Verizon today unveiled more detail about their LTE wireless broadband launch, announcing that they’ll be offering the 5-12 Mbps service in 38 markets and 60 airports starting December 5. Most importantly, Verizon finally unveiled their pricing for the new service, which after a year filled with endless hints by executives about wanting to try something new winds up being somewhat underwhelming, traditional, and expensive.

The base pricing for LTE laptop connectivity via USB modem (there will be no smartphones at launch) is significantly more expensive than the 3G pricing they unveiled in October, though the caps are obviously higher. Verizon’s current EVDO USB modem plans come in two flavors: $40 for 250MB of usage and $60 for 5GB of usage. Verizon’s LTE pricing will now be $50 for 5GB of usage, or $80 for 10 GB of usage, with $10 per each additional GB. Sayeth big red:

Verizon Wireless customers can choose from two 4G LTE Mobile Broadband data plans: $50 monthly access for 5 GB monthly allowance or $80 monthly access for 10 GB monthly allowance, both with $10/GB overage. For laptop connectivity, two 4G LTE USB modems will be initially available: the LG VL600 is available at launch and the Pantech UML290 will be available soon, each $99.99 after $50 rebate with a new two-year agreement. Both USB modems provide backward-compatibility with Verizon Wireless’ 3G network. If laptop users travel outside of a 4G LTE coverage area, they will automatically stay connected on the company’s 3G network.

It’s interesting to note there’s not even really an entry level LTE plan (say $25 for a gig of use) after literally dozens of Verizon executive comments claiming usage-based pricing was going to be the future. We’ll assume this pricing may evolve as the company begins offering LTE smartphones, which Verizon today announced will arrive sometime in “mid-2011″. Verizon also again today confirmed these devices will initially use 3G/CDMA for voice until LTE voice standards are hashed out. As an added aside: the service will only support MS Windows based PC’s at launch.

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First cable companies insisted that people canceling TV service weren’t real. Then, as companies began noticing the last two quarters that people were actually canceling TV service due to cost, they began insisting those consumers really don’t matter all that much (which is only true when looking at the relatively massive size of some companies). The reality is that you can’t continue to impose rate hikes twice a year and not see some consumer response; the cable industry just doesn’t care because they feel these consumers are little more than a statistical blip.

The seriousness with which cable companies take consumer concerns about high prices is reflected in the way they continue to gleefully impose rate hikes on not only cable TV but DVR rentals and other services. When they do try their hand at the unfamiliar idea of lowering prices, the end result is often somewhat insulting, like Time Warner Cable’s new entry level cable tiers that offer no consumer value and are loaded with restrictions like the inability to bundle it with additional services, or even use a DVR.

Following in Time Warner Cable’s footsteps, Charter is illustrating what they think about cord cutters and those struggling financially, by sending out notices saying they’ll be hiking the price of, well, everything:

effective with your January Statement pricing will be adjusted for TV Install fees: New Primary Outlet Installation and Reconnection will be adjusted from $29.99 to $39.00; Change of Service Special Trip from $23.62 to $30.00; Additional Outlet with Initial Install from $9.87 to $9.99; Additional Outlet with Special Trip from $29.86 to $39.00; Labor Charge (formerly Hourly Service Charge) from $34.85 to $39.00; Inside Wire Service Call from $35.00 to $45.00; Ancillary Equipment Install with Initial Install from $5.99 to $9.99 and Ancillary Equipment Install with Special Trip from $27.15 to $35.00.

Public Access Fee will change from $0.52 to $0.55, Franchise Fee will change from $1. 13 to $1.17. Basic Service Tier from $12. 85 to $16.21 an increase of $3.36; Expanded Service Tier from $48.14 to $44.78 a decrease of (-$3.36). Customers in a promotion will not see this immediate price change; however, new pricing will apply at the end of your promotional period.

