Guys, there is nothing 'cool', 'smart' or 'savvy' about this. A move like this would be, if Apple actually did it, one of THE most idiotic business moves of the year if not decade. That said, it's just a dumb idea and a really bizarro story that somebody dreamed up. Just think about it. In order to believe this is true, one has to accept that:
1) Apple would spend the last 16 months developing a new and groundbreaking design, and then intentionally tie it to a carrier who represents < 18% of the subscriber market in the US, AND:
2) That Apple would do this just because that carrier promissed to buy 30.5 million phones over a four year period (just 7.6 million a year), DESPITE:
3) The fact that AT&T and Verizon sell about 24 million iPhones a year, which would be 116 million devices over the same four year period (as opposed to 30), and DESPITE:
4) The fact that it would immediately anger millions upon millions of customers who are currently locked into contracts with Verizon and / or AT&T but who would otherwise be eligible for early upgrades, and DESPITE:
5) The fact that it would massively alienate their current carrier partners.
It's just a stupid, STUPID story, with a capital 'S'.
Yeah but how else could Apple obtain 20 billion in cash, or sell 30 million iPhones?
I just don't see how Apple could do it without exclusing ATT and Verizon.
Hold on quick draw... keep in mind this is NOT an either or story, but a first to market (by about 6 months)story. Lets see, GUARANTEED sale of 30.5million phones from Sprint AND 6 months later NEAR GUARANTEED sales from ATT/Verizon .. in exchang I (apple) spend ~ 500 million on the inerds for sprint... VS just do LTE inerds and maybe later... on my own dime do Sprint. Seems pretty smart business decision by Apple, if true.
Explain to me how this helps Apple sell ONE MORE PHONE in the next 12 months than they would if they simply sold the iPhone to all three carriers? In fact, I'd love to see how Apple could sell as many phones in the next 12 months if Sprint had exclusivity over the next 3 months. It creates the SAME PROBLEM as Apple felt this year with Verizon users feeling they'd wait another "few months" before buying since it was just the "old" iPhone they were offered.
Why do we assume that this is a bad deal? Why don't we assume they have done the math and see it as a reasonable risk?
All that faith in one device. I'm not American so I do not know the specifics of the mobile network providers - but at last check, Sprint do not have that big a market share. Securing iPhones is clearly a way to grab market from the big boys Verizon and AT&T, but its a risky operation to put all that faith in only one phone. If Sprint said $20b to secure 30M HTC branded handsets we'd section them under the mental health act.
People need to face the facts. There is a very slim chance any iPhone 5 on any carrier is coming out. We havent seen ANY parts to anything but the 4S. We have seen so much to prove there is an iPhone 4S and almost none on an iPhone 5. I believe what was thought to be an iPhone 5 is actually a 3G iPod touch in the works. The people probably saw a sim slot and thought iPhone right away, instead of thinking 3G iPod.
That being said, I do not believe Sprint could get an exclusive deal on the iPhone. Not only because Apple would be losing revenue, but also because if AT&T or Verizon heard this and were given the chance, they would easily beat Sprint's offer. Also it would make no sense for Apple to put the 4S on the 2 biggest carriers and the 5 on the smaller carrier. If it were the other way around it would be more believable. Also Apple would not sell man iPhone 4S's if people knew they could wait 6 months and get the iPhone 5.
So basically, I do not believe any of this at all.
Art of the negotiation.. sprint comes to Apple and says we need the iphone; Apple probable said... 'go pound sand'. ... 'errr... unless'.
Sprint was losing marketshare... what to do, what to do.
So as you point out, Apple alreadys knows they have the sales to Verizon and ATT, now or six months from now... so leverage Sprint to the hilt. Masterful... if true.
Unless? Unless WHAT?!? Unless you can guarantee you'll buy 1/5th the phones we would have sold without you? At no price premium? While we alienate 80% of our customers in the USA in the next 3 months? It's a good thing people on this forum don't run businesses.
Sprint may very well have committed to buying 20M phones in 4 years. But they didn't get any exclusivity.
I can believe a purchase commitment of 1.9 million per quarter.
