AT&T Exclusivity Expires in 2010, AT&T Asking for Extension?

[3282868]

Same here for the same reasons including insurance on the phone. I will forever say that I am a clutz, and need that insurance to protect me from myself.

Not to mention that Sprint has already been rolling out 4G since the end of last year, with (supposedly...) 4G phones coming at the end of 09.

I hope that the Pre isn't fubared up by either Sprint or Palm. If it's not the cat's meow, then I fear Palm will have lost all of its fire... what little it had left after the Foleo.

I worked behind the Genius desk at Apple SoHo. While Apple's official policy is no coverage for physically damaged iPhones, very rarely did we ever turn anyone away for a damaged phone that wasn't [officially] covered. Especially if the client admitted to the issue (and 9 times out of 10 it was obvious), myself as well as other Geniuses would replace the iPhone with the supply of refurbished [tested] iPhones. If the client blatantly lied and was looking for a fight, hate to state it but we may have been inclined in turning them away.

The lack of insurance for the iPhone was not Apple's decision but rather the insurance companies refusing to offer reasonable plans for the handsets. I do not know the specifics. Now that the iPhone has an established history, this may change.

 

[vvebsta]

For all of you opting for Verizon, I need to say this... Verizon is a greedy money grubbing corporation. Its true that they tend to have better coverage/reception than the competition, but the problem is they know it! Verizon is like the hot girl that knows she's hot so she uses it to get what she wants. If Apple went to Verizon, Verizon would whine and complain like a spoiled baby. Verizon likes getting away with charging 60 bucks a month for 5GBs of broadband. They love that people have to buy their proprietary phones. Heck Verizon even charges you to instant message! Apple won't want to make a special chipless phone or give up things like unlimited data and visual voicemail. If Apple came out with a phone plan for Verizon that matched what you get with AT&T, I'd be very surprised, and I too would switch. But I won't hold my breathe.

 

[bradl]

I would, but I like AT&T too much to see that smug Verizon guy with the nerd glasses holding an iPhone.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist took that punk out with his last bomb.

BL.

 

[Digital Skunk]

The lack of insurance for the iPhone was not Apple's decision but rather the insurance companies refusing to offer reasonable plans for the handsets. I do not know the specifics. Now that the iPhone has an established history, this may change.

I can understand that, and I do hope that it does change. That alone would give me reason to start considering the switch to AT&T, even if the other half with her 15 years of Sprint decides to stay.

And given the way the policy changed on iPhone replacements (where a modest repair is $200-$300, and an extreme one causes you to get a new phone for $600-$700), they should have an insurance plan rolled out sometime soon one hopes.

 

[neemer5]

Negotiating with other carriers = competition = possibly better phone plans

What's wrong with that?

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

Uh, no, the commercials have not embedded it into our brains. Many of us ACTUALLY HAD Verizon, switched to AT&T for the iPhone, and now have 10x the number of dropped calls, many more uncovered areas, including in high traffic zones where you would not expect them, etc. It's not marketing - I WISH AT&T's network was even remotely comparable to Verizon's, but in California, it most assuredly isn't.

I live in California and used AT&T Wireless/Cingular/AT&T since I've had my first cellphone and, aside from the transition from the old AT&T network to the Cingular network after the buy-out, I have never had a single dropped call, and I've only not had reception in actually remote places. Friends of mine with Verizon have had more problems than I have. From my experience coupled with that of my friends', I'd say AT&T has the better network on the West Coast.

I personally think that Apple should extend their iPhone to a variaty of carriers.
~At&t
~Verizon
~T-mobile

​

Here's the reality check:
- AT&T: it's a given since it already offers the iPhone
- Verizon: not happening for at least another 5 years when the LTE network has matured and been more fully implemented. And even then, it would depend on if Verizon implements SIM cards (which it likely will since Vodafone seems to be calling the shots). I find it unlikely that Apple would support CDMA, as it's a technology that's soon to be slowly replaced.
- T-Mobile: it's possible that Apple could offer an iPhone on T-Mobile, but it would be EDGE-only since T-Mobile is the only carrier that uses the 1700 band, and there are no quad-band radios that support that frequency (considering pretty much only one carrier in the world uses it, there really isn't any point in supporting it in a global device when the other GSM alternative has a larger network, is there?); UTMS ratios are global single-band (2100), T-mobile single-band (1700), or global tri-band (850/1900/2100).

Negotiating with other carriers = competition = possibly better phone plans

What's wrong with that?

UH. No. As someone else noted, the cellphone companies are effectively an oligopoly. Now, the smaller members, Sprint and T-Mobile, need to make up for their more lackluster networks by offering better bargains. The larger members, Verizon and AT&T, charge slightly more and people still use their networks anyway. If you haven't noticed, prices have actually been slowly creeping upwards for the most part. After AT&T's exclusivity for the RAZR ended and all the carriers started offering it, phone plan prices didn't get better. They simply didn't change.

