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Verizon President Offers a Look Inside the Apple-Verizon iPhone Negotiations

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Apr 12, 2001
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Bloomberg takes a look at the negotiations between Apple and Verizon that finally led to yesterday's announcement that the carrier will begin carrying the iPhone next month after three and half years of AT&T exclusivity in the United States. Among the interesting tidbits of information revealed in an interview with Verizon President Lowell McAdam:

- The Verizon cell towers on Apple's campus disclosed by Steve Jobs last July were in fact installed to enable testing of the CDMA iPhone on Verizon's network.

Article Link: Verizon President Offers a Look Inside the Apple-Verizon iPhone Negotiations
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/12/verizon-president-offers-a-look-inside-the-apple-verizon-iphone-negotiations/
Anyway, I can easily see Verizon giving in to not branding the device. My Android is not branded too much from Verizon, no real "bloatware" or anything.

AT&T locks down their Android phones much more than Verizon does.
 
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Good to see such technical diligence put into this release.

I wonder if the other Manufactures like Motorola put as much into their releases. Seems they pump out the phone models so fast, it would be hard to make sure each is performing at it's top potential. Just questioning. :)
 
And yet, no comment about verizon laughing apple out of the room when first approached with the iPhone idea and terms.
 
Isnt the Verizon maps and the Vcast media thing on the new iPhone and the Vcast media thing?
 
I'm just excited to be able to use my iPhone around where I live. Southwest Michigan is Verizon country, apparently. I had to put a MicroCell in my home in order to ensure connectivity. I go a mile down the road to the gym or to the restaurant I like and I get "No Service." My wife's Verizon current dumb-phone gets stellar service at the same locations

My wife is already on Verizon. If my wife's shiny new iPhone works as I hope, I'll be joining her the same day or the day after, and AT&T can take their $255 extortion fee. A phone should be able to work as a phone, and I don't go overseas so CDMA is fine for me. Go :apple:!
 
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In the end, Apple won the negotiations, because the iPhone is that good.

This is the type of weight you achieve when your only company goal is to make the best products possible.
 
yea ill be pissed if we wont be able to use the maps application that comes standard with the iphone
 
Now all we got to see is if it works on the Verizon network of the real world, not some special set-up in Cupertino. Truth is, people say that the iPhone sucks on AT&T (and it does), but other phones on the very same at&t network do not. I guess we'll have to wait and see (pass the popcorn, please).
 
It's probably one of the reasons why Verizon didn't get it first time round. VZW probably didn't think Apple could pull it off when they were approached(in 2006?), so refused to bow to demands.
Cingular(AT&T) were maybe were the only ones who took a gamble, as it would've been back then, and they got their money's worth for 3.75 years.
 
cronked said:
From what I heard they are making that stuff downloadable as an app instead of pre-installed.
Click to expand...

That's what they said in the press release... that "your favorite Verizon apps would be available in the app store".

This, IMO, is a huge deal. My chief complaint against Android devices (with the exception of the Nexus) has been the bloatware , unnecessary UI changes, and unchangeable defaults that the carriers and handset manufacturers have been including on otherwise pretty good devices. Perhaps, now that apple has been able to get Verizon to back off, others will be able to do the same.

There are many things about Android I liked during my brief 2 week stint with my HTC Droid Incredible, but the inability to get rid of the constantly running bloatware (Flikr, Peep, Footsteps (?), etc) was an absolute dealbreaker. I don't mind if they are installed, so long as I can either delete them, or at the very least turn them off without them magically turning back on again. Either way, I'm awfully glad to be able to get another iP4, this time on a carrier that actually works in my area.
 
kas23 said:
Now all we got to see is if it works on the Verizon network of the real world, not some special set-up in Cupertino. Truth is, people say that the iPhone sucks on AT&T (and it does), but other phones on the very same at&t network do not. I guess we'll have to wait and see (pass the popcorn, please).
Click to expand...

My experience is they are an equal opportunity call dropper.
 
