Analyst: 17% of Verizon Customers Waiting for iPhone

[NoExpectations]

Not going to happen....

...and about 90% of those 17% are Verizon Employees or friends/family of Verizon Employees.

T-Mobile is the next logical carrier. Apple has to determine if opening up to T-Mobile will result in more profits since they would likely loose the high kickback from AT&T.

 

[Veri]

Punch in the mouth or kick in the undercarriage.. decisions, decisions.

 

[Otaviano]

Too bad those people don't realize Verizon doesn't have 40x the data capacity as it has now to sustain the data demand of iPhone users.

Who cares? Right now AT&T bad services is put on the iPhone, if they release the iPhone to multiple carriers in the US and all of them are struggling with strain then it becomes very obvious that it's the entire infrastructure of the cellular networks which isn't adapt.

For Apple it's a win win situation.

6 months ago I would have bet against a Verizon iPhone, simply because I didn't see Apple manufacturing a separate model for one carrier when the have one global iPhone. However with the rise of Android it's becoming imperative that the iPhone is unshackled. I'd honestly be surprised if a Verizon and Sprint iPhone aren't announced at WWDC.

 

[nikhsub1]

This is not a dig but I am genuinely interested; can Verizon's network do simultaneous voice + data? If not, do not want. I must have both together as my business depends on my phone (ATT is pretty good in Los Angeles) so if I'm checking email or surfing I can't have the call immediately go to voice mail.

 

[douglaswilliams]

Punch in the mouth or kick in the undercarriage.. decisions, decisions.

I will take a punch in the mouth over a kick in my undercarriage any day. I'll take one now please.

 

[Small White Car]

This is not a dig but I am genuinely interested; can Verizon's network do simultaneous voice + data? If not, do not want. I must have both together as my business depends on my phone (ATT is pretty good in Los Angeles) so if I'm checking email or surfing I can't have the call immediately go to voice mail.

1) Not right now

2) Rumor is they're working on it

3) I'm fairly sure you're wrong (about the call going to voicemail). If you get a phone call I think it's the data that stops working, not the phone part. (I've never had Verizon, can anyone confirm this?)

 

[MattG]

This is not a dig but I am genuinely interested; can Verizon's network do simultaneous voice + data? If not, do not want. I must have both together as my business depends on my phone (ATT is pretty good in Los Angeles) so if I'm checking email or surfing I can't have the call immediately go to voice mail.

Soon it would appear...

https://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/19/verizon-to-support-simultaneous-voice-and-data-transmission/

 

[Salacion]

Ha ha. That's a good one.

You seem to have forgotten what industry we're talking about here.

I don't think that having the iPhone on multiple carriers is going to create the price war you're imagining. I don't think rates are going to change much, but you might see bigger subsidies. The rate plans are where the carriers make their money, so I don't expect them to change their pricing all of a sudden, but I do see them having better hardware promotions (Verizon buy 1 get 1?).

No, it's not a price war I envision, it's small price cuts I see occurring. Saving $5 every month is enough to convince customers to use a provider's service. I mean it adds up after two years of service.

 

[Consultant]

Punch in the mouth or kick in the undercarriage.. decisions, decisions.

LOL.

Who cares? Right now AT&T bad services is put on the iPhone, if they release the iPhone to multiple carriers in the US and all of them are struggling with strain then it becomes very obvious that it's the entire infrastructure of the cellular networks which isn't adapt.

For Apple it's a win win situation.

6 months ago I would have bet against a Verizon iPhone, simply because I didn't see Apple manufacturing a separate model for one carrier when the have one global iPhone. However with the rise of Android it's becoming imperative that the iPhone is unshackled. I'd honestly be surprised if a Verizon and Sprint iPhone aren't announced at WWDC.

The problem with U.S. is that not all population are concentrated in cities, and lots of people who are "not in my back yard" when it comes to possible sites for new cellular antennas.

 

[kdarling]

This is not a dig but I am genuinely interested; can Verizon's network do simultaneous voice + data? If not, do not want. I must have both together as my business depends on my phone (ATT is pretty good in Los Angeles) so if I'm checking email or surfing I can't have the call immediately go to voice mail.

Unless Apple implements SVDO or VoIP over Rev A (either of which could be a selling point), then no, there would not be simultaneous voice+data.

However, your scenario is different on CDMA than it is on EDGE. A phone call always has priority under CDMA. It does not go to voicemail automatically unless you set it up that way. Intead, the data stream would be paused while you decide whether to take the voice call or not.

 

[Becordial]

Most boring news on macrumors week after week after week: anything to do with iPhone and Verizon.

At the very most it's of interest to a subset of readers in the US. The rest of us want to never hear about it again.

 

[BenRoethig]

You do realize that before the iPhone came out, Jobs shopped it around to all the other major carriers, and they all turned him down...right?

Do remember that iPhone OS 1.0 was more or less a traditional smartphone combined with an iPod and not all that impressive a device. Apple had no concept of third party apps. Those showed up when users starting jail breaking the iPhone and Apple then took the idea and ran with it and it became the phenomenon that it is today.

