Apple must sure have reduced to cost of iPhone well below the $500 number mentioned in the original article, so $300 subsidy going forward starting some time next year (similar to the subsidy offered for most other high end phones) sounds quite reasonable. I am sure Apple is already setup to make this type of business case work with more carriers selling iPhones.
The more important issue is the $30 monthly service fee which is holding back a good number of people from getting iPhones. Apple should negotiate a way for carriers to offer lower monthly rates based on some kind of a tiered plan. Instead of charging a fortune for "overage" as is done with voice plans, carriers can offer a simple plan where you pay $10/month up to 200MB, $20/month up to 500MB, $30/month up to $2GB and $40/month beyond 2GB based on your metered usage. Instead of signing up for a fixed rate, your monthly rate would be determined at the end of the month based on your actual usage. Since the unlimited service costs $40, you are not going to get a "bill shock". Such a plan would provide incentive for "casual" users to get a iPhone while charging the "bandwidth hogs" a bit more to distribute the cost of service more fairly.
And please, make 50 or 100 text messages part of base service please...
LOL, why? It's popular with younger people, often celebrities, with above-average disposable income.
It's hard to explain, but Cadillac is popular with a very few small groups other than older people. A couple of years ago, GM had said that their biggest problem with Cadillac was that the average customers age was 68, and rising, and that they were having a lot of problems convincing younger buyers to move over.
Yeah, some basketball and football stars have one, so what? Pimps do to.
and as for subsidizing the iPhone ? WHEN they do switch to Verizon, or put the phone on the open market for all to sell(?), they can subsidize it by themselves with all of the money they will have made by then!
I don't know how to comment on that without getting in some sort of trouble.
Can a mod give himself a 3 day ban just for thinking bad thought?
Even wonder what the letters PONTIAC stand for? Yes I know this is wrong but I can't help but to still think its funny... I blame it on society and the age I grew up in...
Wrong - the market is for young people between 17 and 24. Your talking from a stockholder perpective only interested in momentary profits.
Hmm... I bought my first Mac about 18 months ago, and I'm about to turn 39.
I converted my mother-in-law to an iMac about 6 months ago and she is in her 60s.
I converted my parents to a Mac Mini about 2 months ago, and my father is 74 and my mother 69.
My brother-in-law has already told me that as soon as AutoDesk ports AutoCad (supposedly in the works) to Mac OS he is going to be getting a new Mac. Oh, he is my age, maybe a year or two younger.
One of my co-workers recently purchased a MacBook, I think, and he is definitely a thirty-something. Another co-worker has a daughter who is in her mid 20s and she just recently bought a new MacBook.
Out of all the people I know personally having bought an Apple computer in the past 2 years only one has been in this target market that you suggest. I do not argue that Apple has a tremendous appeal for young people, but Macs are premium machines and as such I think Apple understands that most of their customers are going to be more established and adults who can afford to pay for the premium product they are buying. Similarly, I think Lexus, Acura, and Infinity are targeting a more mature shopper who can afford the premium price of their vehicles.
Can a mod give himself a 3 day ban just for thinking bad thought?
Even wonder what the letters PONTIAC stand for? Yes I know this is wrong but I can't help but to still think its funny... I blame it on society and the age I grew up in...
CDMA doesn't allow voice and data over the same call; so, you'd have an iPhone that doesn't work like other iPhones do. That's a cardinal sin. Can anyone really see Apple saying: "Sorry, this app won't work for you because you have a Verizon iPhone"?? Not likely. It would cripple the seamless user experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhReallyNow
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 wouldn't get calls. They'd all of a sudden show up as voicemails of phone calls that never rang. And who wants that?
I PERSONALLY went to ATT Store, and then to VZ Store to verify this:
VZ's CDMA CAN NOT DO VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME. So, you won't get your email till you are off the phone, and you'll get knocked off line, browsing, when a phone call comes in. That is like OLD DIAL UP DAYS!
I won't be able to tolerate such Either Or!
iPhone is a CLEAR WINNER compared to other Smart Phones!
4G LTE is coming, thus GSM and CDMA will go away, but the TRANSITION will take another 2-3 years at least. Will Apple open iPhone to VZ before LTE, remains to be seen. They won't announce that till they are ready! Till then we can only guess!!!
