Verizon CEO: Carrier 'Never in the Running' for Original iPhone

[thetexan]

Exactly, Verizon's CEO couldn't be seen as an idiot for passing on the iPhone, error he corrected but after losing horribly on revenue.

Verizon Wireless has done just fine during the time without the iPhone. Their revenues are higher than ever, their ARPU is higher than ever, their churn rate is pretty low, and they have had solid growth each quarter since the iPhone was released. I don't really get where they lost horribly on revenue?

In fact I believe Verizon was smart to do it this way so they could focus on their network while AT&T was getting pounded. Anyone with any business sense knows that too much growth can be just as damaging as too little growth. Remember AOL? The company that revolutionized the internet back in the day with being the first to offer an unlimited plan. Their sudden growth killed them, like it killed AT&T's reputation as a quality cellular service provider. It'll be a long time before AT&T's reputation is healed.

 

[fr33 loader]

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Of coarse they are going to say that! After the iPhone launched, it was a miracle Verizon Wirless' CEO was still with a job.

Exactly. Which makes the story more credible.

 

[CFreymarc]

And if you believe that, have bridge for sale in Brooklyn and some cheap ocean front property in Arizona

Agree. Back-end carrier connectivity is probably 1% of the entire iPhone design process. With modern cellar terminal chip sets these days, you just place it on the board, connect it to the ARM processor, link in the vendor supplied driver library, and connect the proper antenna. Any good embedded engineering team can handle that in one or two months. In fact, I did a job like that for a vertical a few years ago.

Honestly, this interview has all the makings of a saving face interview. Don't know if inter-corp communications memos and email could be subpoenaed, but I think there is something fraudulent in this article.

At the launch of the original iPhone, the AT&T CEO came out on stage like he was stunned and unprepared for the roll-out. I still say that Verizon pulled out at the 11th hour and the GSM backup board layout was rolled out. This board barely worked for Steve's MacWorld launch demo. Apple then used the extra months of the FCC approval to finish up the GSM board layout. Note the original iPhone had an OEM GSM antenna and not their own design. They didn't have the time for their own antenna to roll.

 

[kdarling]

Of coarse they are going to say that! After the iPhone launched, it was a miracle Verizon Wirless' CEO was still with a job.

You mean Dennis Strigl, the Verizon Wireless CEO who turned it down?

He was promoted to be President of all Verizon Telecom, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Business.

Sounds like someone liked his decisions.

 

[Doctor Q]

Must be true, it's on macrumors.

Yes. We should all believe both stories, even though they conflict.

 

[stompy]

Seidenberg reveals that Apple was solely focused on GSM technology for the original iPhone and had absolutely no interest in also producing a CDMA version for the initial launch, meaning that Verizon was "never in the running" to partner with Apple back in 2007 when AT&T won exclusive rights for the iPhone in the United States.The comments seem to dispute a report from around the time of the original iPhone's introduction claiming that Apple and Verizon had been in talks but that Verizon had rejected Apple's demand that it receive a share of monthly service fees, a demand that AT&T accepted for a time before the two companies reworked their relationship to eliminate monthly fee revenue sharing and move to the more traditional subsidized hardware business model.

The source of the "verizon rejected iphone deal" was more than a report with "claims".

From Jan 2007:
Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless vice president. "We said no. We have nothing bad to say about the Apple iPhone. We just couldn't reach a deal that was mutually beneficial."

Someone is lying or spinning the story, not unexpected whenever mistakes occur.

 

[reckless2k2]

Verizon indirectly attacked the iPhone for months/years: were the adverts and playing Android-vs-iPhone thing done in collusion with Apple just to keep the Verizon-iPhone a secret? Hogwash!

Now they say they've been real cosy with Apple for around two years. If they had announced that they were working with Apple to produce a CDMA iPhone, I doubt Android would have seen much success in the smartphone market, even with BOGO -- might have strangled Android at birth.

The PR machinery is in full swing to heal old wounds -- that's what this is all about. I bet there will be no comment from Apple on this.

I don't know. What are they supposed to say? We are working with Apple on the iPhone and it's coming soon? That would cannibalize the sales of existing product while people "hold out" for the iPhone on their network. They want to sell and be competitive. That's what they did while product was in development. No..no..hey we are working on it and are not sure how long before it'll come out or if it'll even work so wait for it and don't buy anything else we have to offer. That sounds like good business. *sarcasm*

Wow....you know how to run a company huh?

 

[nsayer]

Although T-Mobile's 3G will need to be supported.

Why?

 

[jayducharme]

it was clear to us that they weren't looking to make a device for both sets of technologies

So why are they doing it now? Perhaps the next iPhone will be the rumored dual-band version, so Apple truly will only have to make one iPhone. But in that case the new CMDA iPhone seems like a lot of work on Apple's part for just a few months of usefulness.