I just think this exclusivity thing is baloney. Let's face it, for Sprint to lock exclusivity of the handset, they would basically need to guarantee any potential revenue loss from other carrier sales.
They don't have the resources. How much revenue is Apple recording from handset sales each quarter? $13 billion? $15 billion? A number which is destined to climb?
This exclusivity thing is a joke.
Are you saying is a Sprint Wimax iP5 MUST come out the same time as a Verizon and ATT LTE iP5?
IF your presumption is that the Sprint phone is LTE also, yes makes sense Apple would not delay ATT/Verizon iP5 just for Sprint. But what if they are not all 3 LTE? I know, I know, but what if?
Unless? Unless WHAT?!? Unless you can guarantee you'll buy 1/5th the phones we would have sold without you? At no price premium? While we alienate 80% of our customers in the USA in the next 3 months? It's a good thing people on this forum don't run businesses.
Sprint may very well have committed to buying 20M phones in 4 years. But they didn't get any exclusivity.
Are you saying is a Sprint Wimax iP5 MUST come out the same time as a Verizon and ATT LTE iP5?
IF your presumption is that the Sprint phone is LTE also, yes makes sense Apple would not delay ATT/Verizon iP5 just for Sprint. But what if they are not all 3 LTE? I know, I know, but what if?
People need to face the facts. There is a very slim chance any iPhone 5 on any carrier is coming out. We havent seen ANY parts to anything but the 4S. We have seen so much to prove there is an iPhone 4S and almost none on an iPhone 5. I believe what was thought to be an iPhone 5 is actually a 3G iPod touch in the works. The people probably saw a sim slot and thought iPhone right away, instead of thinking 3G iPod.
That being said, I do not believe Sprint could get an exclusive deal on the iPhone. Not only because Apple would be losing revenue, but also because if AT&T or Verizon heard this and were given the chance, they would easily beat Sprint's offer. Also it would make no sense for Apple to put the 4S on the 2 biggest carriers and the 5 on the smaller carrier. If it were the other way around it would be more believable. Also Apple would not sell man iPhone 4S's if people knew they could wait 6 months and get the iPhone 5.
So basically, I do not believe any of this at all.
What you say may be true if it is correct.
But for some on here its just having some fun speculationg back and forth... waste time at work
Guys, there is nothing 'cool', 'smart' or 'savvy' about this. A move like this would be, if Apple actually did it, one of THE most idiotic business moves of the year if not decade. That said, it's just a dumb idea and a really bizarro story that somebody dreamed up. Just think about it. In order to believe this is true, one has to accept that:
1) Apple would spend the last 16 months developing a new and groundbreaking design, and then intentionally tie it to a carrier who represents < 18% of the subscriber market in the US, AND:
2) That Apple would do this just because that carrier promissed to buy 30.5 million phones over a four year period (just 7.6 million a year), DESPITE:
3) The fact that AT&T and Verizon sell about 24 million iPhones a year, which would be 116 million devices over the same four year period (as opposed to 30), and DESPITE:
4) The fact that it would immediately anger millions upon millions of customers who are currently locked into contracts with Verizon and / or AT&T but who would otherwise be eligible for early upgrades, and DESPITE:
5) The fact that it would massively alienate their current carrier partners.
It's just a stupid, STUPID story, with a capital 'S'.
I agree with this 100%. The only way it makes sense is if this is like 3 months and then LTE comes out before Christmas on VATT. Even then, for all the reasons shown above, the exclusivity bit makes no sense.
If the rest of the world gets iPhone 5 with HSPA+ as one article I read alluded to, Apple's SKU count would skyrocket. Not what Apple is about.
iPhone is a world wide phone, not just a US phone. I was just in Japan for 3 weeks. I saw more iPhones in peoples' hands on the train, street car, subway, bus than I have ever seen before. Lots of Android too but a LOT of iPhones. Sprint would have to purchase 50-80 million IN ONE YEAR to make it financially worth while to Apple to give them an exclusive.
