Clearly Apple interim chief Tim Cook carries an AT&T transmitting tower around with him where ever he goes, OR he hasn't tried using his iPhone in the Los Angeles area. Both of my iPhone, first generation, as well as my 3G get awful reception, lots of dropped calls, and no signal indicators all the time.
My personal cell is on a Verizon handset, I've used Verizon for the past 15 years and at least in LA, they have much better coverage.
I wish Apple would extended any future iPhones to include other carriers.
THats too bad apple is happy with AT&T, because my first iPhone is probably going to be my last iphone. I can't even make phone calls from my major metropolitan suburban home. My next phone is probably going to be another verizon phone, unless AT&T makes some major improvements in their service. Which I don't see happening. I'll just get a cheapey verizon phone and an iPod Touch with Skype.
For those unwilling to sacrifice data & call quality on GSM if your area isn't saturated with it:
(AT&T is struggling with its earnings to debt ratio, it's doubtful any large network expansions are coming soon to problematic areas, while Verizon just picked up Alltel & Unicel to add to its tower base)
For a while, I too prayed for a EVDO iPhone.
Living in NC, GSM service is about as reliable as an Obama press secretary.
I finally opted for the Blackberry on EVDO. I have all the iPhone goodies PLUS Broadband tethering for my laptop (rumored in the next iPhone release but not yet avail). I sync with all of my Apple apps via MissingSync including iTunes. Plus Crackberry regularly releases iPhone style desktop themes. It's not the iPhone killer it was lauded to be, but it's a comparable piece of hardware (albeit still buggy until the next software OTA).
A G4 iPhone is way more conceivable than a CDMA/EVDO (especially since Apple has RIM in their scopes), but it's almost silly to speculate on business decisions a year + down the pipe. I look forward to the eventual power plays by all companies involved, and more armchair quarterbacking from the AI readers.
(originally I chuckled as friends couldn't make iPhone calls from a beach hotspot, and had to borrow my phone... but then I realized : "why the h@ll do I want to talk on my phone on the beach in the first place")\
I partially agree with this statement, however, if people are SO upset with the phone service, why is iPhone so successful? Why are Apple making billions including apps, etc? I see it as the best phone/portable device ever created and most people are willing to look beyond its obvious flaws.
I don't recall posting on this site previously, but do read it every day...... but on this thread I feel I need to contribute. I too, have been a Cell One/AT&T/Cingular/AT&T subscriber since 1990,when the McCaw brothers owned them from Washington State where I live...... every week I see people complain about AT&T coverage on this site....for what my two cents is here..... I have been totally happy with my service, coverage for years! I live in the Northwest and could not be more than ecstatic about my coverage. When I moved to Scottsdale in the late 90's, it was very adequate, not near as good as the NW and when I travel to San Fran regularly, I never have problems with my coverage! Neither in las Vegas where I visit 5 times/yr. Certainly the customer service has changed since the old days, but all of the wireless companies have gotten bad.
I am an Apple supporter and when people up here in the NW who are on Verizon and all tell me they wish they could get an iPhone... I really rub it in, because I truly know I have a better product than the blackberry they tote in their pockets, especially for my personal and business needs.
Blu-ray is having a banner year? Does that mean it finally cracked 10% of DVD sales?
Some titles of blu-ray movies are selling in excess of 10% of the DVD equivalent, so yes. Also DVD sales are decreasing, and blu-ray sales are increasing.
Some titles of blu-ray movies are selling in excess of 10% of the DVD equivalent, so yes. Also DVD sales are decreasing, and blu-ray sales are increasing.
The article needs to be changed. A non-CDMA iPhone dashes all hopes for Sprint (as far as I know, they'll be using WiMax as their 4G tech) and Verizon until they switch to LTE.
Common sense dictates that Apple wasn't going to bother with a CDMA phone, especially when carriers are openly switching away from that technology. Since it's also obvious that Apple doesn't have ready an LTE iPhone right now, they were bound to deny any inkling of talking to Verizon.
