iPhone Details from AT&T's Sales Training Workbook

[kahos]

I see where you are coming from, but I really think Apple is going to have something set up so it's a very seemless easy process. Also, if you give people 2 ways to do something - one old and standard and the other new and consequently harder to initially understand and use - people will stick witht eh old one (epecially if the new technology does essentially the same thing as the old without any obvious advantage). By only giving you the new and setting it up so you don't have to choose anything and making it very seemless, it guarantees people will begin using your new technology. Although I understand that makes the purchase a little more risky, hopefully Apple can pull through on it.

Personally I'm not worried because I'm waiting until at least September to get one so I'll know the full deal by then and I can make a much more informed decision.

One of the biggest issue I can see with using email over SMS is the fact that you need to know which carrier the person you wish to send a message to is using and how this company deals with sms.This is not as simple as it sounds because you still need to figure out how which "email address" this company is providing to its customers. For instance, do you know if virgin mobile is using @virgin.com or @vmobile.com?

While this may not be a problem when dealing with close friends, it makes things a lot harder in other cases when all your provided with is a phone number.

I'm all for new technology, but as you say, I think the transition needs to be as seamless as possible. I think offering some sort of compatibility mode with the previous industry standard, for those situation where you really need to use SMS would have been a great compromise.

 

[BVGuitarPlayer]

Cindy will probably get sued if she is a legit AT&T employee. She made it easy enough to reach her. Apple legal will find her fast, if not already. UNLESS, this is another Apple viral marketing thing, there have been so many inadvertent marketing bugs that apple hasn't had to pay a cent for, this could be one. i.e. free iPhone ads on myspace etc.


What is everyone so worried about an SDK and apps for? Let's do a little math.

OS X on a Mac = Can create software and hack
OS X on an AppleTV = Can create software and hack
OS X on an iPhone = Do the math dummy

 

[Cindynjgirl79]

Am I the only one that thinks this whole brochure is a bunch of bullcrap?

So how did you get your hands on it, anyway, Cindy? Huh?

i have my ways, and it's real!

 

[pieman02]

So, from looking at the email page, only Yahoo mail is pushed down automatically? POP3/IMAP requires you to go out and get your mail manually?

I think that this is a FREE service offered by Yahoo exclusively for the iPhone, and you may have to pay or sign up for services from hotmail etc...

 

[Cindynjgirl79]

Cindy will probably get sued if she is a legit AT&T employee. She made it easy enough to reach her. Apple legal will find her fast, if not already. UNLESS, this is another Apple viral marketing thing, there have been so many inadvertent marketing bugs that apple hasn't had to pay a cent for, this could be one. i.e. free iPhone ads on myspace etc.

#1 i don't work for them (apple or at&t) #2 and no word from anyone on this

 

[juststranded]

One of the biggest issue I can see with using email over SMS is the fact that you need to know which carrier the person you wish to send a message to is using and how this company deals with sms.This is not as simple as it sounds because you still need to figure out how which "email address" this company is providing to its customers. For instance, do you know if virgin mobile is using @virgin.com or @vmobile.com?

While this may not be a problem when dealing with close friends, it makes things a lot harder in other cases when all your provided with is a phone number.

I'm all for new technology, but as you say, I think the transition needs to be as seamless as possible. I think offering some sort of compatibility mode with the previous industry standard, for those situation where you really need to use SMS would have been a great compromise.

I commented earlier on this. It's on page 3, comment #67, but I'll quote it here:

Hopefully Apple and Cingular have set up a system to auto-create the 10-digit@carrierdomain.xxx for all phone numbers you put in. It's actually a better idea, becaus if you're in range of WiFi, you won't be charged to send the e-mail message, whereas MMS you would.

For instance, I put my sim card in and offload all my contacts and the iPhone says "Please wait, retrieving contact details" or something and that's the last I have to deal with anything regarding sending multimedia to friends. That e-mail address would be hidden behind their cell number. All i do is select my friends name and then the cell number to send to and it displays it in to the 'to:' section but really sends it to the 10-digit@carrierdomain.xxx.

That make sense?

If you think about it, that's actually not that hard of a concept to understand and it seems very feaseable. The network can easily tell if the phone numbers you have in our phone are Cingular, or Verizon, because when it makes teh call, it know whether to charge you minutes or not. A quick network check for each number you enter wouldn't bother me at all if it gave me seemless MMS-like e-mail to other cellphones.

 

[soundsgoodtome]

As others have stated, just put them into email. SMS services usually have an email assoc. I thought. At least with tmobile, it was your 10-digit@tmobile.com.

You can easily email any cell phone (or at least any U.S. cell phone) at this email address: [cell phone number]@teleflip.com.

 

[zelman]

"- iPhone lets you carry on a phone conversation while you simultaneously browse the Internet or send an email."

There are almost no devices available which allow this over GPRS/EDGE. I wonder if it requires 802.11 internet?

