1 .The Apple exclusive with AT&T is clearly over. AT&T is already adding lots of 3G smartphones, including Android and Palm. We all know Apple clearly got what it wanted, but AT&T got the headstart they wanted from their partnership with Apple, in terms of data subscribers to recoup their 3G investment, and increased cash (more subscribers at higher ARPUs) to fund the deployments of HSPA+ and LTE.
2. iPhone's ability to grow further in the US is slowing. Now almost three years since its intro, those who are willing to switch to AT&T (or those who needed to wait for their 2-year plan to end) to get an iPhone have likely already done so.
3. Even with an LTE phone on Verizon next year, the Verizon iPhone would still have to support CDMA/EVDO as the backup since LTE will not cover 95% of the US for some time. So the CDMA development work is needed. As it is, I think Apple already did some of this work back in 2006; if you remember, Verizon was Apple's first choice. (Remember that Apple maintained an Intel version of OS X for several years; they could as easily maintained a CDMA version of iPhone in the lab as well.)
4. The Android threat is growing in the US and Apple isn't going to let it get entrenched at Verizon. This move has been Apple's trump card in waiting and this is the year to play it.
1 .The Apple exclusive with AT&T is clearly over. AT&T is already adding lots of 3G smartphones, including Android and Palm. We all know Apple clearly got what it wanted, but AT&T got the headstart they wanted from their partnership with Apple, in terms of data subscribers to recoup their 3G investment, and increased cash (more subscribers at higher ARPUs) to fund the deployments of HSPA+ and LTE.
2. iPhone's ability to grow further in the US is slowing. Now almost three years since its intro, those who are willing to switch to AT&T (or those who needed to wait for their 2-year plan to end) to get an iPhone have likely already done so.
3. Even with an LTE phone on Verizon next year, the Verizon iPhone would still have to support CDMA/EVDO as the backup since LTE will not cover 95% of the US for some time. So the CDMA development work is needed. As it is, I think Apple already did some of this work back in 2006; if you remember, Verizon was Apple's first choice. (Remember that Apple maintained an Intel version of OS X for several years; they could as easily maintained a CDMA version of iPhone in the lab as well.)
4. The Android threat is growing in the US and Apple isn't going to let it get entrenched at Verizon. This move has been Apple's trump card in waiting and this is the year to play it.
As anantksundaram states your points are well argued and i want to agree with you as I think an official Verizon announcement would account for an extra ten points in the stock price almost immediately and get people off AT&T, which works well for me.
1) I agree that the contractual obligations are likely over, but I don't think that means another contract can't be had and that Apple may using rumours they created or actual meets with Verizon to make AT&T's butt pucker and give Apple even more control. Plus, if the NAND supply issue is real, going for a carrier larger than AT&T in the US may not be the smartest move until that gets resolved.
2) It is slowing, but the worldwide growth is still strong. Since it's the total YoY growth that matters it might be best for long term shareholder interest for a more controlled growth.
3) Apple isn't the first to jump on new tech that isn't well tested and I've seen nary a cellphone LTE radio, nor heard anything about price, size or power usage. I think an LTE iPhone may not show up until at least 2012.
4) The Android threat is growing. Even AdMod shows that Android is about to surpass the iPhone and I think it could be this year that Andorid-based phones could outsell the iPhone in a quarter. It's just inevitable with so many possible units in play, but like the Mac snagging a reported 35% of OEM PC operating profits worldwide yet having only only a few percentage of the market, I don't think they car about that or we would have seen the iPhone OS v4.0 get demoed before the typical 1 year, not after.
As anantksundaram states your points are well argued and i want to agree with you as I think an official Verizon announcement would account for an extra ten points in the stock price almost immediately and get people off AT&T, which works well for me.
1) I agree that the contractual obligations are likely over, but I don't think that means another contract can't be had and that Apple may using rumours they created or actual meets with Verizon to make AT&T's butt pucker and give Apple even more control. Plus, if the NAND supply issue is real, going for a carrier larger than AT&T in the US may not be the smartest move until that gets resolved.
Given my point 2, I don't think another contract with AT&T has much to offer to Apple in terms of phone sales. I actually see an Apple exit strategy that attempts to stem any loss of AT&T iPhone customers to Verizon - AT&T has just about resolved its worst network issues (excepting NYC), is gaining a significant though short-term advantage over Verizon with 7.2Mbps HSPA+ in some areas, is selling femtocells, has simultaneous voice/data, and will likely enable tethering by then. A June iPhone launch for AT&T and a Oct launch for Verizon fits as a concession to AT&T. (The Oct launch will be long after any NAND supply issue is resolved.)
