AT&T Working On iPhone, U-verse Integration

[MacRumors]

Reuters reports that AT&T is working on iPhone applications that will tie the handset to its U-verse TV/internet/phone service.

The iPhone applications under development would presumably interact with the U-verse subscriber's set-top box (required for u-Verse service). Reuters describes applications that could be used to listen to voicemails on the user's TV, act as a TV remote control, download shows from the DVR to the iPhone, or throw virtual tomatoes at the TV.

Pricing information and a projected release date is not available as of this writing.

Article Link

 

[kalafalas]

this will be the coolest app ever!!!!!!!

Can't wait ^^

 

[matperk]

I think this could be a big software market for a lot of entertainment center systems. There could be a universal remote app that uses wifi and could control all your equipment. Companies like TiVo and DirecTV should definitely adopt this for their devices as well.

 

[NotoriousLefty]

THIS IS LONG OVER DUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was proud of my iPhone until a friend of mine showed me his Verizon LG phone can get TV Shows, ESPN and live football games...

I BLAME WACK ASS AT&T for dragging feet on this one...

The only thing Apple can hope for is that Slingbox steps up to the plate since its clear that AT&T is not cutting edge.

This is why people in Japan are not impressed with the iPhone so much. There is not enough outside thinking compaired to the phones ive seen in Japan.

 

[LloydBraun89]

being able to throw virtual tomatoes is the type of technology america needs to put us ahead of japan!

 

[Rocketman]

Good concept, likely bad implementation.

I for one hope Apple morphs AppleTV and a set-top box company into the device/service/software that ultimately becomes this thing.

Furthermore as I have said early on here, I hope Apple assists AT&T and its other telecommunications partners on equipping the cell sites and switch centers to acomodate 10x the users and 10x the bandwidth per user (100x total bandwidth).

When you get right down to it AT&T and other carriers are service providers with cherished real estate assets, retail outlets, and contractual assets.

Apple makes network hardware both on the server end and the user end, and excels at user end software, and is on par at server side software, and is evolving the connections.

AT&T does not buy or own set-top box designs, software, or factories. They buy commodity boxes and give them FREE to subscribers.

Hence why Apple TV is described as a "hobby".

It is time for Apple to really focus on media centers (set-top boxes) that integrate with Macs and iPhones.

It is time for Apple to massively improve worldwide telco switch centers, cell site bandwidth and capacity, and kick some friggin a$$.

Sprint is on the warpath.



Rocketman

 

[happydude]

Good concept, likely bad implementation.

I for one hope Apple morphs AppleTV and a set-top box company into the device/service/software that ultimately becomes this thing.

wouldn't this mean apple would have to open up TV to live tv with a tivo sort of function?

i for one would love it and that is the component needed for me to buy it, otherwise it's just another box next to our tv. time to combine everything possible function wise into the apple tv and make it talk with the iphone!!

 

[E.Lizardo]

This sounds great.ATT is even now stringing new cable in my neighborhood to accommodate U-verse.They are my only hope to escape Charter-there's a small mountain blocking the satellites.Any impressions of U-verse from subscribers?

 

[violaboy]

Please No!!

U-verse is TERRIBLE - poor customer service and a bad television service.

Don't affiliate Apple with such a waste of a product.

 

[chipno]

Great Service

This sounds great.ATT is even now stringing new cable in my neighborhood to accommodate U-verse.They are my only hope to escape Charter-there's a small mountain blocking the satellites.Any impressions of U-verse from subscribers?

I've found U-verse to be great. Adding iPhone integration would be a very welcome addition.

 

[iPhone envy]

Will this delay Slingbox?

Apple and AT&T have an exclusive partnership, a leg up to get people who have iphones to use thier TV service would be a defacto AT&T only slingbox player.

If I'm AT&T I do all I can to block sling from letting comcast / other providers in on the game. Espeically since many think they have better products.

Anyone else think this is bad news for Sling on the iPhone?

 

[unarch]

What "download shows from the DVR to the iPhone" without using iTunes. That will never happen. Just ask the poor developers that made Podcaster. I love this idea. I really hope Apple sticks to there guns and rules out those bad, bad developers like AT&T. You vill deny zee application und you vill like it.

 

[beaucredo]

SlingPlayer?

I wonder how this would effect a SlingPlayer app especially when considering what happened to podcaster.

 

[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...

 

[aimfire]

This sounds great.ATT is even now stringing new cable in my neighborhood to accommodate U-verse.They are my only hope to escape Charter-there's a small mountain blocking the satellites.Any impressions of U-verse from subscribers?

I just got U-verse about 2 weeks ago and so far it's great... Really good and FAST interface, completely blows away my TivoHD, which feels clunky and way out of date by comparison. Looking forward to a U-verse iPhone app!

I have an AppleTV, and would LOVE to see this be expanded and better intergrated with iPhone. An ATV with DVR would be great! Apple has conquered with the Mac, iPod, and iPhone... I'd really love to see them conquer the set-top box/dvr area as well! The only problem I forsee (and maybe why they havn't done it yet) is getting an ATV DVR box working well with everything - cable, satellite, U-verse, FIOS, etc...

 

[Rybold]

FINALLY, we will be able to program our TiVo's and DVR's from our iPhones when we are not at home!!!

