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Verizon CEO Claims He Convinced Steve Jobs to Add LTE to iPhone

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Verizon-Wireless-LTE.jpg
Fierce Wireless reports that while discussing Verizon's LTE investment at the National Association of Broadcasters conference yesterday, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam claimed that he convinced Steve Jobs to add LTE to the iPhone.
"I was really trying to sell him and he sat there without any reaction. Finally, he said, 'Enough. You had me at 10 Mbps. I know you can stream video at 10 Mbps.' And Apple's next phone was LTE," McAdam said.
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McAdam did not indicate the timing of his conversation with Jobs or whether he was CEO at the time, but he was appointed Verizon CEO in August 2011. The next iPhone released was the iPhone 4S, which did not include LTE.

In April 2011, Tim Cook had said that LTE chipsets at that point in time forced Apple to make design compromises the company wasn't willing to make. Two of those design compromises were likely battery life, as LTE chipsets consumed a lot of power at the time, and size, as the need for multiple chips required more space than Apple was willing to dedicate inside the device.

Months later, in August 2011, it was reported that Apple was testing an LTE-enabled iPhone and was hiring additional LTE engineers with the first LTE iPhone arriving as the iPhone 5 in September 2012.

At yesterday's session, McAdam also claimed that half of wireless data traffic is now video, predicting that two-thirds of Verizon's network capacity will be used for video by 2017.

Article Link: Verizon CEO Claims He Convinced Steve Jobs to Add LTE to iPhone
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/10/verizon-ceo-claims-he-convinced-steve-jobs-to-add-lte-to-iphone/
6

64Mario64

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2013
192
2
...Or Steve Jobs decided that it should be added because it's obviously better long-term.
 
G

gatearray

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2010
1,130
232
wow, thanks Verizon d-bag! you're such a visionary, if it wasn't for you, Steve was going to insist on sticking with EDGE.
 
S

SILen(e

macrumors regular
Oct 6, 2012
243
19
Apple never said that no iPhone ever would get LTE - why the iPhone 4/4S had no LTE was because of the chipsets required for LTE at that time, which had a very high power drain (i remember a review of some HTC LTE device which drained the battery while navigating with LTE - while plugged in to a car charger!).

It was obvious that at some time this problem would be solved - et voila - iPhone 5!
 
scaredpoet

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
Next: Lowell McAdam will claim that the iPhone was really his idea. And he convinced Steve to sell it on AT&T first to convince AT&T to get rid of unlimited data, thereby giving Verizon no choice but to follow suit. :)
 
M

Matthew567

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2011
11
0
Australia
So when did these discussions take place? The day of Steve Jobs' death? As it says in the article the iPhone 4S did not include LTE, and Steve Jobs died the day after the iPhone 4S launch. It doesn't seem right because it says "And Apple's next phone was LTE." Presumably the discussions occurred when the iPhone 4 was current.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
I always wondered where the idea came from to have mobile phones use mobile technology! Now we know!
 
macs4nw

macs4nw

macrumors 601
Sep 21, 2010
4,336
1,933
Next-door from the little old lady from Pasadena..
Radio said:
It's amazing what you can claim when your only source is 6 feet under.
Click to expand...

komodrone said:
in a way, Steve convinced Verizon to convince Steve to add LTE to iPhone.

Image
Click to expand...

gatearray said:
wow, thanks Verizon d-bag! you're such a visionary, if it wasn't for you, Steve was going to insist on sticking with EDGE.
Click to expand...

John.B said:
Yeah, the Qualcomm MDM9615M chip had nothing to do with it...
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scaredpoet said:
Next: Lowell McAdam will claim that the iPhone was really his idea. And he convinced Steve to sell it on AT&T first to convince AT&T to get rid of unlimited data, thereby giving Verizon no choice but to follow suit. :)
Click to expand...

Matthew567 said:
So when did these discussions take place? The day of Steve Jobs' death? As it says in the article the iPhone 4S did not include LTE, and Steve Jobs died the day after the iPhone 4S launch. It doesn't seem right because it says "And Apple's next phone was LTE." Presumably the discussions occurred when the iPhone 4 was current.
Click to expand...

nagromme said:
I always wondered where the idea came from to have mobile phones use mobile technology! Now we know!
Click to expand...

Color me a (huge) sceptic too.
 
M

mariusaz

macrumors member
May 10, 2007
42
0
I essentially have no use for it considering how much battery it uses and the fact that I can't tether a machine to it unless I switch off the unlimited data on AT&T and pay some BS convenience fee for it.
 
I

iBug2

macrumors 601
Jun 12, 2005
4,531
851
Matthew567 said:
So when did these discussions take place? The day of Steve Jobs' death? As it says in the article the iPhone 4S did not include LTE, and Steve Jobs died the day after the iPhone 4S launch. It doesn't seem right because it says "And Apple's next phone was LTE." Presumably the discussions occurred when the iPhone 4 was current.
Click to expand...
Yeah because adding LTE to iPhone 5 was not decided years ago from release.
 
V

vmachiel

macrumors 68000
Feb 15, 2011
1,772
1,440
Holland
Sure, the CEO of the worst phone company that I know of, convinced a man who was known to see that bigger picture to add a feature to the iPhone.
 
MacDav

MacDav

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2004
1,031
0
Well, I for one totally believe McAdams...:rolleyes: Apple would never have added LTE to iPhone without his input. :rolleyes:
 
I

inlinevolvo

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2012
359
3
I don't think he is taking credit for LTE iphone but we all know apple was hesitant to switch until the technology could at least walk on 2 feet. I think his role was one of convincing Steve that the technology had matured enough for Apple to jump on board.

Verizon is the biggest US carrier and they were the ones first approached by Apple for the iphone. In other words, they carry some weight and credibility in the industry. After all the iphone is as good as the network it is on.

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komodrone said:
in a way, Steve convinced Verizon to convince Steve to add LTE to iPhone.

Image
Click to expand...

Haha, very good. Post of the day!
 
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