Hollering back at you JJ! And no, Trudy, I’m not in some West Virginia mountains.
Sorry I was not able to type up a summary of the meeting earlier, but was on travel. The meeting with AT&T and Apple was about two hours long.
Issues we discussed: TAP, Making all applications rotatable (email, notes, SMS, etc), make all applications zoomable, bigger font sizes for people with low vision, closed captioning support, option to make all phone calls go direct to voicemail, making voicemail forwardable as email attachments, iChat, relay services access, more vibration options/customizable for different applications like ring tones is, make the iphone wakeup when you get an email as it does for SMS now, text books/eReader, copy/paste/highlight, and briefly on videoconferencing/VRS.
Many of the suggestions that I made regarding the following topics were well received: making all applications rotatable in landscape/portrait modes, making them all zoomable, more vibration options (and maybe even stronger), waking the iphone up when email arrives. Same for the bigger font sizes. I emphasized that most of those things already existed in certain applications here and there, and would make sense if the same options were offered in ALL applications (i.e., you can make email font size bigger, but you can’t in SMS; or that you can rotate/type in safari, but not in email/notes.) The bottom line I was telling him that those things need to be available across the board, and he couldnt dispute this.
We had a good discussion about closed captioning support. They said they couldn’t know if it would be ported to iphone after it went live in 10.5 this fall, but said that captioning was one of their priorities, and by making QT able to read captions was important, so that they could then ask content providers to include captions (wouldn’t make sense to push for it if QT couldn’t read cc)
Regarding videoconferencing/vrs – of course, the current iphone has a physical limit to it – the camera is on the other side, but discussed possible solutions for the future. No promises here but he said he’d bring it up and explore what they could do with it down the road.
Highlighting/copy/paste – he was embarassed to admit “we dropped the ball on this – we just missed it†so I would not be surprised that this would be a high priority for Apple in their next flash update for iPhones.
iChat – one of the reasons that this wasn’t included in the original realease is because AOL and Apple hadn’t finished negotations. So, as soon as they come to a deal, I would not be surprised to see it coming soon. sounds as if they already have it ready to go. (AOL doesn’t own iChat, but iChat uses some info from AOL’s servers…such as buddy names)
Last but not least, TAP plan. They both were shocked to see me explain that when people called AT&T, AT&T would blame Apple, and when people called Apple, Apple pointed the finger to AT&T. They both assured me that it was solely AT&T’s responsibility. They asked me whether it was a priority to push for TAP plan for blackberries or for iphones, since AT&T’s TAP plan didn’t cover blackberries either.
I told her that there was no reason why AT&T couldnt cover those both, and she was shocked to learn that all the other phone companies’s data only plans covered the blackberry as well. (I know sprint and tmobile both have 29.95 plans that cover all the phones, but I can’t find information on Verizon’s data only plan). She then again asked me if she had to pick one which to push first, I told her that from a marketing point of view, she should push for the TAP plan for iPhones because it is the “hot thing†on the market. She agreed that it made sense and is waiting for me to send her the data plans from the other phone companies so that she can push for TAP inclusion.
That’s most of what I can remember – they were very gracious and asked me a lot of questions about the above topics, such as, how do deaf people use it, how do deaf people benefit from that, etc on almost every item I brought up. I felt that it gave them a better understanding on how we use PDAs/pagers/phones.
I’ll be following up with them both and see how I can help them “push†things along.
Hope this report satisfies all of your curiosity. And hopefully Matt can leave me alone now bugging me for updates! (just kidding!!!)
-Barry
PS The link that Jon Lewis provided, so sweet! If I had a mac mini, I’d send it in for a paint job!
Jul 27, 2007Well done! Hope all will have choices of carriers. I’m not sure if Verizon will be one of them because of those snippy comments from Verizon after Apple chose to go with AT&T because of what I perceive as minor disagreements. For now I use my iPhone with WiFi but I’ll leave it just at that. Great producers have their drops of the ball. All will work out for the best in due time. There’s a few other deaf individuals reportedly holding Premier-level membership in the the Apple Developers Connection but they chose to lead private lives but I talked with them and they’re appreciative of developments. Their expertise is in the Mac OS X, but not the iPhone.
Jul 27, 2007Thanks for the report. I can see why the AT&T reps queried you about the Blackberries. According to a couple of articles on TheStreet.com, RIM gets a ‘bounty’ for each phone sold, and a monthly bounty, too, for each BlackBerry unit sold. Usually the bounty can range from $150 to $200 per unit sold, and around $6-9 dollars a month. Apple also enjoys a similiar bounty for their iPhone line.
I can see why AT&T would be reluctant to ‘subsizide’ the iPhone or a BB unit under the TAP plan, where the ROI is much lower. However, if other cell phone providers can do it, most notably T-Mobile or Sprint, surely AT&T can do the same.
I hope AT&T will wise up soon and offer the TAP plan for both BB’s and the iPhone. It would be great if they could just ‘do away’ with the TAP plan and just offer a data-only plan that anyone, Deaf or hearing, can choose, but I’m realistic.
Jul 28, 2007Well done, Barry!! *hands waving!*
Jul 28, 2007Well done Barry! :) Hope that we will get TAP on iPhones soon… I already got many unused minutes carrying over from last month to this month… but no regrets for buying iphone…
Jul 28, 2007Barry ~ thanks for this update on your recent meeting. Would like to know how long it’ll be for Apple to coordinate our needs into the iPhone and how it will be done (via software upgrade to the current device or in the next version)–and the timeframe availability for the next iPhone version.