0815 said:
Is the Verizon signal in Cupertino so weak that they couldn't develop the phone without the extra tower? Can people not living close the the Apple Headquarter even use the phone without loss of signal?
Click to expand...

I am sure they could get signal fine before the tower, but they probably wanted to be able to test under optimal conditions so they can make claims like "download speeds up to blah blah blah"
Verizon's 3G coverage area nationwide is far superior to AT&T
 
foodog said:
My experience is they are an equal opportunity call dropper.
Click to expand...

funny cuz I dropped calls with AT&T and then switched to Verizon, still dropped calls at home and couldn't even receive calls from some people. Switched to Sprint-Perfect. Not one dropped call in 6 months.

Cell carriers are just hit and miss.
 
I'm still wondering what Apple ceeded. If Verizon is doing the marketing, I guess that's it. I don't believe Apple bent them as far as they did with Cingular at the time. One thing that stood out in the article is that Apple agreed to share info about future iPhones. That tells me they are building an LTE device. If the 4 was in development for 18 months, when did they start developing an LTE device? I am guessing 2012 is when it's released, which is a little long considering LTE phones are going to be available in the coming months.
 
dwd3885 said:
funny cuz I dropped calls with AT&T and then switched to Verizon, still dropped calls at home and couldn't even receive calls from some people. Switched to Sprint-Perfect. Not one dropped call in 6 months.

Cell carriers are just hit and miss.
Click to expand...

Point being... it's not the phone but your local service and carrier. Also... carriers are different in different areas. AT&T works great for me. Verizon I had more dropped calls with my Samsung phone than I've ever had with my iPhone.

Good news... we have choices now in the US. :)
 
1) sounds good - no vz logo on iphone
2) would have been cool if aapl employee put a pirate flag on vz cell tower on campus
3) sounds cool they had their own lab to cook things up
4) the senior vz engineer was fortunate to have a paid long-term road trip to work at aapl hq - he probably got a good bonus on top of that
 
0815 said:
Is the Verizon signal in Cupertino so weak that they couldn't develop the phone without the extra tower? Can people not living close the the Apple Headquarter even use the phone without loss of signal?
Click to expand...

AmpSkillz said:
I am sure they could get signal fine before the tower, but they probably wanted to be able to test under optimal conditions so they can make claims like "download speeds up to blah blah blah"
Verizon's 3G coverage area nationwide is far superior to AT&T
Click to expand...

Also when you're testing something you want to be able to control all the variables and see what's going in and out - that might have had something to do with it
 
0815 said:
Is the Verizon signal in Cupertino so weak that they couldn't develop the phone without the extra tower? Can people not living close the the Apple Headquarter even use the phone without loss of signal?
Click to expand...

i bet the network connections of those towers were specially routed and firewalled for secrecy
 
dwd3885 said:
funny cuz I dropped calls with AT&T and then switched to Verizon, still dropped calls at home and couldn't even receive calls from some people. Switched to Sprint-Perfect. Not one dropped call in 6 months.

Cell carriers are just hit and miss.
Click to expand...

Coverage areas are hit and miss. That's why I don't take anecdotal evidence very seriously. First hand experience, in my area, is that Verizon is vastly superior as far as coverage area. AT&T may have better speed, but if you can't connect, that's a moot point. T-Mobile is solid in the larger population areas, but very poor in rural areas. Sprint is similar.

Apple should really make the iPhone available on all the carriers and let the public decide which one works best for them.
 
AmpSkillz said:
I am sure they could get signal fine before the tower, but they probably wanted to be able to test under optimal conditions so they can make claims like "download speeds up to blah blah blah"
Verizon's 3G coverage area nationwide is far superior to AT&T
Click to expand...

I would say it's probably so they could control certain aspects of the tower without affecting the real user population. With access to their own Verizon tower, they probably have the ability to modify the tower's output to cater to whatever test environment they wanted (weak signal, strong signal and everything in between)
 
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