AT&T Losing iPhone Exclusivity on Wednesday?

[AidenShaw]

Of course not. Does anyone get all up in arms that a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition costs $320 when the DVD itself costs only $0.25 to press?...

There's no indignation because people realize that Microsoft spends $8B to $10B a year in R&D.

They know that it would cost $10B to make only one Windows 7 DVD. Nobody is "up in arms" just because
it would cost $10,000,000,000.25 to make two DVDs.

No software company could price their products based on the incremental cost per unit produced.
I doubt that any company could price any mass-produced product on the incremental cost per unit.

 

[hushmartin]

Can't blame you.
Verizon since forever had the worst selection of
phones on the market up untill 6-7 months ago with a few
decent device additions.

Ain't that the truth. That's the whole reason I left Verizon- ****** locked down phones. If they'd had the iPhone, I would still be with them.

edited to add: I'd have stayed last year if they had something that could have compared to the iPhone, like the Droid.

 

[Silencer]

Could Wednesday be the day the iPhone is available open to ALL networks?

We can only hope.

 

[LagunaSol]

There's no indignation because people realize that Microsoft spends $8B to $10B a year in R&D.

They know that it would cost $10B to make only one Windows 7 DVD. Nobody is "up in arms" just because
it would cost $10,000,000,000.25 to make two DVDs.

No software company could price their products based on the incremental cost per unit produced.
I doubt that any company could price any mass-produced product on the incremental cost per unit.

Yet on the other hand, iPhone, iPhone OS, and Mac OS X design and develop themselves.

 

[Surely]

Could Wednesday be the day the iPhone is available open to ALL networks?

We can only hope.

Hope all you want, but the answer is no.

 

[Silencer]

Hope all you want, but the answer is no.

Your probably Surely right

 

[sishaw]

Could Wednesday be the day the iPhone is available open to ALL networks?

We can only hope.

Possibly the day of the announcement, but not the actual day you can go out and buy a Verizon iPhone.

 

[davidbrummy]

Good news if it is real

This is a technical thing of the network, not something Verizon is implementing and can change.

Unlike edge however (from what i have read), you have the option of taking a phone call while surfing, it doesn't go straight to VM.

It's a non-issue for me personally.....

This is true but I agree it is not a real issue for most people I know. I would rather have faster data and currently AT&T is bad in San Francisco.

The iPhone on Verizon would be a good thing for everyone. Even if you stayed on AT&T it would decrease the traffic.

 

[0309385]

I will fall to my knees and cry if the iphone gets off of AT&T i'm not switching again!

 

[GroundLoop]

There's no indignation because people realize that Microsoft spends $8B to $10B a year in R&D.

They know that it would cost $10B to make only one Windows 7 DVD. Nobody is "up in arms" just because
it would cost $10,000,000,000.25 to make two DVDs.

No software company could price their products based on the incremental cost per unit produced.
I doubt that any company could price any mass-produced product on the incremental cost per unit.

Not sure if you read the whole thread, but this is the exact argument that we are all making. Earlier, Ryeno was complaining that the iPhone parts only cost $180 and that Apple is ripping everyone off.

Hickman

 

[TraceyS/FL]

I will fall to my knees and cry if the iphone gets off of AT&T i'm not switching again!

You are missing the point - you won't have to switch.

Want to be on AT&T - go or stay with an iPhone.

Want to be on Verizon - go or stay with an iPhone.

Putting it on MORE CARRIERS does NOT mean the first gets dumped. Exclusive - you can only buy it THERE. Non-exclusive - buy it more places.

 

[doctor-don]

Not sure if you read the whole thread, but this is the exact argument that we are all making. Earlier, Ryeno was complaining that the iPhone parts only cost $180 and that Apple is ripping everyone off.

Hickman

Do you mean that Apple shouldn't sell that $180 iPhone for a modest, usual 5% profit? That would be $189 for the iPhone (before taxes).

They certainly would sell MANY more iPhones. I might have bought one instead of the myTouch.

But then, how would they have paid all those (R&D et al) employees.

 

[sam10685]

I'm hoping it does what the RAZR did and go to almost all carries. Seems like that'd be the wisest move for apple.

 

[Ammo]

I hope AT&T don't lose iPhone exclusivity for a LONG time

Um, why?