If iPhone is on VZ before LTE, will it then do VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME - hopefully, but I am yet to hear a good explanation there. They VZ Manager and Tech Support either don't know, or are told to say that they don't know! If they already know that the answer is NO, then it makes it obvious that waiting for iPhone on VZ is a WASTE of time, and thus they'd lose customers to ATT sooner!
At VZ Store, the manager couldn't tell me if the LIMITATION of VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME was due to the Hardware or CDMA Network! In front of me, he tried to Browser while on the phone call on: Blackberry and HTC/Windows Mobile. Each time we got the Error = it can't be done!
It's Easy to dump on ATT, but VZ's CDMA CAN NOT DO VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME -- so pick your poison!
ATT was more PROGRESSIVE cause they saw the future with iPhone! Apple -- that is who the leader is. And I am glad that they did EXCLUSIVE with ATT, because that allowed them to spread it via GSM worldwide, and not dance around VZ who proved to be PATHETIC, given my old Palm Treo 700p Wars!!!
SUPPORT is IMPORTANT! iPhone ECHOSYSTEM is the best, as I see it!!!!! Apple Care + Apple Store (IN PERSON) + Apple Discussions Board = are so much better than anything ANY CARRIER can provide! Calling some 3rd World Country Tech Support, and being stuck in a BLAME GAME - FINGER POINTING between the maker of the phone and carrier, like Verizon -- I already had that with Palm, and it was UGLY!
Never again will I buy ANYTHING from PALM!!!!
So, if anyone is waiting for VZ iPhone, ask yourself:
Will it do VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME?
If that's important to you, then you might be waiting for nothing!
I refuse to get off the phone to look at the webpage, or have miss a call and have to use my minutes to check my Voicemail, and then have to call back, thus starting a phone tag cycle! If that's what Verizon expects me to do, they must be kidding!
It could be easier to borrow someone else's phone and or WiFi, then ask someone else to teach you how to use their Smart Phone, so you could go online!
Plus, ATT is not gonna just sit there and allow VZ beat them up on Network PR... I wonder why ATT didn't "milk" this advantage in their PR Wars:
If Apple does give up exclusivity to AT&T, then we could see unlocked phones here as normal.
So if Apple decides to add LTE then people could simply buy the phone and use it on Verizon for LTE, and AT&T, if they want, for everything else. It could possibly even be done as a pay as you go thing.
Every time I see an ATT/Verizon thread (that is always full of frustration), I try very hard to relate. We simply have it too easy up here in Canada with Rogers.
Their service isn't cheap, but most of us up here have no problems regarding quality of service, coverage, etc. I can get a 3G signal in the middle of the deep woods in Northern Ontario. And on occasion, Rogers will pick up part of my bill or throw me a bone of some kind. All services are included in my 6gb data plan - tethering, MMS, you name it.
Again, the only issue might be price. The iPhone being my only phone, I have Rogers' full package - inlcuding SMS (unlimited received, 2500 sent), 6gb data plan, long-distance saver, MY5, VisualVoicemail, free evenings/weekends, 200 weekday minutes, and a few other things, which comes out to around $100/month, taxes in. Could be worse.
LTE is at least a few years away. They're only just now starting to do initial rollouts. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has a CDMA iPhone ready to go. It's a similar situation to how Apple knew the Power PC was its weak link, but was unable to switch to Intel after Jobs took over. So they developed an Intel OS X all along, biding their time.
Forum posters here love to portray adding CMDA support as some sort of epic engineering and programming feat, but the reality is many smartphones support both platforms with no problem. As for manufacturing, it's not really much different than having different hardware in the 3G and 3GS.
How about this scenario. Apple builds a phone that works with one type of cellular technology. They go with the one most popular across the world (not that it is the best) because that gives them the greatest pool from which to sell their phone. Verizon does not use that technology. Why would Apple manufacture another type of phone just to pick up one or two other carriers. Especially when Verizon has already said they are migrating to the system that Apple is already on (albeit the next generation of that system). Don't forget, Apple sells a lot of phones in their stores. Can you imagine the nightmare of trying to keep inventory straight for 5 models for multiple carriers? Verizon will have the opportunity to sell the iPhone when their network matches up with the network that Apple feels gives them the best opportunity to sell phones not until.
