So AT&T has struck back at Verizon’s coverage attack ads, by having Luke Wilson stand on a huge map and talk about all the areas where AT&T has coverage. It’s important to note that he says “coverage” and not “3G coverage”. I’m pretty sure he’s talking about places where a person can use their phone, but not at 3G speeds. I like Luke Wilson, but these commercials just rub me the wrong way. The fact that I am a Verizon customer has nothing to do with it, I swear.

The way I’ve seen them is as follows. This one airs:

then a couple of other commercials try to sell me stuff, and then the ad CONTINUES with this:

While I will admit that it’s kind of clever to have the conclusion after non-AT&T ads, it gets REALLY annoying when you see it numerous times in one night. This was the case during the CBS 2-hour comedy slot on Monday. I don’t know if AT&T assumes that people who watched the first hour weren’t tuning in for the second, but I personally got annoyed the second time around. Why? Because I knew precisely what was going to happen after the first ad cut off. Oh, Luke. You’re no Justin Long, and I would STILL be annoyed if I had to watch him in a similar ad.

New Ad

Now AT&T has a non-map-related ad with Luke Wilson, where he helps a Verizon customer multi-task. You see, AT&T allows its customers to talk on their phone and browse the web at the same time. That’s all fine and good, but who actually TALKS on their cell phones anymore? I honestly am rarely in a situation where I find myself on the phone and wanting to browse the web.

Apple Also Runs Multitasking Ads

To complete the 1-2 multi-tasking punch, Apple also has an ad that touts the iPhone’s ability to do voice and data simultaneously.

Too bad the iPhone can’t natively run multiple apps, like Pandora while web browsing or typing an email. That ability, I suspect, is far more useful to most users than being on a call and being able to change a reservation. But, in the end we all get better smartphones because of the competition we are seeing these days between Verizon/Droid and AT&T/Apple. When all phones and networks can do all things, what will we have to complain about?

I can’t take credit for this top ten list, although I’m sure you or I could have come up with at least a few of these. The people responsible for this top ten are the good folks at The Webby Awards.  If you’re not familiar,

The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities.

Without further ado, here are the top ten most influential Internet moments of the 2000’s, as given by The Webby Awards:

Craigslist expands outside San Francisco (2000)

In 2000, the free classifieds site broadened its reach outside of San Francisco into nine additional U.S. cities, sending chills down the spines of newspaper publishers everywhere. Today Craigslist serves free listings in more than 500 cities in 50 countries, serving as a model for no-frills business and community success and the catalyst for countless jobs, apartments, and just about anything else you can think of.

Google AdWords launches (2000)

With the launch of AdWords in October 2000, Google turned advertising on its head. The self-service ad program opened up the marketplace to any business, no matter how big or small, and allowed advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision.

Wikipedia launches (2001)

Containing 20,000 articles in 18 languages by the end of its first year online, Wikipedia today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages. The free open-source encyclopedia epitomizes the Internet’s power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.

Napster Shut Down (2001)

Although Napster was shut down in 2001, it opened the file-sharing floodgates. Its demise sparked a wave of innovations that forever changed how we obtain and experience music and video – from Hulu to iTunes to Radiohead famously dropping its label and self-distributing their “In Rainbows” CD online for free.

Google IPO (2004)

Google’s IPO, one of the largest in history, put the six year old search engine on the path to becoming the most dominant and influential company of the decade. From gmail and YouTube to Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Android, the Internet giant and constant innovator is the engine that powers countless aspects of our everyday lives.

Online video revolution (2006)

In 2006, a perfect storm of faster bandwidth, cheaper camcorders, and the groundbreaking use of Adobe’s Flash 9 video player by YouTube combined to launch the online video revolution. The trifecta led to a boom in homemade and professional content – the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, lonelygirl15, SNL’s Lazy Sunday, and Senator George Allen’s “macacagate” – that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.

Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006)

In September 2006, a social networking site for college students changed its user qualifications to include anyone 13 and older with a valid e-mail address. Facebook struck an immediate chord — and almost overnight, social media went mainstream. Less than a month later, the creators of Twitter acquired the company and its assets from its investors, paving the way for the service to take off in 2007. Both companies took social media mainstream, radically changing the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate with everyone from friends to colleagues to customers.

The iPhone debuts (2007)

The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. By the end of the weekend, half a million had been sold, and smartphones had gone from a luxury item to a necessity. The iPhone inspired the development of operating systems like Google Android, as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life. Over the next decade, it’s estimated that a billion new users will come to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices.

U.S. Presidential Campaign (2008)

The Internet altered presidential politicking in 2008 much as television had forty years earlier during the Kennedy/Nixon race. From videos like “Obama Girl” and the Reverend Wright clip shaping the debate, to social media mobilizing voters, to record-breaking online fundraising from small donors, every facet of the way campaigns are run was permanently transformed.

Iranian election protests (2009)

When Iran’s 2009 presidential election produced fishy results, the opposition took to the tweets — and the “Twitter Revolution” was born. In fact, it was so vital to organizing demonstrations that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay planned maintenance.. The protests also highlighted Twitter’s key asset as a protest tool: Since most users don’t access it through a central website, it’s nearly impossible to censor.

Vancouver Olympics, 2010

As Elmer-DeWitt hypothesizes, and I agree, the fact that Bell Canada is providing telecommunications for the Games likely sped up their transition to iPhone-compatible technology. After all, Bell had pledged to offer

A flawless technology solution that meets all of VANOC’s telecommunications needs through a comprehensive, reliable and redundant plan

Without that extra incentive to make sure their network was fully capable of accommodating the Games’ needs, it’s possible that Bell may have dragged their feet a little longer.

Geography (Canadian Population Density and Distribution)

Another point that Elmer-DeWitt makes is that, well, I’ll let him tell you:

But a bigger factor, we suspect, is the size of Canada’s population and the way it is distributed.

Canada is actually slightly larger than the United States — it covers an area of 10 million square kilometers (3.85 million square miles) — but has a population of less than 34 million, compared with the U.S.’s more than 300 million.

Moreover, the vast majority Canada’s population lives along its southern border. So even though Bell Canada’s HSPA network will cover only 1.2 million square kilometers (roughly the combined size of California and Texas), it will reach 93% of Canada’s population.

Source: Statistics Canada

Now, a lot of Americans joke that Canadians live so close to the border because they (the jokes vary)

a) just want to be close to the United States
b) secretly want to be Americans, and hugging the border helps them feel more American
c) there’s nothing but dog sleds and igloos when you go farther North (like, even a little bit North)
d) etc…

In this case, though, it appears that Canadian population density and distribution has contributed to CDMA users’ ability to own an iPhone. No longer are consumers tied to the ONE carrier who had it. Who’s laughing now, I wonder.