T-Mobile may finally get iPhone in 2013, analyst says

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile could use a sales agreement from its parent company Deutsche Telekom AG to carry Apple's iPhone on its network sometime in 2013 which may help the network turn around slumping profits.

In a note to investors on Tuesday, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett said Apple and Deutsche Telekom are ?increasingly likely? to strike a deal for T-Mobile to offer the iPhone in the U.S. next year, reports Bloomberg.

The iPhone may help T-Mobile retain lucrative post-paid or contract customers after the telecom lost 510,000 monthly subscribers in the first quarter. Contrasting the massive loss was a combined 688,000 gained customers seen by iPhone-carrying networks AT&T and Verizon over the same period. In February T-Mobile blamed a fourth quarter 2011 loss of 706,000 contract customers on not having access to Apple's smartphone.

?IPhone (sic) availability at T-Mobile USA would likely reduce contract losses at that company, and push Deutsche Telekom U.S. to a net revenue growth position much sooner than the market expects,? Moffett wrote.

T-Mobile was originally looking to bring Apple's handset over to its network as part of a merger with the nation's second-largest carrier AT&T, though the agreement fell through in December. As a result of the breakup AT&T was forced to give Deutsche Telekom $3 billion in cash along with a transfer of $1 billion worth of spectrum to the German company's U.S. arm.

With the additional bandwidth T-Mobile plans to upgrade its network to iPhone-compatible 4G HSPA+ by expanding operations in the 1900MHz spectrum. Tuesday's report is consistent with the carrier's expansion plans and solves the frequency issues that former CEO Philipp Humm referred to as the "key reason" why the company doesn't currently offer the iPhone.

T-Mobile
T-Mobile's Bellevue, Wash. headquarters. | Source: SeattlePi


A deal to sell the iPhone through an agreement with T-Mobile's parent company would be a change to Apple's normal operating procedures as the Cupertino tech giant usually makes first-party agreements with carriers. For example, the recent addition of the iPhone on Sprint's network was a $15.5 billion commitment for the telecom. It was reported in June that, while AT&T and Verizon retained the most iPhone customers, Sprint gained the most switchers using Apple's handset.

Representatives from both Apple and T-Mobile declined to comment and no official statement regarding the situation has been issued.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    bwinskibwinski Posts: 164member
    HA!!!!!

    They've been getting the iPhone since 1966...

    A COMPLETE LIE.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    dagamer34dagamer34 Posts: 494member


    Phillip Humm is no longer the CEO of T-Mobile.

  • Reply 3 of 15
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Seems most likely, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got it this year either. Frankly I couldn't care less about T-Mobile USA but can't wait for Apple to announce China Mobile getting the iPhone.
  • Reply 4 of 15
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Why do they have their name plastered on the building so many times in such a small area?
  • Reply 5 of 15


    That is a campus with more than one building.

  • Reply 6 of 15
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GadgetMan View Post


    That is a campus with more than one building.



    So is my college, but they don't plaster the name of the university on every one of their buildings.

  • Reply 7 of 15
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    gadgetman wrote: »
    That is a campus with more than one building.

    And this is a forum with more than one member. I'm confused now.
  • Reply 8 of 15
    amajohamajoh Posts: 1member


    Too little, too late. I just switched from T-Mobile's crappy service to AT&T to get the iPhone. I got tired of waiting and paying for a service that never worked.

  • Reply 9 of 15
    hkzhkz Posts: 190member


    I seriously hope so. I checked about switching from AT&T to Verizon, and Verizon's prices for data are pretty offensive. They want $50 for 1 gigabyte of data a month. That's offensively ridiculous. I get 4 gigs of data with tethering on AT&T for $45. There's no way in hell I'm going to switch to them with that ridiculousness. Hopefully T-Mobile gets the next iPhone because I can't stand AT&T and their piss poor coverage.

