AT&T’s iPhone sales declined in the third quarter, but that should come as no surprise following Apple’s earnings earlier this week.

AT&T benefited greatly, and exclusively, from the new iPhones previously released by Apple in the third quarters of 2009 and 2010. That didn’t happen this year, and AT&T’s year-over-year wireless revenue growth slowed as a result. The company reported $3.6 billion in profit, declining more than 70% from the year-ago period. Revenues were down 0.3% to $31.5 billion. Read more

It’s what’s inside that counts. That’s the statement Apple Inc. is making with the new iPhone 4S.

It may look exactly the same as the iPhone 4, but the new iPhone 4S is rocking a re-engineered interior that Apple hopes will keep the iOS train humming along well through the next product cycle.

Apple is taking a gamble, albeit a safe and proven one, by not changing the design of the new iPhone. After the longest break yet between new iPhone releases (almost 16 months), public and industry expectations were set for an iPhone 5 — in other words, an iPhone that looks different and works different.

The iPhone 4S is coming to AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and for the first time, Sprint Nextel Corp. It goes up for pre-sale Friday and hits store shelves on Oct. 14. iOS 5 will be available as a free upgrade on Oct. 12. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. – Few, if any, technologies have taken off as quickly as smartphones have in the United States and it’s changing the American lifestyle in the process. At the end of 2008, the U.S. market had a smartphone penetration rate of 15%; it’s currently at 24% and The Nielsen Co. is predicting we’ll see a 49% adoption rate by the end of 2011.

Lucy Hood, a former Fox Mobile executive and now executive director at University of Southern California’s Institute for Communications, Technology and Management, said that while the devices and connection speeds have changed, usage patterns have not been disrupted. As a whole, smartphones are primarily used to communicate first, seek information second and entertain as a tertiary function, she said.

In the latest study conducted by the USC think tank, it found that mobile video consumption is still woefully underused. Even more discouraging than the level of use, according to Hood, is the reason why mobile TV and video has failed to live up to the hype: it’s still a poor experience for most users. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SAN DIEGO – What equipment a company decides to outfit its workforce with will be one of its most important and lasting decisions. It can also be particularly challenging if the company is aiming to put a virtual office in the pocket of its employees.

On the closing day of Gartner’s Wireless, Networking and Communications Summit, the analyst firm’s research VP, Leslie Fiering, delivered a presentation that delved into the factors that impact the potential effectiveness of an office-in-your-pocket solution, how it can be matched with user requirements and how office-in-your-pocket solutions will evolve over the next five years.

In short, there isn’t much Fiering expects to not see change in the next couple years. Taking Moore’s Law into account and keeping in mind which notebooks and cellphones were the most popular five years ago should be all the convincing one needs: office-in-your-pocket solutions evolve in an equally dramatic and rapid fashion. Read more