U.S. Cellular

Three 'U.S. Cellular' stories July 2012 - October 2013

U.S. Cellular, the country’s fifth largest carrier, to begin selling iPad Air Nov. 8

Mark Gurman Oct 25 2013 - 2:35 pm PT

U.S. Cellular has informed us that it will begin carrying the iPad Air on November 8th. This morning, we reported that multiple regional cellular providers in the United States will begin carrying the iPad Air “in the coming weeks,” but U.S. Cellular’s announcement is more notable in that the carrier is the nation’s fifth largest and because a firm launch date has been provided.

U.S. Cellular today announced that iPad Air with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be available online on November 8. U.S. Cellular will offer iPad Air with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to its fast 4G LTE network with speeds up to ten times faster than 3G.

The carrier promises “attractive data plans” on its 4G LTE network. Last week, we reported that U.S. Cellular, too, will begin selling the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on November 8th.

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U.S. Cellular announces plans to carry Apple products later this year

Jordan Kahn May 3 2013 - 6:44 am PT

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Screen Shot 2013-05-03 at 9.50.39 AM

U.S. Cellular, the Chicago-based carrier serving around 5.8 million customers in 126 markets, will likely start offering the iPhone later this year, possibly in addition to other iOS devices. The carrier announced today in its first quarter results that it will soon begin carrying Apple products, but didn’t provide any further information regarding when or what specific products it might launch:

“We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year. By further strengthening our device portfolio, we’ll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve. Our smartphone penetration is currently 43 percent of core market customers and growing quickly. We believe there will be strong, ongoing demand for smartphones and data products and services from our customers, and we have significant room for growth in this area.

You might remember a couple years back U.S. Cellular claimed it said no to the iPhone 4S with CEO Mary Dillon at the time saying Apple’s “terms were unacceptable from a risk and profitability standpoint.” Later, CEO of the cellular provider’s parent company TDS hinted that the carrier would wait until Apple unveiled an LTE capable device, which was of course before the unveiling of Apple’s LTE iPhone 5.

After it decided not to carry the iPhone 4S, it soon after launched its Wonderphone ad campaign that were seen by many as mocking the iPhone.

U.S. Celluar today reported service revenues for the first quarter of $996.3 million and noted that it plans to roll out its 4G LTE service to 87 percent of its subscribers this year. The carrier also said it plans to close its $480 million deal to sell its Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and other markets to Sprint in the second quarter of 2013.
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Apple online store adds text message notifications for order status updates

Jordan Kahn Jul 18 2012 - 7:22 am PT

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The Apple online store went down last night for a short while. It appears Apple made some minor tweaks, including the ability to receive text message notifications on orders. Apple is now displaying the following text in several sections of the online store in at least Canada and the United States: “Now get order status updates by text message.”

Apple explained on its website that the new feature is an option during the checkout process, and it is available to the following supported carriers: Alltel, AT&T, Boost Mobile, Cricket, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless, and Virgin Mobile USA.

Apple Notifications is a text-message-based alerts service designed to keep you up-to-date on your shipment and/or pickup notification status. In addition to standard email notifications, you can also request text message updates when you’re in Checkout. The number of messages you’ll receive will vary depending on the orders you placed.

What to Expect

Once your order ships, or is available for pickup, we’ll send you a text message. The text message will include your order number and a link to online Order Status. Texts are sent between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in your time zone.

How to turn off text notifications:

To stop receiving text notifications, simply reply STOP to the text message. Texting HELP to 83372 will give you additional information.

(via CultofMac & AppleBitch)