“The widely reported (and mostly believed) timetable for the end of AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity contract is mid-2010, which is when Apple is most likely to roll out a new iPhone model,” Maxcer writes.
“By adding Verizon, Apple could easily gain a massive boost in market share. Case closed,” Maxcer writes. “However, selling more iPhones doesn’t necessarily mean that’s a good thing. The case isn’t closed. Carrier choice is good for consumers, but is it good for Apple? Not necessarily…”
“I don’t think Apple feels the need to be on Verizon. The iPhone is already supremely popular, there are plenty of halo effect sales for the Mac, the App Store is going gangbusters, and there’s plenty of world markets left to conquer,” Maxcer writes. “I’ve been watching this space for a while now, and what I haven’t been able to find yet is an argument that says Apple absolutely needs Verizon in 2010 in order to retain profitable iPhone success.”
Full article here.
@Grrrilla
As long as Verizon is without an iPhone, they can prop up any failure and point fingers at its competition and say whatever they like and no one can question it, especially Verizon customers.
Once the iPhone is on all carriers we can stop talking about the iPhone and begin to focus on what really matters; the carrier’s service.
iPete… I’ve been to North Dakota. The only thing there is Cows and Missile Silos. They need an early warning system more than iPhones.
If ND seceded from the union it would be the third largest nuclear power in the world.
@whatever
With Verizon – you won’t be able to use iTunes as they will lock it out so you can use their shit. They will cripple the Bluetooth as well.
That is exactly what AT&T will use as fodder for their marketing campaign if, and whenever, iPhone comes to Verizon.
There is no denying Apple has been good for the PC world also. Apple takes the stage and the world listens and before long everyone is emulating Apple.
Remember when Intel introduced USB and the PC world took a pass on it because they loved their parallel ports? Apple comes out with USB and suddenly it is the de facto standard on PC’s, cameras, printers, scanners, you name it.
@moo
You’re right, Verizon should just admit to themselves and their shareholders, they screwed up big time. They should be groveling at Apple, instead of creating an even bigger awkward moment for their future meeting with Apple, Inc.
Can you imagine how different all of these arguments would be if Verizon had agreed to Jobs’ conditions?
We’d all be arguing the merits of GSM right now. But, still complaining about the shitty CDMA service on Verizon, waiting for LTE. It would have taken a few years for any of us to realize the true potential of the iPhone.
The only ones who want it to come to Verizon are those who for some reason can’t change providers.
I have said before, that iPhone will be on all other networks except Verizon in the US. Apple and Verizon will only team up if there is a significant culture change (say senior management) at Verizon.
They treat their employees and vendors like crap and expect them to like it.
Apple won’t enter that type of relationship. Two can’t make love and both be on top.
G4 Dualie:
The problem is, Apple will NEVER allow an inconsistent iPhone experience. iPhone is unique in that its feature set is identical no matter where you go. Belgian iPhone looks and works EXACTLY the same as Swiss, or French, or Senegalese (all with French interface, obviously), and the only current exception is China, which has no WiFi. Otherwise, Apple won’t allow restricted or missing functionality due to the shortcomings of a carrier.
The primary reason for not offering it on ANY other carrier in the US is not going away anytime soon. As I had said earlier: iPhones are flying off the shelves. Apple can’t make them fast enough, even with only AT&T as the carrier. It would be foolish to try expanding, when the demand already exceeds the supply.
Until demand slows down, Apple will be happy with only AT&T. If you don’t like AT&T and can only do Verizon, you may as well get your Droid now.
Apple is a global player; they have never needed Verizon.
Whoa whoa whoa, “carrier choice may be good for consumers”? Not when the carrier (i.e. Verizon) deliberately tries to cripple and control the iPhone experience. Verizon is the most anti-consumer carrier in the nation. Apple is pro-consumer which is why they stayed away from Verizon. Verizon turned down the iPhone because they wanted to run their own overpriced lousy app store instead of Apple’s, because they wanted to ship the iPhone WITHOUT WIFI so that customers would pay them for exorbitant cell data rates, because they refused to upgrade their network to allow for visual voicemail. They want to force their customers to pay for every MB of downloads, they want their customers to pay exorbitant fees on minor things like ringtones, they want their customers to pay $350 for cancelling their contracts. Verizon is the one who even came up with the idea of charging a per-message rate for text messages. And Verizon is leading the fight to ABANDON net neutrality. And the CEO publicly stated that “Steve Jobs is getting old… I like our chances.” Verizon is as evil as they come. Good for Apple to stay FAR FAR FAR away from Verizon.
One thing I don’t think people are mentioning is that as a current iPhone owner, I HATE AT&T;. I would love nothing more than to use this incredible device on a network like Verizon that works better as I’m told by friends who use it.
So, it’s not only to get new customers, it’s about keeping current customers happy.
Apple needs a second carrier for those parts of the US where ATT lacks coverage.
Apple doesn’t need Verizon because they’ve got millions of American customers disgusted with their service who won’t do anything about it.
Just like the Consumer Reports survey said, 98% of iPhone customers want to stay with ATT, despite their negative feelings about said carrier, and buy another iPhone.
There’s no pressure for Apple to lose profits (care of lower iPhone subsidies) with a multi-carrier strategy in the US when iPhone customers are so willing to take it up the ass.
I hate Verizon customer service or lack of it… Plus Verizon has to control the Phones always crippling them to nickel dime their customers.
@ R2 – Speak for yourself. My AT&T experience has been flawless with the iPhone. No signal problems, no dropped calls, no voicemail problems.
So be sure to factor people like me into that 98%, before you start making sweeping generalizations.