 

[Diseal3]

Att is the best dam service I've had in my life. I don't feel "free" with CDMA carriers and I've always had sim cards that if i ever had a problem (Iphone included.) I would just swap out the card until i get it fixed. With a CDMA carrier, i would be out a little while. In addition my friends have verizon and they admit it's nothing special, my friends internet (VZ) is the same speed as mine if not only 1-2 secs. faster no more. On top of that VZ loves loading there phones with a bunch of un-needed **** firmware that apple being the logo raping company they are will 100% not let verizons logo rape their phones.

 

[McBeats]

I have no problems with AT&T. They all suck equally for what its worth.

I would love to get one on my verizon network (bleh) without having to switch, but your totally right my friend

 

[corywoolf]

There is no way that Apple will make a CDMA phone for just the US in order to go with Verizon.

Apple did make iTunes for Windows. Why not iPhone for CDMA? Does RIM have better engineers?

Now that Apple has become an established player in the mobile field, they no longer need AT&T. They could become their own cell provider in the US by buying bandwidth from other cell companies (and eventually building out their own cell tower infrastructure).

Being a 3G or 4G Internet & Phone service provider could be a very powerful tool for Apple. It would allow all their mobile Mac's to access the internet anywhere without worrying about WiFi, and would allow Apple to finally grab a share of the TV pie with AppleTV providing live television (news/sports) to compliment iTunes purchased TV shows and Movies.

MobileMe could be extended to function as a control panel for all your Internet, Phone and TV needs. Apple also already has the brick and mortar infrastructure nationwide to begin offering this type of service.

I'm sure this has come up as an option and if I were Apple, I would be considering it seriously.

Nice idea. Too much too soon for Apple though. That would be a recipe for disaster. It would be too bloated and quality would suffer. Expanding a company that quickly would be dangerous.

i mean T-Mobile literally has everything people want (like those sidekicks or custom phones) . so why not keep the iphone to ATT.

I am on T-Mobile... I want an iPhone... I am a person...
Google "hasty generalization".

yeah but even if AT&T contract does expire verizon customers still wouldn't be able to utilize because of the sim card situation Verizon Wireless uses CDMA which does not use SIM Cards. GSM like AT&T and T-Mobile are the only ones that use SIM Cards. wouldn't verizon have to go to a GSM setup

Why not a CDMA iPhone?

No AT&T service out where I live. Ditto for Verizon support! Otherwise I won't be able to have an iPhone.

Good example for the CDMA haters.

Your individual love/hatred for AT&T/Verizon/etc really doesn't matter. People have different preferences. There are areas where one network works better than the other. AT&T won't even give you service in many rural parts of the country. After the Alltel merger, Verizon will be the only major carrier in Das Hinterland. Don't laugh, there are many people out there who do want iPhones - I'll be one of them this summer.

Not to mention the fact that competition drives down prices and that CDMA isn't going anywhere for some time. I say an end to iPhone exclusivity is a win for everyone (except AT&T, anyway).

Well put.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

why are people getting so hung up on Apple could not do CMDA based phones. I have a feeling that it is a very VERY simple thing to make the phone. The iPhone GSM phone is not running off any special chip. It is running off same chips many other phones for for GSM. The sim cart part of it is nothing special. Mind you I love the sim card in my ATT phone which I have used it to jump between multiple phones.

Not like it effects the iPhone dropping the sim card. The iphone already does not use some of the best features of the sim card. One of those great features is saving your address book to the sim card and pulling the address book off of it. So no lost there.

 

[DougB541]

Same here for the same reasons including insurance on the phone. I will forever say that I am a clutz, and need that insurance to protect me from myself.

Not to mention that Sprint has already been rolling out 4G since the end of last year, with (supposedly...) 4G phones coming at the end of 09.

I hope that the Pre isn't fubared up by either Sprint or Palm. If it's not the cat's meow, then I fear Palm will have lost all of its fire... what little it had left after the Foleo.

Their fire has been stagnated by poor management I would imagine. I do wonder how long it took before they settled on WebOS...as I remember seeing an early prototype of the unamed new Palm OS and it certainly was not WebOs but essentially looked like a true updated PalmOS....i'm glad they went back to the lab after the iPhone. or whenever.

It would be hard to imagine the Pre being a bad phone as they know there company depends on its success. And if it succeeds and more models do indeed come out, I think there is going to be a true rebirth of the mobile phone industry with Andriod 1.5 iPhone v3.0 and RIM moving forward.

Hell, i'll even say i'm anticipating windows mobile 7 tho I hate winmo in general.

 

[DougB541]

why are people getting so hung up on Apple could not do CMDA based phones. I have a feeling that it is a very VERY simple thing to make the phone. The iPhone GSM phone is not running off any special chip. It is running off same chips many other phones for for GSM. The sim cart part of it is nothing special. Mind you I love the sim card in my ATT phone which I have used it to jump between multiple phones.