As of now, hardware prices are way too high and I hope the newer iPhones will be more affordable.
Hmm…and what about Wi-Fi, if it doesn’t run on iPhone….???
Jul 28, 2007It sounds like the meeting went well! I am encouraged that they were receptive and engaged in meaningful dialogue. Thank you for this huge dose of hope!
Jul 28, 2007No need to answer my last question. Called the store and was told iPhones have built-in Wi-Fi. :o)
Jul 28, 2007Sounds like a very positive meeting.
Looks like they’ll try to follow through on most of the things you discussed.
Hmmmmm…
Jul 29, 2007Thank you for meeting with AT&T and Apple to push for a deaf-friendly iPhone and an comparable plan that other carriers have for the Sidekick, Blackberry and other mobile PDA/smartphones.
I wanted to point out that the current version of QuickTime does have closed captioning support. I don’t know if there is any application out there that will embed closed captioning data into a QuickTime movie. I wonder if the iPhone uses a version of QuickTime that is optimized for the device and doesn’t have all the features offered for the Mac OS or Windows. I was looking at other PDA’s and the Blackberry as a replacement to my Sidekick once my contract was up in February. I would rather wait for a 2nd generation iPhone and a deaf-friendly plan, but if that didn’t happen- at least I’d have an alternative. I really like the AT&T 8525, but it uses *shudder* Windows Mobile.
Again, thanks for taking an action and strive to make the most anticipated mobile device more deaf and visual-impaired friendly!
-Barry Sw.
Aug 1, 2007This sounds like an amazing meeting you just had, Barry. Way to go!!
Aug 3, 2007Thanks for meeting with Apple! Looks like it will be a while before iPhone is made more accessible. My husband’s SK is starting to fall apart, so we’ll have to replace ours soon, and right now, iPhone is way too expensive for us. And of course, they require you to sign up for 2 years if you’re getting a Blackberry. Maybe down the road it will be a “2nd phone” for me (especially since I’m a web developer).
Aug 6, 2007Without a fool proof method of sync’ing with MS Outlook (mail, but mainly Contact & Calendar!!!) the iPhone becomes less and less of a priority and other cell phones become important. As a Windows Smart Phone user for several years the iPhone must be able to sync without any flaws…just do a search on “sync Outlook and iPhone” and read all of the frustration regarding this critical interface.
Aug 6, 2007Off the point:
Hey, considering that this is deafmac.org, why isn’t anyone following up on the Mac-focused presentation at the Apple HQs in Cupertino, California?? They’re going reveal NEW MAC PRODUCTS ON THE LINE! This is very long-waited and going to turn out spectacular! It’s a two-hour presentation, which implies it’s going to be a nice, huge unleashing array of Mac products! And warning, anyone who is a .mac member, your .mac service will be suspended during those two hours… Hmm… Obviously, .mac will be UPGRADED! AHHHH!
Here’s the link to check it out yourself. I can’t wait! 10 am-noon!
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2007/08/appleeventpredictions/index.php
On the point:
Barry, you ROCK! You are a true deaf Mac leader! Deaf Mac Power! Whoot, whoot! Now only concern is will the hearies actually do what they say? I sure hope so! You know how hearies are, no offense to any hearing people on this.
Again, August 7th, new Mac products!! Ahhhhhh! I really hope they release iLife & iWork ’08 today or whatever.
Jon AKA Deaf Crazy Mac freak
Aug 7, 2007Barry, Thanks for sharing this with us. Way to go!
Aug 7, 2007A short update….
I called TAP a couple of weeks ago and did not mention that I had an iPhone. Requested the TAP forms. Received them last week and got them signed by an audiologist on Friday. Faxed it over to AT&T on Monday.
Two hours later, I received an e-mail from the TAP people. They received my forms and started to review my account and found that I had an iPhone, and therefore, was not eligible to receive the TAP plan. Aw, shoot. Back to square one (pushing them to change the policy)!
Just letting you know in case any of you had a similiar bright idea :)
PS There was one thought I did have – get an AT&T service plan on your old pager/cell phone, THEN switch over to an iPhone. Your TAP plan should switch over with it.
(DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OF SERVICE OR INCREASED COSTS IN YOUR MONTHLY PLAN. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OF LIFE OR LIMB RESULTING FROM THIS STRATEGY!*)
Aug 7, 2007Omg, I’ve had it! The live footage of Steve Jobs at the Mac-focused presentation in California is not captioned. I’m contacting Apple first thing tomorrow morning about this topic! I hope you all will do the same. C’mon, fellow Apple users, it’s time to make changes and improvements for the Deaf community!
Jon
Sep 7, 2007I’ve just been on the phone all morning with Apple and ATT about getting the TAP plan. All dead ends. ATT claims that Apple has the right to provision the use of TAP with the iPhone, which they haven’t.
I’m a little more than frustrated right now, because I really want to purchase the 4gb iPhone while it is still in stock and then establish a TAP or TAP-like plan.
Fingers crossed that something came out of Mr. Solomon’s meeting with Apple.
Mar 14, 2010I want to buy a new Apple Iphone 8GB… I wonder where can I buy a cheaper phone and Im deaf. Im from Florida, Brandon. Thank u for helping me. Kim Hughes
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3:33 pm
Thank you so much for doing all of this for us – it is really appreciated. I’ll stay away from the jokes re: the mountains.
Sounds like it was a truly productive meeting. Yeah!