AT&T CEO Defends Carrier and Lauds iPad
Tuesday in an interview which aired on CNBC, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, went to great lengths discussing the wireless carrier’s relationship with Apple. What he may not have known at the time was Apple’s relationship with the carrier (tenuous as of late due to an iPad data breach and other issues) was rapidly deteriorating due to the inability of consumers wishing to pre-order iPhone 4, on the first day of pre-order availability, being unable to do so thanks to the massive issues experienced by AT&T’s servers.
The iPhone 4 pre-order issue is another matter for another day. The interesting aspect of the CNBC interview (full video) with the AT&T CEO was Stephenson’s focus on the iPad’s adoption by businesses:
“I think this is going to be really a significant product for enterprise. You think about, you know, our objective is just to mobilize everything. Whether it’s in the home or the workplace, this is a device that really lets you think differently about mobilizing all of the applications that you see in business. And we’re getting a strong interest from our large business customers on bringing this device into their environments, and whether it’s working with the salesforce, whether it’s order takers, any number of areas, are really excited about bringing this device in.”
Unfortunately for the AT&T CEO, CNBC would not let him leave without discussing the “spotty” coverage provided by the wireless carrier, specifically, persistent voice quality issues experienced by many customers across AT&T’s coverage area.
Demonstrating impressive spinning skills reminiscent of this year’s World Cup soccer ball, Stephenson admitted to the issues, noting that they were due to “impressive” customer adoption in the locations experiencing issues, and indicated the company believes the issues are “getting to where it should be”.
As an AT&T customer for both iPhone and iPad data service, Stephenson’s “reassurance” that AT&T is correcting sporadic data outages and lulls in service, provides little comfort. Are you an AT&T consumer? Have you experienced the consequences of being a customer of “America’s Fastest 3G Network?”