While Charter jacked up the price of essentially everything, they did reduce the price of their “Expanded Service” tier from $48.14 to $44.78. However, they actually increased the price of their entry-level “Basic” service tier $12.85 to $16.21. Why? As Charter customers in our forums correctly note, Charter was seeing more customers downgrading to their cheapest TV tier due to the economy, so they raised the price and lowered the price of the next level tier in the hopes they’d upgrade. Cable’s borderline disdain for cash-strapped customers couldn’t be any more clear, and it will be a historical cornerstone when the story of the inevitable (but glacial) Internet video (r)evolution is told.

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Ars Technica directs our attention to a new New American Foundation report that found that United States and Canadian consumers consistently pay significantly more for wireless service. The study tracked prepaid, unlimited, and postpaid plans in 11 countries, and found that the U.S. and Canada were consistently the most expensive for complete plans (SMS/Voice/Data) and SMS. The U.S. fares slightly better in mobile data, ranging from thoroughly mediocre to very pricey:

In the case of unlimited data plans, the U.S. is in the middle tier of service rates. The U.S. offers a plan of $29.99 per month which is cheaper than Canada ($72.90/month), Japan ($52.60/month) and Hong Kong ($38.00/month). On the contrary, Sweden offers much cheaper unlimited data plans for $13.80 per month, followed by India ($19.00/month), and Taiwan ($26.60/month). For prepaid data plans, the U.S. has the most expensive rate at $10.24 per MB, whereas India offers $0.0004/MB, $0.43/MB in South Korea and $0.50/MB in the U.K. Several other countries that also have cheaper rates are $1.64/MB in Taiwan and $1.70 in Denmark.

It’s not entirely clear what guided the Foundation’s 11-country selection, or why countries like France and Spain were left out of the analysis. It’s also not clear how much a broader sample base would help, given that several studies have shown that Canadian and U.S. consumers tend to pay consistently more for lower quality wired and wireless service than many developed countries. We’re going to go out on a limb and guess that these prices don’t include all of the assorted fees, taxes, and “unfees” carriers tack on below the line.

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According to the latest J.D. Power and Associates Residential Television Service Satisfaction study, consumers are “notably less satisfied” with TV services than last year. That isn’t surprising given the relentless and often bi-annual rate hikes imposed by satellite, telcoTV and cable TV providers, which resulted in new and notable cord cutting last quarter. According to the study, Customer satisfaction with the cost of television service averaged 541 out of 1,000 in 2010, down 14 points from 555 in 2009.

The study measured satisfaction with TV services in four regions (East, West, North Central, South). AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS ranked highest among TV providers, though the cable companies ironically rank higher on residential phone service.

Overall, customers continue to be annoyed with price hikes, which are courtesy of the endless dance of death between broadcasters (who continually hike programming costs) and TV operators (who pass these costs on to consumers along side hikes and new fees of their own). Consumer annoyance has been amplified by a sour economy, and mirroring recent concerns from the investment sector, JD Power notes that these hikes can’t continue indefinitely:

“It’s apparent…that TV providers must better communicate their price-value proposition, as customers are increasingly voicing irritation with the amount of their monthly bill. Seventy-four percent of customers who say they definitely or probably will change TV providers in the next year cite price as a major reason to switch.”

Consumers (for now) continue to pay for services despite these hikes, which is obviously good news for TV providers. But despite changing state laws to ease telcoTV entry into the sector (many times at the cost of consumer protections, local rights, and increased deployment), TV price reductions promised by lobbyists never arrived. Carriers instead engage in non-price competition, and focus on creating the illusion of value through added services that are often half-assed (see AT&T’s Hulu clone, for example).

The TV sector is begging for disruption and the entry of inexpensive, simple, a la carte Internet video options. There’s an endless flood of articles insisting that Internet video isn’t a threat, but that’s largely thanks to the fact that broadcasters are constricting TV streaming licensing for fear of cannibalizing TV revenues, resulting in limited alternatives for consumers. If these endless carriage disputes continue, cable operators may eventually balk, and broadcasters may open their eyes to alternative delivery opportunities.