While I agree there are arguments to wait until Verizon is on the next generation service, it's not for the reasons which I bolded above.
First, we are talking only 2 models, not five. Best Buy, Amazon, etc all sell phones/plans for multiple carriers. It's not rocket science.
As for manufacturing a different type of phone to "just pick up one or two carriers"... First, if you are making 20 millions phones, there would be absolutely no financial impact (cost of manufacturing) to making 7 million of them different than the other 13 million. You are well beyond the increased economy of scale at the point. Also, Apple has already shown a willingness to make a special version for the Chinese market.
Second, setting aside the unknown Chinese market since we don't know what that will be yet, adding Verizon would represent an estimated 50% increase in iPhone sales. Right now ATT is approx 50% of worldwide iPhone sales. And Verizon is about the same size as ATT (a little bigger, actually). So adding "just" one more carrier may only represent a 2% increase in the number of carriers, but a 50% increase in sales.
LTE is at least a few years away. They're only just now starting to do initial rollouts. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has a CDMA iPhone ready to go. It's a similar situation to how Apple knew the Power PC was its weak link, but was unable to switch to Intel after Jobs took over. So they developed an Intel OS X all along, biding their time.
Forum posters here love to portray adding CMDA support as some sort of epic engineering and programming feat, but the reality is many smartphones support both platforms with no problem. As for manufacturing, it's not really much different than having different hardware in the 3G and 3GS.
No one is saying that it's epic. What we're saying is that it would cost Apple more, as it would need not just a couple more chips, but also another antenna, and a redesign of the interior to squeeze more inside what has been described as a device that is the most packed of any phone.
Would Apple sell such a model only to CDMA users? Then it would cost Apple even more. If they sell it to everyone, then it would cost everyone more.
It's a dilemma for Apple. would the extra R&D costs be worth it? I don't know.
Nothing technical to say... I'm a stoopid fanboy of the high-priced, Apple and Verizon. It'd be interesting (or would it? oh, poor gullible me) to see the high-priced united. (Kick my poor sorry butt up and down the hall...OOOF OOOf OOof Ooof ooof!
While I agree there are arguments to wait until Verizon is on the next generation service, it's not for the reasons which I bolded above.
First, we are talking only 2 models, not five. Best Buy, Amazon, etc all sell phones/plans for multiple carriers. It's not rocket science.
As for manufacturing a different type of phone to "just pick up one or two carriers"... First, if you are making 20 millions phones, there would be absolutely no financial impact (cost of manufacturing) to making 7 million of them different than the other 13 million. You are well beyond the increased economy of scale at the point. Also, Apple has already shown a willingness to make a special version for the Chinese market.
Second, setting aside the unknown Chinese market since we don't know what that will be yet, adding Verizon would represent an estimated 50% increase in iPhone sales. Right now ATT is approx 50% of worldwide iPhone sales. And Verizon is about the same size as ATT (a little bigger, actually). So adding "just" one more carrier may only represent a 2% increase in the number of carriers, but a 50% increase in sales.
Your numbers are off.
At most, Verizon would add 30% to Apple's US sales numbers. Those numbers are shrinking as a part of the total. So Verizon may represent 15% of the total if Apple went to them today, and possibly 7% in a year.
Would that pay? I don't think so, if a special model would be required. And then, in 2011, LTE might be spread around enough so that in June of that year, the ver 5 of the phone should definitely have it, and that would be the end of a pure CDMA phone. so what would Apple have gained? One year, or a bit more, of CDMA sales?
No one is saying that it's epic. What we're saying is that it would cost Apple more, as it would need not just a couple more chips, but also another antenna, and a redesign of the interior to squeeze more inside what has been described as a device that is the most packed of any phone.
Would Apple sell such a model only to CDMA users? Then it would cost Apple even more. If they sell it to everyone, then it would cost everyone more.
It's a dilemma for Apple. would the extra R&D costs be worth it? I don't know.
$5 million to design a CDMA iphone, a former Virgin Mobile executive said.
Apple doesn't even have to do the redesign if it is just a motherboard reshuffling space --- the taiwanese firms that do the manufacturing can redesign the iphone motherboard for Apple.