 

[VenusianSky]

No software company could price their products based on the incremental cost per unit produced.
I doubt that any company could price any mass-produced product on the incremental cost per unit.

The price of the software on disc is nearly or exactly the same as a downloadable copy in many cases, such as Windows.

 

[kironin]

No one knows how long the original iPhone and post iPhone 3G contracts were. And I mean no one outside Apple HQ and AT&T HQ. Everyone is assuming and doing wishful thinking on mere analysis.

Verizon will not carry the iPhone for a long time. So quit it with such threads... once LTE is up and running then, yes I'll feel more comfortable saying, Verizon might get it soon.

fine, except I have a family member that works at ATT Wireless division and who should know that was very adamant last November that there would be an iPhone available from Verizon in 2010. It was already a done deal. Given that, I think the buzz has some fire behind the smoke.

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

T-Mobile HSPA iPhone 3GS ?

Easy to add, just a AWS power amplifier (a sub $1 part), the baseband and iPhone software already supports the rest.

The antenna that the iPhones use don't support the 1700 band; only T-Mobile uses it anyway.

I'm a Canadian. There is no CDMA iPhone in Canada and not all carriers have the iPhone in Canada. Three carriers have the 3G iPhone (Bell, Telus, Rogers)

Sorry, I misspoke; but at the same time, Bell and Telus deploying WCDMA is very much key to how Rogers lost exclusivity.

Here's a question for you gurus:

I know that switching from one GSM carrier to another can be done by switching the SIM cards. How would one switch from one CDMA carrier to another? I'm with Sprint, and would snatch up a Verizon iPhone in a minute if I knew I could somehow put it on Sprint's network.

CDMA phones have to be re-coded for the network, but Verizon's probably not going to let you do that.

There's been a lot of this "Verizon couldn't handle the iPhone traffic" speculation going around. I used to think so too, but then I considered:

1. AT&T came together in its current form barely three years ago. The prior company, Cingular (which reportedly had a reputation for dropped calls) was significantly behind Verizon in building out it's network. Verizon's network is well established and has a reputation for consistent call quality and connection.

2. Verizon has had over 2.5 years to observe AT&T's experience and struggles with the iPhone, and has been taking copious notes. Whereas AT&T was pretty much blindsided by the enormous popularity of the device.

Given the above, there's the possibility that Verizon will have a smoother adoption of the iPhone than AT&T did, further damaging AT&T's reputation.

However, one big plus for AT&T is that it's GSM network allows for simultaneous voice and data use, while Verizon's CDMA does not.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Verizon -- with it's "cripple the phone and make you pay a monthly charge for it's built-in features" tactics, it is one of the world's greediest nickle-and-dimers. Just bringing up some points to consider.

Part of that point, at least from my end, is that if Verizon were to have launched the iPhone instead of AT&T, it's possible they'd be in the same situation. If I were an executive at Cingular, I wouldn't have thought the iPhone would be such a big seller. I'd think that the mandatory $20 data plan per line and $500-600 initial cost for the phone would make the iPhone more of a niche product, even when the price got dropped by $200, therefore I'd think that the network could handle it. And even when the iPhone 3G's price went down to start at $200, I'd think that the mandatory $30 data plan that didn't even include texting would be able to bring it back to being a niche halo product.

But what annoys me most here is, yes, if Verizon indeed does launch the iPhone, they will for sure have a smoother adoption, and, while AT&T's network does leave much to be desired (it's worked great for me for the past 7 years, though), it'll just create a lot of damage for AT&T's reputation that's caused by self-centric consumers that don't look at the big picture at all.

 

[sam10685]

I will fall to my knees and cry if the iphone gets off of AT&T i'm not switching again!

I'd be terrified if I were you. If this happens, Apple and AT&T will certainly force you to sell your iphone on the spot.

 

[VenusianSky]

Yet on the other hand, iPhone, iPhone OS, and Mac OS X design and develop themselves.

How many other systems does the iPhone OS and Mac OS X run on other than Apple hardware? What's the desktop computer or server that Microsoft makes that runs its OS?

 

[LagunaSol]

Not sure if you read the whole thread, but this is the exact argument that we are all making. Earlier, Ryeno was complaining that the iPhone parts only cost $180 and that Apple is ripping everyone off.

