I’m in midtown Manhattan, connected to the Net over my hotel’s slow but costly wi-fi connection. Normally when I’m traveling — at least here in the U.S. — I avoid lame hotel connections by u…

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We heard earlier today that AT&T and T-Mobile couldn’t find buyers for assets that could help make their merger a reality, but now there’s no need to worry about it: AT&T has just announced that the deal is officially dead.

In a recent release (reproduced in full after the jump), AT&T points at the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice, and states that the actions of the two parties “do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry.”

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So you missed out on getting the new iPhone 4S when it came out. Worse, all your friends got the new Apple flagship and make fun of your 3GS at every possible opportunity. Plus, all the holiday shopping you’ve been doing has made it nearly impossible to afford the 4S without giving up every shred of financial responsibility.

If that description fits you, even a little bit, then rise up, dear reader, from your sad, Siri-free existence. Because Radio Shack just offered up an excellent way for you to be #winning with regards to your 4S-toting friends.

By combining a few different programs, namely RadioShack’s $30 instant savings promo and its Trade & Save program, you might find yourself walking out of a RadioShack with a free iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S.

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I don’t know many people who are chompin’ at the bits for the launch date info on yet another Galaxy Tab, but I know you’re out there somewhere. For you, kind soul: AT&T has just announced that the LTE/4G-compatible version of the 8.9″ Samsung Galaxy Tab will be launching on November 20th.

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“This proposed merger would stifle competition in markets that are crucial to New York’s consumers and businesses, while reducing access to low-cost options and the newest broadband-based technologies.”

So sayeth New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is joined by the attorneys general of six other states in support of the Department of Justice suit that sought to halt the pending AT&T/T-Mobile merger.

And so the the AT&T/T-Mobile craziness continues.

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AT&T has suddenly realized the power of mobile commerce, most recently partnering with with Placecast to deliver special offers and discounts to consumers via their mobile phones when they are near a participating store or brand. Today, the telecommunications company is announcing a new service, powered by mobile commerce software platform Digby, which helps retailers design, deploy and manage mobile commerce web sites and rich applications optimized for smartphones.

Digby Mobile Commerce from AT&T helps retailers create mobile websites that display rich product images and live catalogs, expands the ways they can buy from merchants and more. Digby also allows retailer to create native applications, and tap into both its mobile barcode service and the ShopAlerts service to send promotions and new product information to app users when they walk into connected stores. And the platform will give retailers detailed analytics and traffic data from websites and apps.

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This morning’s bombshell news that AT&T would be buying T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion has left a lot of questions. T-Mobile customers want to know what it means for them? AT&T customers want to know what it means for them? Would-be iPhone buyers want to know what it means for them? T-Mobile and AT&T have started addressing those already. One thing not addressed yet: what does this mean for Sprint, the nation’s third-largest carrier?

And it’s an especially poignant question for Sprint because as of last week, many at that company believed they would be merging with T-Mobile, we’ve heard.

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Moving from iPad 1 to iPad 2 has been an exercise in confusion followed by fear followed by despair and now acceptance. I have no idea what I’ll be left with, given that I’ve attempted to move from one Mac Book Pro to another, back up iTunes to DVD, upgrade to 4.3 of iOS on 2 iPhones and the old iPad 1, and finally move everything that’s left to the new iPad 2. At this point I really don’t care what happens, just that it does.

Apple haters can jump in anytime with comments (oh, wait, they can’t anymore on the new Facebook Connect what-is-your-real-name gateway) about how iTunes should go away. Maybe, but who can say if this insanity would be improved by making it wireless. So while I’m waiting to be dismayed by the elimination of music, Mad Men 4th season files, family photos, contacts, my grandfathered unlimited AT&T account, and other arcana I don’t realize I’m going to miss, I’ll talk about something else.

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Telecommunications giant AT&T announced the results of its 2010 energy efficiency efforts today. According to the company’s own report, it saw $44 million in annualized energy savings as a result of implementing 4,200 energy efficiency projects at its facilities last year. These included familiar technologies that, pervasively applied, made a big difference, like:

Swapping incandescent light bulbs with light emitting diodes (LEDs) at 1,100 cell sites

Removing switches and upgrading networks at 11 offices, reducing the company’s network-related power consumption by some 300,000 kilowatt hours

Using desktop power management software on 169,000 computers

AT&T has done some form of environmental accounting (corporate social responsibility or CSR reports as they’re referred to now) since at least 1995, so they have some cred. The timing of this green news, however, seems part of a strategic effort to win the public, and institutional investors’ favor at a challenging time. The company has generated a mixed bag of headlines of late.

