Verizon Communications Workers Strike: 45,000 Union Members Demand Improvements

Verizon Communications just had 45,000 union workers strike on Sunday, August 7th. The workers, who are members of Communications Workers of America Union, are primarily from the land-line division of the company and includes employees from the company's FiOS TV and Internet service. Many of the employees on strike are call center employees, field technicians and cable installers. The strike won't likely effect Verizon Wireless, but the news is worth sharing with you anyway, just in case things spill over.

The issues that brought about this strike have been at the "collective bargaining table" since June 22nd, but have been largely dismissed by Verizon Communications Executives. Here's a quote from the PhoneArena article describing that the union workers take issue with,

...Verizon's proposed draconian cuts aiming to tie salary to employee performance, concessions on pensions and requiring workers to pay over $100 monthly for health care premiums, contradicted the fact that the company registered profits from its wired network, while Verizon's top five executives compensation amounted to over quarter a billion in the last four years.

Here is the union's statement regarding these issues,

“Since bargaining began on June 22, Verizon has refused to move from a long list of concession demands. Even at the 11th hour, as contracts were set to expire, Verizon continued to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families,”

This issue will be the first big challenge for Verizon's newly appointed CEO, Lowell McAdam. His response to the claim was the following,

"It is clear that some of the existing contract provisions, negotiated initially when Verizon was under far less competitive pressure, are not in line with the economic realities of business today,"

During the strike Verizon has promised that services won't be disrupted, and is utilizing tens of thousands of non-union workers, working 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week to fill in for the striking workers. Paul Secunda, a Marquette University associate law professor and adviser to Verizon during previous strikes said, "This may be the last big strike we see in the land-line business."

It's easy to see both sides of the issue. On the one hand, land-line phones are a dying industry, and you can see Verizon Communications' perspective of needing to maximize the efficiency of the business for as long as possible. On the other hand, the company had 2011 annualized revenues of $108 billion and annualized net profits of $6 billion, and Verizon Communications just received a dividend from Verizon Wireless of around $5 Billion dollars. Furthermore, Verizon’s top five executives received compensation of $258 million over the past four years. At what point do you "take care of the people that helped get you there"

AT&T and Apple Prepare Stores and Staff for iPhone 5 Launch in September

Boy Genius Report has an exclusive story today hot from its sources within AT&T, who say that AT&T has started telling its employees about its launch plans for the iPhone 5, kicking off with instructing employees throughout the company and in retail outlets to complete any employee training that they might currently be undergoing, as soon as possible. The reason for this is to ensure that sufficient employees will be available to deal with the extra customers expected to be flocking to AT&T retail stores once the iPhone 5 is release in September. This follows on from another story on MacRumors that says that Apple is also recruiting extra employees, including asking former employees to return, and asking them to be available from August 15 to September 15. Most current speculation from a variety of reliable sources seems to be pointing to the next iPhone being announced possibly as soon as mid-to-late August, for an early-to-mid September launch.

New Survey Finds That 35 Percent of Consumers Intend to Buy the iPhone 5

PriceGrabber, a part of Experian, published the results of its new survey today about Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 5. The survey found that 35 percent of respondents plan to purchase the iPhone 5 when it is released, most likely, in September. 51 percent of that initial 35 percent said that they would buy an iPhone 5 within the first year of release, 30 percent said they would buy it before the end of 2011, 14 percent said they would purchase the phone within the first month, and 7 percent intended to buy it within the first week.

PriceGrabber also asked consumers what new features they considered to be most important in their decision to buy the iPhone 5; 59 percent said better battery life, 55 percent said cost reduction, 46 percent said 4G network compatibility, 45 percent said a larger screen, and 42 percent said a better camera.

Quote:

"Our survey data confirms the strong following Apple has built around its iPhone, with more than one-third of consumers planning to upgrade to the latest model only a little over a year following the release of the iPhone 4," stated Graham Jones, general manager of PriceGrabber. "Anticipation and brand loyalty are certainly high, but in today's 24-7 work culture and uncertain economic environment, consumers are cautious to look for a reasonably priced phone that will perform optimally over an extended time period."

When asked which smartphone operating system they preferred, 48 percent of respondents said Apple iOS, 19 percent said Android OS, 7 percent said Microsoft Windows, and 6 percent said RIM BlackBerry. The consumers were also polled on what smartphone they would prefer to get as a gift, and again the iPhone 5 came out massively on top, with 69 percent of respondents naming it as their choice. Seven percent said Motorola’s Droid Bionic, 4 percent said the Samsung Galaxy S II, and 3 percent said BlackBerry Curve.