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AT&T’s second quarter earnings are out, and despite “Antennagate” and network coverage criticism, the company still managed to activate a whopping 3.2 million Apple iPhones during the quarter. Overall, the company added 1.6 million wireless subscribers (896,000 of those were not phones but embedded devices like e-Readers) for the quarter, to reach 90.1 million total wireless connections. AT&T saw a 27.2 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up $936 million from last year and their new data pricing only really just kicked in.

AT&T added a net 209,000 U-verse TV subscribers for the quarter, totaling 2.5 million. That said, AT&T overall lost about 92,000 total broadband customers, given they lost 347,000 traditional DSL customers, some to U-Verse upgrades, some to competitors. AT&T’s broadband quarter wasn’t a particularly great one, something AT&T attributes to “seasonal” slowdown, but also because competitors in non U-Verse markets are becoming “more aggressive with promotions.”

In other words, users tired of slow and expensive DSL service are upgrading to cable. AT&T hopes to counter this with bonded VDSL, which will extend U-Verse’s reach to 30 million potential users. But the fact that cable is kicking AT&T around in legacy DSL markets is kind of amusing given all the investor pressure on AT&T to skimp on network upgrades. By lamenting telco network upgrades (be they FTTH or FTTN), Wall Street stock jocks like Craig Moffett wind up helping cable companies.

On their earnings conference call, AT&T dribbled out a few interesting tidbits including the fact that their LTE trials will be starting in just a few months, with the service made available to AT&T customers sometime in 2011. The company also noted that they’ve been working hard to improve network performance in their trouble markets like New York City, where they claim dropped calls are down 23% in Manhattan while 3G speeds are up 31% the last six months. San Francisco upgrades are about 90 days behind NYC upgrades, says AT&T.

As for AT&T’s decision to impose low 200 MB and 2 GB caps on wireless smartphone users during the quarter, AT&T’s CFO Rick Lindner called the results “pretty encouraging.” Interestingly, AT&T says fewer people than they expected downgraded from unlimited to 200MB and 2GB capped plans. “To be honest we had expected virtually all of those customers to migrate down to a lower price point.” Perhaps because low caps and high overages (plus fees) isn’t really a lower price point?

Regardless, AT&T acknowledged their new tiered pricing (which Verizon is expected to mimic later this month) “may reduce the growth rate in the next year.” T-Mobile, Clearwire and Sprint certainly hope so.

Of course rumbling beneath all of this talk about wireless is AT&T’s continued loss of traditional landline voice customers and associated revenues, which AT&T happily insists saw their “smallest year-over-year decline in five quarters.” AT&T saw their wireline voice total (and they include U-Verse Voice in that total) drop to 44.3 million from 46.3 million on the quarter. Those continued losses mean continued layoffs at the company this year.

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Last year it was noted how Netflix was planning to offer stand-alone broadband video streaming in certain unspecified countries, as long as you’re not spelled with the letters U, S and A where Netflix oddly claims there “isn’t a demand” for this kind of service. The mystery country Netflix mentioned last year appears to be Canada where Netflix is launching their broadband streaming service without tying it to DVD rentals (in fact they’re not offering DVD rentals at all). Netflix says the service officially launches this fall:

In addition to representing its inaugural international market, Canada will also mark the first streaming-only service promoted by Netflix. At the time of launch, the Netflix Canadian service will be available in English only, but the company said it expects to add French language capability over time. Canadians interested in Netflix can go to www.netflix.ca and sign up to receive an email from the company when the service launches in Canada this fall.

The press covering this announcement seem to have forgotten Canadian broadband users face some of the most restrictive cap and overage penalties anywhere, with companies like Cogeco and Rogers charging up to $5 per extra gigabyte of usage, despite paying pennies for bandwidth, plummeting hardware costs, and being perfectly profitable under the flat-rate model.