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2) It is slowing, but the worldwide growth is still strong. Since it's the total YoY growth that matters it might be best for long term shareholder interest for a more controlled growth.
But worldwide growth may be slowing by winter 2010. Regardless, a Verizon launch in Oct would be a perfect boost to carry sales thru June 2011.
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3) Apple isn't the first to jump on new tech that isn't well tested and I've seen nary a cellphone LTE radio, nor heard anything about price, size or power usage. I think an LTE iPhone may not show up until at least 2012.
Agree that an LTE phone is more likely in 2012 even if Verizon tries to sweeten the deal. But my point still holds, CDMA/EVDO would still be needed in the 2012 LTE Verizon phone.
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4) The Android threat is growing. Even AdMod shows that Android is about to surpass the iPhone and I think it could be this year that Andorid-based phones could outsell the iPhone in a quarter. It's just inevitable with so many possible units in play, but like the Mac snagging a reported 35% of OEM PC operating profits worldwide yet having only only a few percentage of the market, I don't think they car about that or we would have seen the iPhone OS v4.0 get demoed before the typical 1 year, not after.
I think Apple isn't worried about Android phones or sales levels in general, but it is concerned only about Google-branded Android phones, as Google looks to be able to significantly subsidize both the carriers (cheaper data plans) and consumers (cheaper handset price) with its search/ad revenue. Google phones, with good-enough functionality and design, and heavily subsidized, are a real threat that could truly slow iPhone sales. Can Apple wait another year and allow Google to get its "Google phone" act fully together? I wouldn't risk it.
As for iPhone OS 4.0, I think it would've been shown already if not for the iPad launch. Apple has neither released nor announced anything (hardware or software) major since the iPad event. Aperture and OS X 10.6.3 are not major. There's a laser-sharp marketing focus on launching the iPad category.
It's NOT gonna happen pple ! The next thing that the iPhone might get is the 3G AWS 1700Mhz band for T-Mobile NA, Wind, Mobilcity, Videotron etc.
And the next step will probably be LTE or just a faster HSPA (14Mbps, 21Mbps or 28Mbps) in the mean time. That's it.
Adi
NO. If the iPhone is LTE on Verizon it will have to support CDMA until at least 2013-2014 as a backup (like GSM 3G/Edge). If Apple thinks they can not release a phone on Verizon for 3-4 more years and still be in the game they are sorely mistaken.
CDMA is a dead technology and a niche technology. LTE is the direction Apple is headed and it will only be with presently deployed GSM 3G technology systems.
LTE is the direction Verizon is headed at the end of this summer which is directly backwards compatible with CDMA & will be for many years. At&T will be catching up true....Only to find G.S.M will also be the same, a dead end technology eventually..............for L.T.E.
If you want to stay on T, feel free to. If they give you better and faster service in your area, good. I'm glad you live in an area where that's the case and you can stay put. I personally could give a flying you know what about talking and using the web at the same time, where VZW's network goes to speeds that are faster on 3G than most AT&T areas (2.2 mbps per second down and 700 kbps per second on a friend's Droid here in Chester, Illinois) while my town probably won't be wired for AT&T's 3G this year.
The CDMA argument doesn't hold much water for me either for three reasons.
1. Establishing a relationship with Verizon isn't so much for CDMA but for future technologies, mainly LTE. Since a VZW iPhone will have to have some sort of CDMA fallback for voice in the beginning, it would be good for Apple to get a head start there.
2. Extending the technology for putting simultaneous voice/data would as simple as implementing IMS network wide for Verizon, and they're already at work to do just that.
3. In the end, Apple is about getting things to just work. Most people couldn't care about the urinating matches between CDMA and GSM, they just want to get fast access to the Web and to have call quality be good without dropped calls. Verizon's network does better than AT&T for the most part.
I mean to build a model for each provider? Well, I understand Apple's logic, given all "warm" words said about AT&T services and especially about their preaching "People stop downloading stuff. We don't know how to handle it". But the thing is I can't see clearly the future of such strategy, will Apple from now on build 2 new models years to come?
On a whole AT&T sucks no worst then Verizon. In some ways AT&T is better. For instance, it is willing to budge in terms of pricing; change it's network specifically for Apple [e.g. visual voice mail]; and the network is superior in some forms [e.g. ability to use both data and voice at the same time].