Finally, when asked what they generally use their smartphone for, 88 percent of respondents said phone calls, 77 percent said email, 73 percent said texting, 69 percent answered browsing the Internet, 51 percent said searching, and 50 percent cited the Global Positioning System.

Free Game Alert! Top Gear Stunt School Currently Free in App Store

The BBC TV motoring show Top Gear’s massive and avid worldwide fan base will doubtless be delighted to hear that the Top Gear Stunt School iPhone/iPod touch and iPad app is currently free in the App Store, courtesy of FreeAppADay.com. If you’ve seen the show, you’ll instantly recognise the typical humour portrayed in the game, which gives the player the sort of crazy stunts and extreme challenges to perform that fans will be familiar with from the real-life Top Gear. There are a total of 60 unique physics-based stunt challenges to complete, with 20 additional “sandbox” challenges. Players also get the chance to fit out their cars with bizarre extras such as jet engines, huge wheels and hang-glider wings, with more than 2 billion different combinations of add-ons and modifications overall. You can even use these add-ons and modifications to help you try to beat a lap time set by the legendary Stig on the Top Gear Test track, who will also test out your customised car for you. Another cool feature of the game is the ability to challenge your friends to beat your stunt scores and race times with any of your creations. Not sure how long its free for, so be sure to visit the App Store right away before the price goes up!

Radio Shack and Target to Cut iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS prices from Today

With the arrival of a new iPhone imminent, AppleInsider reports on a couple of stories that have surfaced this weekend revolving around two key retailers reducing the price of their iPhone 4 stock. First up, they have a leaked photo of an internal Radio Shack document that was sent to Engadget, that shows that from today, Sunday July 31, Radio Shack will be dropping the price of the 16GB and 32GB AT&T iPhone 4s to $169.99 and $269.99 respectively, as well as dropping the price of the 8GB iPhone 3GS to $19.99. These new deals will only be available on a new or upgraded two-year contract, however. For those customers who don’t fit that criteria and want to upgrade early, the 16GB iPhone 4 will set you back $399.99, and the 32GB version will set you back $499.99. If you want to buy either without a contract, you’ll have to fork over $749.99 and $849.99 respectively.

The second rumour reported by AppleInsider and initiated by Phone Arena says that Target is also planning to drop the price of both the 16GB AT&T and Verizon iPhone 4s to $149.99 each from this Sunday, with the 32GB Verizon iPhone 4 now being discounted at $249.99, although the 32GB AT&T iPhone 4 will be staying at its current price of $299.99. The source also said that Target will be offering a $100-off trade-in offer for a new iPhone 4.

Apple Rules the Friendly Skies

As people start heading off on their holidays, and airports and airplanes get packed with travellers, more and more of them will be able to enjoy using Wi-Fi during their flight than probably would have done even a year ago. With this in mind, AllThings D reports on a new survey from Gogo, the company that provides Wi-Fi services for passengers on more than 6,000 aircraft for many different airlines, including Delta, Alaska, Virgin America, United and American. According to Gogo’s data, two-thirds of the mobile devices that are using its in-flight Wi-Fi are iPhones, 20 percent are iPod touches, and only 12 percent are Android devices, with a surprisingly lowly 6 percent of devices being BlackBerry, and Windows phones and others making up a collective last place.

This particular survey didn’t take iPads or other tablets into account because Gogo places them in the “computer” category (which also means you have to pay higher rates to use the in-flight Wi-Fi with them). However, Gogo did reveal that the iPad accounts for over one-third of large screens using their in-flight Wi-Fi service, with all Windows version large-screen devices having a total of 41 percent of the usage share, and Mac OS large-screen devices having just below 20 percent share.

Horrid Henry Gets Horrid iOS Game

The first Horrid Henry iOS game is finally here, and just in time for the holidays too! Released to coincide with the opening of the live action 3D film, Horrid Henry: The Movie on July 29, Horrid Henry’s Horrid App for iOS is a collection of three mini-games inspired by the family movie. The games feature familiar characters from both the movie and the three-times BAFTA-nominated CiTV series.

In Dress Up, players get to create their own Horrid Henry scenes by dressing up three of the characters and placing them in front of various backgrounds. Flick the Bogey is based on a mischievous manoeuvre that Henry describes in the film, where he throws a water balloon at Moody Margaret and has to burst it with his yo-yo in order to soak his arch enemy. Finally, Go Giddiantus! sees Henry chasing Margaret through an environment full of traps and obstacles in the hunt for the Purple Hand logos. The app also includes an exclusive link to Henry’s official website where you can view a collection of stills from the movie.

