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Why is Apple with AT&T?

G

Gloor

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 19, 2007
1,087
837
Hey guys,

I was just curious why is Apple so obsessed about AT&T when all I hear is complaints from people, press etc.? I'm not from the USA so its strange to me that Apple so obsessed about perfection in every details still sticks with a provider that is making such amazing phone unusable as a phone (as Jon Stewart said :)) )

So, anyone has an educated guess why they keep having such a bad provider on board?
 
Verizon and Sprint turn down Apple's offer in 2007
AT&T was the only company to take AT&T's offer
 
GSM technology reaches more people in the world than the CDMA based technologies of Verizon and Sprint.

So it looks like Apple had very little choices in terms of who to partner with.... Well there was T-Mobile but AT&T has a deeper pocket than them :p
 
appleguy123 said:
Cingular was the only one that would meet apple's demands(no carrier logo, no carrier apps, full web) all without ever seeing the original iPhone.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear to the OP who obviously wouldn't know what Cingular is. Cingular eventually became AT&T, so in this case just think of them as one and the same.

But, yes, as stated, AT&T was the only cell phone provider who was willing to work with Apple's demands in 2007. But, for that, they signed onto a strict contract which no one knows how long it'll last. Last year people thought by year's end the contract will be up and Verizon will have the iPhone. This year the same rumor is going around. So we'll see.

Eventually the phone will go multi carrier, but for now AT&T and Apple are stuck to each other unfortunately.
 
Ummmm AT&T & apple's Iphone does work as a phone. I have had AT&T way before the iphone and now the iphone for 4yrs, total 8yrs and I have no issue. Why is that a few people who do have issues mean everyone is having issues? Your not even in the US and u want to assume? You know what that makes you?
 
Why wouldn't they be? AT&T is one of the nations largest carriers, and the phone operates on the networks that are pervasive throughout the world.

CDMA (Not WCDMA) / EvDO is a dead-end technology. Popular in the US and in some other smaller countries, but nowhere near the penetration of GSM/UMTS(WCDMA).

Besides, I don't know what all the AT&T bashing is about. I've been with Cellular One/SBC Wireless/Cingular/AT&T for the last ten years. I drive all throughout Chicago, the city and suburbs and very rarely do I ever have a problem with service. I honestly couldn't be happier. Well, maybe a little lower bill, but service wise they have always been top notch for me.
 
koilvr said:
Ummmm AT&T & apple's Iphone does work as a phone. I have had AT&T way before the iphone and now the iphone for 4yrs, total 8yrs and I have no issue. WHy ssume that a few people who do have issues mean everyone is having issues? Your not even in the US and u want to assume? You know what that makes you?
Click to expand...

I had Verizon before switching to AT&T for an iPhone in 2007. AT&T sucks. There have been consumer reports about it, countless articles, countless threads, blogs, etc saying the same thing.

There's no assumption to be made. AT&T got thrashed by the popularity of the iPhone, and now their service in major areas is a nightmare.
 
koilvr said:
Ummmm AT&T & apple's Iphone does work as a phone. I have had AT&T way before the iphone and now the iphone for 4yrs, total 8yrs and I have no issue. WHy ssume that a few people who do have issues mean everyone is having issues? Your not even in the US and u want to assume? You know what that makes you?
Click to expand...

I've had Cingular/AT&T for 6 years now. Nary a problem in any way. Best telco in my area. By far.
 
i dont get the whole the world uses gsm argument. most people who use the iphone dont go out of the country very often, and even then why would you pay the huge rates just to use your phone? if i am going on vacation overseas i would just make calls for cheap or over skype, why would i need to use my iphone and add on the huge roaming fees?

making a cdma phone just seems to make sense. You have 90 million verizon subscribers, look at how fast the droid is selling, people want nice smartphones. Verizon could sell 2 million easily to verizon customers, and the service would be spread across 2 networks. You wouldnt have to worry about that stupid 2 gb cap, verizons will hopefully be more, so that itunes.com would work without charging you $80 just for data.
 