Personally, I see Apple coming to Verizon at some point, but I would be surprised if Apple doesn't give T-Mobile a chance to play first. Apple could very well be developing CDMA for other countries like China and Brazil.
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Originally Posted by solipsism
As anantksundaram states your points are well argued and i want to agree with you as I think an official Verizon announcement would account for an extra ten points in the stock price almost immediately and get people off AT&T, which works well for me.
On a whole AT&T sucks no worst then Verizon. In some ways AT&T is better. For instance, it is willing to budge in terms of pricing; change it's network specifically for Apple [e.g. visual voice mail]; and the network is superior in some forms [e.g. ability to use both data and voice at the same time].
Personally, I see Apple coming to Verizon at some point, but I would be surprised if Apple doesn't give T-Mobile a chance to play first. Apple could very well be developing CDMA for other countries like China and Brazil.
That's pretty much the rest of my take on it.
If they make CDMA for the rest of the world China's 3rd largest carrier could use it, to though It's only 56M subs and I've heard no news of talks with China Telecom. China Mobile on the other hand has 532M subs, but does require a new device for their TS-SCDMA network.
I'm not seeing much CDMA in Brazil. I see some D-AMPS for 2G but It looks a lot of their carriers have moved to UMTS for their 3G. Of course, Wikipedia can be outdated and/or incomplete.
yep. and it is still more likely that Apple won't ever do a CDMA phone and Verizon will have to wait for LTE. or for someone to make a trip chip that doesn't eat battery life faster than a sumo wrestler at a pasta festival
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Originally Posted by mark2005
Okay, this time, I believe it. Why?
1 .The Apple exclusive with AT&T is clearly over.
you know this because you've seen the contract and you know the end date.
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AT&T is already adding lots of 3G smartphones, including Android and Palm.
oh so you also saw in that contract that you've seen that ATT was not allowed to have other 3g smart phones while they had the iphone.
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2. iPhone's ability to grow further in the US is slowing.
AND you have access to the iphone sales numbers and how many are upgrades v newcomers. You are so connected.
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if you remember, Verizon was Apple's first choice.
something that was probably settled before the first prototypes came out.
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4. The Android threat is growing in the US and Apple isn't going to let it get entrenched at Verizon. This move has been Apple's trump card in waiting and this is the year to play it.
Cause Apple is so worried about what the competitors are doing. Especially when they are only making millions and not billions of dollars in sales each week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
There are plenty of other countries that use CDMA as their primary cellular tech.
Last stats I saw, China is the largest CDMA area in the world. However China Unicom is selling the GSM iphone (since last October) and there's been a huge blackmarket for GSM iphones since day one. Puts a little dent in that argument.
The iPhone can't simultaneously use data and voice on Verizon's network.
A million fanbois cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
If they did release an iPhone on Verizon it would probably be the iPhone 'Lite' so that it didn't get confused with the real thing that can do data and voice at the same time.
Not sure which other features to cripple to make it cheaper but I'm sure Verizon could think of some.
Last stats I saw, China is the largest CDMA area in the world. However China Unicom is selling the GSM iphone (since last October) and there's been a huge blackmarket for GSM iphones since day one. Puts a little dent in that argument.
Not that many. While China's CDMA provider, China Telecom, is their 3rd largest carrier they currently only have about 60M subscribers, 2/3 the size of Verizon. When you compare it to China Unicom's 150M subs on GSM or China Mobile's 535M subs on TD-SCDMA they are don't look so hot.
something that was probably settled before the first prototypes came out.
And you were there for that?
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Cause Apple is so worried about what the competitors are doing. Especially when they are only making millions and not billions of dollars in sales each week.
Who said Apple is worried? Regardless, Apple doesn't plot its strategy blindly, as we've seen how up-to-speed they were regarding competitor's netbooks (over the last two years) and smartphones (before the iPhone).
Quote:
Last stats I saw, China is the largest CDMA area in the world. However China Unicom is selling the GSM iphone (since last October) and there's been a huge blackmarket for GSM iphones since day one. Puts a little dent in that argument.
There's no iPhone exclusive in China (see iphonasia.com). Apple is still talking with China Mobile, so it wouldn't be out of the question for them to also be talking to China Telecom. Still, it is 60M potential subs; much more than those in most of the remaining countries still without iPhone.
Comments
AT&T accounts for half of worldwide iPhones.