Minneapolis Survey Reveals iPhone Retention Rate of 94% Compared to Android’s 47%

CNN’s Apple 2.0 blog has word today of a new survey reported in analyst Gene Munster’s note to his Piper Jaffray clients which finds that 94% percent of current iPhone owners expect to buy another iPhone, with just 6% saying that they would switch to Android. The survey also revealed that 64% of all respondents said that they planned to buy an iPhone the next time they purchase a new phone, and that 60% of those respondents who don’t already have an iPhone but plan to make their next purchase an iPhone are waiting for the iPhone 5 to be released. Even 42% of existing Android users said they expected to switch to iPhone, with 47% saying they would buy another Android phone. As far as BlackBerry owners are concerned, 26% say that they will buy another BlackBerry, but a massive 67% say that they will buy an iPhone, with Android far behind at 3% of current BlackBerry owners intending to buy.

Munster polled 216 mobile phone users in Minneapolis to come up with the above results, which have lead him to tell investors that he thinks that demand for the iPhone 5 could be even higher than previously thought.

Will Russia be Getting the iPhone 5 in November?

MacRumors reports today on a story on Bloomberg from Russian business newspaper RBC Daily, which says that various carriers in Russia are currently in talks with Apple about launching the iPhone 5 in Russia, maybe even as early as November. The Russian paper says that this would be “almost immediately” after Apple launches the iPhone 5 in the US, which therefore pinpoints the US launch as possibly being towards the end of October. According to the report, earlier iPhone models have taken much longer to be officially launched in Russia, which has led to a big gray market developing. As MacRumors notes, this latest news also follows on from reports that China will also be getting the iPhone 5 sooner rather than later, and as they say, this marks a change from Apple, as previously countries with big populations such as China, India and Russia have had to wait much longer than other countries to get their hands on the newest incarnation of the iPhone.

AT&T Has Started Removing Unlimited Plans For Jailbroken Tethering

9to5 Mac reports today that it has heard from some of its readers that AT&T is going ahead with plans that it announced earlier in the year to remove unlimited data plans from those of its customers who use jailbroken iPhones to tether off the back of their unlimited data plan. According to one of their readers, he or she was told by AT&T that from Thursday, August 11, anyone using MyWi or any other tethering on their iPhone, or using the phone as a modem, will have their unlimited data plan switched to a 2GB tethering plan, at a cost of $45 per month. The customer will have no say in this matter, and it will be done automatically. 9to5 Mac says that they have also had this independently confirmed to them by an AT&T spokesperson, although not the August 11 date. Here’s the text of that confirmation from AT&T in full, which makes things pretty clear:

Earlier this year, we began sending letters, emails, and text messages to a small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but aren’t on our required tethering plan. Our goal here is fairness for all of our customers. (This impacts a only small percentage of our smartphone customer base.)
The letters outline three choices:
1) Stop tethering and keep their current plan (including grandfathered unlimited plan).
2) Proactively call AT&T or visit our stores and move to the required tethering plan.
3) Do nothing and we’ll go ahead and add the tethering plan on their behalf — after the dated noted in their customer notification.

Screenshot of New iOS 5 Speech-to-Text Facility in Action Surface

9to5 Mac reports today that it has been sent a screenshot from iOS 5’s forthcoming speech-to-text feature by what it refers to as “a reliable source”. The screenshot shows how the Nuance-powered speech-to-text function will be activated in iOS 5, and it appears to operate in a very similar way to the Android speech-recognition feature. Basically, you just touch the microphone icon to the left of the “space” bar, and talk away. As soon as you start talking, you’ll see another screen appear with a larger microphone icon, indicating that recording is taking place. When you stop talking, you’ll be returned to the original view, and the words that you have just spoken will then be shown in the text box. 9to5 Mac also reports that it has heard from its sources that the speech-to-text feature is only planned to be available for iPhone and iPod touch, and not for iPad, which seems a little strange, to say the least!

Google+ iPhone App Skyrockets to the Top of the Charts for Free iPhone Apps

Now, if this isn't an ironic, although unsurprising, twist, then the word needs to be redefined. In only one day's time, Google+ for the iPhone has blasted to the top of the Apple App Store's charts for most popular free app on the iPhone. And, this is just when Google+ is in free trial, and not an actual consumer product yet. In fact, industry analysts have suggested that Google+ has already grown to 18 Million users since its "debut" on June 28th. The only quibble that iPhone users might have with Google+ on their iPhones, is that it doesn't support automatic photo uploading, yet.

Regardless, this growth is phenomenal, and it would appear that Google may just have another massive hit on their hands.