AT&T announced recently that they’re going to be bringing the world’s first touchscreen mobile hotspot device to customers in the US. The global-ready MiFi Liberate is a top of the line 4G LTE hotspot that will bring super fast network speeds to your laptop, tablet or oer mobile device anywhere AT&T provides service.
First up, the touchscreen. The Liberate sports a 2.8″ display that will allow you to quickly and easily access your settings, so yo can change your network name or password on the fly. With a powerful battery that boasts up to 11 hours of life, this device should more than outlast any device you connect to it, and then some. The included MicroSD slot will further allow you to share files with up to 10 connected devices super fast.
The global connectivity is another big big selling point for this device as well. AT&T promises that it will work in more than 200 countries–so no matter where your business takes you, you needn’t worry about being able to work while on the go. Whether you just need to send a few emails or upload some images or video, this device has you covered.
For the mobile professional, few devices offer quite the same value as a good MiFi. While tablets often allow us to get more done on the go, being able to get online with your laptop can often mean the difference between making deadlines and having to wait to finish work when you’re back home or at the office. With a MiFi device, your office is everywhere you are.
When we attended the Nokia Lumia 920 launch event back in September, we got a ton of chances to find out about all the hot new tech that was going into Nokia’s new flagship device. Great features like the camera and “Lens Apps”, and top of the line internals like a Snapdragon S4 processor and wireless charging bult-in.
What we didn’t get to find out is price, availability and what carrier the phone would be on. As of today, we know two out of three. Both the Lumia 920, and the “budget” 820 model, are launching next month, in November, and exclusively on AT&T. We don’t have an exact date yet, but I’d expect it won’t be too late in the month—Nokia isn’t stupid and will want to capitalize on as many Christmas sales as possible.
The pairing of AT&T and the flagship Windows 8 phone isn’t too much of a surprise. AT&T carried the original Lumia 900, the previous Windows Phone 7 flagship device, and as the press materials note, “The unrivaled leader in Windows Phones, AT&T has sold more Windows Phones than any other carrier.”
Final colors for the phones have been announced as well, and it looks like the slate grey is being dropped from the lineup and the cyan of the original is being reintroduced. The 920 will be available in red, white, black, yellow, and cyan
Four exciting new AT&T devices, all of which sport AT&T’s ultra-fast 4G LTE network, were literally just announced. We don’t have pricing or release dates on any of these devices quite yet, but we’ll be going hands-on with all three phones and the one tab next Thursday at an exclusive AT&T event in NYC. Hopefully we’ll be able to shed some more light on these devices next week, as well as be able to show you some hands on videos of all of them. The official word from the press release is that “[a]ll of these devices will be available from AT&T in the coming months” which sounds like they’ll be here by the end of the year!
Samsung Galaxy Express
Samsung Galaxy Express
While this seems to be placed as a “budget” version of the Samsung Galaxy S III (and will hopefully come in at a budget price) this seems to be a high-end smartphone that makes just a few compromises comapred to its big brother. Sure, you have to accept a 5-megapixel camera instead of the S3’s 8-megapixels, but you get a fast dual core processor, a huge 4.5″ screen (only slightly smaller than the 4.8 incher on the S3), a whopping 2000 mAh battery (the S3 boasts only 100 more mAh), and the same OS, Googl’e Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
Smaller isn’t necessarily worse—the S3 is quite large, and this “baby brother” version may actually turn out to be the better smartphone. I can’t wait to try it out!
Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro
Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro
When we looked at the previous Rugby phone, I called it “the toughest 4G phone on the market.” While it was a little underpowered, it was really the only choice of any phone for those whose phones will take a lot of abuse on the job.
Now, this phone has been massively updated with the latest tech! The new Rugby Pro sports a 4″ AMOLED screen, the 5-megapixel camera (think iPhone 4 quality), and it shoots 720p HD video.
Another cool feature that makes it easy to deploy for business is that it has full EAS corporate email support. You can even encrypt the whole device to prevent data from leaking out if the phone is lost in the field.
This looks like a huge upgrade over the previous Rugby in every respect, and will certainly be “tough” to beat!
Samsung Galaxy Note II
Samsung Galaxy Note II
I had my apprehensions about the first Samsung Galaxy Note. Since then, S-Pen tech has improved quite a bit, at least on the larger 10.1″ Galaxy Note tablet. Will those same imrpovements come to the Note II? I certainly hope so.