R2
I did not read it that 98% want to stay with ATT. I read it that 98% would buy the iPhone again. I am pretty sure that a fairly big number would like to leave ATT. I happen to have good 3G coverage at home and around town. No complaints here, but I know folks who have trouble with their ATT signal.
Fact 1: Verizon recently announced a policy that opened their network to “any compatible device.”
Fact 2: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all transitioning to LTE-based 4G networks, starting over the next 18 months or so.
Fact 3: You can bet that an upcoming version of the iPhone will work with LTE networks. LTE is faster than anything else currently out there (with the possible exception of Sprint’s WiMax).
Conclusion: When LTE comes out on Verizon, you’ll be able to use an iPhone with Verizon. Whether you’ll have visual voicemail or other carrier-dependent features is a good question, but the phone will (at that time) work.
Another reason why the world doesn’t need iPhone from CRAPple.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
Apple needs Verizon like I need another a**hole!
My wife and I both moved from Verizon, me at the first iPhone introduction. My wife recently switched to get the 3Gs, and is amazed. She got a call from Verizon the other day. “We really value you as a customer, etc. Is there anything we could have done to keep you?”
“No, nothing,” she said, “it’s all about the iPhone.”
Is it any wonder their advertising is getting vicious?
“Verizon Wireless” (see Stockholm Syndrome)
I get so much amusement from people praising the day LTE lights up. I’ve seen the roadmaps from all carriers and a major metro rollout if not planned into well into 2011 .. and read this slowly as many of you here clearly have no concept of how carrier networks function:
YOU WILL NEED CDMA WHEN YOU ROAM OUTSIDE OF SAID MAJOR METRO’s.
It will likely be 2013 or later for LTE to even be at the level we have now with 3G, it’s been almost 4 years since 3G was being built up. Verizon is a good 6 months ahead of everyone but testing is still very early. Frankly I doubt you’ll even see a LTE phone of any sort until 2011.
Knowing Apple they will gladly keep at&t;as get that nice fat sub, you think it will stay $300-400 once it’s not exclusive? Keep dreaming. iPhone will stop being $199, the lone way they’ll keep the fictional price down is the carrier contract will turn to 3 year vs. 2.
And please t-Mobile has next to zero 3G coverage in the states. Sprint would be an interesting play but I’m not sure their network has the footprint outside of major metro’s.
I expect at&t;only through summer 2011
Apple having a flagship product on what end users rate in Consumer Reports as
THE WORST WIRELESS NETWORK IN THE COUNTRY – DEAD LAST
is enough reason to want to be on the wireless network quality leader according to the same Consumer Reports survey.
Nokia, for all it’s dominance in the rest of the world, is AWOL in the USA mostly due to them making the strategic decision to ignore Verizon (they brand a few cheap handsets for VZW that are made by the Korean manufacturers)..
The US market, by Nokia’s own admission, is the top spot in terms of handset vendor high-end volume & profitability.. Just look at Nokia’s smartphone marketshare here…. almost non-existant.. this is really hurting them…
Unless Apple offers the iPhone on Verizon, they will always remain second fiddle to RIM (remember, AT&T;sells TONS of Blackberries too as well as VZW, T-Mobile & Sprint), and only helps to fuel the Google/Android platform.
If Apple offered a phone on VZW, Android would be DEAD. Apple, in one fell swoop, would wipe out a potential future competitor. Who would buy an Android handset when you can get an iPhone?
There are many, many people who will not give up the quality of the Verizon network in order to get the iPhone. I am one of them (in spite of owning almost one of every product Apple’s ever made since 1985).
I bought the HTC Droid Eris. I have moved my calendar management from MobileMe to Google (and it’s free!) and replaced my mac.com email w/ a FREE Gmail account. At this point, why would I keep MobileMe? (more lost revenue for Apple that I would have gladly continued to hand to them)
Google has done a great job of integrating online music downloads w/ the Amazon music store… I can just import the music into iTunes.. so once again, more money Apple is losing from me.
Alienating long-time customers and Apple fan-boys is never a good strategy.
If you notice, in the Consumer Reports survey, 98% of iPhones owners love the handset & would buy it again in spite of the fact that they don’t like the AT&T;network….
This makes for the perfect profitability storm for Apple… an iPhone on VZW would allow them to sell TONS of iPhones to new customers who won’t leave VZW, as well as selling TONS of iPhones to those who can’t stand AT&T;anymore… Apple gets to make their money on these same subscribers who switch TWICE ! What’s not to love?
Is rather see the iPhone come to TMobile before Verizon. Verizon’s network is too slow to be considered 3G in my mind. Plus the inability to use simultaneous voice and data is another negative of the inferior (my opinion) CDMA network. 400k is not 3G to me and that’s what I consistently receive with various devices on Verizon. I get 3x that with ATT and TMobile is equally superior.
I hope iphone comes to t-mobile soon, and I will buy it. The only reason I did not have iphone is because I dislike at&t;so much.
There’s a map for that…
In a year or 2 a map of LTE coverage will look like Verizons representation of AT&T;’s 3G coverage. Except that you can delete another 50% of those spotty blue blotches. That’s for ALL providers.
Why is this so difficult to understand ? Predrag is right- apple will NEVER advertise 2 sets of iPhone capabilities after all the expense of creating a separate CDMA phone (trivial tho that might be). Verizon customers WILL NOT understand or accept that their iPhone is hobbled compared to their neighbor’s.
Not to mention developers potentially having to build network – specific apps.
Apple is not going to create this hot mess for a few more US sales- they already have the potential for exponential growth worldwide. They neither need or want this.