Not like it effects the iPhone dropping the sim card. The iphone already does not use some of the best features of the sim card. One of those great features is saving your address book to the sim card and pulling the address book off of it. So no lost there.

You are correct. Its just a different antenna.

I used to have Nextel which had Sim cards...my only issues with sim cards is if you lose your phone, don't even bother trying to find it. Because its so easy to swap out phones, people often steal sim based phones to sell or keep for their own.

I had two nextels stolen which sucked. With Sprint now, since you have the ability to lock an ESN number and people know this, i've had someone call my father from my address book if I left a phone in a cab or something.

Besides, for 3G CDMA is def. the better network. We'll see what happens with 4G...i dunno how i feel about Wi-max with sprint but I think it would be smarter for them just to go the LTE route with the rest of America.

 

[jnguyen4]

let it stay on at&t. i don't like the pricing packages much, but i don't wanna see iphones in every single pocket in america.

 

[Bubba Satori]

let it stay on at&t. i don't like the pricing packages much, but i don't wanna see iphones in every single pocket in america.

Unbelievable.

 

[carlvz]

Think outa the box!

I've been reading these posts and my reaction is that you all are thinking too much "inside the box"

There are many, many cell phone companies in the US. It's true that most of them are retailers that use the few major "networks" but they are competitors nonetheless, and offer a wide variety of packages. So, if you don't like ATT OR Verizon, buy your service from another company that uses their network, if you have complaints about the service or contracts of "one of the big 4". If you don't like the network itself, choose a different company AND a different network.

I like Verizon's network. I didn't like their fee structure or their contracts, so I have my service with another provider that uses their network, has excellent customer service, and no fees. Now, I just need an iPhone that will work on that network.

Don't get stuck thinking that there are only 4 options. If Apple's exclusive commitment to ATT ends, then you could buy an iPhone, sign up with a different company that uses ATT's network if you like, and avoid their bad customer service and the surcharge they add to your bill every month that they didn't include in their stated price.

But, we gotta let Apple know we want the option. Tell them, at apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

 

[terryzx]

let it stay on at&t. i don't like the pricing packages much, but i don't wanna see iphones in every single pocket in america.

Isn’t that called BEING A SNOB?

 

[jnguyen4]

Isn’t that called BEING A SNOB?

how is that being a snob? do you want every person to have something u do?

 

[terryzx]

how is that being a snob? do you want every person to have something u do?

All that I actually CARE about is have a GREAT PHONE that WORKS

I have a great Mac computer also and a LOT of other people I know have the exact same one and that is real nice as we can compare the things that we do on them.

I think that eventually multi-player games will make it VERY worthwhile for people to have similar iPhones

Being able to go to the mall or movies/parties and say to everyone: LOOK WHAT I HAVE AND YOU DON’T....is just NOT part of my nature, although for SOME people it is the ONLY thing they are secure enough in their own life to LIVE to do

 

[DougB541]

how is that being a snob? do you want every person to have something u do?

I think you just answered your own question hehe.

 

[weezer160]

I have no problems with AT&T. They all suck equally for what its worth.

Put them in blind tests and nobody would be able to tell them apart, like bottled and tap water.

 

[DougB541]

Put them in blind tests and nobody would be able to tell them apart, like bottled and tap water.

1. I can easily tell bottled and tap water apart. Its really not that hard as there is a distinct difference.

2. networks are all different. GSM vs CDMA has a different voice "quality' to it...I can't say which one is better as everyone has their opinion. 3G is also currently faster on CDMA (but AT&T keeps pumping juice in their 3G network so good for them).


I don't know what T-mobile is up to really.

 

[rjohnstone]

You are correct. Its just a different antenna.

There's more to it than just the antennae.
It's a completely different radio and new programming for the OS to utilize it.
This would also require a new board design to accommodate the new chip.

 

[dogzilla]

Branding

To all the folks who seem to think that an Apple/Verizon deal would result in a heavily Verizon-branded iPhone:

You must not have a lot of experience with how Apple & Steve Jobs operate. Take a look at the Pixar/Disney relationship, and then take a look at the relationship Disney had with any other animation houses. Jobs would not hesitate to kill the iPhone before he allowed it to become branded with any other company's logo. The iPhone (and all Apple products) are all-Apple. Look for any other corporate logo *at all* on the iPhone. You won't find one, because Apple forbids it. It may seem subtle, but notice that noone speaks of the AT&T iPhone, or the Orange iPhone. They talk about the Apple iPhone.

 

[MacVixen]

<snip>

Strongly recommend that you provide this feedback to Apple (website was previously posted). Make sure to say in your feedback that Apple should bring this up in their negotiations with AT&T. Do it Tonight.

<snip again>

-hh

Good advice! Done!!

 

[MikeTheC]

One good thing about AT&T seeking the extension is that it puts the ball in Apple's court.

Always negotiate from a position of strength, never from one of weakness.

I don't own an iPhone (as mentioned earlier) but as a long-term Apple customer, obviously I'm interested to see how this pans out.