“Movie studios and record labels have bent to Apple. But in the end, Apple bent to Cingular with a multi-year, exclusive US contract for an entire line of different iPhone models, Glenn Lurie, Cingular’s president of national distribution told journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2007) today,” Sascha Segan reports for PC Magazine.
Segan reports, “When asked about a give-and-take leading to the Apple-Cingular partnership, Lurie said, ‘I’m not sure we gave anything.’ Later, he commented, ‘I think they bent a lot.’ That bending included allowing the phone to be locked to Cingular…”
“The contract covers ‘all models’ of the iPhone, including several other devices in the works that may be ‘coming out very quickly,’ Lurie said. His comment addressed in part a criticism that the iPhone doesn’t use Cingular’s new high-speed HSDPA network,” Segan reports.
Segan reports, “That isn’t true worldwide, as Cingular only exists in the US. Apple is free to seek other partners for global distribution, he said. And Apple is also free to build other iPods without phone capability that won’t be sold through Cingular—though he was unclear on whether a Wi-Fi only version of the iPhone would fall under Cingular’s thumb.
“While ‘there are bad guys out there that unlock phones,’ Lurie said, Apple and Cingular are taking unspecified steps to make the phone more difficult to unlock and use on other GSM carriers in the US,” Segan reports.
Segan reports, “The phone will be sold exclusively through Apple and Cingular stores, Apple and Cingular’s Web sites and Cingular’s direct-mail unit, Lurie said. It will not be available through indirect retailers, the ‘Joe’s cell phone shop’ you see on every street corner—though Apple is free to go to big-box stores like Target and Wal-Mart, Lurie said.”
More in the full article here.
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Something tells me Steve isn’t going to be thrilled with the exact wording of this statement. Sometimes it’s just better to STFU, Mr. Lurie!
Any bets that after those comments Apple WON’T be renewing the agreement after it expires!!!!
Kinda sounds like a pissing contest doesn’t it?
what an asshole
What good can possibly come from saying that. The bottom line is that the success of this deal will depend on how many customers buy an iPhone. Boasting that Cingular got themselves a good deal and supposedly bent Apple to their will does nothing from the consumers point of view – what do they care about the negotiations? All it does is piss of Apple.
” . . . including several other devices in the works that may be ‘coming out very quickly,’ Lurie said.”
OOPS! Steve just flew out the door with a ball gag in one hand and a rubber mallet in the other. Phil Schiller fainted.
I’m not based in US, but Cingular CEO stuck out like a sore thumb at MacWorld last week. I can’t believe why Apple would want to associate with him. Compare him with Dr. Google and trendy Yahoo Yang.
What a jerk.
I hope he gets “steved”
See what I mean about this chickensh&t company. I despise Cingular and all U.S. cell phone companies. They treat consumers with no respect at all.
“BAD GUYS” unlock phones?
What if I want a fricking unlocked phone?
Mark my words. Cingular is going to rake anyone who wants one of these phones over the coals.
“I’m sorry, your contract with your existing phone that does not work is not up yet. If you want the new Apple Phone, you will have to wait or pay $1500, thank you for being a Cingular customer for the last 10 years.”
so what. Quit acting like Apple is god. They are a company whose stock was $17 not that long ago.
Cingular’s board approved a deal without ever seeing a prototype of iPhone. Does that imply Apple bent in contract negotiations or not? It sounds more like Apple holding the cards, showing those needed to be shown and then making Cingular think they have the upper hand. If Cingular had been so superior in business negotiation, they would have been able to force Apple to put down all the cards on the table and make sure everything was covered instead of having to take a leap of faith.
To me, it sounds more like he’s taking some of the heat off of Apple for limitations like (currently) no high speed networks and the DRM forced on the iPod portion by the record labels. Apple can now simply point to the phone companies and record lables when anyone complains about any feature they would like that isn’t in the phone.
What does ‘multi-year’ contract mean? I can’t believe Apple would sign up for more than 3 years. Those guys at Cingular obviously have as much style as the product they sell.
I agree with the previous posts; Apple will change partners if Cingular doesn’t behave, and I can’t believe Steve Jobs didn’t secure Apple’s interests in the agreement he made with them.
Apple always has the last laugh. Ya think these bozos are smarter than Steve Jobs?
“Quit acting like Apple is god. They are a company whose stock was $17 not that long ago.”
Exactly. God (sym: GOD) would have split again by now.
This sounds like everything that’s bad about the cell phone industry in the US has been built in as a FEATURE of the iPhone. As potentially the most popular cell phone ever made, that means this disfunctional business may never straighten out.
Thanks a lot Steve. Way to hang tough for the little guy.
And it’s so pointless to boot. With all the technology and business plans out there that already make cell network providers utterly redundant, why the f**k are we reading this stuffed-suit from Cingular gloat about bending Jobs over the bedpost? The iPhone would sell if it was operating on a network of string and tin cans, for chrissakes! Apple is supplying him with the best thing to ever happen to his company – ANY cell phone company – in this decade, and yet, apparently, Apple rolled over so badly that he now thinks Cingular was in the driver’s seat all along.
What in the world was Apple thinking?
I think I might throw up a little.
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Cingular is now going to become ATT. I dealt with Suncom a few years ago which was also ATT and despised them. I would love to have this phone, but I WILL NOT be a Cingular or ATT customer ever again.
The bottom line is that the cell phone service providers are all big business that has no concern for what we as consumers want. We want the iPhone unlocked! I guess that makes me a bad guy.
3 years is probably it.
Then Cingular can grab their ankles and spell R U N. cause Apple will have the bigger end of the stick at that point with every other carrier just waiting at the door. Or it can simply unlock the device and sail free.
I don’t think it’s fair to single out Cingular. They are no worse than any of the other US carriers, and it is the US consumers’ own fault.
Everywhere else in the world people actually BUY their phones. Here, we expect to get something for free. Clearly nobody learned from their parents that nothing in life is free. In return for the “free” phone, the wireless companies get the power to treat you like crap, since they know you can’t leave (actually you can, you just have to pay for the damn phone you should have paid for in the first place).
Why consumers here in the US are so stupid is beyond me.
Apple probably has some clause in the contract that if Cigular makes outrageos claims such as this one or reveals anything regarding new products, that violates the agreement and gives Apple the out or leverage they need renegotiate — or as a previous poster put it — they may get “Steved”
The cell phone companies are such idiots. Where do they get off having people sign contracts for 2+ years for a new phone. What if the landline companies required you to do the same thing if you got a new phone. It’s insane. We should start a petition or a class action lawsuit against this.
What if I want a full-screen iPod and WiFi web, but not phone functions – am I forced into a phone contract? Maybe I just won’t send in my details to Jugular.
critic is correct. We here in the good old USA need to adopt the European model before the cell phone companies can chock us even harder. But when you have a 4 company monopoly, to in each range, it’s difficult.
im still a bit mystified why it doesnt use the high-speed HSDPA network. I doesnt say in the article why this is.
why wouldnt you want this thing running on the fastest network possible?
i dont actually want a phone (im far to important to be contacted)
i do want a portable os x based website viewer, emailer, camera, ipod, game platform