Rest assured, in two years when LTE chipsets are mature and Verizon and AT&T's 4G LTE networks are up and running, that's when Apple will seriously begin talking to Verizon about potentially supporting the iPhone. Until then "iPhone on Verizon" rumors aren't even rumors, they're fantasies.
Also, do we know if the bands AT&T and Verizon are using for LTE will even be compatible? I thought that during the FCC Wireless auction they got separate bands. Did they get exclusive rights to the portion of spectrum they won? What about the what bands the rest of the world is using? All of this is pretty important information in terms of inter-compatability in trying to build a "world phone" that's a lot easier to manufacture.
That's a shame. I live in the middle of the USA - and here the AT&T signal is a big, fat ZERO. Verizon, on the other hand, has 5 bars everywhere. The iPhone is a non-event for me until some other carrier has a model that will work. It should concern you - if you ever drive a car more than 5 miles off a freeway. You will not reach AAA when your get a flat tire. You'd better have a Verizon cell phone in the glove box for emergencies.
AT&T is the worst carrier in the USA, and I will never forgive Apple for doing this exclusive deal with them.
I think Apple needs to let their contract with AT&T expire. Whether you are happy with AT&T's quality of service likely depends on the area you live in and whether you had to deal with their customer service when they mess up your bill. There is not one perfect provider for the United States. The land mass of the country is just too large. My experience with Cingular was so bad 5 years ago, when they bought AT&T, that I had to drop them. I could only dial out about 1 of 5 times, had mutliple call drops a day, and had to call monthly to have them fix my bill. I dropped them and went to T-Mobile. I was worried about the network coverage as I have heard many AT&T reps and customers make the claim that the smaller network would not be as good. I switched anyway and found that even though the phone switched to roaming more, it worked flawless. I had signal everywhere, including many areas AT&T did not. I reluctantly switched back to AT&T to get the iPhone when it was released. I have been an Apple user since 2004 and wanted a compatible phone. Again, I drop calls everyday. Sometimes I cannot dial out. Why has AT&T not been able to fix this issue. I live in Orlando, FL not some small city. If I leave Orlando, I am on Edge almost everywhere except other large cities (so much for the largest 3G network being worth anything). Even in Orlando, my phone likes to switch to Edge randomly. I might break my contract with AT&T, unlock my phone, and switch back to T-Mobile. It works better for me in this area and the areas I travel. Locking me with a service provider that provides terrible customer service is not what I think of when I think of Apple. I mean Apple even lets me install Windows on my Mac if I want. Why would they restrict me to what service provider I can use?
Price over substance?! MS had their "price hunter" computer ads all along!
Quote:
Originally Posted by teckstud
Why did people vote for W Bush twice?
So we wouldn't have to deal with that lunkhead environmentalist Al Gore or that stuffed shirt French Poodle John Kerry!
Of course if this were Countdown's, Keith Olbermann talking, the rankings would be Worse: Al Gore, Worser: John Kerry, and then Barrack Obama, Worst President in the Woorrrrlllllldddddddd!
Let the Perez Hilton's of the world denunciation diatribe tirade begin...
I am an apple fan like so many others, and I would love to own an iphone. But I have verizon as my carrier and love their service. Also to get out of it and purchase the phone is just crazy. I just want to ask apple to rethink their decision about verizon. This is so weird, I work in a salon and spa in CT. and we were just having this discussion yesterday, because 3 people had just purchased the Verizon Storm touch phone and are returning it! And we all said " If apple would just change to verizon we could all ditch our phones and have iphones!" I do have the itouch ipod and can't live without it. I have a Macbook as well, the products are just unbelievable. Now I am trying to convince my husband to get a Mac too. Or maybe the 17" macbook for my birthday! Have a great day!
GSM is used by over 3 billion people around the world.
Apple won't have an LTE phone in June, there aren't any LTE chips available for phones yet.