(And speaking of Japan -- Yodobashi Camera had like 3 or 4 aisles of iPhone accessories, covers, etc. All sorts of things I had not seen before as well. Wish we had that sort of store in the US)
Apple to Sprint: "Why, sure, we'll let you sell the iPhone. But we got you by the balls. So we'll make sure you promote the iPhone above all competitor phones (Android, WinPhone, whatever) by forcing you to buy so many phones you'll practically be forced to encourage customers to buy an iPhone over a competitor."
Remind you of anything, oh, 15 years ago? How about this:
Microsoft to Dell: "Sure you can sell Windows, but you have to install it on every pc that goes out the door."
In both cases, the reseller (Sprint and Dell) are "highly encouraged" to sell your product at the expense of any other competitor product, because they have to buy such a large quantity that it basically accounts for everything they can sell.
But for some on here its just having some fun speculationg back and forth... waste time at work
Ya i know its good to have something to think and speculate about (especially the iPhone), I was just saying my thoughts on it all.
Of course I too have been thinking hard as to what will actually happen tomorrow, and that is what I came up with. A little part of me still has some hope, and that little part of me hopes that Apple does something that just leaves us all with our mouths wide open...
Maybe like 'here is the new iPhone 4S'....blah blah blah and goes on for awhile about iOS5 and all that. Then at the end Steve Jobs comes out and says 'Oh and 1 more thing....here is the iPhone 5 with the same specs as the 4S for those of you who want a bigger screen. And we mananged to keep the retina display too!"
^That would be so awesome. One can only hope for something like that though
In spite of the ludicrousy of the idea that Sprint would have the iPhone5 exclusively for four years I do think it sounds logical.
Since the introduction of the iPhone it became immediately clear that mobile phone services were about to change drastically. First the iPhone introduced Visual Voicemail. A replacement for a succesful service then provided by carriers as an add on for which you had to pay extra. Visual Voicemail actually brought the data to your phone, which could be done by wireless connections as wel...
Then came the apps.. such as WhatsApp diminishing lucrative SMS services.
And Skype was among them, artificially prohibited on 3G networks but clearly capable in delivering mobile telephony at a fraction of the cost. At a certain point the iPod Touch became a serious alternative for having low cost telecommunication through local wireless networks.
Now... my guess is that the future of mobile telephony is internet only. Sure we need frequencies for that, but as long as carriers are not willing to ditch lucrative old fashioned services, Apple is not capable of innovating towards their (I guess unknown) vision.
So in order to improve this it might be an excellent strategy to team up with a carrier who has the guts and despair to innovate alongside Apple, who is large enough to gain traction and put competition in quality service back again for the top carriers. I'd say Apple single handedly is protecting competitiveness among the largest carriers. And I wish Sprint success in their desperate but bold jump back in the race. They might prove to be Apple worthy partners really innovating the telcom industry.
People need to face the facts. There is a very slim chance any iPhone 5 on any carrier is coming out. We havent seen ANY parts to anything but the 4S. We have seen so much to prove there is an iPhone 4S and almost none on an iPhone 5. I believe what was thought to be an iPhone 5 is actually a 3G iPod touch in the works. The people probably saw a sim slot and thought iPhone right away, instead of thinking 3G iPod.
That being said, I do not believe Sprint could get an exclusive deal on the iPhone. Not only because Apple would be losing revenue, but also because if AT&T or Verizon heard this and were given the chance, they would easily beat Sprint's offer. Also it would make no sense for Apple to put the 4S on the 2 biggest carriers and the 5 on the smaller carrier. If it were the other way around it would be more believable. Also Apple would not sell man iPhone 4S's if people knew they could wait 6 months and get the iPhone 5.
So basically, I do not believe any of this at all.
I too believe that the tear drop or wedge shaped cases floating around are for the 3G iPod Touch. Correct me if I'm wrong but if the next iPhone is to get an 8 Mpixel camera, that lens would be too thick to fit in the new case.
If BGR is correct, the reverse will be true. Sprint will get a six month exclusive on the 5, and the other two will get the 4S for six months.
I can see how that could happen if they still aren't able to ramp up production of the iPhone 5 at this point. But then I have to wonder what the hell could the iPhone 5 have in that would require nearly 2 years from the iPhone 4 release before it can be released completely.
