Do you think that the Iphone will be open to all carriers in the near future? If so when do you think this will happen?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Open To All Carriers
- Thread starter Macnificant
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not sure how exclusive that is though, surely there are ways out
"Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor's conference in Las Vegas yesterday, Apple COO Tim Cook said that, "Apple is not married to the single, exclusive-carrier model."
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/02/apple_coo_iphon.html
Why not AT&T? There most popular. BTW: The one carrier program will always work best, more integration, just look at visual voicemail.
Only if a bill in Congress makes it through. I think after the AT&T contract runs out in 2012, they may branch out (especially to T-Mobile, who they are working with in another country). But Verizon uses a different type of network (or so I'm told) than AT&T and about everybody else. That would require some new guts.
In other words, don't plan on it opening up for another 4 years.
Highly doubt it, they get a lot of $$$ if they stay with one exclusive carrier plus that 10% cut AT&T has to give Apple off your monthly bill.
Victor
Victor
Because AT&T is the only carrier with enough vision to see that people are willing to switch carriers for a superior handset instead of opting to give away subsidized, crappy phones that don't even yield much revenue per month. With the iPhone, AT&T got new subscribers, didn't have to subsidize the unit and more people buying extra features such as $20 more per month for unlimited data and another $10 a month for 1500 text.
AT&T does have exclusivity rights with the iPhone because they offered the most $ to Apple and they are also the largest network in the US after the Cingular merge. AT&T will stay with Apple so long as it benefits them. But because of the fact iPhones are being sold overseas from America, unlocked on different service providers, and not benefiting AT&T (as much), there is a chance AT&T might find it in their best interest to end their relationship. In this case, they will open it up to other service providers, to those who pay up to subsidize the cost of the phone. I hope it comes sooner rather than later.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Even w/o the AT&T contract issue, the iPhone is a GSM phone, and that's never going to work on the Verizon, Alltel, or Sprint networks. AT&T and T-mobile will be your only options in the US unless there is a new CDMA version release in the future. This is a basic hardware issue.
Its unlikely to happen anytime soon in the US because AT&T is the biggest GSM operator. If Verizon goes GSM, there may be a version available to them.
The reality is that mobile telephone growth even for smart phones is outside of the US. The US market is saturated at about 250 million mobile phone users. The largest markets for mobile phone growth is India, that has 250 million, and is adding 6-8 million per month through 2010. Next is China at 500 million adding 3-4 million per month. It is estimated that both of these markets will have at least 10% of all mobile users with smart phones, or phones valued over $300, and by 2010 this will be over 110 million. If Apple wants to be the leader in smart phones, it must sell there, therefore, it means phones will have to be unlocked or the method to unlock will be readily apparent.
I wish Apple sold the iPhone unlocked for $200 more than the price they're asking. This way, those who needed to stay with one mobile operator could still get it, but it would be roughly the cost of canceling an existing contract.
The reality is that mobile telephone growth even for smart phones is outside of the US. The US market is saturated at about 250 million mobile phone users. The largest markets for mobile phone growth is India, that has 250 million, and is adding 6-8 million per month through 2010. Next is China at 500 million adding 3-4 million per month. It is estimated that both of these markets will have at least 10% of all mobile users with smart phones, or phones valued over $300, and by 2010 this will be over 110 million. If Apple wants to be the leader in smart phones, it must sell there, therefore, it means phones will have to be unlocked or the method to unlock will be readily apparent.
I wish Apple sold the iPhone unlocked for $200 more than the price they're asking. This way, those who needed to stay with one mobile operator could still get it, but it would be roughly the cost of canceling an existing contract.
T-mobile did this in Germany (They are the carrier there) for a month or so, and from what I heard, it did a great job. They really should do this in the US, it would increase sales greatly and make many happy customers (such as myself.) Hopefully AT&T pulls out from the deal soon so we can potentially get this, even though the odds of that are little to none.