AT&T to tie iPhones into own Internet television, phone service

[AppleInsider]

AT&T said this week that it plans to eventually integrate the iPhone into its U-verse suite of Internet television and VoIP services, while also adding new features that will allow the handset act as a remote control.

The exclusive US iPhone carrier made the announcement at a conference Monday covering future technologies that will more closely tie mobile handsets with computers and television sets.

"We're looking at the whole landscape, of what people use, and what's out there in the home," said AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan, who added that some of the services may launch later this year.

Instead of offering iPhone users direct access to U-verse, which provides IP-based television and phone services, it appears as if the telecoms company will leverage the Apple handset to drive home-based installations of the service.

U-verse currently requires a set-top-box and ranges in cost from $69 to $124 per month based on the number of television channels customers want to receive. Its supporting network was designed for download speeds of 20-25 megabits (1 to 3 megabits upload), with the majority of the bandwidth devoted to the TV programming.

AT&T said customers will eventually be able to listen to their voice mails on their television, and download shows from their digital video recorders onto their iPhones. A new application for the iPhone will reportedly serve as a television remote that will also allow users to virtually hurl "tomatoes at the TV screen."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Eriamjh]

U-verse would be great. But I can't get it in my area.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

U-verse would be great. But I can't get it in my area.

I had it and on occasion it would just get all pixelated and the screen would go out. Of course it was in it's infancy then (about 2 years ago) so maybe they've fixed that. I would like to see non-competing providers come up with apps that would allow you to do something like that. Mainly cable companies, DirecTV and Dish. I know DirecTV's HD is in MPEG-4 so it could theoretically work and with a decent compression ratio to save space on the iPhone/Touch. Of course you'd need to enable something on your DirecTV to store an iPhone/Touch friendly copy of the video and have some USB dongle plugged into the back so it'll hook up to your wireless network but I'd willingly pay $49 for something like that (of course I realize it would likely cost more but here's hopin!)

[mpspence]

If this means that slingbox won't be allowed on the iPhone, i'm going to seriously pissed, like get rid of the iphone pissed, why the hell is apple letting att have so much control over the content on the iphone, it's bullshit. Netshare, now Slingbox? Seriously, we're already giving att 30 bucks for UNLIMITED DATA, yet they wanna charge extra for tethering and mobile tv. Why is slingbox allowed on crapberry and not on iphone?

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by mpspence

If this means that slingbox won't be allowed on the iPhone, i'm going to seriously pissed, like get rid of the iphone pissed, why the hell is apple letting att have so much control over the content on the iphone, it's bullshit. Netshare, now Slingbox? Seriously, we're already giving att 30 bucks for UNLIMITED DATA, yet they wanna charge extra for tethering and mobile tv. Why is slingbox allowed on crapberry and not on iphone?

Hey, come in off the ledge so we can talk.
Take a chill pill, nothing in the article says anything about exclusive.
Nothing I know of says one carrier in one country using the handset to do stuff with their services means anything to anything else Apple may do.
If Apple wants slingbox up and running, it will happen.
If slingbox wants to be up and running on the iPhone, it will happen.
If AT&T wants to use the iPhone to throw virtual tomat-s at your TV, it should be fine.

Relax, it's not AT&T's iPhone........ it's an Apple.

[danielchow]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

A new application for the iPhone will reportedly serve as a television remote that will also allow users to virtually hurl "tomatoes at the TV screen."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

Ooo, I LUV this idea!

[GeekLawyer]

A new application for the iPhone will reportedly serve as a television remote that will also allow users to virtually hurl "tomatoes at the TV screen."

I'd rather hurl real tomatoes at AT&T.
Aside from that -- sounds cool.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

A new application for the iPhone will reportedly serve as a television remote that will also allow users to virtually hurl "tomatoes at the TV screen."

Great. I can see the AI headline now:

"New lawsuit filed against Apple & AT&T for damaged caused to T.V.s while using the new 'iH8 this show' iPhone app. Plaintiff's seeking class-action status..."

[Foo2]

I have a very bad feeling about this.

[nagromme]

More money to AT&T? I think not! (I don't get cable either.) I could buy a lot of new Macs with that kind of money!

I already get digital TV, which my Mac+EyeTV DVR already loads automatically onto my phone, and I pay zero dollars a month, thanks to a cheap pair of HD rabbit ears. I supplement that with Hulu, and as a last resort, buying shows from iTunes. Think how many iTunes season passes you could buy before you came anywhere NEAR the annual cost of cable TV or satellite!

I'm already legally watching my favorite OTA, cable shows and movies for free, and occasionally for cheap. (If I miss a bunch of Battlestar Galactica on Hulu and they expire, I can buy them from iTunes.)