Comments
The more important issue is the $30 monthly service fee which is holding back a good number of people from getting iPhones. Apple should negotiate a way for carriers to offer lower monthly rates based on some kind of a tiered plan. Instead of charging a fortune for "overage" as is done with voice plans, carriers can offer a simple plan where you pay $10/month up to 200MB, $20/month up to 500MB, $30/month up to $2GB and $40/month beyond 2GB based on your metered usage. Instead of signing up for a fixed rate, your monthly rate would be determined at the end of the month based on your actual usage. Since the unlimited service costs $40, you are not going to get a "bill shock". Such a plan would provide incentive for "casual" users to get a iPhone while charging the "bandwidth hogs" a bit more to distribute the cost of service more fairly.
And please, make 50 or 100 text messages part of base service please...
LOL, why? It's popular with younger people, often celebrities, with above-average disposable income.
It's hard to explain, but Cadillac is popular with a very few small groups other than older people. A couple of years ago, GM had said that their biggest problem with Cadillac was that the average customers age was 68, and rising, and that they were having a lot of problems convincing younger buyers to move over.
Yeah, some basketball and football stars have one, so what? Pimps do to.
Pimps do to.
Well there you go!
Although I'm not sure what demographic they fall into.
Skip
I don't know how to comment on that without getting in some sort of trouble.
Can a mod give himself a 3 day ban just for thinking bad thought?
Even wonder what the letters PONTIAC stand for? Yes I know this is wrong but I can't help but to still think its funny... I blame it on society and the age I grew up in...
Wrong - the market is for young people between 17 and 24. Your talking from a stockholder perpective only interested in momentary profits.
Hmm... I bought my first Mac about 18 months ago, and I'm about to turn 39.
I converted my mother-in-law to an iMac about 6 months ago and she is in her 60s.
I converted my parents to a Mac Mini about 2 months ago, and my father is 74 and my mother 69.
My brother-in-law has already told me that as soon as AutoDesk ports AutoCad (supposedly in the works) to Mac OS he is going to be getting a new Mac. Oh, he is my age, maybe a year or two younger.
One of my co-workers recently purchased a MacBook, I think, and he is definitely a thirty-something. Another co-worker has a daughter who is in her mid 20s and she just recently bought a new MacBook.
Out of all the people I know personally having bought an Apple computer in the past 2 years only one has been in this target market that you suggest. I do not argue that Apple has a tremendous appeal for young people, but Macs are premium machines and as such I think Apple understands that most of their customers are going to be more established and adults who can afford to pay for the premium product they are buying. Similarly, I think Lexus, Acura, and Infinity are targeting a more mature shopper who can afford the premium price of their vehicles.
Can a mod give himself a 3 day ban just for thinking bad thought?
Even wonder what the letters PONTIAC stand for? Yes I know this is wrong but I can't help but to still think its funny... I blame it on society and the age I grew up in...
Political correctness sometimes goes too far.
Apple is a control freak and Verizon is a control freak. It ain't gonna happen.
verizon will pre buy 8 million phones from apple for 2010
for 2011 verizon will pre buy 22 million iphones for there 7g network
repeat after me
data data data
verizon will pre buy 8 million phones from apple for 2010
for 20111 verizon will pre buy 22 million iphones for there 7g network
repeat after me
data data data
yada yada yada
CDMA doesn't allow voice and data over the same call; so, you'd have an iPhone that doesn't work like other iPhones do. That's a cardinal sin. Can anyone really see Apple saying: "Sorry, this app won't work for you because you have a Verizon iPhone"?? Not likely. It would cripple the seamless user experience.
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 wouldn't get calls. They'd all of a sudden show up as voicemails of phone calls that never rang. And who wants that?
I PERSONALLY went to ATT Store, and then to VZ Store to verify this:
VZ's CDMA CAN NOT DO VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME. So, you won't get your email till you are off the phone, and you'll get knocked off line, browsing, when a phone call comes in. That is like OLD DIAL UP DAYS!
I won't be able to tolerate such Either Or!
iPhone is a CLEAR WINNER compared to other Smart Phones!
