Apple predicted to sacrifice 'sweetheart' AT&T deal for Verizon

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  • Reply 61 of 194
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Apple is not going to Verizon in 2010. Next.



    All the naysayers stated that Apple wouldn't make an iPhone for the Chinese market and their variant of CDMA but they did. Whats to stop them from adding Verizon as an iPhone carrier? Especially if Apples accountants reckon that they can make more money by being with AT&T and Verizon.
  • Reply 62 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Wrong - the market is for young people between 17 and 24. Your talking from a stockholder perpective only interested in momentary profits.



    The Premium market builds your brand's image, Teck. THAT is the market everyone wishes they had (and not just because that's where all the money is), and the reason MS is so defensive: overwhelming unit share, but confined to the bottom-end.



    People in an upper-income bracket or otherwise with enough $$ to buy your product at that level does wonders for desirability, image, and brand differentiation.
  • Reply 63 of 194
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    I agree, from a financial standpoint Verizon is the better choice, but its logistical nightmare in many different ways.



    From a practical standpoint I think T-Mobile is the more likely choice for the next US carrier. T-Mobile would bend over backwards to get the iPhone, it would be good for T-Mobile to become a stronger competitor in our phone market. I think Verizon and AT&T are getting too big.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Still, there are already reports of production issues from this year?s 3GS launch and there are logistical issues for the controlling Apple to have 2 phones for each capacity stocked in their stores. I?d think they?d go with T-Mobile USA, by adding the additional radio, where controlled iPhone growth to here 40M customers would be an smoother transition. On top of that, they already have a rapport with the parent company in Europe and they are certainly a favoured underdog in the US that would likely be more willing to bend to Apple?s needs over Verizon.



  • Reply 64 of 194
    This debate over who is better, AT@T or Verizon is pointless. The real message here is that people want choice. That's all, just let me choose what's best for me.



    I live in the New York metro area and AT@T has spotty coverage, and I'm being generous using those words. I would like a Verizon iPhone so the next time I have an emergency, I don't have to borrow someone's cell to make a call. You however may like to fly all over the world and want a good international plan. Fine, you deserve that choice.



    Personally I have it on good authority that the iPhone will go Verizon by the end of this year. The guy at the Verizon kiosk at the mall told me so in return for my promise to buy it from him.
  • Reply 65 of 194
    I left Verizon after 8 years of absolutely problem free service to go to AT&T just for the iPhone. I travel a lot across the country, and 99% of the time I had service wherever I went, even in the middle of the sticks. This is where Verizon's strength is.



    With AT&T, yes their service is good in heavily populated metropolitan areas, but once you leave those areas, its a crap-shoot. I'd say about 50% of the time when I'm on the road traveling from city to city - NO SERVICE.



    AT&T does have a faster network - but that's a moot point if you can't even get service.



    Personally I can't WAIT to go back to Verizon - once they get the iPhone.
  • Reply 66 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NeilM View Post


    BTW, count me in the group of iPhone 3G owners who travels all over the place and finds AT&T's coverage pretty good.



    I also travel a lot, and I've been very happy with my coverage from AT&T. In my home area, I've actually had significantly better signal and far fewer dropped calls on AT&T than I had with Verizon.



    Obviously, a lot depends on where you are and where you travel. I can honestly say, though, that I've been much happier with my service under AT&T, and I wouldn't switch to Verizon even if the iPhone were offered there at the same price. That's me; I also understand why many others feel differently.



    As for whether Apple will expand to Verizon... well, ultimately, from a business standpoint it typically makes sense to have your product offered through as many channels as possible, but Apple is famous for restricting sales in order to guarantee a certain level of customer service. Think about their long feud with Best Buy over Mac sales because Best Buy reps were disparaging Macs. If Apple isn't convinced that Verizon will do what they want, I could see them shutting them out completely.



    On the other hand, I'm not convinced that the hardware differences would pose a significant barrier for Apple. Remember all those years that Apple was secretly writing Intel versions of OS X just in case they decided to leave PowerPC? Who knows what they may have cooking.
  • Reply 67 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NeilM View Post


    Although Verizon is ahead of AT&T on starting LTE deployment, it'll be years, well past 2011, before phones on VZ's network are freed from the need to include legacy CDMA support in addition to LTE. For Apple to offer a VZ iPhone they'd need to design and built a special multi-standard handset just for this carrier.