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Amazon still refuses to share how many Kindle devices it has sold to date, short from saying it’s the best-selling product in its history, but you can be sure it will become a whole lot more really soon.

AT&T this morning announced it will begin selling the Kindle 3G digital publication reader in company-owned retail stores across the United States, beginning March 6.

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The most recent Verizon and AT&T commercials are awesome because everyone loves a good slap fight — especially one that is played out in public (for more evidence, see Google vs. Bing earlier this week). But they’re actually even more interesting under the surface. Because it’s a fight that has only one real winner. But it’s not who you might think. It’s neither Verizon nor AT&T.

It’s Apple.

Think about it. Both AT&T and Verizon are spending millions of dollars to bash each other in these high-profile commercials. But the overall impact of these commercials is likely to be that they completely cancel each other out. If AT&T feels Verizon is winning, they’ll just order more ads, and vice versa. And so again, the only winner in these ads is the one common element: the iPhone.

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Yesterday, I made a 45-minute phone call from my office.

This seemingly unremarkable statement is remarkable for two reasons. First, I was able to place a call from my office — something which was impossible for me to do a week prior. Second, I made it through the entire 45-minutes without the call being dropped once. Again, this was impossible a week prior.

So what changed? Well, my iPhone changed.

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Telecommunications company AT&T has announced its quarterly results, reporting consolidated revenues of $31.4 billion, up 2.1 percent or $653 million from the fourth quarter of 2009.

Here are some of the things that caught my eye:

AT&T reports 9.9 percent growth in wireless revenues, with a 9.6 percent increase in wireless service revenues. In fact, the fourth quarter was the first quarter in the company’s history in which wireless revenues exceeded wireline revenues. AT&T had a strong tablet quarter, which it refers to as “a new growth area for the company”.

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Two days ago, Verizon posted their first iPhone teaser commercial to their YouTube page. The tagline? “It begins.” Now, it looks as if Apple is ready to follow suit with its own marketing muscle. But they’re not just playing up the Verizon iPhone, but rather the fact that it’s now on two networks in the U.S. The tagline for this one? “Two is better than one.”

The 30-second clip below was posted to YouTube today. It’s a fairly standard iPhone ad with a hand holding up an iPhone 4 in front of a white background. Except in this commercial, there are two iPhone 4′s side-by-side. As Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz plays, the dueling iPhones perform the same tasks in the same way — though there are differences in the pictures being looked at, and the websites being visited, etc. Then the focus shifts to one the devices to show off iPhone 4′s features. Then it’s back to the two phones, culminating in a side-by-side FaceTime conversation. The phones are then removed, revealing both AT&T and Verizon logos. Then the tagline is put up. Then the iPhone 4 logo.

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CNNMoney published an interesting piece by David Goldman this morning entitled, Google: Your new phone carrier? In it, Goldman lays out what he sees as the preliminary steps Google has taken to become a wireless carrier themselves down the road. He also gives some reasons for why they would and would not want to do that. In my mind, the concept is much more straightforward. Goldman ends the title of his piece with a question mark — but it should be a period.

It’s not a question of “if” Google will try to become a carrier. It’s just a matter of “when” they’ll try to.

Now, to be clear, that doesn’t mean I think they’ll actually be able to become a carrier. The biggest hurdle there has nothing to do with the technology needed, the money needed, or the expertise. Rather, the major issue would be the government. Would they allow Google, already one of the biggest corporations in the United States, to enter a new area that could extend their control (particularly in the advertising space)? Probably not. Actually, I have a feeling it might have more to do with Verizon and AT&T lobbying dollars influencing the government to block Google in such a cause.

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In a world of Angry Birds and Foursquare, I’m not sure how AT&T came up with this one.

This week, AT&T unleashed the Eco-App, a youth-centric iPhone app that tries to promote sustainability through education. It’s hard to argue with a such a legitimate, noble goal but the app itself is a bit of a head scratcher. As explained on AT&T’s website, the Eco-App has two top features: a tool to help teens find nearby recycling centers and educational resources to help teens comprehend the “environmental benefits of paperless billing.”

File this under the increasingly expanding folder of “What was AT&T Thinking?“

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If you think back to 2005, you’ll remember that the Motorola RAZR phone was all the rage. Not entirely unlike the iPhone today, it was the sleek phone that everyone wanted. But if you happened to be on the largest carrier in the U.S., Verizon, you couldn’t get one. Again, sound familiar?