4G LTE is coming, thus GSM and CDMA will go away, but the TRANSITION will take another 2-3 years at least. Will Apple open iPhone to VZ before LTE, remains to be seen. They won't announce that till they are ready! Till then we can only guess!!!
If iPhone is on VZ before LTE, will it then do VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME - hopefully, but I am yet to hear a good explanation there. They VZ Manager and Tech Support either don't know, or are told to say that they don't know! If they already know that the answer is NO, then it makes it obvious that waiting for iPhone on VZ is a WASTE of time, and thus they'd lose customers to ATT sooner!
At VZ Store, the manager couldn't tell me if the LIMITATION of VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME was due to the Hardware or CDMA Network! In front of me, he tried to Browser while on the phone call on: Blackberry and HTC/Windows Mobile. Each time we got the Error = it can't be done!
It's Easy to dump on ATT, but VZ's CDMA CAN NOT DO VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME -- so pick your poison!
ATT was more PROGRESSIVE cause they saw the future with iPhone! Apple -- that is who the leader is. And I am glad that they did EXCLUSIVE with ATT, because that allowed them to spread it via GSM worldwide, and not dance around VZ who proved to be PATHETIC, given my old Palm Treo 700p Wars!!!
SUPPORT is IMPORTANT! iPhone ECHOSYSTEM is the best, as I see it!!!!! Apple Care + Apple Store (IN PERSON) + Apple Discussions Board = are so much better than anything ANY CARRIER can provide! Calling some 3rd World Country Tech Support, and being stuck in a BLAME GAME - FINGER POINTING between the maker of the phone and carrier, like Verizon -- I already had that with Palm, and it was UGLY!
Never again will I buy ANYTHING from PALM!!!!
So, if anyone is waiting for VZ iPhone, ask yourself:
Will it do VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME?
If that's important to you, then you might be waiting for nothing!
I refuse to get off the phone to look at the webpage, or have miss a call and have to use my minutes to check my Voicemail, and then have to call back, thus starting a phone tag cycle! If that's what Verizon expects me to do, they must be kidding!
It could be easier to borrow someone else's phone and or WiFi, then ask someone else to teach you how to use their Smart Phone, so you could go online
Plus, ATT is not gonna just sit there and allow VZ beat them up on Network PR... I wonder why ATT didn't "milk" this advantage in their PR Wars:
VOICE + INTERNET/DATA AT THE SAME TIME
If Apple does give up exclusivity to AT&T, then we could see unlocked phones here as normal.
So if Apple decides to add LTE then people could simply buy the phone and use it on Verizon for LTE, and AT&T, if they want, for everything else. It could possibly even be done as a pay as you go thing.
Their service isn't cheap, but most of us up here have no problems regarding quality of service, coverage, etc. I can get a 3G signal in the middle of the deep woods in Northern Ontario. And on occasion, Rogers will pick up part of my bill or throw me a bone of some kind. All services are included in my 6gb data plan - tethering, MMS, you name it.
Again, the only issue might be price. The iPhone being my only phone, I have Rogers' full package - inlcuding SMS (unlimited received, 2500 sent), 6gb data plan, long-distance saver, MY5, VisualVoicemail, free evenings/weekends, 200 weekday minutes, and a few other things, which comes out to around $100/month, taxes in. Could be worse.
Forum posters here love to portray adding CMDA support as some sort of epic engineering and programming feat, but the reality is many smartphones support both platforms with no problem. As for manufacturing, it's not really much different than having different hardware in the 3G and 3GS.
blah BLAH bLAH blaHH BLAHHH.........
You DO KNOW that
IT"S NOTTTTT neccessARRYYYY to
CONstantly switch BETWEEN all CAPPS
and NORMAL WRITing!!!!!????!!!
ALSO no NEED to constantly USE A
LINE break AFTER
EVERY sentenCE!!!!!!!
How about this scenario. Apple builds a phone that works with one type of cellular technology. They go with the one most popular across the world (not that it is the best) because that gives them the greatest pool from which to sell their phone. Verizon does not use that technology. Why would Apple manufacture another type of phone just to pick up one or two other carriers. Especially when Verizon has already said they are migrating to the system that Apple is already on (albeit the next generation of that system). Don't forget, Apple sells a lot of phones in their stores. Can you imagine the nightmare of trying to keep inventory straight for 5 models for multiple carriers? Verizon will have the opportunity to sell the iPhone when their network matches up with the network that Apple feels gives them the best opportunity to sell phones not until.
