AT&T has just revealed two new commercials that again, take aim at Verizon. Did you really expect anything different? Both of these new ads star Luke Wilson just like the “Side by Side” commercial that debuted last week. As you can see above, “Two Phones” concentrates on the fact that you need two phones to talk and surf the Web at the same time unlike on the AT&T network. To be fair, AT&T left out the fact Verizon customers could actually use WiFi if the phone supported it. We’re just saying…

The other commercial, “Postcards”, highlights the fact that AT&T’s network covers 97% of Americans. As much as I enjoy my AT&T service they failed to mention a decent amount of that coverage is EDGE only.

[Thanks for the tip Gregg!]

View the other commercial after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T “Sets the Record Straight” with 2 New Anti-Verizon Commercials

Speaking of the ongoing ad-war between AT&T and Verizon, according to CNET:

A federal judge in Atlanta Wednesday declined to grant AT&T a temporary restraining order that would force Verizon to stop showing the ads.

So the “map for that” campaign can continue, even as AT&T counters on the marketing front with “side by side“.

On the legal front, though certainly a set back, we’re sure AT&T’s lawyers want to get as much as they can out of this legal challenges will continue as well.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Judge Rejects AT&T’s Request to Stop Verizon “Map for That” Commercials

AT&T has responded to Verizon’s latest commercials that depicts their network as small and to put it nicely, garbage. As you can see above AT&T takes some shots of their own at Big Red.

This particular commercial is just one of a series that will begin airing tonight. AT&T not only mentions a few valid points but they even scored Luke Wilson to do the dissing. Bonus points…

So, the big question remains, how long will it be before Verizon files a lawsuit of their own? Only kidding… we think?

Update: Also be sure to check out www.truthabout3g.com (screenshot after the break!).

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T Fires Back at Verizon with “Side by Side” Commercial

By now most of you have seen the infamous Verizon “map for that” attack ads against AT&T. It was only a matter of time before we heard Verizon’s response to the lawsuit [Full document PDF link] that AT&T recently slapped them with and respond they did. Verizon’s lawyers put their heads together to come up with the following opening line:

AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.

Ouch, if you continue reading the lengthy document you will find that Verizon does not intend to remove the ads from the air unless it is forced to. They also claim AT&T agrees the map coverage is indeed accurate and before anything progresses both parties need to do some more of their own investigating into the matter.

All of this really isn’t necessary, both parties should agree to carry along and spend their time doing something more productive – improving both of their respective networks.

[Via Engadget Mobile]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Verizon Replies to AT&T’s Lawsuit Over Attack Ads — “The Truth Hurts”

Verizon has unleashed yet another Droid-centric, anti-iPhone attack ad (YAAiPAA), a page in Sports Illustrated, that’s closer to the first tragic iDon’t commercial rather than the later, more clever “map for that” ones. And what’s more, CNET thinks they’re getting more personal, expressing feelings about their (ongoing) negotiations with Apple to bring the iPhone to Verizon, and perhaps even attacking Steve Jobs himself for his role in those negotiations. Here’s the text:

This is a world of “nope,” “nuh-uh,” and “sorry, Charlie.”

A world of smiling denial. Petty tyrannies that have made their way into our cell phones. Into the very way we choose to speak to another human being. There are dozens of doesn’ts. Doesn’t allow customization. Doesn’t run multiple apps. Doesn’t allow you to swap out batteries. doesn’t allow open development. These arrogant little devices are barely worth more than the pocket link they rest upon. Because now there’s a phone so smart, so strong. So subservient to its user, it refuses to include “doesn’t” in its dictionary app.

In a world of doesn’t. Droid Does.

Also specifically targeted again are the commonly-voiced frustrations of certain power iPhone users, and those philosophically opposed to Apple’s iPhone model, with whom the above is certain to resonate. Who knows, maybe it will even push Apple to address some of those issues in a future product revision. Ultimately, that’s as good for consumers as Verizon ditching (mostly — yikes!) their own incredibly controlling, consumer-hostile practices in order to be able to make these claims in the first place. (Call us cynical, however, for not believing Verizon has had any huge philosophical turn-around beyond cold, profit-centric, anti-iPhone competitive positioning, though we’d love to be proven wrong).

But back to this specific ad. Is it effective, and is it personal? Did they just take it to the iPhone, Apple, and Steve? (And are they trying to make his brain explode with that typography and punctuation alone?)

[Thanks Icebike for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Verizon iPhone Attack Ads Take the Gloves Off, Target Steve Jobs?

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TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! #75 — DROIDed!

Ho-ho-hold on a minute, Verizon — AT&T’s not finding much to laugh about in those new anti-AT&T iPhone “map for that” commercials that show a teensy, tiny blue GSM/HSPA 3G footprint compared the ginormous country painted CDMA/EVDO red. In fact, AT&T is amending their original lawsuit to include those new misfit toys, Santa’s workshop, and blue Christmas ads.

“Contrary to the image presented in the Verizon ads, our wireless network is pervasive,” said an AT&T spokesman. “It covers over 300 million people, or 97 percent of the U.S. population. Our fastest, or 3G, network covers approximately 233 million people, or 75 percent of the U.S. population….[Verizon's] use of white space is misleading.”