  • Reply 10 of 15
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    hkz wrote: »
    I seriously hope so. I checked about switching from AT&T to Verizon, and Verizon's prices for data are pretty offensive. They want $50 for 1 gigabyte of data a month. That's offensively ridiculous. I get 4 gigs of data with tethering on AT&T for $45. There's no way in hell I'm going to switch to them with that ridiculousness. Hopefully T-Mobile gets the next iPhone because I can't stand AT&T and their piss poor coverage.

    Are you sure about that? That doesn't seem accurate to me.


    edit1: They want $50 per month on contract for an iPhone they are subsidizing by several hundred dollars. For $50 you get 1GB of data, unlimited text, talk and tethering.

    238

    Your $45 on AT&T is only for the data portion of the plan. For $70 you get 4GB which includes unlimited text, talk and tethering. How much is AT&T for 4GB with tethering, no text and the lowest available talk?


    edit2: 450 minutes (with Rollover) and only 3GB data with no text messages are $70 a month on AT&T for the iPhone under contract. Verizon's plans are looking pretty damn good.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    markbyrnmarkbyrn Posts: 661member


    At this rate, MetroPCS will get the iPhone before T-Mobile


     


    T-Mobile-Fail.png

  • Reply 12 of 15


    The 70$ is just for your data on Verizon's plans. 


     


    Your iPhone 4S requires a 40$ access fee, which is the portion that includes unlimited text, data, and minutes, which is added to the shared data plan. 


     


    the total cost of your iphone service with the 4GB plan is 110$ plus tax, with 15$ overage per GB. Note the fine print.


     


     VZDataPlan.JPG

  • Reply 13 of 15

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    Are you sure about that? That doesn't seem accurate to me.

    edit1: They want $50 per month on contract for an iPhone they are subsidizing by several hundred dollars. For $50 you get 1GB of data, unlimited text, talk and tethering.

    238

    Your $45 on AT&T is only for the data portion of the plan. For $70 you get 4GB which includes unlimited text, talk and tethering. How much is AT&T for 4GB with tethering, no text and the lowest available talk?

    edit2: 450 minutes (with Rollover) and only 3GB data with no text messages are $70 a month on AT&T for the iPhone under contract. Verizon's plans are looking pretty damn good.


    LOL guess what? That is totally wrong. They charge $40 PER SMARTPHONE for each plan, so that's $50 a month plus $40 a month for the iPhone = $90 a month. Don't believe me? Pretend-buy an iPhone for Verizon for yourself.

  • Reply 14 of 15
    hkzhkz Posts: 190member

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post

    Are you sure about that? That doesn't seem accurate to me.


     


    edit1: They want $50 per month on contract for an iPhone they are subsidizing by several hundred dollars. For $50 you get 1GB of data, unlimited text, talk and tethering.


    238


     


    Your $45 on AT&T is only for the data portion of the plan. For $70 you get 4GB which includes unlimited text, talk and tethering. How much is AT&T for 4GB with tethering, no text and the lowest available talk?


     


    edit2: 450 minutes (with Rollover) and only 3GB data with no text messages are $70 a month on AT&T for the iPhone under contract. Verizon's plans are looking pretty damn good.



     


    It's completely accurate. My plan on AT&T with 450 minutes (of which I use less than half every month), unlimited text, and 4gb of data with tethering. Costs me about $80 a month. For over $110 I get three less gigs of data on a much slower network, you missed the part about being charged a flat $40 fee a month for a smartphone. 1gb of data for $50 a month is a f-ing joke. Verizon can sit and spin with that kind of BS, I don't care how reliable their network is. Not to mention that's shared data, or a really shitty deal all around. I don't need unlimited talk, I don't use it and my voice plan on AT&T is $5 more expensive, but my data is $5 less expensive for four times as much. Also, if you go over your allotted data on AT&T it's $10 a gigbyte, it's $15 a gigabyte on Verizon. Their deal is ridiculously awful, more expensive for less and it's shared so if you have more than one person on a plan it effectively ruins what data you can use. Verizon was attractive until this BS came out, they'll never have me as a customer with that crap.

  • Reply 15 of 15
    sr2012sr2012 Posts: 896member
    The T-Mobile ads will read, "Party like it's 2007!"
Sign In or Register to comment.