As for hurling tomatoes... OK, that's fun... but when one your first-touted features is an admission that most TV content sucks, you're not making me want to pay more for it!

I'm also pretty certain that my voicemails are already visual enough, without needing them on my TV

That said, if these coming options sound good to someone else, I won't begrudge them signing up.

[TheToe]

The "hurling tomatoes" thing makes me think we're just that much closer to Idiocracy.

[Cubert]

A new application for the iPhone will reportedly serve as a television remote that will also allow users to virtually hurl "tomatoes at the TV screen."

Ummmm.....is this some expression that I am not aware of or was this meant literally?

[Daniel0418]

Originally Posted by nagromme

More money to AT&T? I think not! (I don't get cable either.) I could buy a lot of new Macs with that kind of money!

I already get digital TV, which my Mac+EyeTV DVR already loads automatically onto my phone, and I pay zero dollars a month, thanks to a cheap pair of HD rabbit ears. I supplement that with Hulu, and as a last resort, buying shows from iTunes. Think how many iTunes season passes you could buy before you came anywhere NEAR the annual cost of cable TV or satellite!

I'm already legally watching my favorite OTA, cable shows and movies for free, and occasionally for cheap. (If I miss a bunch of Battlestar Galactica on Hulu and they expire, I can buy them from iTunes.)

As for hurling tomatoes... OK, that's fun... but when one your first-touted features is an admission that most TV content sucks, you're not making me want to pay more for it!

I'm also pretty certain that my voicemails are already visual enough, without needing them on my TV

That said, if these coming options sound good to someone else, I won't begrudge them signing up.

I do not know if you realize this but February 2009 your antenna will be obsulete. By law if you want television in your home you are required to pay for a service provider. Maybe you could go with u-verse?

[amador_o]

Originally Posted by Daniel0418

I do not know if you realize this but February 2009 your antenna will be obsulete. By law if you want television in your home you are required to pay for a service provider. Maybe you could go with u-verse?

Not true. Your antenna will be fine. You just need a tuner, which all new TV's have built in. TV will still be free for local stations, and in HD.

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by amador_o

Not true. Your antenna will be fine. You just need a tuner, which all new TV's have built in. TV will still be free for local stations, and in HD...

...if you live in an urban area close enough to the signal...

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by nagromme

As for hurling tomatoes... OK, that's fun... but when one your first-touted features is an admission that most TV content sucks, you're not making me want to pay more for it!

Good point!

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by Foo2

I have a very bad feeling about this.

Y'know, this was my first impression as I was reading the article. It seems like it is not being set up to be easy and transparent, but to require extra hardware intermediaries. The fact that it is tied to AT&T doesn't impress either.

They better have some salespitch if this is how it is going to work:

Instead of offering iPhone users direct access to U-verse, which provides IP-based television and phone services, it appears as if the telecoms company will leverage the Apple handset to drive home-based installations of the service.

U-verse currently requires a set-top-box and ranges in cost from $69 to $124 per month based on the number of television channels customers want to receive. Its supporting network was designed for download speeds of 20-25 megabits (1 to 3 megabits upload), with the majority of the bandwidth devoted to the TV programming.

But as wbrasington said, there is no indication of exclusivity so there may be more appealing options on the rise.

[walshbj]

It's amazing how little AT&T is doing to take advantage of the iPhone. The carriers truly lack imagination and drive. I wonder why?

[drk_one]

Shouldn't they be focusing on the existing issues surrounding iPhone and 3G before they go diving head first into another likely fiasco? I still have no 3G signal in what they call a "saturated" area...

For God's sake, AT&T! Where are your priorities?

[pmjoe]

So, in plain English, U-verse = fiber???

Uh, yeah, maybe in a decade or so, I'll be able to get fiber here. Great, more ads from AT&T for something I can't get, thus don't want. Just like Verizon (and Comcast for that matter) trying to sell me their crappy "triple play" (TV, landline, Internet) services even though I already have a mobile phone, DSL is slow, and no, I really don't want DirecTV from Verizon.

[teckstud]

U-verse sounds more pathetic than RealPlayer.
AT&T really know hows to crap up the iPhone.

[Restalot]

But will I finally get that flying car in the U-verse that Popular Mechanics sold me on so long ago...

[Muncie]

The though of ATT creating "tie-ins" for the iphone makes me queasy. They are such a bloated, adrift company that I want my iPhone to have as little to do with them as possible.

That said, who's going to develop an iPhone remote app for my Roku soundbridge? That would be sweet.

