Say you’re a wireless carrier with an exclusive deal on the hottest wireless device with the most popular application store. What do you do? Well, up until now, AT&T’s answer has been basically nothing. It had released zero apps taking advantage of the fast growing iPhone platform. Today, it finally got around to releasing one.
AT&T myWireless Mobile (horrible name — iTunes link) is an app that does the obvious: It allows users to view and pay their wireless bills from the iPhone. You can also see your current usage and add or remove features from your plan. Given AT&T’s close deal with Apple, shouldn’t this have been the very first app developed for the platform? Instead, we get it about 10 months later, after other apps, like Pageonce’s Celltracker [iTunes link], have launched with the exact same functionality.
AT&T’s complete and utter lack of app development prowess of course probably won’t have any effect on its negotiations with Apple to try and extend its exclusive deal another year. But it doesn’t speak well when it comes to the possibility of the long-promised tethering app that AT&T is making to use with the iPhone. At this rate, we should see that around 2011 — or when the Verizon iPhone launches.
I’m what took them so long is that they had to make numerous modifications in order to comply with apple’s stupid, anal 3rd party developer guidelines.
Thats completely baseless.
Services like http://www.pointabout.com provide fast effective ways for companies just like AT&T (SBC) to implement features like this with a simple UI tweak to maximize the iPhone’s screen.
Knowing the bureaucracy over there, they probably reinvented the wheel to get this thing going. That or they were too busy playing with the new iPhone U-verse app.
Maybe it took a long time because Apple typically takes a 30% cut of anything you pay for via an app so they had to negotiate past that.
could be!
why myWireless mobile home? on the att stores it’s MyMobile. what a fiasco. i prefer myWireless Trailer Park.
MyLocator.mobi – find it
Carries and software makers should be separate, it’s essential for competitiveness. I would be worried if my DSL provider ATT got into the business of website or application making.
I would hope that “Carries” and software would be separate.
Perhaps you meant to write “caries”. As in “decay of a bone or tooth, especially dental caries”.
Or “curries”. As in “heavily spiced sauce or relish made with curry powder and eaten with rice, meat, fish, or other food.”.
I meant Carries, female names- as in dorks should stay away from them,
Sure thing ’stunna’.
they like 10 years to late… it was about time ….or maybe they saw something intersting in the next iphone 3.0…..
I’ve been trying to get this to work for a few days now…I keep getting a W001 error saying they can’t access my info at this time.
wow…seriously its about time…
Come on Boys and Girls. This is the Telephone company you’re talking about. ATT is a Telephone company. Verizon is a Telephone company. Sprint is a Telephone company. All of these are stuck in the fifties Telephone culture. They are still struggling with all this new stuff. That’s why getting a simple picture on or off their phones is so difficult. That is also why Apple is such a run-away favorite and Champion of the technologically adept and their thirst for ease of use. Why the big fuss and all the comments about ATT. Boys and Girls, this is just the way it is……
All ATT really cares about is getting your money. And that is why their first App is a way to just ease your money away from you. It sounds like however, they need one of these Technologically Adept folks to help them out a little bit in the details….
“And that is why their first App is a way to just ease your money away from you”
Wrong.
If anything this app will make customers more informed about their bills and minutes. Thus ATT will make less money from extra minutes charges and late fees.
Like AT&T is out to save you money. If that was the case why can’t we subscribe to Internet access only plan for around 40bucks?
I hate to jump into AT&T’s corner on this, but yes, they offer a DSL-only plan for $39.99 at least in the Palo Alto area.
AT&T isn’t even a real company anymore, it’s SBC and other Baby Bells borrowing the name of a DEAD MOTHER.
bummer, i thought it was slingbox.
AT&T is a stodgy old monopoly so what did you expect? Still, this may be an iphone app that is of value to every single iphone user, which would be a first.
Installed the application and it worked nicely for me. Big complaint is that the application makes you re-enter password each time, which is a problem if you make it a point to actually use robust/complex passwords for your accounts as every security expert recommends. Simple solution would be to create a PIN for the application and give the user a preference to opt for a PIN and save the password.
saw these guys at SDforum last week (or is it the week before?)
http://www.attinteractive.com
http://www.attinteractive.com/mobile-ad-network
they are making a push into the internet finally
2/3 of the stories on TechCrunch are fanboy odes about either Twitter or iPhone/Apple.
You don’t even mention that the top app on Android Marketplace for months has been T-Mobile’s “My Account”, which obviously AT&T duplicated for iPhone.
Well, it’s a well known fact, Sonny Jim, that there’s a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as the Pentavirate, who run everything in the world, including the blogosphere, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as “The Meadows”. The Queen, the Vatican, the Gettys, Steve Jobs, and yes, J. Michael Arrington.
Case closed.
don’t use this if you have a go-phone. it does not work with that type or pick your plan on the original iphone
who gives a crap
Indeed… no crap given.
AT&T is doing just what AT&T does, how AT&T does it. Did you all think that the internet was going to change that?
The world is tied up and not sure what to do about this change model. China locks it down. America is ready to go Napster on anything that looks ‘Bad’.
It took this long for AT&T budget hounds to say “ok… maybe this is worth it”.
Management systems around the world are at war with themselves. Look around. Inspect our corporate and governing cultures. Is anything working?
Young free-thinking minds versus the China model… thats the battle. Just make sure you know what side your advocating for.
No ATT app until now? Man.
Raza Imam
“a die-hard Blackberry user with a soft spot for the new Palm Pre”
Similar gadget from sprint is on igoogle.
http://www.google.com/ig/adde?hl=en&moduleurl=http://apps.envionetworks.com/ig/sprintwidget.xml&source=imag
They submitted this app 6 months ago, it just finally got approved.
Why can’t a person wait to check their bill when they get home? You can log into their website to do this, and you can do this from your phone as well. AT&T pesters you with emails reminding you to pay your bill anyway so who needs this application? Can’t they come up with any other type of useful utility for the wildly successful iPhone?
This was a freely developed app on the G1 shortly after its launch (with more robust versions following). Guess with billing like AT&T you aren’t exactly eager to facilitate accessing it easily. :-)
Cell Minute Tracker was cool but it was flawed in a few areas. Add to that the fact that it was unofficial (and basically, could have been easily broken had AT&T changed their online system) and the need for this app is obvious.
Of course, it’s ridiculous that this comes out almost a year after the 3G, but at least it’s here now.
As Jason Lee points out, AT&T Interactive (owns YellowPages.com) has had a popular iPhone app since the debut of the app store. AT&T Mobility hasn’t had one until the release of this account app, but saying that AT&T hasn’t had an iPhone app until now is incorrect. In fact, they just released the 2.0 version of the YellowPages app (YPmobile).
Everybody knows AT&T is shite. Why would anyone expect anything more from such a shite carrier?
Does anybody else think its ironic or at least odd that this application isn’t on the feature tab on the App Store Application on the iPhone. I thought it would at least be listed on the New or What’s Hot tabs if not one of the large banner ads.
AT&T does already have apps out. See YPmobile (branded through its subsidiary yellowpages.com) and speak4it (mobile voice search app).