    Actually, Apple could just make an LTE phone and then allow Verizon to sell it any time. They have no requirement to support CDMA for when LTE is unavailable. Verizon, if they accepted those terms just to have access to the iPhone, would simply have to pay AT&T or another carriers for roaming access if their LTE network isn't available. Brings up the major question, how much does VZ really want the iPhone? That's why I said 2011 at the earliest.
  • Reply 68 of 194
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    The Premium market builds your brand's image, Teck. THAT is the market everyone wishes they had (and not just because that's where all the money is), and the reason MS is so defensive: overwhelming unit share, but confined to the bottom-end.



    People in an upper-income bracket or otherwise with enough $$ to buy your product at that level does wonders for desirability, image, and brand differentiation.



    So theoretically speaking if all your consumers are well-off retirees , it doesn't matter?
  • Reply 69 of 194
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jerseymac View Post


    This debate over who is better, AT@T or Verizon is pointless. The real message here is that people want choice. That's all, just let me choose what's best for me.



    I live in the New York metro area and AT@T has spotty coverage, and I'm being generous using those words. I would like a Verizon iPhone so the next time I have an emergency, I don't have to borrow someone's cell to make a call. You however may like to fly all over the world and want a good international plan. Fine, you deserve that choice.



    Personally I have it on good authority that the iPhone will go Verizon by the end of this year. The guy at the Verizon kiosk at the mall told me so in return for my promise to buy it from him.



    My question is: Will people leave AT&T to go to t-Mobile if the iPhone gets there first?
  • Reply 70 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    So theoretically speaking if all your consumers are well-off retirees , it doesn't matter?



    Except that all Apple's consumers are *not* well-off retirees. You're painting the Premium market into something that it wouldn't be in the first place. The Premium sector - in all retail areas, commands young people, older people, professionals, etc. It is defined by far more than just age. And if you do confine it to just age, you'll find it covers the whole spectrum.
  • Reply 71 of 194
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    I hope you are joking. The guy at the mall kiosk is not good authority, this is the lowest rung on the ladder, and the last person who learns about new Verizon phones.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jerseymac View Post


    Personally I have it on good authority that the iPhone will go Verizon by the end of this year. The guy at the Verizon kiosk at the mall told me so in return for my promise to buy it from him.



  • Reply 72 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    It is superior- FACT.

    and Verizon's had nothing to do with that. Consumers and tech reviewers everywhere have stated and documented it over and over and over.

    Maybe yours works for you in AppleLand but facts are facts and nothing but.



    I don't own an iPhone, yet. But my friend owns an iPhone and I asked her about AT&T's service where we both live and surrounding cities because that's all I'm concerned about... call connections, call quality, dropped calls, 3G speeds and access and maintaining 3G service... considering all that gets said about AT&T versus Verizon on these forums, I wanted to know personal first hand experiences from a reliable source.



    She said she has never had any problems with anything and is happy with the service of AT&T for our area, (which I guess is Appleland, although we've been calling it something else for many years ) and she loves her iPhone's capabilities.



    So while Verizon's national network may be superior for one that needs it in all places because they have a good chance of being in one of those places because of whatever in their life. I on the otherhand, know that I'm not going to be in an area where AT&T 's service is possibly poor and furthermore, have knowledge to the fact that I will not be visiting such an area anytime soon. So I would not look upon AT&T's network as lacking! I have no reason to...
  • Reply 73 of 194
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jerseymac View Post


    Personally I have it on good authority that the iPhone will go Verizon by the end of this year. The guy at the Verizon kiosk at the mall told me so in return for my promise to buy it from him.

    1. It’s October 28th.

    2. There are only 64 days left before Januarty 1st, 2010.

    3. Releasing a product after Black Friday, or even Halloween is not recommended.

    4. Apple has only done this after an announcement when the product wasn’t ready to ship, for whatever reason.

    5. Being a phone—which in the US usually includes a subsidization—an advance announcement of an impending release would be the preferred way to go.

    6. The mostly likely rumours about the AT&T contract were 2 years with an additional year if Apple wanted to drop profit sharing, meaning that July 2010 would be the full 3 years of exclusivity.

    7. My grandmother is more privy to what is going on at Verizon than some lowly sales rep at a mall kiosk.

  • Reply 74 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    My question is: Will people leave AT&T to go to t-Mobile if the iPhone gets there first?



    That would be nice, being that I have a T-Mobile plan for the past 5 years, so I wouldn't have to switch.