This phone is unique in the lineup of new Galaxy devices in that it’s the first that’s shipping with the cutting edge latest version of Google’s Android operating system, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). I still haven’t gotten that on my Galaxy S3, though reports are that it’s coming any day now.
Just like the previous version, this is a huge superphone with completely maxed out features. Like the dual core speed on the Galaxy S3? The Note II smashes that with quad core. Like the 4.8″ screen on the S3? The Note II bumps it up to a whopping 5.5″ display.
Yeah, it’s a huge phone, but it’s also like having a touch screen and stylus compatible mini laptop in your pocket.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1”
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1″ with 4G LTE on AT&T
Mario and I attended the NYC launch of the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1″. At the time, we didn’t get to do as much testing as we liked and came away with mixed feelings about the tablet. The software didn’t work as smoothly as we would’ve wanted. The S-Pen was improved, but not perfect. The multi-tasking was extremely limited in terms of the number of apps available.
You can read my first impressions on the blog here:
The addition of 4G LTE on AT&T is a huge boon to the device, but that really only brings it up to where the iPad 3 was back when it launched this past Spring. While this is a great tab for Android fanatics (it’s hardware is powerful and it has a great screen), I’d say it’s probably the weakest of the devices that AT&T announced today. Unless the price point can come in at a point lower than the new iPad, I’d say that Apple’s tablet with 4G LTE on AT&T is probably still the way to go.
Today at 1PM Eastern Mario’s hosting a webinar for entrepreneurs talking about how they can use mobile technology to improve their business. He’ll focus on how mobile is letting us get more done from more places, thanks to our phones, tablets, and more. Plus he’ll get deep on topics entrepreneurs need to know about, like cloud storage, Evernote, mobile video, and mobile payments. Plus he’ll cover some great ways to save time as well as some apps to help you better connect with customers via social media.
After you’ve watched, Mario will also host a Twitter Q & A session. He’ll be using the @ATTSmallBiz handle (go follow them!) or you can look for the hashtag #ATTWebinar to keep up on everything going on.
David Egger is Lead Marketing Manager for AT&T’s IRU (Individual Responsibility User) Mobility Programs. You can find more blog content from David and other experts on emerging technologies and mobile application on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.
Samsung Galaxy SIII on AT&T
With so many options to promote your business today and an American economy that seems to be driven by advertising and its revenue, how does a small business develop a mobile marketing strategy and rise above the white noise? Michael Porter offers marketers some great advice for situations like these: “A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.”
A first-year marketing professor will teach that Marketing is about 4 P’s – product, place, price, promotion. While I can’t help you decide how to price your products in this blog, I can tell you that knowing your mobile marketing strategy as it relates to product, place, and promotion will help center your mobile marketing strategy.
Look Inward
The first step in developing any communications about your company is to know exactly what you want to say about your products and services. You do this by intimately knowing these parts of your business. What is your product, who buys it, when do they buy it, how often do they buy it, what triggers those purchases? Examining and answering these questions will get you quite far down the road from your competitors, as these are the questions that high-cost consultants will ask … and they are the questions most business owners won’t be able to answer adequately.
For example, is your product something not even sold to consumers? Your mobile strategy will be vastly different than a mobile strategy for a consumer product. Is your product something purchased on a whim, or a planned, expensive purchase? This will determine how you design your strategy and optimize it for the type of customer that your business will serve best. Is the buyer of your product someone younger or older? While the elderly are joining social media in greater numbers, you’ll need to tailor your approach depending upon how your customers approach the mobile space.
We all know about the mobile family plan: everybody shares minutes so that you can take turn being the big spenders and having long chats. Mobile minutes are all well and good, but these days what we really want is data!
AT&T has risen to the challenge with a new plan to let you share mobile data across multiple devices. It’s the old-style family, but now for data. And the more data you choose, the less you pay per gigabyte. You pick your plan (from 1GB to 20GB) and get unlimited voice and text on your primary device.
Then you can add other devices, including tablets, smartphones and mobile hotspots, for an additional cost per device, but with access to that big chunk of data. You can put up to ten devices on that same amount of data, and the bigger your data plan the less it costs to add another device.
David Egger is Lead Marketing Manager for AT&T’s IRU (Individual Responsibility User) Mobility Programs. You can find more blog content from David and other experts on emerging technologies and mobile application on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.