(okay, well maybe only our AT&T U-Verse DVR recorders, if you have a full U-Verse subscription package)

(FYI: BlackBerry phones can already program TiVos and DVRs when away from home)

 

[dave491]

I've found U-verse to be great. Adding iPhone integration would be a very welcome addition.

I've had U-verse for the past three months and have had a great experience. I've had to call customer service a couple of times and they've been quick and helpful. The signal is *way* clearer than anything we got from Time Warner. And the internet is much much faster and more reliable.

 

[TXCraig]

How about working on the iPhone , 3G integration?

 

[AMcBroom81]

Apple and AT&T have an exclusive partnership, a leg up to get people who have iphones to use thier TV service would be a defacto AT&T only slingbox player.

If I'm AT&T I do all I can to block sling from letting comcast / other providers in on the game. Espeically since many think they have better products.

Anyone else think this is bad news for Sling on the iPhone?

This will not affect sling in the slightest,

On slings sight, SlingMedia is in apples developer program. The sling player app is coming. they just have to finish the app. I predict by the end of this year or the first of next we will see the sling player app for iphone in the app store.

see link where sling says they are in the dev program

http://www.slingcommunity.com/blog/.../;jsessionid=099F933CBA3578D6B2DF7FFC8F9BE412

 

[dohspc]

(okay, well maybe only our AT&T U-Verse DVR recorders, if you have a full U-Verse subscription package)

You can already schedule and delete recordings on the uverse dvr from any cell phone.

 

[penguy]

U-verse is TERRIBLE - poor customer service and a bad television service.

Don't affiliate Apple with such a waste of a product.

Well, assuming you had/have u-verse, I'm surprised. I've had it since July and it has been great. They have continued to improve the system and have sent a tech out the same day to troubleshoot what turned out to be an issue that wasn't related to their system.

The product is so much better than comcast in terms of speed and picture quality. It sounds like you had a bad experience, but don't assume everyone is.

 

[Michael73]

We just got u-verse about 5 weeks ago and have been largely happy with it although we've had a couple of hiccups with the VoIP part of it but everything is fine.

As for the iPhone piece of it...I've had a Blackberry 7100 from t-mobile since 12/04 and I'm so ready to get rid of it, you have no idea. I've been sitting on the sidelines since the iPhone came out so it could mature. I have a 30GB iPod (which is mostly full) that I bring to work and listen to all day long. I'll probably finally pull the trigger when they release a 32GB iPhone so I can replace my iPod.

I look forward to the integrated billing so that once a month I just get one bill for TV/Internet/VoIP/Cell.

 

[iSwitchd]

U-verse is TERRIBLE - poor customer service and a bad television service.

Don't affiliate Apple with such a waste of a product.

You must live in an area in which they offer subpar service.

My U-Verse TV service and internet have been EXCEPTIONAL.

 

[Moof1904]

I'm okay with the signal quality of my uVerse, though I have an SD set. What sucks horribly about uVerse is its software. The software user experience is pathetic:

-want to limit the number of episodes of a certain show that it will store? Forget it. If, for example, you are a CSI fan and set it up to record old episodes of CSI, you can't tell it to store a limit of "x" number of episodes. You'll return to the TV a week later and find that you have 30 hours of CSI on the box. TiVo let the user limit the number.
-it's too stupid to realize that it's already recorded a certain episode and will record it again if it plays again, creating two copies of the same exact show on the box at the same time
-the promised "DVR anywhere in the house" service that was due nearly a year ago is still vaporware. Only one of the three units in my house have DVR.
-the clock is always slightly out of sync with the programming, causing the end of a great number of shows to be chopped off unless one sets the unit to record +5 minutes
-uVerse doesn't have any kind of hierarchical display wherein episodes of the same show are grouped in subfolders, as TiVo does
-when viewing recorded shows, it ALWAYS reverts to displaying the listing by the date/time they were recorded instead of by title. There's no way to set this as a default

It's like they had an intern spend three minutes with a TiVo then asked the intern to draft the UI spec for the uVerse after first hitting the intern on the head repeatedly with a brick.

 

[corywoolf]

I've found U-verse to be great. Adding iPhone integration would be a very welcome addition.

Edit: @ Moof1904 "the promised "DVR anywhere in the house" service that was due nearly a year ago is still vaporware. Only one of the three units in my house have DVR."

It just started rolling out in the last couple weeks, along with HD VOD. The HD picture is not as good as Comcast's though.

Same here, I love the interface and it is miles ahead of the cable company's. at&t has started to install some complete fiber in my area. According to the installer, he has installed full fiber (from box on phone pole to house) in about five new housing areas around here, which would be similar to Verizon's approach. I got cat-5 running from the box into my place, it is supposed to be better then coax or using the phone line method. I tried to convince the guy to give me full fiber, but unfortunately I was too far away from the key phone pole (about 1500 ft away). The range of Uverse is up to 3500 ft from the nearest key phone pole box. But fiber is far too expensive to install in every installation he told me. Plus, only a few employees are trained to install full fiber in this area (SE Michigan). I am supposed to be getting an iPhone when my family switches to at&t in May, unfortunetly I am moving out of my studio apartment in April... so it looks like this iPhone integration wont benefit me anytime soon. Here's to hoping East Lansing has Uverse.