Heavy Netflix HD streaming potentially eats bandwidth like popcorn shrimp, so you can do your own math.

Of course the result will be more timid usage of the new service as an alternative to cable and greater revenues for cable and phone companies… which is exactly why low caps and high overages are imposed in the first place.

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The Aston Martin Rapide might just have the most expensive key in the world, fortunately it does more than just open the car – it’s also a watch, sorry, chronograph.

The AMVOX2 Rapide Transponder heralds the second generation of the revolutionary creation that sealed the ties between the Grande Maison from the Vallée de Joux and the legendary British luxury sports car manufacturer.
Released several months ago, it is the first mechanical watch developed with the ability to control access into a luxury sports car by means of a built-in micro transmitter system serves to lock and unlock the Aston Martin DBS car, while maintaining the key functions of the famous vertical-trigger mechanism equipping the pushpiece-free chronograph.

If you had enough money for an Aston Martin, you would probably cough up for the super-expensive watch-key.

Link to the original article… ]]> http://www.removethelabels.com/2010/02/28/aston-martin-rapide-has-a-34000-watch-key-option/feed/ 0 http://www.removethelabels.com/2009/12/17/mercedes-benz-to-produce-a-new-apple-iphone-pouch/ http://www.removethelabels.com/2009/12/17/mercedes-benz-to-produce-a-new-apple-iphone-pouch/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:10:00 +0000 William http://www.removethelabels.com/?p=25705

Mercedes-Benz has launched its new pouch designed for the Apple iPhone in the Korea market. The Apple iPhone accessory is created from a high-quality leather. Suggested price is 110,000 KRW or about $94 USD.

I like the Vaja Cases [ Related: Vaja Cases, Vaja Case Review ] better for about the same price.

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The Aston Martin Rapide is definitely a sexy piece of kit. Going up against the other four door ultra-high luxury sedan, the Porsche Panamera, it finally got a price of £139,950 or $230,171.14 if it were to rely on today’s currency exchange. That’s double the base price for the already pricey Panamera.

What does almost a quarter of a million get you? Aston Martin prestige and build quality, a 470hp V-12, comfort for 4-5 adults in an ultra-high luxury car that’s definitely bound to be super exclusive.

The Rapide is Aston Martin’s first production four-door sports car encapsulating the practicality of a car with extra doors and fusing it with the trademark sports car dynamics synonymous with modern Aston Martins.

Customer deliveries will commence at the beginning of quarter two 2010, and it will be the first sports car to be hand-built at the Aston Martin Rapide Plant in Graz, Austria. The new 17,000 m2 building has been designed to reflect the quality levels established in Gaydon since 2003 permitting the fusion of modern technology, advanced manufacturing processes and hand-built craftsmanship. Each Rapide will take approximately 220 man hours to build and will benefit from timeless craft skills just like the existing range; DBS, DB9, V12 and V8 Vantage do at Gaydon.

So, can I borrow $230,170? Don’t mind me… I’m just going to lust drool over the Aston Martin Rapide.

For now, only 250 six-packs of the beer, which Sapporo calls “Space Barley,” are available for purchase. Customers will be selected at random from those who apply through the Space Barley website before December 24.

The barley used in the beer is the fourth-generation offspring of seeds that spent five months aboard the International Space Station in 2006 as part of research that Sapporo conducted with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Okayama University. The aim of the research was to study the adaptability and life cycle of barley in zero-gravity and to explore the challenges of achieving self-sufficient food production in space.

Space Barley beer has a mellow flavor and slightly dark color reminiscent of deep space, according to Sapporo. The six-packs are priced at an astronomical 10,000 yen ($110), but Sapporo will donate the profits to Okayama University, who will use the funds to promote science education for children and foster the development of space science research in Japan and Russia.

[Links: Space Barley website, Sapporo press release]

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