Betrayal: AT&T Announces New Flagship Smartphone. Lowers the Bar on iPhone
The honeymoon is over between AT&T and Apple, or at least the romance has gone. Today the wireless carrier takes the wraps off its new flagship smartphone product for business and pro customers; the AT&T Tilt . Better known to the world as the HTC TyTn II. Now granted, carrier branded Windows Mobile smartphones are nothing new, and AT&T has offered these johnny come lately devices since before the name changed from Cingular. What makes this product unique is the promotion and positioning it’s receiving. Noticeably absent from AT&T’s website is any reference to iPhone. I searched high and low and uncovered only one mention of iPhone, obscurely located in a section called “Learn.” Perhaps the partnership between the two companies isn’t as strong as we might think, eh?
October 4th, 2007 at 11:34 am
iPhone doesn’t really need the extra hype from AT$T anymore. Apple’s been at the forefront of advertising for the phone anyway. Actually, when sales are high on the product, you normally cut back on advertising spending anyway.
Personally, more people will eventually come to appreciate OSX over Windows on these devices and Apple will still benefit from the OS intro to new users.
AT&T may have already gotten their projected share of new subscribers from initial sales. Protection, rather than addition may be the order of the day. Profit margin is prolly higher in the new device newayz
October 4th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Yeah, i find it odd that att isnt promoting the iphone anymore, however i dont think its going to effect sales. plus that phone is ugly, am i right?
October 4th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
does apple have any plans at all to give us beholden iPhone users MS word, and excel? Or is that only going to be on the next gen iPhones and all us loyal first rounders will have to buy all new phones?
October 4th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Wow, impressive. Looks like a super-complicated, ugly, oversized phone with a tiny screen and a completely unintuitive operating system.
Oh wait… so it’s just like a PC running Microsoft Windows.
It’s pretty obvious this isn’t an iphone killer. An iphone killer needs to be at least somewhat attractive, not to mention targeted towards savvy consumers, not business-oriented power users who will tolerate a behemoth of a phone with a million annoying little buttons on it.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
i’m not that excited.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I don’t see why people want M$ Word on their iPhone anyway. Are you really going to type up documents on your phone? No wonder the level of journalism has gone down. Reporters are submitting articles from their phones! I can not possibly imagine typing anything longer than this message on my iPhone, which I just did actually… and it was a biatch.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Wow. That is one heinous-looking device.
No wonder AT&T isn’t psyched to have it and the iPhone featured on the same (AT&T) website. It’s no contest.
October 4th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I confess that I am a dyed in the wool Smartphone fanboy, but for the life of me I will NEVER grasp the appeal of these HTC slider phones. Every time a new one slogs onto the market, Windows Mobile fanboys spill cream soda down their trousers. To me, I look at these things and I see ugly, clunky, uninspiring bricks.
Maybe it’s a matter of taste, but I value usability over features. Given the choice I’d take a Treo over this. The specs of Tilt may look good on paper, but in reality it’s a compromise. The display is too small (2.8″) and pitifully low resolution (QVGA). It’s waaaaaaayyyy too thick and bulky. And Windows Mobile isn’t exactly a hotbed of innovation, or usability. The damn thing can scrape ice off my windshield for all I care… I still wouldn’t want it. Meh.
October 4th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
The iPhone is prominately displayed on ATT home page. What are you talking about?
October 4th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Not on AT&T Wireless.
October 4th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
just checked the AT&T wireless website and the iPhone is right there maybe I’m looking at the wrong one.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Hmm… maybe it’s randomly generated because I am not seeing iPhone mentioned anywhere on the ATT wireless homepage.
October 5th, 2007 at 10:52 am
It’s already become an old stagnant relationship where it would be better for everyone if they both went their separate ways. And that’s just not quoting what my last girlfriend said…
October 13th, 2007 at 10:14 am
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