Comments
Guys, there is nothing 'cool', 'smart' or 'savvy' about this. A move like this would be, if Apple actually did it, one of THE most idiotic business moves of the year if not decade. That said, it's just a dumb idea and a really bizarro story that somebody dreamed up. Just think about it. In order to believe this is true, one has to accept that:
1) Apple would spend the last 16 months developing a new and groundbreaking design, and then intentionally tie it to a carrier who represents < 18% of the subscriber market in the US, AND:
2) That Apple would do this just because that carrier promissed to buy 30.5 million phones over a four year period (just 7.6 million a year), DESPITE:
3) The fact that AT&T and Verizon sell about 24 million iPhones a year, which would be 116 million devices over the same four year period (as opposed to 30), and DESPITE:
4) The fact that it would immediately anger millions upon millions of customers who are currently locked into contracts with Verizon and / or AT&T but who would otherwise be eligible for early upgrades, and DESPITE:
5) The fact that it would massively alienate their current carrier partners.
It's just a stupid, STUPID story, with a capital 'S'.
Yeah but how else could Apple obtain 20 billion in cash, or sell 30 million iPhones?
I just don't see how Apple could do it without exclusing ATT and Verizon.
Very smart
I agree with every point of logic and common sense you wrote....
BUT we will see tomorrow morning....but in the meantime Sprint's stock took a dive
Yeah and meanwhile all my stocks went up today!
Hold on quick draw... keep in mind this is NOT an either or story, but a first to market (by about 6 months)story. Lets see, GUARANTEED sale of 30.5million phones from Sprint AND 6 months later NEAR GUARANTEED sales from ATT/Verizon .. in exchang I (apple) spend ~ 500 million on the inerds for sprint... VS just do LTE inerds and maybe later... on my own dime do Sprint. Seems pretty smart business decision by Apple, if true.
Explain to me how this helps Apple sell ONE MORE PHONE in the next 12 months than they would if they simply sold the iPhone to all three carriers? In fact, I'd love to see how Apple could sell as many phones in the next 12 months if Sprint had exclusivity over the next 3 months. It creates the SAME PROBLEM as Apple felt this year with Verizon users feeling they'd wait another "few months" before buying since it was just the "old" iPhone they were offered.
Why do we assume that this is a bad deal? Why don't we assume they have done the math and see it as a reasonable risk?
All that faith in one device. I'm not American so I do not know the specifics of the mobile network providers - but at last check, Sprint do not have that big a market share. Securing iPhones is clearly a way to grab market from the big boys Verizon and AT&T, but its a risky operation to put all that faith in only one phone. If Sprint said $20b to secure 30M HTC branded handsets we'd section them under the mental health act.
That being said, I do not believe Sprint could get an exclusive deal on the iPhone. Not only because Apple would be losing revenue, but also because if AT&T or Verizon heard this and were given the chance, they would easily beat Sprint's offer. Also it would make no sense for Apple to put the 4S on the 2 biggest carriers and the 5 on the smaller carrier. If it were the other way around it would be more believable. Also Apple would not sell man iPhone 4S's if people knew they could wait 6 months and get the iPhone 5.
So basically, I do not believe any of this at all.
Because its the deal.
Art of the negotiation.. sprint comes to Apple and says we need the iphone; Apple probable said... 'go pound sand'. ... 'errr... unless'.
Sprint was losing marketshare... what to do, what to do.
So as you point out, Apple alreadys knows they have the sales to Verizon and ATT, now or six months from now... so leverage Sprint to the hilt. Masterful... if true.
Unless? Unless WHAT?!? Unless you can guarantee you'll buy 1/5th the phones we would have sold without you? At no price premium? While we alienate 80% of our customers in the USA in the next 3 months? It's a good thing people on this forum don't run businesses.
Sprint may very well have committed to buying 20M phones in 4 years. But they didn't get any exclusivity.
I can believe a purchase commitment of 1.9 million per quarter.
I just think this exclusivity thing is baloney. Let's face it, for Sprint to lock exclusivity of the handset, they would basically need to guarantee any potential revenue loss from other carrier sales.
They don't have the resources. How much revenue is Apple recording from handset sales each quarter? $13 billion? $15 billion? A number which is destined to climb?