I don't think so. AT&T said they have 11m iPhone subscribers. Excluding original iPhones, there have been 36m iPhones sold.
And the next step will probably be LTE or just a faster HSPA (14Mbps, 21Mbps or 28Mbps) in the mean time. That's it.
Adi
Okay, this time, I believe it. Why?
1 .The Apple exclusive with AT&T is clearly over. AT&T is already adding lots of 3G smartphones, including Android and Palm. We all know Apple clearly got what it wanted, but AT&T got the headstart they wanted from their partnership with Apple, in terms of data subscribers to recoup their 3G investment, and increased cash (more subscribers at higher ARPUs) to fund the deployments of HSPA+ and LTE.
2. iPhone's ability to grow further in the US is slowing. Now almost three years since its intro, those who are willing to switch to AT&T (or those who needed to wait for their 2-year plan to end) to get an iPhone have likely already done so.
3. Even with an LTE phone on Verizon next year, the Verizon iPhone would still have to support CDMA/EVDO as the backup since LTE will not cover 95% of the US for some time. So the CDMA development work is needed. As it is, I think Apple already did some of this work back in 2006; if you remember, Verizon was Apple's first choice. (Remember that Apple maintained an Intel version of OS X for several years; they could as easily maintained a CDMA version of iPhone in the lab as well.)
4. The Android threat is growing in the US and Apple isn't going to let it get entrenched at Verizon. This move has been Apple's trump card in waiting and this is the year to play it.
Well-argued. I am inclined to agree with you.
Okay, this time, I believe it. Why?
1 .The Apple exclusive with AT&T is clearly over. AT&T is already adding lots of 3G smartphones, including Android and Palm. We all know Apple clearly got what it wanted, but AT&T got the headstart they wanted from their partnership with Apple, in terms of data subscribers to recoup their 3G investment, and increased cash (more subscribers at higher ARPUs) to fund the deployments of HSPA+ and LTE.
2. iPhone's ability to grow further in the US is slowing. Now almost three years since its intro, those who are willing to switch to AT&T (or those who needed to wait for their 2-year plan to end) to get an iPhone have likely already done so.
3. Even with an LTE phone on Verizon next year, the Verizon iPhone would still have to support CDMA/EVDO as the backup since LTE will not cover 95% of the US for some time. So the CDMA development work is needed. As it is, I think Apple already did some of this work back in 2006; if you remember, Verizon was Apple's first choice. (Remember that Apple maintained an Intel version of OS X for several years; they could as easily maintained a CDMA version of iPhone in the lab as well.)
4. The Android threat is growing in the US and Apple isn't going to let it get entrenched at Verizon. This move has been Apple's trump card in waiting and this is the year to play it.
As anantksundaram states your points are well argued and i want to agree with you as I think an official Verizon announcement would account for an extra ten points in the stock price almost immediately and get people off AT&T, which works well for me.
1) I agree that the contractual obligations are likely over, but I don't think that means another contract can't be had and that Apple may using rumours they created or actual meets with Verizon to make AT&T's butt pucker and give Apple even more control. Plus, if the NAND supply issue is real, going for a carrier larger than AT&T in the US may not be the smartest move until that gets resolved.
2) It is slowing, but the worldwide growth is still strong. Since it's the total YoY growth that matters it might be best for long term shareholder interest for a more controlled growth.
3) Apple isn't the first to jump on new tech that isn't well tested and I've seen nary a cellphone LTE radio, nor heard anything about price, size or power usage. I think an LTE iPhone may not show up until at least 2012.
4) The Android threat is growing. Even AdMod shows that Android is about to surpass the iPhone and I think it could be this year that Andorid-based phones could outsell the iPhone in a quarter. It's just inevitable with so many possible units in play, but like the Mac snagging a reported 35% of OEM PC operating profits worldwide yet having only only a few percentage of the market, I don't think they car about that or we would have seen the iPhone OS v4.0 get demoed before the typical 1 year, not after.
As anantksundaram states your points are well argued and i want to agree with you as I think an official Verizon announcement would account for an extra ten points in the stock price almost immediately and get people off AT&T, which works well for me.
1) I agree that the contractual obligations are likely over, but I don't think that means another contract can't be had and that Apple may using rumours they created or actual meets with Verizon to make AT&T's butt pucker and give Apple even more control. Plus, if the NAND supply issue is real, going for a carrier larger than AT&T in the US may not be the smartest move until that gets resolved.