While I agree there are arguments to wait until Verizon is on the next generation service, it's not for the reasons which I bolded above.
First, we are talking only 2 models, not five. Best Buy, Amazon, etc all sell phones/plans for multiple carriers. It's not rocket science.
As for manufacturing a different type of phone to "just pick up one or two carriers"... First, if you are making 20 millions phones, there would be absolutely no financial impact (cost of manufacturing) to making 7 million of them different than the other 13 million. You are well beyond the increased economy of scale at the point. Also, Apple has already shown a willingness to make a special version for the Chinese market.
Second, setting aside the unknown Chinese market since we don't know what that will be yet, adding Verizon would represent an estimated 50% increase in iPhone sales. Right now ATT is approx 50% of worldwide iPhone sales. And Verizon is about the same size as ATT (a little bigger, actually). So adding "just" one more carrier may only represent a 2% increase in the number of carriers, but a 50% increase in sales.
LTE is at least a few years away. They're only just now starting to do initial rollouts. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has a CDMA iPhone ready to go. It's a similar situation to how Apple knew the Power PC was its weak link, but was unable to switch to Intel after Jobs took over. So they developed an Intel OS X all along, biding their time.
Forum posters here love to portray adding CMDA support as some sort of epic engineering and programming feat, but the reality is many smartphones support both platforms with no problem. As for manufacturing, it's not really much different than having different hardware in the 3G and 3GS.
No one is saying that it's epic. What we're saying is that it would cost Apple more, as it would need not just a couple more chips, but also another antenna, and a redesign of the interior to squeeze more inside what has been described as a device that is the most packed of any phone.
Would Apple sell such a model only to CDMA users? Then it would cost Apple even more. If they sell it to everyone, then it would cost everyone more.
It's a dilemma for Apple. would the extra R&D costs be worth it? I don't know.
While I agree there are arguments to wait until Verizon is on the next generation service, it's not for the reasons which I bolded above.
First, we are talking only 2 models, not five. Best Buy, Amazon, etc all sell phones/plans for multiple carriers. It's not rocket science.
As for manufacturing a different type of phone to "just pick up one or two carriers"... First, if you are making 20 millions phones, there would be absolutely no financial impact (cost of manufacturing) to making 7 million of them different than the other 13 million. You are well beyond the increased economy of scale at the point. Also, Apple has already shown a willingness to make a special version for the Chinese market.
Second, setting aside the unknown Chinese market since we don't know what that will be yet, adding Verizon would represent an estimated 50% increase in iPhone sales. Right now ATT is approx 50% of worldwide iPhone sales. And Verizon is about the same size as ATT (a little bigger, actually). So adding "just" one more carrier may only represent a 2% increase in the number of carriers, but a 50% increase in sales.
Your numbers are off.
At most, Verizon would add 30% to Apple's US sales numbers. Those numbers are shrinking as a part of the total. So Verizon may represent 15% of the total if Apple went to them today, and possibly 7% in a year.
Would that pay? I don't think so, if a special model would be required. And then, in 2011, LTE might be spread around enough so that in June of that year, the ver 5 of the phone should definitely have it, and that would be the end of a pure CDMA phone. so what would Apple have gained? One year, or a bit more, of CDMA sales?
I can get a 3G signal in the middle of the deep woods in Northern Ontario.
You get extreme comfort memory to spare
No one is saying that it's epic. What we're saying is that it would cost Apple more, as it would need not just a couple more chips, but also another antenna, and a redesign of the interior to squeeze more inside what has been described as a device that is the most packed of any phone.
Would Apple sell such a model only to CDMA users? Then it would cost Apple even more. If they sell it to everyone, then it would cost everyone more.
It's a dilemma for Apple. would the extra R&D costs be worth it? I don't know.
$5 million to design a CDMA iphone, a former Virgin Mobile executive said.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-a...xt-year-2009-9
Apple doesn't even have to do the redesign if it is just a motherboard reshuffling space --- the taiwanese firms that do the manufacturing can redesign the iphone motherboard for Apple.