Sprint won't go LTE at all they are using WiMax as their 4G network.
Exactly what are the reasons you think it will be easier for Verizon to completely switch wireless standards, than for AT&T to continue an extension to its existing wireless standard?
Verizon doesn't even expect to have its LTE network fully up and running by 2010, I'm not sure why you expect it to.
Actually they do expect to have it deployed by the end of this year and up and running in 2010 .
You seem to be thinking that all of Apple's potential customers live in the US. They do not. In fact, the biggest market Apple can tap into is China, and they don't use CDMA.
Something else that many people forget as an advantage: roaming. This is where the iPhone wins as GSM phone, since you can take it most places on the planet and it will just work. This is also one reason why carriers are moving to GSM. Even once you have a saturated local user base, you can still take advantage of customers from other locations (national or international) coming in and paying for your services, even if it is temporary. Currently CDMA providers don't have access to that.
Apple could make a CDMA phone, but this means a phone people can't travel anywhere in the world with and I am yet to see a successful CDMA-GSM combo phone. Apple is not the sort of company that wants to limit solution to a geographical location, no matter how big the population is. With a CMDA phone Apple could not boast 'it just works'.
Apple has to realize that having ATT as the exclusive carrier or iPhone, long term, is a bad idea. I guarantee that if they brought Verizon on board, there sales would go through the roof. But someone once said, if you want guarantee, buy a toaster.
Personally, I will not switch from Verizon to ATT (tried ATT once, so I am experienced) just to get an iPhone. I have too many friends and family on Verizon (free calling) that embeds me into loyalty. Which I can imagine many other are influenced by.
An iPod Touch would likely give people 99% of what non-ATT users need....cool factor and capabilities.
I do not think that it is very complicated or even costly for Apple to have CDMA phones in addition. Several carriers like Nokia, Samsung have multiple tech support. Actually CDMA is easier to implement because this synch CDMA version is more power efficient than WCDMA/UMTS/3G that wide band and works in asynch mode. My understanding is that the CDMA chipset is cheaper than comparable UMTS chipset.
Qualcomm does offer chipsets with dual GSM/CMDA/WCDMA capability, but I am not sure about the incremental cost involved.
As the implementation of DOS and later Windows by Microsoft has shown, it makes sense to have multiple value chains in order to achieve market dominance. Anybody who has been around may remember that MSFT sold DOS to various computer makers besides IBM... Compaq, HP, Dell, etc. It was this value chain that pushed the market for DOS+Windows.
Apple is taking a limited approach to the market, instead of going for market share at all price points across carriers. It may be that they are interested in profit margins and just skimming the cream of the market. In that aspect they may be right since the low end mass market is not too profitable in many cases for tech products once maturity is achieved.
DVD sales are decreasing because all optical media sales are decreasing. Blu-ray increasing doesn't fill the gap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfanning
Some titles of blu-ray movies are selling in excess of 10% of the DVD equivalent, so yes. Also DVD sales are decreasing, and blu-ray sales are increasing.
Comments
My personal cell is on a Verizon handset, I've used Verizon for the past 15 years and at least in LA, they have much better coverage.
I wish Apple would extended any future iPhones to include other carriers.
Theres no perfect company that satisfy every customer. Att wants to be a monopoly, just like Apple. So they both are in the same game plan.
jk
I would love to see apple monopoly though, just to see how big their balls will grow
They missed out on that by not bidding/winning at the spectrum auction. If I remember correctly they had about 25B laying around at the time.
THats too bad apple is happy with AT&T, because my first iPhone is probably going to be my last iphone. I can't even make phone calls from my major metropolitan suburban home. My next phone is probably going to be another verizon phone, unless AT&T makes some major improvements in their service. Which I don't see happening. I'll just get a cheapey verizon phone and an iPod Touch with Skype.
