Going with AT&T for the iphone is a mistake.

This has been argued to death in numerous posts. You're assuming that the technological aspect of the deal is the only aspect Apple need to look at. Perhaps Verizon wouldn't agree to Apple's terms. Perhaps they weren't interested. Perhaps their roadmap for the next three years looked less promising to Apple than AT&T's.

I'm sure they have a non-trivial reason they went with AT&T. The contract is exclusive for two years, we were told, and no amount of whining is going to change that.

Dear God, not this topic again.

another verizon lacky...yes we know cdma is better then gsm. good luck convincing the other 80% or so of the world who uses gsm.

"Going with AT&T for the iphone is a mistake."

mmm, I believe the correct response is : "Apple is teh doommed!!!11!!"

Yet another comment from someone so US-centric that they ignore the rest of the world.

Which comment is that? We're discussing a device that will be available in the US at least 6 months before it's available elsewhere - what's not to be US-centric about?

This probably wasn't the best way to make your first post at AI. Not that it isn't relevant: GSM is a shit sandwich as are data protocols EDGE & UTMS, and W-CDMA/HSDPA, also known as "3GSM" is not soon enough on AT&T's roadmap. The issue is that there are dozens of threads on this very topic. There is a search feature.

Even so, I have had some time to play with mobile broadband as a Sprint Power Vision user (Sprint pushes more data over the air faster than any other network in the world). Despite the iPhone's entrance as a crippled, GSM product, there is still nothing that can outclass it. Yes, the internet features and google maps will hardly be usable, but on my Sprint phone they're hardly usable either -- media downloads are as fast as lightning on the 3Mbps EVDO link, but the software is abysmal. The maps are unreadable. The navigation is poor. The portal feature is worthless. The iPhone at least covers these bases. In a few months, I'm sure we'll see a 3G iPhone.

On a side-note, I'm getting a phone from my new company. I think they use AT&T and the standard issue model is the Blackjack. . . I am very much hoping that I can delay the phone acquisition process until there might be some potential to pick up an iPhone. I don't think I will be so lucky.

FYI Google maps are very usable on my 1 year-old model GSM phone (SE 810i).

Yes, but can you be in a call while using it?

Welcome, you just made a very stupid comment and here's why:
GSM is used by most of the world, now quick equation. When it comes down to features, and the largest possible user base, and those features have a pretty heavy cost in themselves (Battery life is one of them) which one do you think Apple is going to choose? Next part of the equation, Apple generally doesn't do this, but if they release a product in a market that doesn't have GSM at all, but the current model does, do you really think they are going to put a Phone that can only use GSM in a market where GSM simply doesn't exist without first adapting their product to the market?


Correction to save you from later disappointment, at least 2 years. The only thing that AT&T and Apple announced was that it was a Multi Year Exclusive Contract, which means it could theoretically be 2 years, but it could also be longer.


Apple is a US based company, filled with engineers that live in the US (mainly in Cupertino) with designers located in the US, that is also trying to stay compatible with most of the world. The only complaints I heard was about Japan where GSM is non existent, and I haven't heard anything about the rest of Asia on the matter, but as I stated above, do you honestly think that Apple will release a product in a market without first making sure the product is compatible with the market?

Sebastian

Tonton: as you will read below, you might not actually have a GSM phone.


I know this argument comes from a lot of people, but it's a bad one. GSM is on the way out, for one, since 3G replacements are starting to take root. And let's face it, there aren't going to be a lot of iPhone sales in the developing world. For two, it's not really a big deal to throw in different radios into a solitary product line, such as the iPhone.

The iPhone is GSM because Apple wanted to release with Cingular, now AT&T. And that's the end of the story.

In a short time, you can expect that there will be 3G iPhones for W-CDMA/HSDPA and CDMA2000/EVDO networks. Probably Sprint first in the US, since they are much more open to letting manufacturers dictate the feature set than is Verizon. NTT in Japan and the major European carriers will get one using W-CDMA/HSDPA.

I like the previous paragraph because it indicates just how dead GSM really is. As an air-to-air interface, CDMA won. The only reason why there are major networks in the USA that run GSM/GPRS/EDGE is because there are FCC regulatory barricades preventing the rather large channel allocation demanded by W-CDMA. Eventually, these barricades will either fall, or CDMA2000/EVDO will take over the networks not currently using it. Either way, more people will get 3+ Mbps data.

(And by the way, Japan has the nicest 3G network in the world. It's smaller than Sprint's, but it is a little faster.)

I'll just get to the point. The key words are that 3G Networks are starting to take root, meanwhile Apple plans to release an actual product in a Month using existing technology with plans to release a model with 3G after the initial product and when 3G is far more popular.


Yes I noticed that little typo when I read my post in the quote... it's fixed now.

Sebastian

Selecting the username pego99 is a mistake.

I think whoever has a wireless carrier besides AT&T might be inclined to make such a statement.

Luckily I do have AT&T and I am quite happy with them.

My main worry is how much will the data plan cost.

I am not going to assume it will be same as any other data plan for Cingular/AT&T.

Just tried, and no, I can't.

UK
France
Germany
Spain
Italy
Scandinavia
Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg
China (world's second biggest mobile phone market)
Hong Kong
Singapore
Taiwan
Australia

Yeah... developing world. Apple wants to sell iPhones in the developing world.

My phone is GSM, AFAIK Google Maps Mobile require GPRS, which my phone supports, through GSM (but it's still GSM), and my phone also supports EDGE, which doesn't exist in HK.