It wasn’t until just about a year later that a version (the V3c) finally came to Verizon. It was a long wait, but I was excited to finally have access to the device, I pre-ordered one the first day I could. When I finally got it, there were some surprises in store. Rather than having the same colorful user interface that my friends’ RAZRs (on other networks) had, it had some god-awful red proprietary UI made by Verizon itself. It also came with the added bonus of having Bluetooth file transfer capabilities disabled by Verizon. And it was loaded to the brim with Verizon’s V CAST garbage.

So while part of the wait was undoubtedly due to Motorola getting a CDMA version of the device ready to sell, a bigger part was likely Verizon negotiating and working to load the device up with their crapware. That doesn’t speak well for the supposed Verizon iPhone.

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This past weekend, I wrote a post wondering if Android was surging in the U.S. market because Apple was letting it? The main thought was that by remaining exclusively tied to AT&T, Apple was driving some users to choose Android, which is available on all the U.S. carriers. In the post, I posed a question: if it’s not the iPhone/AT&T deal, why do you choose Android? Nearly 1,000 people responded, and a large percentage focused on the same idea: the idea of “openness.”

You’ll forgive me, but I have to say it: what a load of crap.

In theory, I’m right there with you. The thought of a truly open mobile operating system is very appealing. The problem is that in practice, that’s just simply not the reality of the situation. Maybe if Google had their way, the system would be truly open. But they don’t. Sadly, they have to deal with a very big roadblock: the carriers.

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A few weeks ago, location-based game SCVNGR launched a new feature called Rewards that makes it an increasing threat to the likes of shopkick, Foursquare, and every other company looking to combine the power of coupons and deals with location.  The premise is simple: complete SCVNGR challenges to earn points, which you can in turn redeem for rewards at select merchants like Journeys. And today SCVNGR is adding a key new partner to its Rewards program: AT&T.

Over 50 AT&T stores across the midwest will be promoting SCVNGR as part of the launch of the new Samsung Captivate. AT&T will be using SCVNGR to offer three rewards: if you earn two SCVNGR points, you’ll get a free giftcard for a ring tone. Earn five points and you get 20% off accessories. And, in an especially compelling offer, if you earn 15 points at a store you get $50 off the phone — not too shabby.  The deal is currently only running in the midwest, but SCVNGR CEO Seth Priebatsch sounds optimistic about AT&T pursuing a wider deployment depending on how this goes. Oh, and SCVNGR is getting paid for the AT&T deal, though Priebatsch unsurprisingly wouldn’t get into specifics.

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SEC filings say the darndest things. In a Friday 10-Q filing, AT&T assured investors that the termination of any handset exclusivity agreement (especially that itsy bitsy deal with Apple) will not have a “material negative impact” on earnings. I heartily welcome the injection of comedy in typically drab SEC filings, but if AT&T is being sincere, they’re in for a rude awakening when the sands run out.

How does AT&T justify its claim?

The wireless provider argues in the filing that 80% of its contract subscribers are on family or business plans. Thus, under their logic, the majority of subscribers will not switch because it will be too difficult to transfer an entire group and these “group” subscribers will be hesitant to relinquish certain AT&T perks like the rollover minutes they’ve accumulated.

Valid points, but if recent surveys are to be believed, AT&T should not overestimate its hold on the market.

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During Q&A session after Apple’s press conference on Friday, one of the more interesting things CEO Steve Jobs said was about AT&T. He said that it takes the carrier three years to get approval for a new cell tower in San Francisco. Yes, three years. “That’s the single biggest problem they’re having,” Jobs said.

What’s interesting is that neither Apple nor AT&T have brought this up before. I’ve talked to AT&T on a dozen or so occasions about the horrible service in San Francisco. When I ask why it’s so bad, most of the time I simply get vague statements about how hard AT&T is working on it, and that things will be getting better soon. Soon. This conversation has been going on for three years now.

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Regular readers will know that recently I’ve liked to state my bias in the title of my mobile device reviews: I love the iPhone. Some will call that being a fanboy, and that’s fine. But really, it’s just my opinion that the iPhone is hands down the best mobile device out there. If there were a better one, I would use it. But there’s not. So I use the iPhone. And that’s the angle I take towards these mobile device reviews. It’s simple: if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Well, one finally has: iPhone 4.

Yeah, if you hate these types of reviews, you’re really going to hate this one.

Before I dive into specifics, I’ll say right away that the iPhone 4 is easily the best mobile device I’ve ever used (notice I didn’t say phone, more on that later). But a lot of you probably already thought you knew I was going to say that. The more interesting question may be: how does it compare to the other iPhones? Or, perhaps even better: is it worth it to upgrade? The short answer is yes.