Educational institutions often lead the way in using new technologies, even developing much of it themselves in their own labs and computer science departments. In this post, let’s take a look at a few technologies being used in education that can help drive more sales, more customer involvement, and more customer loyalty for your small business.
Social Media
The roots of truly large-scale social media lie in Facebook. Most are aware that facebook.com was once only for college students and started as a way for students to check out other students on campuses. I’m actually quite proud that my account was started when it was still ‘thefacebook.com’ and each campus had its own subdomain (depauw.thefacebook.com).
Whether using a business page on facebook or a business account on twitter to promote your new products or services and special offers, building a base of loyal customers on social media is essential to any consumer-focused small business.
To keep your following strong, include regular special offers exclusively for social media subscribers or occasional contests. Not every post should be sales-y though. I love how Coke Zero uses their facebook page to post random, funny Coke Zero musings such as “The mark of a true hero is indicated by his Coke Zero mustache.” Keep your social media tone set to the same mood as your business’ brand. Coke Zero is a fun, lifestyle brand, so they post jokes and funny pictures. A law firm posting photos of pants-less nerf gun battles in the office isn’t going to get the same effect. Think of your business’ brand as a person, and imagine the kinds of things that person would share on social media. Read More
Mobile payments are about to be everywhere, and small business owners should do their research now about how best to incorporate this new technology into their business practices.
Intuit, Inc. is also the parent company of QuickBooks, so it’s easy to integrate your “everywhere” sales with one merchant account and all your standard business record keeping. And you may actually pay less for the privilege of accepting credit cards than you would with a traditional merchant services provider.
With the GoPayment reader there’s no set-up fee, no monthly charge minimum, and no transaction fee. In the pay-per-transaction model swipes cost only 2.7% and manual transactions cost 3.7%. Businesses that anticipate more than $130 of swipes per month should go with the subscription plan, which charges $12.95 a month, but charges 1% less per transaction (1.7% per swiped transaction and 2.7% for manual entries).
Want a great smartphone to take advantage of blazing LTE speeds (now in 51 markets!) but can’t wait to find out if Apple’s next iPhone will be able to connect to the network? The Samsung Galaxy S III on AT&T is a great choice. And with AT&T, you can exclusively order the phone in Garnet Red (seen to the right). And just like the white and blue models, the red Galaxy S III is available for just $199 with a 2-year contract.
If you’re still on the fence about the S III, then you might enjoy our preview video where we look at some of its top features. And we don’t even cover everything in that video! There’s a bunch more photo modes (take pictures while video records, for one) as well as NFC technology built into the phone, so you’re getting a lot with a phone that’s available today. Well, Sunday, technically.
What do you think? Is a red Galaxy S III enough to get you to embrace Android? If not, what killer feature does Android lack that’s holding you back? Let us know in the comments!
While many consumers have found the term “4G” a confusing marketing buzzword and not the indicator of mobile data speed they might expect, “4G LTE” or, simply, LTE, is an entirely different game. Offering speeds that compare favorably with your home broadband connection, LTE makes a huge difference in terms of how much you can get down, download, browse, and share while on the go.
Today AT&T is announcing that they’re adding 4G LTE to four new markets: Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Worcester, MA. This brings the total count up to 51, and they’re still going—many more markets will find themselves downloading at insane speeds by the end of the year.
As well, coverage is expanding in the greater Baltimore area! Rob Forsyth, vice president and general manager for AT&T in the greater Washington/Baltimore area, noted in a press release yesterday that, “[AT&T has] seen positive response from customers on our 4G LTE launch in the Baltimore region, and as today’s expansion shows, we’re continuing our rollout of fast LTE speeds to more areas of Maryland, including Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties, as well as Ellicott City. Today’s launch means being able to beat your friends to the punch when accessing webpages, updating social networks and streaming video.”
Keep reading to see the complete list of markets where AT&T currently offers 4G LTE service. Read More
AT&T announced recently that they’re going to be bringing the world’s first touchscreen mobile hotspot device to customers in the US. The global-ready MiFi Liberate is a top of the line 4G LTE hotspot that will bring super fast network speeds to your laptop, tablet or oer mobile device anywhere AT&T provides service.
When we attended the 
The pairing of AT&T and the flagship Windows 8 phone isn’t too much of a surprise. AT&T carried the original Lumia 900, the previous Windows Phone 7 flagship device, and as the press materials note, “The unrivaled leader in Windows Phones, AT&T has sold more Windows Phones than any other carrier.”