 

[kupua]

Exactly, Verizon's CEO couldn't be seen as an idiot for passing on the iPhone, error he corrected but after losing horribly on revenue.

He, Ivan Seidenberg, doesn't (or didn't) even realize that he'd been played...

 

[Glideslope]

Silly Ivan. What was clear to you in 2007 is that Apple did not want to focus on CDMA with your terms.

Let's keep it honest, eh? Only a few weeks to go buddy. Then you hit the Villa in Monaco.

 

[FoxyKaye]

...but I don't think we'll ever see T-mobile's 3G frequencies supported or WiMax for that matter. Just not enough customers to warrant the design.

And being a T-Mobile customer, I'll be just as happy if the iPhone never comes to T-Mobile. I'm frankly not sure they've got the money to invest in their networks that AT&T and Verizon do, nor do I want my otherwise "B+" phone and data experience with T-Mobile degraded by a wave of iPhone users.

I've had all the major carriers in the past 10 years, and AT&T deserves every bit of bad press it's getting for its network - I left them for T-Mobile. Similarly, Verizon was my only "A" experience with a cellular carrier, but their regular talk/limited text plan cost just as much as my current T-Mobile talk/unlimited text/unlimited data plan does now. And we all know Verizon loves to lock down their phones and nickel and dime its customers to death.

 

[gri]

I just compared a new Blackberry on Verizon with a 3Gs iPhone on ATT (naturally). While the BB was still loading a web page I already had finished reading the content on the iPhone and moved on to the next page. While this of course not quite fair and might be Apple with Oranges - but if that is the Speed on Verizon than I suddenly love ATT...

 

[jemo07]

Well, Verizon never had a chance, GSM is a broad network standard where CDMA although does have some advantages to GSM, it has a limited market and market share.

It´s a no brainer for Apple, I am sure in negotiations got the same answer every time from, sure you could have a iPhone, change your network, or pay for the R&D and manufacturing to get it on CDMA.

I would not be surprised if Verizon took a big hit already to get the phones in their distribution channel. Steve has already covered his back and I am sure that he planed the whole strategy of getting the phone out in and around CES, build up the hype and your marketing dollars just stretch infinitely.

Verizon is happy, yes they probably paid $$$ but now they don´t look inferior in their phone offerings and Apple is happy ´cause the keep getting free press and they got all that $$$ from Verizon to get the CDMA iPhone going.

If you are a business person though or love to travel (and do travel ), you would never get any CDMA phone though, if you travel, they are basically useless out side Verizon and a handful of networks in Asia, so good luck with that Verizon...

 

[BlueQ]

As a Verizon customer, I say F U Verizon

Smart Money reported that effective 1/16 Verizon will eliminate its "new every two" and new customer discount. Been waiting for the iphone for a long time and now this. With my discount I was poised to grab a good deal. So much for that. Damn greedy donkeys.

 

[JAT]

Smart Money reported that effective 1/16 Verizon will eliminate its "new every two" and new customer discount. Been waiting for the iphone for a long time and now this. With my discount I was poised to grab a good deal. So much for that. Damn greedy donkeys.

Hmm, that would seem bad. But I doubt it's true. Or, it is just the prelude to a different version of the same deals. They aren't going to suddenly go cold turkey to unsubsidized.

 

[kdarling]

Hmm, that would seem bad. But I doubt it's true. Or, it is just the prelude to a different version of the same deals. They aren't going to suddenly go cold turkey to unsubsidized.

Sigh. This is like watching someone play the telephone game with whispers around a room, and seeing things get garbled.

They're not eliminating subsidies.

They're dropping an extra feature plan that gave many customers an additional discount on phones near the end of each two year contract period.

It was called "New Every Two" and gave you a extra $30 to $100 discount after 20 months, depending on how much your monthly plan was.

It was a nice extra, but with the rising cost of phones, apparently not sustainable these days.

Smart Money reported that effective 1/16 Verizon will eliminate its "new every two" and new customer discount. Been waiting for the iphone for a long time and now this. With my discount I was poised to grab a good deal. So much for that. Damn greedy donkeys.

Are you sure you're not going off half-cocked for no reason?

I read in the news that the New Every Two has been dropped for _new_ customers.

If you're already a customer with a NE2 discount coming, it sounds like it's still usable.

 

[demodave]

Technologically, this plot line makes sense

I doubt that (the existence of) all the interpersonal melodrama that is begin described here has any merit. I am sure that (the existence of) business competition is legitimate, though.

