AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is suing Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) because of the “There’s a map for that” ads. The reason why AT&T is suing them is because of false advertising and deceptive trade practices. The Verizon “map” suggests that AT&T customers are out of touch.

AT&T said that they sent Verizon a notice asking them to stop running ads that their customers are out of touch in areas that do not have 3G services. Verizon removed the words “out of touch” from their ads and added “voice and data services outside 3G coverage areas.”

However AT&T customers still have voice and data services out of 3G areas but the data connection is slow. AT&T did not specify how much in damage they want in return and they are also asking for a restraining order from Verizon to keep running the ads.

Boy Genius Report gave the hands-on treatment on the Motorola Droid. Based on the screenshots I’ve seen, it looks very similar to an iPhone and the sliding QWERTY keyboard reminds me of a Sidekick. Below are some of the specs:
- Android 2.0 operating system (as predicted)
- Almost as thin as an iPhone 3G S and very thin QWERTY sliding keyboard
- Capacitive display
- The phone is made out of metal and rubber. The keyboard has a soft-touch rubberized finish.
- Each phone will have a desktop charger that comes with it. The charger turns the phone into a Multimedia Station by displaying the local weather and time.

AT&T has poached a lot of customers from Verizon Wireless because of the exclusive Apple iPhone contract. The iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3G S have been the hottest smartphones selling on the market over the last few years. Motorola has also felt the pain of losing customers to the Apple iPhone too as their sales have decreased substantially. Given that Verizon and Motorola have both been feeling the pain, they teamed up with Google to launch a new smartphone called the Droid. The Droid is expected to arrive in late October or early November.

As the three companies are preparing to launch the Droid, a video has been released in order to get the hype going. The video knocks on all the features that the iPhone lacks such as the lack of a keyboard, background application capabilities, and a high resolution flash camera. The Droid commercial points out the lack of the features starting with the expression “iDon’t.” And everything “iDon’t,” Droid does. Based on how intense the video looks, I’d say Apple should be concerned. This video has a “we’re not messing around this time” vibe towards the end.

The Droid is expected to be powered by the TI OMAP3430 core which is also used by the Palm Pre and iPhone. The Verizon Droid will be using the Android v.2.0 operating system. Google expects at least 18 devices to be powered by Android by the end of 2009.

In the United States, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is subsidizing the iPhone substantially. Even though AT&T charges $50 for a basic minute plan, $30 for data, and $5-$15 per month for text message, the company is still struggling to profit from the iPhone. Without a minute plan, the iPhone retails for about $599 and AT&T sells the iPhone for $199 with a 2 year contract. By breaking the contract the cost is about $175-$200. So even if you buy an iPhone with AT&T and break the contract, the company loses about $200.

According to a report by the Yankee Group, AT&T does not actually start seeing any sort of profit from the subsidies until the 17th month of a 2 year contract. Although AT&T has been benefiting from a surge in customer base by subsidizing the iPhone, the company is still spending billions of dollars to pay for the data that is being consumed by smartphones. And this majorly affects margins and the bottom line.

Ralph de la Vega, the CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets said wireless data usage has increased by about 5,000% between 2006 to 2009. Many iPhone users have complained about shoddy connections as a result and AT&T has had to ramp up their wireless infrastructure.

The report by the Yankee Group was put together by Andy Castonguay, an analyst at the company. The report was titled The Golden Subsidy Egg’s Goose is Cooked: Welcome to the Brave New Subsidy-Free World.

Rumor has it that T-Mobile and AT&T will both be selling the BlackBerry Bold 2 on October 21. The BlackBerry Bold 2 is also known as the Onyx and the model number 9700. This BlackBerry uses a touch-pad interface. Other specs include high-gloss black finish, leather grain detail on the back, 3G web browsing, WiFi calling capable, visual voicemail, corporate/personal e-mail options. The phone comes preloaded with BlackBerry App World, TeleNav GPS, and the Amazon MP3 store.

Dell, AT&T, and Google are in a partnership to launch a smartphone, powered by Google Android next year according to The Wall Street Journal. AT&T would become the fourth major U.S. telecommunications company to sell a smartphone powered by Android.

Clearly this is an interesting turn because AT&T is exclusively selling the Apple iPhone in the U.S.. By selling smartphones powered by Android, that gives more choice to AT&T customers which essentially is not a good thing for Apple.

Google first announced the Android operating system in 2007 and launched it on about 9 smartphones since. Given that Dell does not have much experience in developing smartphones, all the companies involved have to be careful in making sure nothing goes awry.

Thus far Motorola, HTC, and Samsung have launched Android mobile phones. Nokia is rumored to be launching Android on a netbook too. Motorola launched a custom version of the Google Android operating system called Motoblur. The phone is expected to launch the vote in early 2010.

AT&T has changed their mind about disallowing iPhone VoIP applications. Now VoIP applications will be able to run on AT&T’s 3G network. This includes Vonage and Skype. Before Skype and Vonage were only allowed to operate on WiFi hotspots. This limits where you can use the applications.

One of the reasons why AT&T may have decided to let down their guard is because the FCC is investigating why Google Voice has been rejected multiple times. Will this make it more likely for Google Voice to be approved? Nope.

Apple did not reject Google Voice for VoIP reasons, but because it “appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.”