 

[saturniphone]

if verizon gets the iPhone, i may switch over. i wonder how many others will do the same?

I would estimate somewhere between most of them and every single one. Haha, but seriously, if the iPhone goes to Verizon you can bet 10+ million people will switch. Bank on it.

 

[DTphonehome]

Come on, Steve, do it already! I hate AT&T, my wife is about to get a VZW Droid Incredible, and another 10 million iPhone sales a year would REALLY boost my stock and options! Let's go already!

 

[DTphonehome]

Most boring news on macrumors week after week after week: anything to do with iPhone and Verizon.

At the very most it's of interest to a subset of readers in the US. The rest of us want to never hear about it again.

Right, about 100 million people in the US. That's a lot of people, bub. And the more US sales, the more R&D $$ Apple has, and the more cool stuff for the rest of the world, too.

 

[Eric S.]

Most boring news on macrumors week after week after week: anything to do with iPhone and Verizon.

At the very most it's of interest to a subset of readers in the US. The rest of us want to never hear about it again.

Than why are you bothering to read this thread?

It can't be that hard to ignore threads that don't interest you.

 

[iPhone3GCrazed]

I've never had problems with my iPhone on AT&T's network. I live in both Florida and Connecticut and I don't think it's dropped a call once. We've been with AT&T/Cingular since 1998, and really don't think we're changing any time soon. I like AT&T.

Personally, I don't think that the iPhone is coming to Verizon this year.

 

[elppa]

So Droid doesn't keep all the people happy all the time.

Out of interest how many markets is Android outselling iPhone — do we have this information?

 

[carlgo]

I don't expect price wars, but maybe we can hope for tiered plans. I will never pay for someone else's data use again.

If all the carriers have equal access to all the phones, yet there is no price competition, it might just look like collusion? I could see a public outcry at some point and subsequent anti-trust legislation. The carriers would be smart to offer custom plans to head this off.

 

[Becordial]

Right, about 100 million people in the US. That's a lot of people, bub. And the more US sales, the more R&D $$ Apple has, and the more cool stuff for the rest of the world, too.

I agree, the more they sell the better for everyone, but there is a lot of huge, much faster growing markets in which the surface for distributing iPhone has barely been scratched. I'd like to hear about them too.

Than why are you bothering to read this thread?

It can't be that hard to ignore threads that don't interest you.

I should have known to expect that response and it's a fair point. Just wish there was less centrism.

OK everyone continue on with the iPhone/Verizon talk.

 

[czachorski]

Do remember that iPhone OS 1.0 was more or less a traditional smartphone combined with an iPod and not all that impressive a device. Apple had no concept of third party apps. Those showed up when users starting jail breaking the iPhone and Apple then took the idea and ran with it and it became the phenomenon that it is today.

A traditional smartphone the iPhone OS 1.0 never was. It redefined smart phones. What the heck are you talking about?

 

[aaronxsubaru]

ya the real question is how many AT&T custpmers are waiting for a non AT&T iPhone

 

[bergmef]

You do realize that before the iPhone came out, Jobs shopped it around to all the other major carriers, and they all turned him down...right?

I thought verizon said yes and they put the phone on the network and it bombed. It was called Motorola ROKR E1 Apple iTunes phone (yes, catchy name). Then they came back and asked to do it again, without prototypes yet. What would you answer be? Hindsight is 20/20, but when you just had one bomb in 2005, would you jump on something you haven't seen, and that you would have to give up everything for? Looking back is easy, but sitting in the chair actually making the decision at that time is way different. I don't agree with a lot of the decisions that some of these companies make, but I do give them credit for being in the position to make a decision ... and making it.

 

[bergmef]

Too bad those people don't realize Verizon doesn't have 40x the data capacity as it has now to sustain the data demand of iPhone users.

I thought they already handled more traffic than ATT? They did last year along with Sprint. The only question I see is ... do they want to go after Google. If they do, then you will see the iphone on other carriers. If they don't, then it stays ATT only so they can milk the profits. I don't think verizon is the issue at all, it's google.

 

[azazel-]

So Droid doesn't keep all the people happy all the time.

Out of interest how many markets is Android outselling iPhone — do we have this information?

I work with two non-techy types during the week, both of which got Android phones recently. One got a Motorola Droid on Verizon, the other got some Samsung thing on Sprint. Both said they got their phones because they didn't want to switch providers, and would have preferred an iPhone.

As a side not, the Samsung whatever-it-is seems decent, but the Droid is complete garbage. He's only had it a month or so, and he seems to spend most of his time restarting it because it's locked up, or charging it, because the battery life is atrocious. I really don't see the appeal of that thing, granted, I don't know what version of Android he has installed on it, but it feels very clunky. Like a linux distro shoe-horned onto a phone. The Samsung feels far more polished. But I find it interesting, how two phones, running the same OS, can give such a drastically different impression.