Category Archives: Life

Is the New iPhone 5 Ship Date 9-29-11?

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On a regular basis I check my upgrade eligibility at AT&T Wireless.  For the last 16 months that date has been September 30, 2011.  As noted below from a screen shot I took a few months back.

Yesterday upon checking the date of eligibility the date changed to 9/29/11. For those tracking at home this is the last Thursday in September. Here is that screen shot.

Apple stated in its earnings call that a “new product that [it] [couldn't] discuss” would lower gross margins in September, iOS 5 is due in the fall and well there wasn’t a new iPhone in June like each year since 2008. On that exact day of the earnings call I discover my upgrade date rolls back a day. Or it could just be the system correcting what 18 months in AT&T’s world actually means.

Possible “No New iPhone in June or July” Rumor Correlation

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According to MacRumors an AT&T customer called regarding his iPhone upgrade date being changed.

(The) customer noticed his eligibility date for a subsidized upgrade had been pushed back by over five months.

The AT&T representative proceeded to explain that Apple had informed AT&T that there would be no new hardware for June or July. I was of course skeptical of this particular story as it was an AT&T rep as the source. Considering the number of times a Verizon representative told me the iPhone was coming to Verizon Wireless you can understand why.

Atteligiblty

I decided to look up my account eligibility upgrade via AT&T and something did change. Though my date of upgrade has always been 9-30-11, a new presentation of when I was eligible for upgrade was given. Note that I was given the AT&T upgrade information as well as the iPhone eligibility.

It would seem AT&T went out of their way to let me know I was not eligible for an iPhone upgrade. I am not sure what this all means, but it would appear on the surface AT&T trying to make it clear to its customers when they are or are not eligible for an iPhone update. It also may be yet another signal Apple is pushing back the launch the next iPhone.

Another Successful Genius Bar Visit

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I love having an Apple Store in Boise, Idaho.  Unlike the local Mac Reseller, I am able to get issues resolved locally without having to have my iThing sent out to Apple.  Most recently my Wife’s iPod Touch had started to freeze up when playing a game of Angry Birds, viewing an email and playing songs.

 

I took the device into the local Apple Store.  They recommened I restore the device and see what happens.  After a week and after the restore the problem still persisited.  I took the device back into Apple and was promptly given a replacement at no cost.

AppleCare of course is a must for all devices and in this case saved the day.  No issues since the replacement.  The Genius Bar people were great.  I made a few jokes about the Red Apple shirts during the holidays and asked when the Verizon iPhone was coming (the visit was before the announcement).   I gave them a great review and after 5 experiences I can say they have resolved every issue and that is service you can’t get anywhere else.

 

 

Random Reason for Not Switching to a Verizon iPhone, Yet

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So when the iPhone 4 was announced to be coming to Verizon, the only real question left unanswered would be how much a contract with Verizon would cost. With AT&T you are required to have a data plan. The plan originally was for unlimited data at $30 a month, but last year AT&T moved to 200MB for $15 and 2GB for $25. Personally I have had an iPhone for a while and have never used mored than 859MB in one month, but still feel secure with the unlimited plan. Verizon does offer the $30 unlimited plan and a $15 plan for 150MB.

Without saying anything I believe that Verizon will simply offer the same plan it offers for its current line up of smart phones. What is not known is if Verizon will walk down the same path as AT&T did when it first debuted the iPhone on its network or if Verizon will try to save its network gridlock by limiting plans for iPhone customers.

At this point Verizon has many people guessing. As I had mention above having unlimited data makes me feel safe and thus by Verizon not providing details at this time is another random reason for not switching to Verizon at this time.  Until then you’re welcome Verizon, it was worth the wait.