[w1n78]

stop adding features to the iPhone that lacks the basic phone features and unreliable service. i can't get a consistent service in my own house. to make matters worse, i just found out i can't forward text messages to another person? wtf! how was this left out?

why not add skype capabilities to cover areas where you can't / haven't provide reliable signal

[elliots11]

This doesn't sound like a very good plan. If they're including TV service with the $30 iphone premium to attract new customers, then great, they can charge for HBO. Good cross promotion potential with their Uverse service, but throw us a bone.

As it is, I'm just with AT&T until I can get the iPhone or something equal or better on Verizon.

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by Daniel0418

I do not know if you realize this but February 2009 your antenna will be obsulete. By law if you want television in your home you are required to pay for a service provider. Maybe you could go with u-verse?

Not true--there's no such law. (It's amazing how many crazy stories get repeated about this upcoming change.)

And as I said in my post: I'm already getting digital and high definition. For free with my rabbit ears, looking far better than analog TV ever did. All thanks to EyeTV, supplemented nicely by Hulu and iTunes.

Things will only get better in February, as all channels are forced to jump to digital, and more power is devoted to those signals instead of the old analog. (For instance, I can barely get PBS now since they pump all their power into analog--which looks snowy for me--with only short-range interim digital. They'll switch to long-range digital soon.)

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by nagromme

Not true--there's no such law. (It's amazing how many crazy stories get repeated about this upcoming change.)
[...]
Things will only get better in February, as all channels are forced to jump to digital

I'm sure you know this, but just to be clear since there is a lot misconception about the jump to digital, the move to digital only applies to antenna-based TV. Cable companies can still pump analog to customers as long as they wish.

[heavydevelopment]

Well there goes the chances of getting the Sling player on the iPhone. F'ing AT&T.

AT&T is horrible. I was with Cingular hoping the iPhone was going to out with them. Then in steps AT&T with wads of cash, and I'm back in cell phone hell again.

AT&T will screw things up somehow--that's the company they are. It will be the Suckverse. I hope Apple tires of them soon.

[iPeon]

I have a vision: I see AT&T fall flat on it's face and be sold by pieces to the highest bidder. What will make this happen? The iPhone revolution.

Hugs and Kisses AT&T.

[winterspan]

Screw U-verse. I am still so pissed off that those idiots at AT&T didn't decide to roll-outa *REAL* next-generation fiber-to-the-home network. They are only running fiber to the node, and relying on 100yr old phone line cable for the "last mile" which will certainly place a limit on the the future of broadband in those areas.
I am just pissed off with the whole United States broadband situation, but I won't open that can of worms...

[nvidia2008]

Wow. Why do telcos suck so much? Instead of high level and high value services and support, they resort to this gimmicky nonsense that just degrades the iPhone experience.

Yeah. US is not looking good right now in terms of broadband. If what you say about ATT's last mile in your area is true, the fallback to phone line is terrible. And what about wireless? Is it *really true* that ATT *just got 3G*? This all sounds like Suckverse will truly just... well, suck. I don't think their existing media offerings are that great?

Steve is probably laughing his ass off at these 'tards. iTunes Store and AppleTV... *sigh* does a lot already...

[John the Geek]

Originally Posted by Wally

Great. I can see the AI headline now:

"New lawsuit filed against Apple & AT&T for damaged caused to T.V.s while using the new 'iH8 this show' iPhone app. Plaintiff's seeking class-action status..."

iPhone is the new WiiMote.

[MacGregor]

Originally Posted by walshbj

It's amazing how little AT&T is doing to take advantage of the iPhone. The carriers truly lack imagination and drive. I wonder why?

AT&T has the golden goose and it's making fried egg sandwiches rather than souffle's. It should be trouncing Verizon, but it seems to be stuck in the 1990's and more worried about control and image than about real innovation. These phone companies keep thinking they are going to be entertainment companies, but they can't move at the speed of one. They should just run around in their trucks fixing lines and laying fiber and let Apple/Disney/ABC/Google do the content and innovation.

Create a dominant coalition, not a dominant company and they will be more successful for far longer. Integration and cooperation are the new paradigms that will judge the future economies and AT&T hasn't made the leap yet.

[pmjoe]

BTW, when I first saw the title for this thread, I thought it was about AT&T's "Mobile TV" service. I'd be much more excited about that. It requires separate tuner hardware for that, as far as I know, so no chance of it on the current iPhone.

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/me...e-tv/index.jsp

[TAZ]

Not so sure about the throwing tomatoes at my screen, although it could be fun during the political debates. I can, however, see the lawsuits coming after some retard flings his phone at the TV and breaks both.

I do like the idea of being able to transfer shows from my DVR to the iPhone. I dont think thats a bad idea at all, although I wonder how Apple feels about competing with iTunes.