This exclusivity thing is a joke.
Are you saying is a Sprint Wimax iP5 MUST come out the same time as a Verizon and ATT LTE iP5?
IF your presumption is that the Sprint phone is LTE also, yes makes sense Apple would not delay ATT/Verizon iP5 just for Sprint. But what if they are not all 3 LTE? I know, I know, but what if?
Unless? Unless WHAT?!? Unless you can guarantee you'll buy 1/5th the phones we would have sold without you? At no price premium? While we alienate 80% of our customers in the USA in the next 3 months? It's a good thing people on this forum don't run businesses.
Sprint may very well have committed to buying 20M phones in 4 years. But they didn't get any exclusivity.
Are you saying is a Sprint Wimax iP5 MUST come out the same time as a Verizon and ATT LTE iP5?
IF your presumption is that the Sprint phone is LTE also, yes makes sense Apple would not delay ATT/Verizon iP5 just for Sprint. But what if they are not all 3 LTE? I know, I know, but what if?
People need to face the facts. There is a very slim chance any iPhone 5 on any carrier is coming out. We havent seen ANY parts to anything but the 4S. We have seen so much to prove there is an iPhone 4S and almost none on an iPhone 5. I believe what was thought to be an iPhone 5 is actually a 3G iPod touch in the works. The people probably saw a sim slot and thought iPhone right away, instead of thinking 3G iPod.
That being said, I do not believe Sprint could get an exclusive deal on the iPhone. Not only because Apple would be losing revenue, but also because if AT&T or Verizon heard this and were given the chance, they would easily beat Sprint's offer. Also it would make no sense for Apple to put the 4S on the 2 biggest carriers and the 5 on the smaller carrier. If it were the other way around it would be more believable. Also Apple would not sell man iPhone 4S's if people knew they could wait 6 months and get the iPhone 5.
So basically, I do not believe any of this at all.
What you say may be true if it is correct.
But for some on here its just having some fun speculationg back and forth... waste time at work
Guys, there is nothing 'cool', 'smart' or 'savvy' about this. A move like this would be, if Apple actually did it, one of THE most idiotic business moves of the year if not decade. That said, it's just a dumb idea and a really bizarro story that somebody dreamed up. Just think about it. In order to believe this is true, one has to accept that:
1) Apple would spend the last 16 months developing a new and groundbreaking design, and then intentionally tie it to a carrier who represents < 18% of the subscriber market in the US, AND:
2) That Apple would do this just because that carrier promissed to buy 30.5 million phones over a four year period (just 7.6 million a year), DESPITE:
3) The fact that AT&T and Verizon sell about 24 million iPhones a year, which would be 116 million devices over the same four year period (as opposed to 30), and DESPITE:
4) The fact that it would immediately anger millions upon millions of customers who are currently locked into contracts with Verizon and / or AT&T but who would otherwise be eligible for early upgrades, and DESPITE:
5) The fact that it would massively alienate their current carrier partners.
It's just a stupid, STUPID story, with a capital 'S'.
I agree with this 100%. The only way it makes sense is if this is like 3 months and then LTE comes out before Christmas on VATT. Even then, for all the reasons shown above, the exclusivity bit makes no sense.
If the rest of the world gets iPhone 5 with HSPA+ as one article I read alluded to, Apple's SKU count would skyrocket. Not what Apple is about.
iPhone is a world wide phone, not just a US phone. I was just in Japan for 3 weeks. I saw more iPhones in peoples' hands on the train, street car, subway, bus than I have ever seen before. Lots of Android too but a LOT of iPhones. Sprint would have to purchase 50-80 million IN ONE YEAR to make it financially worth while to Apple to give them an exclusive.
(And speaking of Japan -- Yodobashi Camera had like 3 or 4 aisles of iPhone accessories, covers, etc. All sorts of things I had not seen before as well. Wish we had that sort of store in the US)
Typical Appleinsider news story
1. Read article on the web
2. Add a bit of context
3. Profit
Wish I thought of that first!
Not everyone read every single news websites out there so nothing wrong with this.
What you say may be true if it is correct.