Here's the technology thought process:

1) Apple always has version "n + 1" of a product in its R&D labs at the time of version "n" public release.
2) iPhone 2G (remember that?) is released on EDGE networks and says "hello, world, wanna see what you can do with some sweet smartphone software?" and also demonstrates quietly what all their competitors can do with *their* smartphones. People buy it and the world wants to get their hands on one.
3) iPhone 3G is released in order to get some real traction outside the US and it does very well at that.
4) iPhone 3Gs comes out to do what 3G does, but a little bit faster, and to make sure that iPhone 2G buyers have something to buy to refresh their phone as their 2 year contract runs out
5) iPhone 4 comes out to capture 3G refreshes, captivate FaceTime users, and continue world domination. The new form factor (two cameras) is initially released on GSM, because that is where the current install/refresh base is, and because its familiar to the current R&D team
6) ("oh, one more thing...") CDMA iPhone 4 comes out (it was probably in development right alongside the GSM version, but had to have lower priority to make sure the yearly refresh comes out for the GSM crowd.
7) Apple now has relevant technology (GSM and CDMA) to serve the vast majority of customers around the world
7a) people talk too much about Verizon: CDMA in China will be huge
7b) Wimax will not be relevant technology once LTE is in place

Conjecture or opinion? Probably, but I think it makes sense.

demo

 

[Aatos.1]

I think the whole drama, or should I say melodrama, of the iPhone before it came to market is ripe to be made into a movie.

While Apple's influence with Disney could get a movie done, who cares, it's just a phone. The condescending ascerbic attitude of the CEO makes for a horrible role model for young people. The one exception being those who live, breathe & sleep dreaming of money.

 

[Maserati7200]

I seldom post on here anymore because you're all idiots.

You have it right from the horses mouth as to why the iPhone wasn't on verizon and but you don't believe it because some 'rumor' from years ago that has almost no foundation to it other than it being written by some pundit, conflicts with it. There is no reason for him to lie at this point. It's almost as if you view it religiously, nothing will change your mind. sigh.

 

[BlueQ]

Sigh. This is like watching someone play the telephone game with whispers around a room, and seeing things get garbled.

They're not eliminating subsidies.

They're dropping an extra feature plan that gave many customers an additional discount on phones near the end of each two year contract period.

It was called "New Every Two" and gave you a extra $30 to $100 discount after 20 months, depending on how much your monthly plan was.

It was a nice extra, but with the rising cost of phones, apparently not sustainable these days.



Are you sure you're not going off half-cocked for no reason?

I read in the news that the New Every Two has been dropped for _new_ customers.

If you're already a customer with a NE2 discount coming, it sounds like it's still usable.

Thanks, looks like the report i read last night did not have all the details. Glad I can still take advantage of the discount.

 

[Aatos.1]

Smart Money reported that effective 1/16 Verizon will eliminate its "new every two" and new customer discount. Been waiting for the iphone for a long time and now this. With my discount I was poised to grab a good deal. So much for that. Damn greedy donkeys.

I'm not defending Verizon, but it was pressure from Apple demanding they discontinue it. The "behind the scenes" power, influence & control Apple posseses is more amazing than their technical work.

 

[SandynJosh]

If you are a business person though or love to travel (and do travel ), you would never get any CDMA phone though, if you travel, they are basically useless out side Verizon and a handful of networks in Asia, so good luck with that Verizon...

I agreed with most of what you wrote except this last paragraph. I am a businessman, and I do travel...extensively within the USA.

Unlike my fellow travelers I've had no problems with my Verizon phone... especially once we leave a metro area. My business takes me to the hinterlands of the USA, not Asia or Europe, and I enjoy better coverage with my CDMA Verizon phone than my AT&T partners. I'd wager there are are more of my kind of business traveler than the "world" business traveler.

While Verizon may be slower then AT&T for data, CDMA seems to be less likely to drop a call when in a fringe area, and seems to penetrate buildings better that other carrier signals.

 

[mccldwll]

I'm not defending Verizon, but it was pressure from Apple demanding they discontinue it. The "behind the scenes" power, influence & control Apple posseses is more amazing than their technical work.

You're not paranoid if they really are out to get you.

 

[Tailpike1153]

So why are they doing it now? Perhaps the next iPhone will be the rumored dual-band version, so Apple truly will only have to make one iPhone. But in that case the new CMDA iPhone seems like a lot of work on Apple's part for just a few months of usefulness.

If we look at the CDMA as just an American product, it seems rather silly if the expected summer refresh is the hybrid. But according to the CDG, CDMA Development Group, there are 550 million CDMA subscribers. 318 million in Asia and 164 million in North America where there has been tenable demand for this product. No small numbers to sneeze at. Add CDMA to GSM subscribers that puts Apple's potential worldwide market at 2 billion subscribers.

To answer your question, my guess: Apple is probably trying to keep step with Android while waiting for LTE to take off.