“Cingular Wireless is expected to provide wireless service for a new Apple Computer Inc. cellphone, people familiar with the situation say,” Li Yuan and Nick Wingfield report for The Wall Street Journal.
Yuan and Wingfield report, “The launch of the new phone and service is expected to be announced as early as Tuesday, these people say.
“The new product could give Apple access to the huge wireless business, in which nearly a billion handsets are shipped every year, dwarfing the nearly 70 million iPods Apple has sold over the past five years,” Yuan and Wingfield report. “Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment on ‘rumor and speculation’ when asked about the Cingular-Apple phone deal. A Cingular spokesman also declined to comment.”
Full article (subscription required) here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MadMac” for the heads up.]
The Wall Street Journal is usually quite accurate when it comes to these just-before-the-keynote articles. There is nothing in the article that says the deal with Cingular is exclusive (and, therefore, no exclusivity time frame, either). There is also no information about whether the deal is for an Apple MVNO* or not.
*Mobile Virtual Network Operator: a company that buys network capacity from a network operator to offer its own branded mobile service(s).
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Cingular is not only the obvious choice;
Cingular is the only choice Apple could make.
Verizon and Sprint networks are closed and only work in the U.S.A.
An Apple phone has to be a worldwide usable phone.
A Global Capable Phone means No Verizon and No Sprint.
Also all the talk about locked phones: All Verizon and All Sprint Phones are Locked;
both because they run propietary closed networks that are not interoperable with anybody elses;
and, because a Verizon phone only works on a Verizon network; and there are no Verizon compatible networks:
outside of the U.S.A.
Since the Apple phone is not going to be tied to a closed — MSFT lackey — network;
Apple only had to choices: Cincular or T-Mobile;
T-Mobile is a no-frills provider that doesn’t have a modern data network for broadband over cellular signals;
Thus my fellow Apple fans there was zero choice for Apple.
Until the day that T-Mobile rolls out a 3G network similar to Cingular’s;
and until the day Sprint and Verizon embrace international standard GSM technology;
Apple can only use Cingular in the U.S.
Elsewhere in the world you will be able to use Apple’s phones will all sorts of GSM networks;
which is all that exist out there.
Embrace the future.
Leave behind the obsolete closed propietary network.
Get an Apple cell phone and go Global GSM Tech.
Don’t be afraid. Your grandchildren will find it funny to hear it took you this long to get with the progra,.
Reminder: It was the WSJ that broke the news about Apple’s move to Intel.
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/5829/
I think Steve gives old Walt Mossberg a call and says “Hey Walt, want a little news?”
Why?
1) it preps the media to really pay attention to Macworld
2) it helps Mossberg out. Who in turn will help Steve out at a time to be later discussed
When Steve announced the switch to Intel at WWDC’05, He didn’t seem to hide from the rumors, rather, embrased them. His normal MO would be to flip out at a leak. Ask the guys at ThinkSecret about that.
There’s a very simple reason why Verizon will never have this phone. ITMS competes with Verizon’s services. They’d cripple Bluetooth to the point that it’s worthless, they’ll charge you for any photos you send and they’ll want to put their crappy UI on it like they do every other phone they sell. I can’t imagine Apple living under those conditions just to get the phone on Verizon.
This means I get to start lobbying hard for Cingular to put another tower in my neighborhood.
The WSJ also isn’t People Magazine. It’s read by serious types (arguably, at least).
Well sh*t. If it is an exclusive Cingular deal, I guess I won’t be getting one damn it. 🙁 Cingular absolutely sucks.
@ Investor
Indeed. Not to mention those people who ran some video card company – what was their name again?
I’m with Cingular, too, so perhaps I’ll see what the “upgrade” costs are, should this turn out to be true.
Won’t get much work done tomorrow…
Chris: If you mean that you don’t call people from home because you’re phone is too frustrating, try something else like Skype. I’ve used it before and it works great. It’s also cheap.
As far as carriers go, I use Cricket. It’s not available in all 50 states, but there are other companies that offer the same thing – unlimited airtime for a reasonable price.
Heh, it’s funny now to read the comments under that original WSJ Intel rumor. A ship the leaks from the top, indeed.
Typhoon, I checked the Cricket we site. Sounds pretty good (how’s the service and qualtiy?) but coverage is still pretty limited. As they expand, I would expect their rates will also go up as Sprint’s did when it was still a new network. I need the Los Angeles area and am frequently in one part of Alaska. So roaming would likely have to be added at some point. Interesting though. I hope they can keep growing and provide good competition to the big names.
Before Christmas, Cingular announced plans to be a new customer service facility here in eastern Iowa. The first thing I thought of was the “iPhone”, but discounted it because people seemed to be sure it was Sprint that would get the phone. The facility is not scheduled to open until July and would employ up to 500 people. Will just have to see what tomorrow offers.
http://tinyurl.com/y42tnp
WHAT ABOUT CANADA AND THE UK? ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT LIKE WITH EVERYTHING ELSE? STILL CAN’T BUY TV SHOWS ON ITUNES!