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1.7 million iPhone 4s sold in three days. It’s a massive number any way you slice it. But it’s perhaps even more impressive when you consider the initial pre-order system failures, the device shortages (which Apple apologized for in their release), and the fact that half of the family isn’t even available yet (the white iPhone 4). And most impressive may be that those who bought it in the U.S. were willing to sell their souls to AT&T for another two years.

But GigaOM’s Kevin Tofel gives the beleaguered network credit for the launch today, citing the network as a “huge reason” Apple sold so many iPhones. On one hand, he has a good point. If AT&T hadn’t advanced the upgrade eligibility time (in some cases by as much as six months), it would have been much more expensive for many of them to upgrade from the iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 4 — and many likely wouldn’t have.

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Just when you thought it was safe to love AT&T again, we have another interesting tidbit about their famous 3G Micro-Cell, AKA the “rip-off box.”

As you recall, AT&T’s MicroCell is being marketed as a way to repair bad connectivity in areas with little or no AT&T reception including, but not limited to, basements, attics, Manhattan, and San Francisco. It essentially piggy backs on your own home network to provide data service and voice to your phone.

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The big talk over the past weekend was about this, the AT&T system for recording pre-sales records for the new Apple iPad exposed account information. I didn’t think it was a big deal until they did something similar again today with the iPh…

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You’d think 1 AM PT (4 AM ET) would be a pretty safe time to put something up for pre-sale. You’d think that — and you’d be wrong.

As we’re seeing tonight with the iPhone 4 pre-sale, there doesn’t appear to be a safe time to avoid Apple fanboys. Apple and AT&T’s online purchasing system for the new phone has been a complete and utter failure for the past hour. Judging from comments, tips coming in, and personal experience, most people don’t even seem to be getting past the first step of entering their existing AT&T information when the system simply times out.

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This iPad security breach story from last week continues to spin way out of control, and in our opinion fingers are being pointed in the wrong direction. The FBI is investigating the incident, and a few hours ago AT&T finally communicated with customers to tell them about the breach (I’ve reprinted the AT&T email below).

Here’s what happened: Goatse Security discovered a rather stupid vulnerability on the AT&T site that returned a customer email if a valid serial number for the iPAD SIm card was entered. An invalid number returned nothing, a valid number returned a customer email address. Goatse created a script and quickly downloaded 114,000 customer emails. They then turned all that over to Gawker, after, they say, AT&T was notified and the vulnerability was closed. Gawker published some of the data with the emails removed. Says Goatse: “All data was gathered from a public webserver with no password, accessible by anyone on the Internet. There was no breach, intrusion, or penetration, by any means of the word.”

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Today is a sad day in data land. AT&T have just announced two new mobile data plans with one glaring omission: no more unlimited data.

There is some consolation, though, as those of you currently on unlimited plans are welcome to keep them.

As of June 7, however, any new customers wanting the all-you-can-eat data buffet will be left hungry — and that includes new iPad owners.

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Tonight at the D8 Conference outside of Los Angeles, Apple CEO Steve Jobs addressed the iPhone’s exclusivity with AT&T in the U.S. This has been the subject of debate for three years now, and it’s getting more heated as the iPhone continues to grow in popularity. For his part, Jobs seemed fairly all over the place when talking about Apple’s relationship with AT&T. He would gush about them one second, and then take a jab at them the next.

When Walt Mossberg asked Jobs how AT&T was doing on the network side of things, Jobs at first said AT&T was doing “pretty good.” But then quickly noted that “they have some issues.” But Jobs said that the other carriers would have likely had the same issues had you put the iPhone on any one of their networks (which is a great argument for why it should be on more than one network).

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The rumors keep circulating. The latest came yesterday when the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was working on a CDMA version of the iPhone. To most people, that means one thing. No, not a Sprint version of the iPhone (though I suppose that’s possible too), a Verizon version of the iPhone.

The problem is that these rumors have been circulating almost as long as the actual iPhone itself. And the WSJ report isn’t exactly a slam dunk by only citing the ever-anonymous “people briefed by the company.” But, more so than ever, the timing does appear to be right for Apple to break its AT&T exclusivity.

First of all, this Verizon iPhone would not launch alongside the other new iPhone hardware due this Summer. The WSJ report has manufacturing on the CDMA iPhone ramping up in September, but also notes that the phones may not be available to consumers immediately. This means at the earliest, we’re looking at a Fall release, or possibly even a holiday release for the device (if not later depending on several factors). That means that AT&T would still get the supposed “iPhone HD” all to itself for several months at least.

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