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RUMOR: Apple iPhone heading to Verizon, other U.S. carriers in 2009?

Monday, September 29, 2008 · 10:06 am · 38 Comments

“We’ve fielded a couple of tips (some more sketchy than others) about EVDO iPhones floating around Cupertino in the past, but today’s tipster seems a little bit more sure of himself. Besides having some Verizon insider credentials, he seems to know way too much about Verizon-Apple politics. According to him, Apple will be announcing iPhones for Verizon Wireless in 2009, perhaps as early Macworld 2009. Negotiations between Apple and Verizon are ongoing but they expect to hammer out agreements by the end of the year,” Cleve Nettles reports for 9 to 5 Mac.

“The number one reason people think AT&T is the only US carrier that Apple will visit is because a couple of falsely reported rumors by USA Today that “revealed” Apple has signed exclusivity deals with AT&T,” Nettles reports. “Depending on whether you trust the original article which said it would be five years or the latest article which says two years, or any of the other speculation out there (CNN says 2009), nothing public has ever been uncovered that has specified the length of AT&T-Apple exclusivity deals, if one exists. A Macworld 2009 launch would put the AT&T-Apple exclusivity at 18 months, WWDC 2009 would be 2 years.”

Nettles reports, “There is no reason why Apple wouldn’t also be chatting with Sprint and T-mobile about possible deals as well.”

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Comment Feed

38 Comments

« Previous 1 2

Mac_ATTY

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:29 pm · Reply

Isn’t Verizon supposed to be switching its network to GSM or some new 4G technology that is compatible to GSM? I don’t see why an EVDO version of the iPhone would be necessary in that case.

I switched to AT&T;after 5 years with Verizon for the iPhone. I don’t miss Verizon at ALL. I’m getting a much better deal with AT&T;and the service is just as good… one exception, AT&T;doesn’t work in Atlanta or DC subways like VZ, but otherwise its just as good.
R2

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:39 pm · Reply

Oh baby, I’ll leave ATT and literally run to Verizon for the CDMA iPhone if it’s true.

EV-DO coverage in America is so much more mature than HSDPA. I could have 3G everywhere and the signal would be strong so it wouldn’t drain the battery as bad.

Hinges on whether it’s the same phone, however, and doesn’t have WiFi and the App Store gutted for Verizon’s VCast crapola. It wouldn’t be the first time Steve sold out to grow the iPhone business. That’s why a Verizon iPhone is no longer the impossibility we once thought it was. Steve wants to sell phones.
R2

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 12:42 pm · Reply

RIM must be quaking in fear. The iPhone being stuck on ATT with no CDMA version was to be one of their big advantages over the next two years. America is their biggest market afterall.
mastahkevin

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 1:17 pm · Reply

I switched from TMo to ATT about 6 months ago. I should have stuck with TMo. I got full coverage w/ TMo and now get next to nothing w/ ATT. I hate their services and their client relations (or lack thereof). Verizon wouldn’t be much better in my neighborhood either. TMo seems to be the only option. Why oh why did I switch…oh yeah…it was because I eventually wanted to go the route of a cool phone (which TMo always lacked). Why doth thou curse me so oh gods of cell phone land?
Lilochris

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 1:29 pm · Reply

Please Bring iPhone to T-Mobile!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the only reason why I haven’t changed yet. I love iPhone, I like T-mobile, I hate AT&T;.

WHat to do. I wait it out. By the time there’s a T-Mobile Deal, iPhone may be cheaper & have larger capacities/ battery life.

I would just hate getting an iPhone now with AT&T;and a month or 2 later, they make an announcement have delivering it to all carriers.

Do it Apple, You Won’t go Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!
iPhone Guy

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 1:44 pm · Reply

AT&T;is greed but Verizon is the worst. Having a Verizon phone means an ATM machine for Verizon, you cannot run any 3rd party app. Any app or service from Verizon costs a lot of money. I don’t think Verizon will allow free apps on iPhone if look at their behavior with other phones.
Paying AT&T;$70 a month is also too much for me. The best strategy is,
• Buy iPod touch for Wifi web, music, pictures, etc.
• Keep your cheap phone and plan with the popular LifeInPocket for those cool and practical services includes those iPhone cannot do, for example Navigation by voice and Location Messaging.

This way will give you the best of both world. Fancy “I” device to show off while have a real phone, real application and real mobile services that really work.
the magic man

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 2:18 pm · Reply

there’s a conflict of issues here. It’s called iTunes and rhapsody. Verizon is in bed with rhapsody and would be taking away sales if they have itunes. No way I mean no way will apple give into that. It’s all about the music service option ok the phone that’s where they really make their money.
alansky

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 2:20 pm · Reply

Those bastards at Verizon tried to hold me up for the full $175 early cancellation fee when I cancelled my contract just six weeks before its expiration date to buy an iPhone. Verizon now offers pro-rated early termination fees for new customers, but not for long-time customers like me. That’s outrageous. I didn’t give them a penny.

Whatever deficiencies AT&T;can be accused of, don’t kid yourselves that Verizon is even one iota better. They’re not.
R2

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 2:22 pm · Reply

I don’t know, iPhone Guy. Doesn’t Verizon allow RIM and Windows Mobile customers to put third party software on their phones?

