“The problem is that these rumors have been circulating almost as long as the actual iPhone itself,” Siegler reports. “And the WSJ report isn’t exactly a slam dunk by only citing the ever-anonymous ‘people briefed by the company.’ But, more so than ever, the timing does appear to be right for Apple to break its AT&T exclusivity… Apple is also giving AT&T a nice little present in the form of the iPad.”
Siegler writes, “Perhaps Apple is dangling the iPad and early access to the iPhone HD as signs of good faith towards AT&T. Maybe they want the carrier to know that even though the time of exclusivity is coming to an end, they intend to give them certain perks in exchange for keeping the same terms of their current deal.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JES42” for the heads up.]
I have a parting gift for AT&T;right here!
Plausibile
I’ll believe it when Steve says it.
“I’ll believe it when Steve says it.”
– What if Steve tells you to hunker down buddy?
Rumors are killing journalism. These analyst don’t understand the culture of Apple and are willing to say certain things to make stock prices go up.
Kenneth Saunders III:
Rumors are gossip. Gossip is usually unsubstantiated. Gossip is food for the brainless.
They usually perpetuate it to extreme. Think Different ? How about just use your friggin’ brains, period B?
Apple is not going to make a separate phone for Verizon.
Their contract will stay exclusive till 2011, when both ATT and Verizon will be rolling out their new LTE 4G networks.
THEN Apple will make a phone that will work on BOTH networks.
This has been part of Apple’s plan from way back; it’s obvious when you look back at how very well planned and laid out this all is. None of this is fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thinking.
Verizon is not an issue for Apple. They make one phone radio – for GSM. They sell it worldwide. Why generate a new phone model just to pick up a relatively few stragglers in the U.S. When Verizon adopts GSM, they’ll get the iPhone.
Oh, come on!
Siegler mocks WSJ’s ” ever-anonymous ‘people briefed by the company.'”, and then the best he can come up with is
“..the timing does appear to be right…” and
“Perhaps Apple is…”
MDN, I love your site and the information I get, but do we really need to print every single “It might be that Apple….” article that appears on the net? We can google “Apple” as well as you if we want all the raw crap.
We come to you for MacDailyNEWS.
No, it is not true. period.
Just deliberate rumor milling from Vodaphone who is asking to get money our of Verizon Wireless who is still paying back the debt for purchasing alltel.
It is also deliverate rumor milling from Verizon Wireless and others to try and take some wind out of the iPad sales this weekend that have everybody excited.
I state facts, ladies and gents.
@rwahrens
Unless they use the hybrid CDMA/GSM chips that Qualcomm has developed.
Verizon won’t get the iPhone this year, and frankly given their lunatic control freak attitude, I do not expect them to get the iPhone while the current leadership remains in charge of tge wireless company.
Similar to how Disney did not settle things with Pixar until Eisner was gone.
@Macromancer
I agree. I simply doesn’t make sense to make a niche iPhone for just one company in one country – especially when that company has been so openly hostile to Apple.
The only explanation that might make sense to me were if Apple could make one universal iPhone that works on GSM and CDMA. That single model could then be sold globally and used on virtually any network.
The only people who believe Apple will make a iPhone using dead end technology are the ones stuck with Verizon or too stubborn to switch. Apple will NOT make a Verizon phone until Verizon changes hardware AND philosophy!
People need to stop thinking of LTE as the end-all. Verizon won’t have LTE rolled out system-wide for years. So, even in 2011, a ‘Verizon LTE’ iPhone will have to have a CDMA radio (combo) to work on the Verizon network. It will take some time for an LTE-only radio to work nationwide.
I don’t think the CDMA iPhone (if it exists) will be for Verizon, either, as they would have to do quite an about-face to open things up that much this quickly.
Rumors? Stocks? Aren’t there 12-step groups for that nonsense?
It would be very un-Apple of Apple to go CDMA. No internet+call functionality alone speaks to this let alone the limited global access.
I’m really getting sick of these “journalists” spouting here say and calling it news. Here’s an article: The WSJ Employs Hacks, say “some people briefed by the company.”
The CDMA iPhone is for Apple Wireless, formerly known as Sprint. No other carriers need apply.
When the rumors surface to a top story on the Wall Street Journal, they are usually credible. Verizon is getting the iPhone, probably this year.
Apple is not inclined to chase sales and market share at any cost. Apple has plans, both short term and long term, and it has the patience to allow those plans to manifest over a period of years. Apple is not going to produce a CDMA phone. Apple may market the GSM iPhone to other U.S. cellular carriers if those carriers can provide comparable or superior features and service. The talk or data approach won’t meet Apple’s standards.
Wishing won’t make it so. The iPhone will be AT&T until Apple decides that carrier diversification is the right thing to do. Apple is not hurting for cash, and has no reason to take unwarranted risks or pursue an unwise strategy for short term growth at any cost.