Given my point 2, I don't think another contract with AT&T has much to offer to Apple in terms of phone sales. I actually see an Apple exit strategy that attempts to stem any loss of AT&T iPhone customers to Verizon - AT&T has just about resolved its worst network issues (excepting NYC), is gaining a significant though short-term advantage over Verizon with 7.2Mbps HSPA+ in some areas, is selling femtocells, has simultaneous voice/data, and will likely enable tethering by then. A June iPhone launch for AT&T and a Oct launch for Verizon fits as a concession to AT&T. (The Oct launch will be long after any NAND supply issue is resolved.)
2) It is slowing, but the worldwide growth is still strong. Since it's the total YoY growth that matters it might be best for long term shareholder interest for a more controlled growth.
But worldwide growth may be slowing by winter 2010. Regardless, a Verizon launch in Oct would be a perfect boost to carry sales thru June 2011.
3) Apple isn't the first to jump on new tech that isn't well tested and I've seen nary a cellphone LTE radio, nor heard anything about price, size or power usage. I think an LTE iPhone may not show up until at least 2012.
Agree that an LTE phone is more likely in 2012 even if Verizon tries to sweeten the deal. But my point still holds, CDMA/EVDO would still be needed in the 2012 LTE Verizon phone.
4) The Android threat is growing. Even AdMod shows that Android is about to surpass the iPhone and I think it could be this year that Andorid-based phones could outsell the iPhone in a quarter. It's just inevitable with so many possible units in play, but like the Mac snagging a reported 35% of OEM PC operating profits worldwide yet having only only a few percentage of the market, I don't think they car about that or we would have seen the iPhone OS v4.0 get demoed before the typical 1 year, not after.
I think Apple isn't worried about Android phones or sales levels in general, but it is concerned only about Google-branded Android phones, as Google looks to be able to significantly subsidize both the carriers (cheaper data plans) and consumers (cheaper handset price) with its search/ad revenue. Google phones, with good-enough functionality and design, and heavily subsidized, are a real threat that could truly slow iPhone sales. Can Apple wait another year and allow Google to get its "Google phone" act fully together? I wouldn't risk it.
As for iPhone OS 4.0, I think it would've been shown already if not for the iPad launch. Apple has neither released nor announced anything (hardware or software) major since the iPad event. Aperture and OS X 10.6.3 are not major. There's a laser-sharp marketing focus on launching the iPad category.
It's NOT gonna happen pple ! The next thing that the iPhone might get is the 3G AWS 1700Mhz band for T-Mobile NA, Wind, Mobilcity, Videotron etc.
And the next step will probably be LTE or just a faster HSPA (14Mbps, 21Mbps or 28Mbps) in the mean time. That's it.
Adi
NO. If the iPhone is LTE on Verizon it will have to support CDMA until at least 2013-2014 as a backup (like GSM 3G/Edge). If Apple thinks they can not release a phone on Verizon for 3-4 more years and still be in the game they are sorely mistaken.
Read before you comment.
CDMA is a dead technology and a niche technology. LTE is the direction Apple is headed and it will only be with presently deployed GSM 3G technology systems.
LTE is the direction Verizon is headed at the end of this summer which is directly backwards compatible with CDMA & will be for many years. At&T will be catching up true....Only to find G.S.M will also be the same, a dead end technology eventually..............for L.T.E.
Your logic isn't exactly informative.
The iPhone can't simultaneously use data and voice on Verizon's network.
A million fanbois cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Yet you can Skype for free on any Blackberry or Android over their 3g network.
Get the Fuck out of here!
If you want to stay on T, feel free to. If they give you better and faster service in your area, good. I'm glad you live in an area where that's the case and you can stay put. I personally could give a flying you know what about talking and using the web at the same time, where VZW's network goes to speeds that are faster on 3G than most AT&T areas (2.2 mbps per second down and 700 kbps per second on a friend's Droid here in Chester, Illinois) while my town probably won't be wired for AT&T's 3G this year.
The CDMA argument doesn't hold much water for me either for three reasons.
1. Establishing a relationship with Verizon isn't so much for CDMA but for future technologies, mainly LTE. Since a VZW iPhone will have to have some sort of CDMA fallback for voice in the beginning, it would be good for Apple to get a head start there.
2. Extending the technology for putting simultaneous voice/data would as simple as implementing IMS network wide for Verizon, and they're already at work to do just that.