For those unwilling to sacrifice data & call quality on GSM if your area isn't saturated with it:
(AT&T is struggling with its earnings to debt ratio, it's doubtful any large network expansions are coming soon to problematic areas, while Verizon just picked up Alltel & Unicel to add to its tower base)
For a while, I too prayed for a EVDO iPhone.
Living in NC, GSM service is about as reliable as an Obama press secretary.
I finally opted for the Blackberry on EVDO. I have all the iPhone goodies PLUS Broadband tethering for my laptop (rumored in the next iPhone release but not yet avail). I sync with all of my Apple apps via MissingSync including iTunes. Plus Crackberry regularly releases iPhone style desktop themes. It's not the iPhone killer it was lauded to be, but it's a comparable piece of hardware (albeit still buggy until the next software OTA).
A G4 iPhone is way more conceivable than a CDMA/EVDO (especially since Apple has RIM in their scopes), but it's almost silly to speculate on business decisions a year + down the pipe. I look forward to the eventual power plays by all companies involved, and more armchair quarterbacking from the AI readers.
(originally I chuckled as friends couldn't make iPhone calls from a beach hotspot, and had to borrow my phone... but then I realized : "why the h@ll do I want to talk on my phone on the beach in the first place")
I partially agree with this statement, however, if people are SO upset with the phone service, why is iPhone so successful? Why are Apple making billions including apps, etc? I see it as the best phone/portable device ever created and most people are willing to look beyond its obvious flaws.
I don't recall posting on this site previously, but do read it every day...... but on this thread I feel I need to contribute. I too, have been a Cell One/AT&T/Cingular/AT&T subscriber since 1990,when the McCaw brothers owned them from Washington State where I live...... every week I see people complain about AT&T coverage on this site....for what my two cents is here..... I have been totally happy with my service, coverage for years! I live in the Northwest and could not be more than ecstatic about my coverage. When I moved to Scottsdale in the late 90's, it was very adequate, not near as good as the NW and when I travel to San Fran regularly, I never have problems with my coverage! Neither in las Vegas where I visit 5 times/yr. Certainly the customer service has changed since the old days, but all of the wireless companies have gotten bad.
I am an Apple supporter and when people up here in the NW who are on Verizon and all tell me they wish they could get an iPhone... I really rub it in, because I truly know I have a better product than the blackberry they tote in their pockets, especially for my personal and business needs.
Blu-ray is having a banner year? Does that mean it finally cracked 10% of DVD sales?
Some titles of blu-ray movies are selling in excess of 10% of the DVD equivalent, so yes. Also DVD sales are decreasing, and blu-ray sales are increasing.
Some titles of blu-ray movies are selling in excess of 10% of the DVD equivalent, so yes. Also DVD sales are decreasing, and blu-ray sales are increasing.
bag of hurt..
bag of hurt..
What? The poor quality video downloads you get from Apple?
The article needs to be changed. A non-CDMA iPhone dashes all hopes for Sprint (as far as I know, they'll be using WiMax as their 4G tech) and Verizon until they switch to LTE.
Common sense dictates that Apple wasn't going to bother with a CDMA phone, especially when carriers are openly switching away from that technology. Since it's also obvious that Apple doesn't have ready an LTE iPhone right now, they were bound to deny any inkling of talking to Verizon.
Rest assured, in two years when LTE chipsets are mature and Verizon and AT&T's 4G LTE networks are up and running, that's when Apple will seriously begin talking to Verizon about potentially supporting the iPhone. Until then "iPhone on Verizon" rumors aren't even rumors, they're fantasies.
Also, do we know if the bands AT&T and Verizon are using for LTE will even be compatible? I thought that during the FCC Wireless auction they got separate bands. Did they get exclusive rights to the portion of spectrum they won? What about the what bands the rest of the world is using? All of this is pretty important information in terms of inter-compatability in trying to build a "world phone" that's a lot easier to manufacture.