 

[BritCornflake]

Yeah, pretty sure that it says confidential at the bottom and that this cindy gal is fired for sure for scanning thats......

but whatever, its still really cool! What a fun product to sell, eh? almost EVERYONE is dying to buy one anyway!

 

[dallasgrant]

You can easily set up AIM to work with SMS, so in truth, it works fine for instant messaging--it's just nothing that Apple or AT&T are doing to make it possible.

You can with Yahoo too

Besides, the only messaging program that come with a Windows Mobile Phone is Messenger, but you can download other programs to use such features.

You will just have to wait for someone to build a program like Qnext for the iPhone

 

[ShellyFM]

"- iPhone lets you carry on a phone conversation while you simultaneously browse the Internet or send an email."

There are almost no devices available which allow this over GPRS/EDGE. I wonder if it requires 802.11 internet?

I've been wondering the same thing. I have a T-mobile MDA (windows mobile device), and I've had a need many times to look something up on the net or send an e-mail while on a call but couldn't because I can't be on a call and connected to GPRS/EDGE at the same time.

I will be very disappointed if they are advertising the ability to be on a call and the net at the same time to only apply to WiFi since they don't specify that in their claim.

 

[Project]

I have a sneaky suspicion that we might see a Google Talk widget.

 

[BrianMojo]

Ouch!! Why not??

Because they can't charge you per message for IMs.

 

[raykhrud]

Awesome! Awesome!
This dumb device doesn't have MMS, doesn't have (at the moment) normal software, can't use (I doubt if it will be able to) iTunes library songs as ringtones... Bluetooth must be castrated - it will be used only for all those iditotic headsets. Brilliant. Apple made their first stupid product. I hope they will abandon all those iPhones soon.
I now have much more cons than pros, so I doubt I will buy it when it will come out in Russia.

 

[j.dunning]

Data during phone call

I've been wondering the same thing. I have a T-mobile MDA (windows mobile device), and I've had a need many times to look something up on the net or send an e-mail while on a call but couldn't because I can't be on a call and connected to GPRS/EDGE at the same time.

I will be very disappointed if they are advertising the ability to be on a call and the net at the same time to only apply to WiFi since they don't specify that in their claim.

If you read through the scans of the training manual it specifically states that the user will NOT be able to connect to the EDGE network while on a call. It also specifically states that the user WILL be able to connect to a WiFi network while on a call.

 

[jubjub]

Because they can't charge you per message for IMs.

Then how do you explain no MMS? Which I think is just plain stupid to leave out.. and hardly a feature you can add later with a big announcement, like you can GPS and 3G.

 

[ShellyFM]

If you read through the scans of the training manual it specifically states that the user will NOT be able to connect to the EDGE network while on a call. It also specifically states that the user WILL be able to connect to a WiFi network while on a call.

I didn't catch that in the manual. Thanks for mentioning it.

Then this is nothing groundbreaking as they make it sound.

 

[dallasgrant]

You can easily email any cell phone (or at least any U.S. cell phone) at this email address: [cell phone number]@teleflip.com.

Here is the problem to the concept that the iPhone does not have MMS:

When you send the message to the user, does it use your email address or your phone's email address?

I could see that to be a problem if the person were sending a pic to someone who only has the Cing2Cing messaging plan (the messaging 9.99 plan ... it's 20$ a month for its unlimited to everyone messaging) ...

UNLIMITED Mobile to Mobile - Unlimited text, picture & video messages
Now AT&T's wireless subscribers can exchange unlimited text, picture and video messages! Instant Messages, alerts, off-network, premium messages, and messages to/from non-AT&T customers will be deducted from your Messaging Starter allowance.

Since the message would use your personal email address, and not your phone's email address or it would have MMS enabled, this would cost that user just to receive your message even if you were a Cingular customer.


Most Importantly since it does not have MMS enabled, people will send pics to you and you will not receive them (probably won't even know they sent one) unless you tell them to only send pix to your email address (again making it a non mo2mo message)

The mo2mo does not concern me cause I am on T-mobile and I get charged the same amount for unlimited message to the whole family, but I would have to tell everyone that they need to type out my email address instead of sending to my phone number. Sure, in most phones you can add an email address to the contact line, but why is this all necessary.

I also would hate if I was not using an exchange server for my email as this means it would only check every ten minutes (more than that would be bad for battery life). it also takes longer to receive email messages on the phone (unless you don't keep any messages on your server ... not recommended) as it has to connect, login, verify pass, compare messages, download headers, download messages, send messages, disconnect

I also would hate it getting in my way of my email messages.

I'm sorry, but this non MMS is a let down to me. When someone messages me if I have picture messaging and I have to tell them, "yes, but you have to send it to bleeblah@yodigity.com" most phones will not make this into a hyperlink or make it easy to copy and paste this email address into their contact list. All my phones I have owned have this ... have two windows phones, a blackberry, had a treo, and a number of other phones. Guess Apple does still have to get its feet wet in the mobile phone industry, but this is a standard feature of most (99%) phones.

