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Apple MVNO Patent Reveals Abandoned Possibility
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Aghhhh...I would love to buy from Apple. Bc then I would have an iPhone and not worry about ****** At&t. Why did Verizon have to be sooo stubborn?!? 
I guess I am stuck with my enV for a bit longer until Apple buys out the contract from At&t and make a CDMA iPhone.
I guess I am stuck with my enV for a bit longer until Apple buys out the contract from At&t and make a CDMA iPhone.
You are going to be waiting a looonnnggg time for that I'm afraid. Not going to happen.
The "E" word
I guess the only thing wrong about the i-phone is the exclusiveness of it`s wireless providers... The i-phone is certainly one of the best products arround but it`s tie to AT&T or T-COM makes it not worth buying.
Please Steve, get rid of these so called "exclusive" net providers. The i-phone should be a must have with out this pain in the ass feeling!
I guess the only thing wrong about the i-phone is the exclusiveness of it`s wireless providers... The i-phone is certainly one of the best products arround but it`s tie to AT&T or T-COM makes it not worth buying.
Please Steve, get rid of these so called "exclusive" net providers. The i-phone should be a must have with out this pain in the ass feeling!
Actually, a lot of it would be solved since a lot of people are hacking their phone to get free from AT&T... The rest of them, they just like to have AIM and 3rd party apps...
Interesting but irrelevant. Apple and the iPhone are locked to AT&T until 2012 here in the U.S. Keep on hacking!
Yea, but that's for the iPhone. iPhone 2 could be a ground up design way before 2012 and they could offer it to Verizon since they might be smart about it and make a GSM and CDMA iPhone 2.
Interesting but irrelevant. Apple and the iPhone are locked to AT&T until 2012 here in the U.S. Keep on hacking!
Could I ask you to confirm your source on that please!!! From what I have read all that is still speculation and has never been confirmed as to how long their contract really is and what it entails.
Or be in collusion, like "Big Oil" apparently is as deemed by our so called inteligent politicians, and just partition "areas" where each enjoys being the "cheapest" mobile carrier providing the "best signal".
Would love to know how as a consumer we in fact know that the rate that is being supplied to Apple and thus us is the cheapest and how one can double check (either Apple or the end user) and how will that be reflected on the billing statement and what would one do with a billing discrepancy?
It would have been interesting if Apple had become a carrier. One of the issues I have with cell carriers is the ridiculous prices of voice minutes. $20/month for unlimited data, but $50-100/month for a limited number of much lower bandwidth voice minutes? And then an extra charge for essentially zero bandwidth text messaging? Bah!
Pointless
The only way the iPhone was going to be successful was as a GSM product. GSM for better or worse is the open world standard and has long been my choice for cellular technology that keeps your options open. Verizon's technology ultimately brings nothing to the table except lock-in. The landscape of cellular technology and competition in the United States, will change with 4G LTE. In the meantime I look forward to using HSDPA, HSUPA, and the other UMTS technologies, and if it happens to support other providers like Verizon great, but not critical.
The only way the iPhone was going to be successful was as a GSM product. GSM for better or worse is the open world standard and has long been my choice for cellular technology that keeps your options open. Verizon's technology ultimately brings nothing to the table except lock-in. The landscape of cellular technology and competition in the United States, will change with 4G LTE. In the meantime I look forward to using HSDPA, HSUPA, and the other UMTS technologies, and if it happens to support other providers like Verizon great, but not critical.
That was the day Liberty died. Now people that want good technology have to sign their souls over to the Satan himself.
And as usual, those with the desire for good service and features are managing just fine with other companies and other phones, but wouldn't mind having the easy of the iPhone. Maybe some day Apple or AT&T will get their act together and give us a great phone, with decent cell service as well for us USA customers.
Isn't Verizon's CDMA technology rather small in regards to the rest of the world? Don't they have plans to transition to GSM anyway?
Interesting but irrelevant. Apple and the iPhone are locked to AT&T until 2012 here in the U.S. Keep on hacking!
Correct me if I am wrong. The iPhone is locked to AT&T until 2012.
However, what about iPhone 2 or any other Apple phones beside iPhone?
At&T can surely not have monopoly on all Apple wireless products for five years. Apple just can't be that stupid.
That's what I hear. Especially if WiMax falls through. Currently the fastest networks in the states are Sprints EVDO and Verizon's but when 3G gets here they will be matched. I am hoping that either WiMax takes off and beats the snot out of 3G keeping Sprint and Verizon on top of the speed bracket, or all cell companies go to 3G and Apple gets smart and puts the phone out on other slightly more robust networks.
That's what I am hoping, but Apple is proving to be far more ignorant that I could have ever thought possible. What's worst is that people that either didn't like AT&T in the past, or didn't know anything about them or (Cingular) are all of a sudden on their bandwagon just because they have the iPhone
Blind loyalties really know no bounds.
A bit longer? I'd say that is magical thinking.Aghhhh...I would love to buy from Apple. Bc then I would have an iPhone and not worry about ****** At&t. Why did Verizon have to be sooo stubborn?!?
Thats an interesting perspective, how about you leave your firefighters alone and free Scotland. Piss off wanker.
I can't believe that nobody realised so far that there is no way that the carriers would have agreed to this idea. Constant checking to work out the best deal for an individual user? Yep, I could imagine Verizon or AT&T going 'Sure, where do I sign up?"
If you were AT&T or verizon you wouldn't agree to that (Here in OZ, Telstra is probably still laughing if Apple approached them about the proposal). it might force the carriers to more actively compete on price and services, whereas currently they get to mostly compete on which phone you offer. Most carriers probably try to avoid competing on their own performance.
Most MVNOs operate on one carrier. This is an entirely new proposal where the carrier varies according to local conditions (connection quality) and price. Apple would have to have a separate deal with every carrier. Great idea, but would be resisted by the incumbents.
It would also mean no unlimited data plans.
If you were AT&T or verizon you wouldn't agree to that (Here in OZ, Telstra is probably still laughing if Apple approached them about the proposal). it might force the carriers to more actively compete on price and services, whereas currently they get to mostly compete on which phone you offer. Most carriers probably try to avoid competing on their own performance.
Most MVNOs operate on one carrier. This is an entirely new proposal where the carrier varies according to local conditions (connection quality) and price. Apple would have to have a separate deal with every carrier. Great idea, but would be resisted by the incumbents.
It would also mean no unlimited data plans.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)
I am VERY happy with AT&T.
Stang68 said:Aghhhh...I would love to buy from Apple. Bc then I would have an iPhone and not worry about ****** At&t. Why did Verizon have to be sooo stubborn?!?
I am VERY happy with AT&T.
Not really, from their point of view. Unlimited web surfing on a tiny borderline useless cell phone screens.. go for it!!! The iPhone is the first device where web surfing is borderline practical... it still isnt as good as a regular screen but its way better then on almost anything else because of the screen size.
Charge the earth for the phone calls which is the function that everyone uses. Profit.
AT&T eager to wield its iWeapon
AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years — an eternity in the go-go cellphone world. And Apple is barred for that time from developing a version of the iPhone for CDMA wireless networks.
Bottom line: If you want an iPhone anytime soon, you'll have to take your business to AT&T.
Or hack it!