Will AT&T end up paying less? Perhaps the telecommunications company will require customers to have minimum contracts to make sure that they don’t lose too much money from allowing VoIP services.

The HTC Pure is expected to go on sale as early as tomorrow, but word on the streets is that some stores are already selling the device. The HTC Pure appears to customized version of the Touch Diamond2. The cost is $149.99 with 2 year agreement and $100 mail-in rebate. The HTC Pure will be powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 and is a touchscreen.

“Plusmo’s technology will help us build upon the success and momentum we’re experiencing in mobile local search, which continues to see strong growth,” stated AT&T Interactive CEO and President David Krantz. “The addition of Plusmo adds a new dimension to our technology prowess through its multi-platform approach. It highlights our commitment to invest in mobile application innovation and search leadership.”

AT&T announced today that they will be acquiring Plusmo, a mobile applications company that receives about 100 million monthly pageviews. The company makes mobile applications for the iPhone, Google Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, Java/J2ME, and Windows Mobile. Plusmo will become a subsidiary of AT&T Interactive. The financial details were undisclosed.

Plusmo’s mobile platform decreases the development time for building widgets and applications. Plusmo uses web development standards across different mobile operating systems. Plusmo also has several sports applications such as soccer, football, cricket, etc. Plusmo was started by Krishna Vedati and Srinivas Mandyam. New Enterprise Associates invested $4.41 million into Plusmo around May 2008.

AT&T will soon be launching a new product called a 3G MicroCell. This product is intended for those who are not too thrilled about the connection strength of their phone and data service at home or at work. The 3G MicroCell will use the strong connection from the land-line and disperse around the house or office to make your mobile phone connection stronger. And your mobile phone provider will actually charge you a monthly fee for it. BoyGeniusReport has heard a rumor that AT&T itself will charge $20/month for the service. This could be useful for those that live in the perimeters of major cities with shoddy connections. Details are scarce about when the product will be available, but there is a website available for the upcoming AT&T service: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/3gmicrocell/

Unlimited text messaging on AT&T is about $20 per month as an add-on to phone plans. And this guy has made the most out of his unlimited plan by sending 662,258 text messages in a single month. How he pulled it off, I have no idea. Clearly the guy has a lot of time on his hands, but he broke the previous record of about 300,000.

Because YouTube user Lgvoyagerguy did not opt-out of paper bills from AT&T, the company ended up sending him a 13,000 page bill. I don’t think I used that much paper in 4 years of high school and all of college.

Pete Cashmore of Mashable pointed out that this is an ambitious feat and there is reason to be skeptical. On average, about 22,075 text messages had to be sent per day to accomplish the feat. One way it could have been pulled off is by signing up for tons of SMS alert services that are automated. If this is the case, then should this guy be given credit for beating the record? Let us know in the comments. It would be an interesting discussion.

AT&T is going to get the HTC Touch Pro2 on their network starting next month. Only in this case, they are calling it the Tilt 2. The exact date of release is October 18 according to Boy Genius Report. The phone is expected to be powered by the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. Verizon is selling the Touch Pro2 for $199 after contract and rebates while Sprint is selling it for $349.99 after contract and rebates. My guess is that AT&T will match Verizon’s price since they can afford to subsidize high-end phones as proven by the iPhone.

Microsoft Corporation co-founder Paul Allen founded another company called Vulcan Spectrum LLC. In an auction by the FCC in December 2007, Vulcan Spectrum bought 700MHz spectrum space. But now he decided to sell a large chunk of the spectrum to AT&T, more specifically in sections of Oregon and Washington. AT&T is not disclosing the financial details about the transaction, but AT&T spokesman Michael Coe revealed that the company is making the purchase to meet customer demand and support the transition to LTE.

Earlier this week AT&T introduced a new plan called A-List with Rollover.  Select customers will be able to choose 5 “VIP” domestic phone numbers that will have unlimited calling without extra charge.  Families will be able to add 10 lines with FamilyTalk.  The A-List plan debuts on September 20 and consumers will be able to manage the list at www.att.com/alist.

“This is an incredible value for many of our customers that essentially lets them ‘double dip’,” stated AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets chief marketing officer David Christopher in a press release. “Not only will they not use minutes from their monthly plan when they call their A-List numbers, but our unique Rollover feature means they can keep those minutes for use in future months. Nobody else is going this far in letting customers stretch their minutes. Others may let you save minutes, but only AT&T lets you keep them.”

Individual AT&T customers with a Nation plan of $59.99 or higher can use the A-List with Rollover  without consuming additional minutes in their plan.  FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or higher can select ten numbers.    The phone numbers can be changed anytime.

AT&T announced that they will be rolling out plans for High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology in six major cities.  Those 6 cities include Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, L.A., and Miami.  The initial service will be rolled out by the end of the year.

“Our deployment of HSPA 7.2 and supporting backhaul connectivity will enable our customers to continue to ride the leading edge of emerging devices and thousands of mobile applications,” stated AT&T Operations President and CEO John Stankey. “Our network is based on the predominant technology platform used by operators worldwide and has been tested by today’s most popular devices. That experience gives us an important advantage in developing and deploying new technologies to meet customers’ future needs.”

AT&T said that they plan to invest between $17-$18 billion on broadband and wireless technologies this year alone.  Rolling out HSPA 7.2 is a major part of AT&T’s network enhancement strategies.