AidenShaw ignores the obvious when it doesn't suit his agenda (read: tirelessly trying to push Windows from 95% market share to 100%).

The real question is: with 95% market share, how can one justify $320 for an operating system that costs $0.25 to press, even if you spent $10 billion to get there? Shouldn't massive adoption rates bring prices down, especially with something that carries almost no actual production costs? Logic would say yes.

Nope, they have no problem with Microsoft's margins (and enormous profits) at all - not when they can direct all their rage at the fruit company with the funny leader in the black turtleneck.

And where Microsoft's $10 billion in R&D is really going is another argument for another day - you certainly can't see its results in actual innovation.

How many other systems does the iPhone OS and Mac OS X run on other than Apple hardware? What's the desktop computer or server that Microsoft makes that runs its OS?

What relevance does that have to the argument at hand?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Previous MCI/Verizon customer-

DATE ........ TOTAL....PHONE....TAX & SURCHARGES
Feb 2005 - $33.56 - $22.99 - $10.57
Dec 2006 - $40.37 - $25.99 - $14.31
Oct 2007 - $42.76 - $26.96 - $15.80
Jan 2008 - $44.75 - $28.99 - $15.76
Apr 2008 - $55.50 - $38.99 - $16.51

April 2008 - cut the phone line completely.

Losing customers, so raise rates for remaining customers - good business model ... NOT!

Food for though but that is not valid unless you compare it to AT&T. For the most part when you compare AT&T and Verizon they work out to be almost exactly the same after you include the nickel and diming for each one. They both do it to death. If you look at them both over the long term guess what you discover. The cost of the respect cell phone plans on both companies work out to be pretty close to one another. Bouncing back and forth on who cost more.

Spirnt is the most upfrount about their monthly cost and has least amount of adds in.

T-mobile is the worse on the nickel and diming add in. Their basic plans offer the LEAST amount of extras. now the nice then is you can add in what you want and need and do not have to pay for any extra.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

AidenShaw ignores the obvious when it doesn't suit his agenda (read: tirelessly trying to push Windows from 95% market share to 100%).

The real question is: with 95% market share, how can one justify $320 for an operating system that costs $0.25 to press, even if you spent $10 billion to get there? Shouldn't massive adoption rates bring prices down, especially with something that carries almost no actual production costs? Logic would say yes.

Nope, they have no problem with Microsoft's margins (and enormous profits) at all - not when they can direct all their rage at the fruit company with the funny leader in the black turtleneck.

You do know that very few copies of Microsoft OS are sold at $320 right. That is for the full retail version of it.

Now lets compare that to apple who releases a new OS every 1-1.5 on average with a cost of $129. So when you comare that to 3-4 Apple seems to pop off the the time of one over MS OS windows looks a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

[cms2]

I hope there is something to this. The only thing keeping me with ATT this past year has been my iPhone. Not that I think Verizon is much better, but generally, competition is a good thing. It's been several years since I switched from Verizon to Cingular, but I remember Verizon having good customer service. My personal experience with ATT has not been good.

 

[tennispro5023]

Are you kidding? AT&T is far from the worst network.
Keep buying those Verizon commercials.....



"Keep buying"??? You have to be ****ing joking me right now? I didn't even get service in my own house with AT&T. Verizon is without a doubt THE MOST REALIABLE and BEST wireless carrier. It would explain why they are Number 1 and have the most people on their network and will only gain many more when they finally get the iPhone.

 

[crackbookpro]

Bottome line... if ATT loses exclusivity does that mean ATT has to unlock our iPhone should we choose to go with another carrier after contract?

The AT&T iPhone would have to be unlocked for a similar radio band network (GSM) for its communications. So, for the US it would have to be a carrier like T-Mobile.

If the iPhone does get released on Verizon, which I wholeheartedly do believe will happen because of the exclusivity deal ending with AT&T & an emerging market opportunity - Apple may just start building all the new iPhones using one of the dual GSM/CDMA chips and utilize it for all carriers.

I am know expert in whether or not the dual-chips have worked as stated, but I do know Blackberry and some Droid phones already utilizing these.

I am wondering what are the cons about the dual-chip? ...If there are major flaws in the dual chips then I don't see Apple building a "one-for-all."