-Mobile has put itself in a position where it remains the sole major U.S. telco without high-speed LTE cellular radio technology.

Be that as it may, its LTE situation is about to change later this month. Just last week, a curious user spotted super-fast data speeds on T-Mobile’s network in Astoria, Queens, a New York City suburb.

Shortly after, the carrier officially confirmed that it will begin providing 4G LTE service by the end of this month and now more LTE spots have been discovered in as much as nine major U.S. cities ahead of the official launch…

Per data by Open Signal, a web site which crowd-sources cellular coverage maps for the world, T-Mobile is testing 4G LTE in nine major U.S. cities, using the LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Note II, Blackberry Z10 and Galaxy S3/4 devices.

The cities - Seattle, Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York, San Diego, Kansas City and San Jose / Bay Area – will likely serve as a launchpad for T-Mobile’s 4G LTE. Open Signal was able to observe fast data transfer speeds, with a respectable 25Mb/s average download speed, an 8Mb/s average upload speed and an average latency of 40ms.

The numbers should be taken with a grain of salt because T-Mobile hasn’t launched its LTE officially so there’s virtually no traffic on the network.

Additionally, these tests were likely carried out close to cell sites with good signal.

The Bellevue-based carrier told media outlets its LTE rollout “is moving at breakneck speed” and will be ready in time for the BlackBerry Z10 launch “by the end of this month”:

We’re on track to have 100 million Americans covered by LTE mid-year and 200 million people with LTE by the end of 2013. This is in addition to the blazing fast 4G experience we give customers right now covering 220 million people.

The telco also said it will be flipping the switch on LTE in Kansas City and Las Vegas.

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iPhone and Galaxy owners are not that different

While iPhone and Galaxy S3 owners are often viewed as fans of rival teams, the two groups have more in common than Apple or Samsung would care to admit.

A new report finds owners of the two smartphones follow the same usage patterns, while maintaining some distance on hardware and carrier choices.

Based on surveys conducted in January and February, both iPhone and G3 owners follow a trend away from voice calls and emails to texting. Before anyone thinks the two will for a mutual admiration society anytime soon, there are some striking differences, as well…

AppleInsider cited a Consumer Research Partners survey which states that between 80 percent to 90 percent of iPhone and S3 owners use their handsets to send multiple texts each day.

There is only a slight difference between the two smartphone platforms when it comes to going online: more than 80 percent of iPhone owners use their device to reach the Internet, while 75 percent of G3 users launch an Internet session from their phones.

While few iPhone or Galaxy S3 owners used their phones to call someone, there was a slightly larger number of S3 users who dialed digits.

In another area, the advantage of the iPhone’s Retina Display may be a factor.

Owners of iPhones reported more often using the handset to play games or view photos one or two times per day. Although 80 percent of iPhone owners said they often played games on their phones, that figure dropped to 70 percent for S3 users.

When it comes to other hardware, there were more disparities between the two groups.

While both iPhone and S3 owners said they owned PCs, iPhone owners were more likely to own a Mac laptop or desktop, according to the report. The research also found while 20 percent of iPhone owners also have a Mac laptop, just 7 percent of S3 owners said they own a Mac laptop.

In other words, an Apple laptop owner is more likely to buy an Apple smartphone than an Android-based G3 owner is to cross “party lines” and purchase a Mac.

Apple today amusingly emailed out its ninth JD Power award to users (kudos to Mark Gurman).

That line against cross overs also includes tablets. iPhone owners are twice as likely to buy an iPad, while Galaxy S3 owners are twice as likely to own an Android tablet. Of interest to Amazon: iPhone owners are more likely to have a Kindle e-reader, as well.

Despite iPhone owners having three U.S. carriers supporting their Apple smartphone, AT&T – which was Apple’s original partner – has more than 50 percent of iPhone users, according to the researchers.

Verizon has around 35 percent of iPhone owners, while a bit more than 10 percent of iPhone owners are Sprint customers. For the S3, there is no apparent carrier preference with Galaxy owners evenly spread across the four domestic wireless providers.

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20 of the Best Cydia Tweaks and Apps - 2013

 

 

Cydia Tweaks and Apps (all tweaks are from bigboss/modmyi):

1.Five-Column Springboard
2. Five Icon Dock
3. Dater
4. FlagPaint
5.StatusTab
6. Barrel
7. NCSettings
8. ncRam
9. BlurriedNCBackground
10.TorchNC
11. Bolt
12. Icon Renamer - I know I say it wrong in the video :)
13. MultiIconMover
14. biteSMS
15. %hooks Law
16. Auxo
17. Zeppelin
18. Download To Newsstand
19. Zephyr
20. Dashboard X
21. Theme - Glasklart

 

 

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AT&T issues statement on unlocking policy

 

 

There’s been a lot of commotion lately regarding the recent expiration of a DMCA exemption that makes the unlocking of smartphones illegal. The people are talking about it, the government is talking about it, and the word is, it could lead to new legislation.

Today, AT&T issued a statement on the topic, reassuring customers that the DMCA rule has no effect on its unlocking stance. The whole thing comes off as a bit garish, as no one was really worried about that in the first place. But it does offer clarity on their policy…

Here’s an important excerpt from the blog entry, which was posted by AT&T’s Vice President of Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh:

“I want to be completely clear that AT&T’s policy is to unlock our customers’ devices if they’ve met the terms of their service agreements and we have the unlock code. It’s a straightforward policy, and we aim to make the unlocking process as easy as possible.”

 

 

It’s nice that AT&T has put this down in writing, because, as evidenced in the comments of the blog post, the carrier hasn’t always happily fulfilled unlock requests. It seems recent media attention on the subject though has pushed the policy further company-wide.

Of course, you’ll have to make sure you meet all of AT&T’s service terms and requirements before you can go arguing with your customer service rep that they have to unlock your cell phone. Luckily, they’ve included all of that in today’s statement as well.

“As we make clear on our website, if we have the unlock code or can reasonably get it from the manufacturer, AT&T currently will unlock a device for any customer whose account has been active for at least sixty days; whose account is in good standing and has no unpaid balance; and who has fulfilled his or her service agreement commitment.  If the conditions are met we will unlock up to five devices per account per year. We will not unlock devices that have been reported lost or stolen.”

So to get your phone unlocked, it must be active on AT&T’s network for 60 days, your account must be paid up, and you have to have fulfilled your service agreement—which for most folks is two years. That’s quite a few ducks to get in a row before you can demand an unlock.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that it was reported last fall that AT&T was unlocking iPhones that were still under contract. In fact, we were able to confirm this, getting them to unlock our then-in-contract phones without issue. So we’re not convinced they won’t do it if you ask.

Anyway, we’re hoping that all of this will be moot in a few years anyway. Yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden announced on Twitter that he is proposing a new bill that will make the process of unlocking your smartphone forever legal.

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