In other words, AT&T is saying Verizon’s 3G coverage of mountains and lakes is impressive for the fish and eagles, but they think they have the humans and their “cities” covered just fine, thanks. (Though, again, NYC and SF might disagree…)

Digital Daily has the whole, amended, complaint for your reading pleasure. Let us know your take.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T Demands Verizon Stop Airing “Misfit Toys”, Other Attack Ads

Much has been said about Verizon’s latest addition to their smarthphone arsenal, the Motorola Droid, some good and some bad. I decided to pick one up and decide for myself. It’s been a little less than a week that I’ve spent with my Droid and I must say, I’ve actually come away quite impressed. Now by no means am I saying the Droid is the best looking device on the market, nor is it the perfect smartphone — that simply does not exist. But what we have here is a very solid effort by Motorola. Sure Apple is at the top of the game in regards to UI, ease of use, speed, etc… but they have to play some major catch up with the release of their next iPhone — namely on display, notifications, and multitasking.

For the full run down follow me after the break!

Display

I want to start with the first thing that really pops out when you turn the Droid on — the display. I will admit I never had issues with the screen on my iPhone… until the Droid came along. The Droid’s display has a resolution of 480×854 and is 3.7-inches of pure delight. So much so that after using the Droid for almost a week now when I look at the screen on my iPhone everything on it comes across as being blurry.

Apple, we all beg of you, please make Rene’s dream of an iPhone HD come to life by giving us a better screen on the next version of iPhone. Pretty please…

Notifications

The way the Droid handles notifications is not something new but rather a staple of the Android OS. Like many of you, I feel the iPhone does a very poor job with any sort of push notification whether it is a incoming text message or a sports score. So poor in fact that if I receive a sports score and then a text message right afterwords I have no way of knowing the sports score ever came through! On the Droid I can get all the scores pushed to the device and have email, text messages, etc and a simple swipe down on the screen reveals every single notification. I’m not sure about any of you but how the iPhone handles push notifications is getting pretty old at this point.

Multitasking

According to our poll of what Droid feature would you like to see on your iPhone, many of you would like to see the ability to multitask 3rd party applications. Apple’s response to your request has been that multitasking will kill your battery faster than you could ever imagine. Are they correct? Yes and no. Multitasking will have a negative effect on your battery but it’s not as much as Apple claims it to be. Apple needs to let the consumer decide for themselves. If they’d like to take a hit in the battery life department to be able to multitask 3rd party applications, why not let them? Give us the option and make everyone happy.

Conclusion

So what does this all mean for Apple, and for me? Will I be ditching my iPhone for the Droid? No. I could never leave all of you behind. But I will be keeping the Droid as it definitely has my attention. I can’t say it’s the Verizon network as AT&T service is top notch where I live, but the three things I discussed above have me hooked and good. The Droid really is Apple’s wake up call in a sense. It’s finally a competitive enough device that it should force them to step up and greatly improve upon the iPhone next time around. While I would never tell any of you to do away with your iPhone I will tell you this, if you have a chance to pick one up and give it a whirl, do so as you are sure to enjoy it.

If you are interested in learning more about the Droid be sure to check out Android Central’s full hardware review as Casey knocked it out of the park. And if you’ve already tried the Droid, drop us a note in the comments and let us know how it treated you.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

An iPhone Blogger’s Trip to the Dark Side with Verizon’s Motorola Droid

Orange UK sold 30,000 iPhones on release day, despite their dodgy unlimited data = 750MB, and despite the iPhone already being available on rival O2 UK since 2007. By contrast, Verizon launched the much-hyped, geek-liked Droid for the first time on any network, anywhere, ever, and sold — according to Bloomberg — 100,000 over the weeked. Three and a bit times as much sounds almost as good as their “5x the 3G coverage of AT&T” commercials. But then the US is a much bigger market and Verizon a much bigger carrier, and Orange has only a day, not a weekend, but whatev…

The iPhone 3GS, as a third data point, sold over 1,000,000 it’s first weekend out the gate (300,000+ of those estimated to have been on AT&T). Sure, that was international, but then the iPhone 3GS was available internationally, all under the same brand, in several countries at the same time. Verizon licensed the Droid trademark, so even when the same device rolls out in Canada and Europe, it won’t be the Droid but the Milestone, which is 5x less the geek name sex-appeal.

What does this all mean? iPhone mindshare is still huge and demand in countries that were exclusive to one carrier is still high. In part, this may be because there’s a single, global iPhone brand (and feature set) for consumers to identify with, and rather than controlled by a carrier (like Droid), it’s controlled only to Apple — so it might just appear on your favorite carrier one day as well, be it Bell/Telus, Orange/Vodafone, or Verizon…

[via AppleInsider and BGR]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Orange UK Sells 30,000 iPhones 2 Years In. Verizon US Sells 100,000 Droids 1st Weekend Out.

We have to admit, Verizon’s latest, Xmas-themed iPhone and AT&T attack ads bring the funny. Continuing the savvy “map for that” (rather than silly DroidDoes), the first shows the land of misfit toys where an iPhone-looking device is condemned for its poor AT&T 3G coverage.

After the break, we have elves giving Verizon devices, with robust 3G coverage, to nice children and an iPhone with poor AT&T coverage to the naughty. And, lastly, a father has a blue Xmas when his iPhone can’t reach his family (though a Verizon present awaits him when he finally gets home).

Attacking the iPhone on it’s major front-facing weakness, much-hyped consumer dissatisfaction with AT&T’s network is the kind of smart that is — and, given Verizon’s recent comments, may even be an attempt to show Apple the iPhone would be better off on a better network?

Of course, AT&T likely isn’t laughing at Verizon’s claims of 5x 3G coverage, given they’ve already filed a lawsuit…

[via Engadget]

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Verizon Attacks iPhone and AT&T… with Toys, Elves, and Xmas Blues?!