That's a shame. I live in the middle of the USA - and here the AT&T signal is a big, fat ZERO. Verizon, on the other hand, has 5 bars everywhere. The iPhone is a non-event for me until some other carrier has a model that will work. It should concern you - if you ever drive a car more than 5 miles off a freeway. You will not reach AAA when your get a flat tire. You'd better have a Verizon cell phone in the glove box for emergencies.
AT&T is the worst carrier in the USA, and I will never forgive Apple for doing this exclusive deal with them.
Why is it a windoze world?
Price over substance?! MS had their "price hunter" computer ads all along!
Why did people vote for W Bush twice?
So we wouldn't have to deal with that lunkhead environmentalist Al Gore or that stuffed shirt French Poodle John Kerry!
Of course if this were Countdown's, Keith Olbermann talking,
Let the Perez Hilton's of the world denunciation diatribe tirade begin...
Your facts are pretty well short on facts.
GSM is used by over 3 billion people around the world.
Apple won't have an LTE phone in June, there aren't any LTE chips available for phones yet.
Sprint won't go LTE at all they are using WiMax as their 4G network.
Exactly what are the reasons you think it will be easier for Verizon to completely switch wireless standards, than for AT&T to continue an extension to its existing wireless standard?
Verizon doesn't even expect to have its LTE network fully up and running by 2010, I'm not sure why you expect it to.
Actually they do expect to have it deployed by the end of this year and up and running in 2010 .
Take a look :
[URL="http://www.intomobile.com/2008/04/05/verizon-mobile-broadband-lte-on-700mhz-spectrum-by-2011.html"]http://www.intomobile.com/2008/04/05/verizon-mobile-broadband-lte-on-700mhz-spectrum-by-2011.html[/URL
I guess one mans facts are another mans . . . facts
- By country: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml
- By continent and planet: http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/r...info/index.htm
You seem to be thinking that all of Apple's potential customers live in the US. They do not. In fact, the biggest market Apple can tap into is China, and they don't use CDMA.
Something else that many people forget as an advantage: roaming. This is where the iPhone wins as GSM phone, since you can take it most places on the planet and it will just work. This is also one reason why carriers are moving to GSM. Even once you have a saturated local user base, you can still take advantage of customers from other locations (national or international) coming in and paying for your services, even if it is temporary. Currently CDMA providers don't have access to that.
Apple could make a CDMA phone, but this means a phone people can't travel anywhere in the world with and I am yet to see a successful CDMA-GSM combo phone. Apple is not the sort of company that wants to limit solution to a geographical location, no matter how big the population is. With a CMDA phone Apple could not boast 'it just works'.
Personally, I will not switch from Verizon to ATT (tried ATT once, so I am experienced) just to get an iPhone. I have too many friends and family on Verizon (free calling) that embeds me into loyalty. Which I can imagine many other are influenced by.
An iPod Touch would likely give people 99% of what non-ATT users need....cool factor and capabilities.
Qualcomm does offer chipsets with dual GSM/CMDA/WCDMA capability, but I am not sure about the incremental cost involved.
As the implementation of DOS and later Windows by Microsoft has shown, it makes sense to have multiple value chains in order to achieve market dominance. Anybody who has been around may remember that MSFT sold DOS to various computer makers besides IBM... Compaq, HP, Dell, etc. It was this value chain that pushed the market for DOS+Windows.
Apple is taking a limited approach to the market, instead of going for market share at all price points across carriers. It may be that they are interested in profit margins and just skimming the cream of the market. In that aspect they may be right since the low end mass market is not too profitable in many cases for tech products once maturity is achieved.
I guarantee that if they brought Verizon on board, there sales would go through the roof.
iPhone sales flourish as much as one can only wish them to. In spite any endlessly complaining verizons.
Some titles of blu-ray movies are selling in excess of 10% of the DVD equivalent, so yes. Also DVD sales are decreasing, and blu-ray sales are increasing.
Actually they do expect to have it deployed by the end of this year and up and running in 2010 .
I guess one mans facts are another mans . . . facts