3. In the end, Apple is about getting things to just work. Most people couldn't care about the urinating matches between CDMA and GSM, they just want to get fast access to the Web and to have call quality be good without dropped calls. Verizon's network does better than AT&T for the most part.
Personally, I see Apple coming to Verizon at some point, but I would be surprised if Apple doesn't give T-Mobile a chance to play first. Apple could very well be developing CDMA for other countries like China and Brazil.
As anantksundaram states your points are well argued and i want to agree with you as I think an official Verizon announcement would account for an extra ten points in the stock price almost immediately and get people off AT&T, which works well for me.
On a whole AT&T sucks no worst then Verizon. In some ways AT&T is better. For instance, it is willing to budge in terms of pricing; change it's network specifically for Apple [e.g. visual voice mail]; and the network is superior in some forms [e.g. ability to use both data and voice at the same time].
Personally, I see Apple coming to Verizon at some point, but I would be surprised if Apple doesn't give T-Mobile a chance to play first. Apple could very well be developing CDMA for other countries like China and Brazil.
That's pretty much the rest of my take on it.
If they make CDMA for the rest of the world China's 3rd largest carrier could use it, to though It's only 56M subs and I've heard no news of talks with China Telecom. China Mobile on the other hand has 532M subs, but does require a new device for their TS-SCDMA network.
I'm not seeing much CDMA in Brazil. I see some D-AMPS for 2G but It looks a lot of their carriers have moved to UMTS for their 3G. Of course, Wikipedia can be outdated and/or incomplete.Regardless, I'll take the iPhone everywhere as I'm sure it will bump the stock tremendously.
The same time every year, like clockwork.
yep. and it is still more likely that Apple won't ever do a CDMA phone and Verizon will have to wait for LTE. or for someone to make a trip chip that doesn't eat battery life faster than a sumo wrestler at a pasta festival
Okay, this time, I believe it. Why?
1 .The Apple exclusive with AT&T is clearly over.
you know this because you've seen the contract and you know the end date.
AT&T is already adding lots of 3G smartphones, including Android and Palm.
oh so you also saw in that contract that you've seen that ATT was not allowed to have other 3g smart phones while they had the iphone.
2. iPhone's ability to grow further in the US is slowing.
AND you have access to the iphone sales numbers and how many are upgrades v newcomers. You are so connected.
if you remember, Verizon was Apple's first choice.
something that was probably settled before the first prototypes came out.
4. The Android threat is growing in the US and Apple isn't going to let it get entrenched at Verizon. This move has been Apple's trump card in waiting and this is the year to play it.
Cause Apple is so worried about what the competitors are doing. Especially when they are only making millions and not billions of dollars in sales each week.
There are plenty of other countries that use CDMA as their primary cellular tech.
Last stats I saw, China is the largest CDMA area in the world. However China Unicom is selling the GSM iphone (since last October) and there's been a huge blackmarket for GSM iphones since day one. Puts a little dent in that argument.
The iPhone can't simultaneously use data and voice on Verizon's network.
A million fanbois cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
If they did release an iPhone on Verizon it would probably be the iPhone 'Lite' so that it didn't get confused with the real thing that can do data and voice at the same time.
Not sure which other features to cripple to make it cheaper but I'm sure Verizon could think of some.
Last stats I saw, China is the largest CDMA area in the world. However China Unicom is selling the GSM iphone (since last October) and there's been a huge blackmarket for GSM iphones since day one. Puts a little dent in that argument.
Not that many. While China's CDMA provider, China Telecom, is their 3rd largest carrier they currently only have about 60M subscribers, 2/3 the size of Verizon. When you compare it to China Unicom's 150M subs on GSM or China Mobile's 535M subs on TD-SCDMA they are don't look so hot.
something that was probably settled before the first prototypes came out.
And you were there for that?
Cause Apple is so worried about what the competitors are doing. Especially when they are only making millions and not billions of dollars in sales each week.
Who said Apple is worried? Regardless, Apple doesn't plot its strategy blindly, as we've seen how up-to-speed they were regarding competitor's netbooks (over the last two years) and smartphones (before the iPhone).
Last stats I saw, China is the largest CDMA area in the world. However China Unicom is selling the GSM iphone (since last October) and there's been a huge blackmarket for GSM iphones since day one. Puts a little dent in that argument.
There's no iPhone exclusive in China (see iphonasia.com). Apple is still talking with China Mobile, so it wouldn't be out of the question for them to also be talking to China Telecom. Still, it is 60M potential subs; much more than those in most of the remaining countries still without iPhone.