Verizon may be able to pull that lockdown shit with regular phones but if they don’t allow smartphone ecosystems to exist on their network, they’ll get left behind. So I don’t see why they’d object to the App Store.

Smartphones are still a relatively small portion of the market and the growth, while good, is not rapid. So Verizon will need to count on raping regular phone customers with their overpriced VCast mess and rape smartphone customers with data and voice plans. They can’t stop the smartphone revolution taking place, however.
burlow

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 2:26 pm · Reply

I was always a verizon guy until the iphone came….then i grudgingly switched, only to find out 3G is the only network that lets you browse the web and make a phone call at the same time. A feature that will keep me away from verizon until EVDO supports it.

who would browse the web while talking? I had to pull my account information once while making a credit card payment over the phone.
Mr. Peabody

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 2:40 pm · Reply

Not that have one microgram of love for Verizon, but it’s the only cellular service I can get around here, so yeah, make an EVDO iPhone and I’ll go to my local Verizon store, bribe them into selling me one of the pretty iPhones on their product list, and ultimately, I’ll be a happier camper.
Mr. Peabody

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 2:53 pm · Reply

@R2,

I appreciate your sentiments, but don’t forget that Verizon has the single largest coverage in the nation, and as a result they pretty much do whatever they want to, including locking out as much or as little functionality of specific devices as they see fit. Verizon is notorious for blocking about 90% of all Blue Tooth functionality from the “smart phones” that it represents. I like to think that Apple would be a much tougher partner with Verizon in this regard, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I wonder if the whole App-Store paradigm is one thing that kept Verizon at arm’s length if/when Apple originally offered the iPhone to them.

Bottom line, Verizon customer service: Very polite on the telephone, total ass-holes in the store. (Not necessarily including the franchise stores where we usually go just to get more friendly and workable sales reps.)
RamaFan

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 4:07 pm · Reply

Please, please, please let there be an iPhone for T-Mobile in the future. Not only does T-Mobile not have iPhone they traditionally have crappy phones, for the most part anyway.
mutatio

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 5:02 pm · Reply

Isn’t this also a tech issue? Even if an iPhone is released for only a US capable phone, the last I read there are issues w/ how Verizon handles 3G. i.e.-Can’t send and receive data while taking a call. If this is the case I can’t see Apple hamstringing its phone for half ass performance. They’d have to have Verizon commercials where you could only do one thing at a time! lol
JohnnyRespect

Monday, September 29, 2008 - 10:48 pm · Reply

What shoes is the author of this article smoking???
Wireless Exec

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 8:49 am · Reply

@LeftCoastDude

I always love people who feel the need to display their total misunderstanding on topics…

The ONLY reason why GSM travels is due to an ILLEGAL European Industrial Policy that BLOCKED CDMA from Europe (it violates the WTO agreement on telecoms, but the EU always agrees to things & then simply chooses to ignore what it doesn’t like)!

I should know, I tried to get CDMA accepted as a standard in that sham of a standards body, ETSI…. GSM is creaky 20+ year old technology… why do you think it makes other devices buzz whenever you put it near a landline or cordless phone, or your Mac, or TV??? Never mind pacemakers & hearing aids! And to think you’re putting that pulsating high power transmit signal next to your head!

The lack of competing technology standards is why they pay drastically more for cell phone service and pay outrageous roaming fees for traveling around countries the sizes of our states! The entire EU is only about ⅓ the size of the USA…. Yet I can go to Hawaii, ~6,000 miles from NYC & not pay any roaming fees or long distance (and get free nights & weekends to boot!)…. So what do you get when you travel w/ GSM, the honor of paying $8/minute roaming fees? (I’ve paid way more than even that in some countries)

Besides, a CDMA phone can roam to Japan, South Korea, China, New Zealand, etc, etc. Verizon just never put much emphasis on international roaming…
Wireless Exec

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 8:51 am · Reply

@Burlow..

You CAN use EV/DO while on a call…. Depends on the phone… Depending on chipset, some phones allow simultaneous access to the 3G EV/DO carrier while also allowing access to the 1X carrier for voice.
Ben Dover

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - 9:00 am · Reply

YAY!!!!!

PLEASE Apple, free me from this HORRIBLE 3rd rate network!!!!

I have iPhone/AT&T;in the NYC Metro area and it SUCKS! AT&T;is so pathetic they can’t even keep a call up, let alone prevent ‘robo-voice’ on major interstates here in NJ… The MOST DENSELY populated state in the nation… Now THATS pretty pathetic…

I was on Verizon for YEARS and have not had these kinds of problems in YEARS…. I actually had a call drop 6 TIMES on both I-287 & NJ 24…. (NJ 24 is an artery into I-78 & the Holland Tunnel)

I guess I’m not alone as AT&T;is consistently ranked DEAD LAST, or second to last in each region of the country for network quality according to BOTH Consumer Reports & JD Powers…

For all you people complaining about Verizon’s pricing…. you get what you pay for…. why do you defend Apple’s pricing for a better product but not Verizon? Little bit of a double standard???

I want my Verizon 3G EV/DO iPhone!!!!!!