    Unfortunately, financially, I'm unable to upgrade and double up my cell phone bill from a 40.00 plan to an 80.00 plan even if the iPhone were to come to T-Mo. So if the iPhone were to come to T-Mo, I still would have to be envious of all you iPhone owners.
  • Reply 75 of 194
    I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet.. BUt one big thing that I'm sure apple would want is for all of their customers to have an equal/the best experience.



    Now sure VZW network might be able to handle the load better (or maybe it'l buckle under pressure from having a phone on it that people actually use which sends bandwidth thru the roof). But from all that I have heard, VZW's cellular technology doesn't allow for simultaneous voice and data transmission. SO if youre on an iPhone on verizon, then you'd not be able to talk and surf the net or check email... or you'd be plagued with those crazy problems we all had on the Edge only iPhone with ATT where if youre surfing the net or pulling heavy data somehow.. you just wouldnt get calls. They'd all of a sudden show up as voicemails of phonecalls that never rang. And who wants that?



    I'm sure there are more things that differ between the networks but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.
  • Reply 76 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post


    Apple is not abandoning AT&T, and neither are any customers with RollOver Minutes



    Not leaving because of roll over minutes? Haha, yea right. It's the biggest marketing gimmick at AT&T, because it causes people to have "peace of mind" and AT&T knows the majority of its customers will never use them. If you have roll over minutes, that means you're not using all of your allotted talk time each month, and so those who never reach their limit will never need roll over minutes (in essence, this means AT&T is earning more per minute if customers don't use all their minutes). If you happen to have no life and your phone is glued to your head 24/7, chances are you'll have no minutes to roll over at all (and then AT&T charges you for overage). Either way, they're making money hand over fist. I currently have 2600 rollover minutes saved up (it hasn't even been a year, and I can assure you I will never use them), because I'm contracted with the lowest tier iPhone plan with forces me to pay for 450 anytime minutes each month, an amount I'll never come close to using. Maybe 5% of my usage over a monthly period comes from talk time.
  • Reply 77 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iancass79 View Post


    I agree with the "Apple is a control freak, Verizon is a control freak" it won't work because neither of them will bow down to the other.



    I used to be a Verizon customer and loved their coverage. Now that I have been on ATT for a couple of years I am happy with less coverage but more freedom and a consistent bill. My bill is the same every month. On Verizon, it was a guessing game and they could never answer why it was changing.



    If Verizon picks up the iPhone after releasing the iDon't commercial, it would basically make them hypocrites. How can they bash something that they want so bad unless they can't get it. My guess is that there were negotiations and Verizon got their feelings hurt over control issues. They lost the iPhone once (in the beginning) and they have lost it again.



    Last, why would Apple make an iPhone to work on Verizon's network when a majority of the world uses GSM? Kind of a no brainer. Verizon needs to join the rest of the world so they can play well with others.



    Thank you, very well stated. Its all about ego in this case. That, and a global standard (GSM) that would require all new equipment in the iPhone's case to be compatible with VZW. Even though VZW's 4G will be LTE what will the voice connection be 1xRTT perhaps? If so, that would make an iPhone on VZW even more unlikely.
  • Reply 78 of 194
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post


    Guess this idiot lives in NYC. Apple is not abandoning AT&T, and neither are any customers with RollOver Minutes.



    I know typical people blow the AT&T vs Verizon thing out of proportion, but for someone to suggest that Verizon will be selling iPhones ANY time soon, let alone 14 million in Calendar2011, is absolutely hilarious.



    Not to mention wrong.



    Agreed. My coverage with AT&T is pretty decent overall and I have well over a thousand rollover minutes and will not be leaving unless Verizon offers a rollover package which I don't see them doing.
  • Reply 79 of 194
    From the comments it looks like the readers of this article have a much better handle on what's going on than the author himself; one gets a much better idea of the reality by reading the comments instead. The problem with Verizon is they've created a technological dead-end by using non-GSM standards. And with Verizon attempting to bash the iPhone in its marketing, it seems pretty obvious that they've already burned their bridges for getting the iPhone in the next couple of years. I suspect that behind closed doors Verizon already recognized that they were closed out of the iPhone world for the near term, and had nothing to lose by aggressively putting down the iPhone in its marketing.
  • Reply 80 of 194
    What would stop them from creating a GSM/CDMA phone like Blackberry? My old Storm was capable of picking up both networks.
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