SiskoKid said:
I had Verizon before switching to AT&T for an iPhone in 2007. AT&T sucks. There have been consumer reports about it, countless articles, countless threads, blogs, etc saying the same thing.

There's no assumption to be made. AT&T got thrashed by the popularity of the iPhone, and now their service in major areas is a nightmare.
Click to expand...

If Verizon got the iphone they would of had the SAME issues. I left verizon for AT&T and back then there customer service SUCKED. AT&T has treated me and always done what I asked for; 8yrs now. I wont go back to verizon and the nightmare I had back when. I am very happy with there service, Specially in SOCAL & Knox SO far.
 
appleguy123 said:
Cingular was the only one that would meet apple's demands(no carrier logo, no carrier apps, full web) all without ever seeing the original iPhone.
Click to expand...


All too true...and NOW, two words- MONEY & CONTROL!
At&t gives up a chunk of change to Apple up front to keep the (temporary, I personally believe) single provider model in place. And don't forget that the iPad was rumored to be available on multiple platforms in the US only to have At&t be the sole provider.
If you don't believe there is a connection, then Santa Claus must be giving you your information.
And Apple STILL gets to call the shots re the iPhone. It probably won't last, but Apple will ride the gravy train till they HAVE to get off.:D
Just my opinion.
 
One other thing that turned me away from Verizon was device crippling. I don't know for sure if it's this way now, but a few years ago you couldn't buy a device that didn't have the idiot-proof Verizon UI. A Motorola operated like an LG which operated like a Samsung, etc..

I don't need my carrier assuming I'm an idiot and removing features that a device is capable of to get a single UI across all devices.
 
DonnieZ said:
One other thing that turned me away from Verizon was device crippling. I don't know for sure if it's this way now, but a few years ago you couldn't buy a device that didn't have the idiot-proof Verizon UI. A Motorola operated like an LG which operated like a Samsung, etc..

I don't need my carrier assuming I'm an idiot and removing features that a device is capable of to get a single UI across all devices.
Click to expand...

YUP I agree
 
A lot of this talk by some users and some anti-apple sites like gizmodo about how bad AT&T is, is really blown out of proportion. I personally do not have issues with my iPhone or with AT&T. I make my calls when I want, hardly ever have any dropped calls, and get the data that I need.

The thing is people will always complain about something. Guaranteed that when iPhone appears on Verizon people are going to start complaining about speed, not being able to talk and surf at the same time, or about dropped calls. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence until you get there.

Could it also be a lot of these people that are complaining are people that have hacked their phones and have them jailbroken ? That could be one of the big problems right there.
 
When some countries in Europe had only 1 provider people complained about the service on that one network. Then when it opened up to multiple networks the complaints started dropping when people found out that the other networks have problems of their own.

In Canada people complained about the Rogers service, then Bell and Telus came out with their own UMTS network and people complain about them too!
 
aside from the chinese iphone which is some kind of chinese-CDMA (right?) is there anywhere in the world where CDMA is used for the iPhone? or is it GSM all around?
 
Gloor said:
Hey guys,

I was just curious why is Apple so obsessed about AT&T when all I hear is complaints from people, press etc.? I'm not from the USA so its strange to me that Apple so obsessed about perfection in every details still sticks with a provider that is making such amazing phone unusable as a phone (as Jon Stewart said :)) )

So, anyone has an educated guess why they keep having such a bad provider on board?
Click to expand...

Are we on this again....
How do you apple is obsessed with AT&T? How if Apple has no choice but to go with AT&T? Didn't even read the court document says apple signed 5 years contract with AT&T? That's until 2012. Sure, Iphone was popular now. But, back in 2007, it was not because apple never made a phone. AT&T placed a bet by going with apple and their restrictions. The result was probably one of the smartest decision for AT&T. Those of you keep saying why apple is with AT&T needs to go back to school. It's not always about what customer wants... In business, you have to make choices.
 
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