But for some on here its just having some fun speculationg back and forth... waste time at work
You guys remind me of that scene from Family Guy where the donkey keeps insisting that Kevin Bacon wasn't in Footloose.
Remind you of anything, oh, 15 years ago? How about this:
Microsoft to Dell: "Sure you can sell Windows, but you have to install it on every pc that goes out the door."
In both cases, the reseller (Sprint and Dell) are "highly encouraged" to sell your product at the expense of any other competitor product, because they have to buy such a large quantity that it basically accounts for everything they can sell.
Yeah and meanwhile all my stocks went up today!
Actually... S did take an extra >8% bite over T and VZ.
What you say may be true if it is correct.
But for some on here its just having some fun speculationg back and forth... waste time at work
Ya i know its good to have something to think and speculate about (especially the iPhone), I was just saying my thoughts on it all.
Of course I too have been thinking hard as to what will actually happen tomorrow, and that is what I came up with. A little part of me still has some hope, and that little part of me hopes that Apple does something that just leaves us all with our mouths wide open...
Maybe like 'here is the new iPhone 4S'....blah blah blah and goes on for awhile about iOS5 and all that. Then at the end Steve Jobs comes out and says 'Oh and 1 more thing....here is the iPhone 5 with the same specs as the 4S for those of you who want a bigger screen. And we mananged to keep the retina display too!"
^That would be so awesome. One can only hope for something like that though
Since the introduction of the iPhone it became immediately clear that mobile phone services were about to change drastically. First the iPhone introduced Visual Voicemail. A replacement for a succesful service then provided by carriers as an add on for which you had to pay extra. Visual Voicemail actually brought the data to your phone, which could be done by wireless connections as wel...
Then came the apps.. such as WhatsApp diminishing lucrative SMS services.
And Skype was among them, artificially prohibited on 3G networks but clearly capable in delivering mobile telephony at a fraction of the cost. At a certain point the iPod Touch became a serious alternative for having low cost telecommunication through local wireless networks.
Now... my guess is that the future of mobile telephony is internet only. Sure we need frequencies for that, but as long as carriers are not willing to ditch lucrative old fashioned services, Apple is not capable of innovating towards their (I guess unknown) vision.
So in order to improve this it might be an excellent strategy to team up with a carrier who has the guts and despair to innovate alongside Apple, who is large enough to gain traction and put competition in quality service back again for the top carriers. I'd say Apple single handedly is protecting competitiveness among the largest carriers. And I wish Sprint success in their desperate but bold jump back in the race. They might prove to be Apple worthy partners really innovating the telcom industry.
People need to face the facts. There is a very slim chance any iPhone 5 on any carrier is coming out. We havent seen ANY parts to anything but the 4S. We have seen so much to prove there is an iPhone 4S and almost none on an iPhone 5. I believe what was thought to be an iPhone 5 is actually a 3G iPod touch in the works. The people probably saw a sim slot and thought iPhone right away, instead of thinking 3G iPod.
That being said, I do not believe Sprint could get an exclusive deal on the iPhone. Not only because Apple would be losing revenue, but also because if AT&T or Verizon heard this and were given the chance, they would easily beat Sprint's offer. Also it would make no sense for Apple to put the 4S on the 2 biggest carriers and the 5 on the smaller carrier. If it were the other way around it would be more believable. Also Apple would not sell man iPhone 4S's if people knew they could wait 6 months and get the iPhone 5.
So basically, I do not believe any of this at all.
I too believe that the tear drop or wedge shaped cases floating around are for the 3G iPod Touch. Correct me if I'm wrong but if the next iPhone is to get an 8 Mpixel camera, that lens would be too thick to fit in the new case.
In spite of the ludicrousy of the idea that Sprint would have the iPhone5 exclusively for four years I do think it sounds logical.
Maybe Sprint is getting the 4S models exclusively and Verizon and ATT get the iPhone 5
If BGR is correct, the reverse will be true. Sprint will get a six month exclusive on the 5, and the other two will get the 4S for six months.
I can see how that could happen if they still aren't able to ramp up production of the iPhone 5 at this point. But then I have to wonder what the hell could the iPhone 5 have in that would require nearly 2 years from the iPhone 4 release before it can be released completely.