 

[dallasgrant]

I've been wondering the same thing. I have a T-mobile MDA (windows mobile device), and I've had a need many times to look something up on the net or send an e-mail while on a call but couldn't because I can't be on a call and connected to GPRS/EDGE at the same time.

I will be very disappointed if they are advertising the ability to be on a call and the net at the same time to only apply to WiFi since they don't specify that in their claim.

This claim of Apple being able to use Edge or GPRS and voice at the same time is simply wrong (unless it allows two activated sim cards on the phone)

The only way you could is with a Wi-Fi connect as that is not using a cellular tower for data. Your Edge will not work well while you are on the internet ... just as, if you use your phone to stream a radio station, you probably will not know people are talking to you cause the internet stream is so intense that it blocks notification of new calls.

 

[sandsl]

Awesome! Awesome!
This dumb device doesn't have MMS, doesn't have (at the moment) normal software, can't use (I doubt if it will be able to) iTunes library songs as ringtones... Bluetooth must be castrated - it will be used only for all those iditotic headsets. Brilliant. Apple made their first stupid product. I hope they will abandon all those iPhones soon.
I now have much more cons than pros, so I doubt I will buy it when it will come out in Russia.

The lack of MMS is unfortunate, and probably should be included. I imagine, given appropriate customer feedback, they'd implement it via a software update.

I wouldn't worry yourself about it though, it probably won't be out in Russia for ages, by which time a revision two will be around.

 

[raykhrud]

Ah, yes - and it there is very simple reason of no MMS and no ringtones from iTunes Library. That reason already made life of millions of people hell. It is all about COPYRIGHTS. Yes.

 

[raykhrud]

The lack of MMS is unfortunate, and probably should be included. I imagine, given appropriate customer feedback, they'd implement it via a software update.

I wouldn't worry yourself about it though, it probably won't be out in Russia for ages, by which time a revision two will be around.

Nope, one online shop already collects preorders for american version of iPhone, making it available here in mid-July.

 

[surferfromuk]

This is an APPLE phone with built in Apple sexiness.

Seems everyone has forgot it's a KICK ASS IPOD

and has a FULL WEB BROWSER which I shall enjoy using on my couch at home or at work when the need takes me.

MMS can be fixed very easily and probably only affects a minor percentage.

That's enough for me.

There's going to be an awful lot an anti-apple anti-iphone trolling over the next few weeks so we'd better get used to having ridiculously minor oversights attempting to railroad the BIG PICTURE and that is

IPOD - PHONE - TRUE INTERNET = WOW!!

 

[raykhrud]

This is an APPLE phone with built in Apple sexiness.

Seems everyone has forgot it's a KICK ASS IPOD

and has a FULL WEB BROWSER which I shall enjoy using on my couch at home or at work when the need takes me.

MMS can be fixed very easily and probably only affects a minor percentage.

That's enough for me.

There's going to be an awful lot an anti-apple anti-iphone trolling over the next few weeks so we'd better get used to having ridiculously minor oversights attempting to railroad the BIG PICTURE and that is

IPOD - PHONE - TRUE INTERNET = WOW!!

My Nokia E70 has very good e-mail client. It has real full Internet (but, like iPhone, without flash). Internal Nokia browser has the same base as Safari - Konqueror. It has MMS. It has 3G. It has WiFi. It has replaceable memory card. It has full QWERTY hardware keyboard, but isn't wider or higher than most of modern phones, because of its form-factor.
So, why must I buy this stupid apple device, not receiving any new functions, but forgetting about tons of Symbian 9 software and useful keyboard?

 

[dallasgrant]

This is an APPLE phone with built in Apple sexiness.

Seems everyone has forgot it's a KICK ASS IPOD

and has a FULL WEB BROWSER which I shall enjoy using on my couch at home or at work when the need takes me.

MMS can be fixed very easily and probably only affects a minor percentage.

That's enough for me.

There's going to be an awful lot an anti-apple anti-iphone trolling over the next few weeks so we'd better get used to having ridiculously minor oversights attempting to railroad the BIG PICTURE and that is

IPOD - PHONE - TRUE INTERNET = WOW!!

blahblah ... yeah the phone is kewl, but don't expect that there should be no criticism of the product ... it can do all that my T-mobile wing can do just has a much larger storage space, faster processor, more ram, and better looking interface ... but wait, my windows based phone can at least do MMS

Sorry, I find it a pain to figure out what network all my friends use ... I don't care ... I don't want to store a list of all the addresses for the various companies to figure out what address to send to. And it more of a pain that people can't easily send me a message. Not everyone will own an iPhone, so i would have to worry about the 99.9% of the people who will have MMS enabled in their phone