WHAT ABOUT CANADA AND THE UK? ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT LIKE WITH EVERYTHING ELSE? STILL CAN’T BUY TV SHOWS ON ITUNES!
WHAT ABOUT CANADA AND THE UK? ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT LIKE WITH EVERYTHING ELSE? STILL CAN’T BUY TV SHOWS ON ITUNES!
Bummer. I fled both Cingular and Verizon. I am with Sprint. Though I love the idea of iPhone, I certainly will not leave Sprint for the device. I hope Sprint obtains the phone at some point.
The only way Apple will do this is with MVNO. With all there Apple stores and they can’t let Cingular screw it up…. MVNO is the only way unless there some super special plan only for the Apple phone that Cingular will sell
David, scroll up and read Edison Gates post. It will explain why Apple will not partner with Sprint.
I’ve never seen a wireless company so capable at lobotomizing the native functionality of a phone like Verizon — all so you can buy crappy ringback tones, wallpaper, and their other garbage. What they do to high-end phones is absolutely criminal.
As such, they’d be the perfect partner for Microsoft when MS decides it really does need to copy Apple once again.
Now, if Apple released an iPhone with Bootcamp Mobile, I could really go for that. My frickin’ company requires that our “smart”phones run Windows Mobile 5.
i don’t understand all this talk about locked phones.
in belgium, and most of europe ALL phones are unlocked, so i couldn’t care less (except that unlike u, i will have to pay the full price)
i doubt the deal with cingular will have any impact on the phone itself.
I read that MDN link above from ‘Invester’ and it is indeed interesting to read the comments at that time. And proof is there for all to see that MDN attracts very interesting, and correct, inputs.
How about this post for example:
“Comment: From: Insider May 23, 05 – 07:55 am
Mac OS X on Intel runs since beta versions of OS X 10.0.0″
A thowaway comment that was absolutely right.
Today, I predict many people are going to be thrilled.
And many people are going to be disappointed.
And the only sure thing, is ChrissyOne badly needing sleep later today.
Ahhh GSM is only more widespread due to illegal European industrial policy. The EU govts actively block ‘not-invented-here’ technology (against WTO commitments to the contrary)… ETSI has also been caught red-handed in this type of activity….
This would explain why the networks in Europe are hugely expensive & service lacking (I lived in London for many years & traveled around Europe, CIS & Russia extensively)….
No big minute bundles for low prices, no unlimited free nights & weekends, no unlimited mobile-to-mobile in-network calling, and no free roaming over the same geograpohic area Americans enjoy (from New York to Hawaii for free? Not in Europe!) This is why the mobile carriers became the subject of an EU investigation along w/ raids of the mobile carriers offices. Mario Monti, head of the EU Competition Comission was quoted in the Financial Times as saying; “Why are Europeans paying 10 times what Americans pay for mobile service?”
This is b/c in the USA, we embrace TECHNOLOGY COMPETITION. So there isn’t the appearance of pricing collusion by the mobile industry….
Hey Edison Gates,
How is closed, proprietary GSM (it is proprietary as the IPR hurdles for manufacturers is quite steep), that is 18 YEARS old somehow the future?
GSM is a creaky old technology. The GSM community had to embrace CDMA, something Verizon & Sprint already had, but due to the European insistence on trying to re-invent it (as WCDMA/HSDPA), have found themselves YEARS behind the times and still only ONE THIRD as effcient as the real CDMA Sprint & Verizon use.
CDMA2000 EV/DO transmits as much data in 1.25 MHz of spectrum as HSDPA/WCDMA transmits in 5 MHz…
So how is such an inefficient PIG of a technology the future?
Sorry, the future is WiMAX…. In case you missed it, both Samsung & Nokia have announced agreements w/ Sprint to roll out a national WiMAX network… Samsung has just shown over the past couple of days, phones that support WiMAX and CDMA2000 EV/DO in one handset. Nokia announced as part of their deal to develop WiMAX handsets and help promote global WiMAX roaming….
Get you head out of the past….
NOOOOOO!!!!
I’m so sad.
🙁
if you use cell phones long enough you will flee all brands at least once.
Sprint – Used to drop calls like crazy.
T-Mobile – I really liked everything about them, except their shitty coverage.
Verizon – WFT do you mean I have to email photos to my self to get them off the phone.
Cingular – never used them, but they are next in line.
Sounds like Edison Gates was correct after all.
Must be the fault of them illegal European Know Nothings.
Maybe Verizon still has a chance with Microsoft’s Zune 2.0 AKA “the squirt phone”
Hey Ballmer: I’ll Squirt you a busy signal — it expires in three days.