almost official - iphone coming to verizon 01/2011

[BlahBlahYouToo]

seems like the speculation that at&t allowing early renewal of contracts for iphone 4 has some weight behind it.

Verizon will offer Apple's iPhone 4 to its wireless subscribers as soon as January, according to a published report.

Citing unnamed sources, the Bloomberg news service said AT&T's exclusive right to sell the iPhone expires at year's end—opening the door for Verizon to provide an alternative for iPhone users who have become frustrated with spotty service on AT&T's network.

UBS AG analyst John Hodulik expects Verizon to sell about 12 million iPhones in its first year of offering the product. "Not only would they sell lots to their own base, they would also be able to attract new gross adds from other carriers," Hodulik told Bloomberg.

iPhone users in major cities like New York and San Francisco have long complained about dropped calls and slow speeds on AT&T's network, which is advertised as 3G but often falls short of that. Some have even sued the carrier, along with Apple, over the issues.

But AT&T can't be blamed for all of the problems with the iPhone. The most recent version, iPhone 4, is suffering from a glitch that appears to be the result of design problems that originated with Apple.

Many iPhone 4 buyers have reported that Apple's new smartphone drops its signal if the bottom left corner of the device is covered by the palm of the user's hand—a situation that's common when the phone is wielded by lefties.

A California-based law firm is now trolling for consumers upset with the performance of the iPhone 4, possibly with an eye to launching a class-action suit against Apple.

"If you recently purchased a new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you," reads a note on a Web site maintained by Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, of Sacramento.

iPhone 4 went on sale last week. The 16GB version is priced at $199, while its 32GB cousin goes for $299. A two-year AT&T service contract is required for purchase.

 

[Deeko]

Its really not almost official. There have been announcements of this sort for well over a year now. Why is it, with each one, someone shrieks "lolzomgz its actually happening"?

Everything is a mere rumor until its actually announced by Apple and/or Verizon. Period.

 

[Slick5150]

Almost official? Are you kidding me?

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Almost official? Are you kidding me?

yeah, clearly i was kidding. can't you tell it's a joke?

 

[AMDZen]

Are you tired of the Verizon iPhone rumors yet? I sure as hell am. I can't believe that people will still say its "official" because "two people familiar with the plans" said so. I am referring to everyone referencing this article such as the front page of yahoo finance.

HAAAAA

Why do people keep overlooking the 5 year contract, through 2012? Why are they still overlooking what John Johnson said just 3 weeks ago, that there was no plan for Verizon to support the Apple mobile devices in the “immediate future”?

This was from an official person at Verizon. What does Bloomberg know? If it was really leaked, why would it get leaked to them? Financial reasons seem to be evident which makes them suspect.

Furthermore, why not tell the public before the iPhone4 release to sway any on the fence who may or may not want AT&T or who may want Verizon instead? Why would you wait til January 2011 to release it if you could get it out before the holiday season, you know when people buy stuff?

None of it makes any sense frankly.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Furthermore, why not tell the public before the iPhone4 release to sway any on the fence who may or may not want AT&T or who may want Verizon instead? Why would you wait til January 2011 to release it if you could get it out before the holiday season, you know when people buy stuff?

None of it makes any sense frankly.

The article claims that exclusivity ends at the end of 2010, so January would be the earliest that Verizon would be able to release it. Most likely VZW has some strict NDAs with Apple (if this is true that is) that would prevent them from advertising a future phone that would snatch ATT customers.

ATT just raised ETFs and let tons of customers sign new two year contracts to get a bunch of new contracts THIS YEAR too, something that makes sense if they think VZW may steal many customers if they were to get the iPhone.

I'm not saying the rumors are true at all, but I think there's a lot that makes a lot of sense personally.

 

[AMDZen]

The article claims that exclusivity ends at the end of 2010, so January would be the earliest that Verizon would be able to release it. Most likely VZW has some strict NDAs with Apple (if this is true that is) that would prevent them from advertising a future phone that would snatch ATT customers.

ATT just raised ETFs and let tons of customers sign new two year contracts to get a bunch of new contracts THIS YEAR too, something that makes sense if they think VZW may steal many customers if they were to get the iPhone.

I'm not saying the rumors are true at all, but I think there's a lot that makes a lot of sense personally.

Apple & AT&T did the same thing when the 3G and 3GS came out, let people upgrade way early. There was nothing different about it this time

 

[tatteredpotato]

They didn't jack up ETFs last time...

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So they're gonna dump more money and build a special CDMA version to access 80 million customers when they can already get the billions of wireless users worldwide with GSM/UMTS? Odd. Not wise.

 

[TheWart]

So they're gonna dump more money and build a special CDMA version to access 80 million customers when they can already get the billions of wireless users worldwide with GSM/UMTS? Odd. Not wise.

I am not an engineer so pardon my ignorance, but is it really that much more difficult from a design/implementation perspective to swap the GSM radio with a CDMA radio? Are they different sizes?

To my, the bigger hurdle would be getting a CDMA chip that allows simultaneous voice+data. Every one of my friends who owns an iPhone have used the phone while browsing the web, and I can't see Apple being too keen to lose that capability.

 

[Ballatician]

Repost

edit:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2086406

 

[drbrock]

will this work on sero classic?

 

[gsaldivar]

To my, the bigger hurdle would be getting a CDMA chip that allows simultaneous voice+data.

It's a limitation of CDMA, not the radio/chip. It goes without saying that this is a non-issue if you are on wifi. At any rate, LTE works differently (uses a separate radio for data) and it will allow phones to use voice and data simultaneously.

 

[TheWart]

It's a limitation of CDMA, not the radio/chip. It goes without saying that this is a non-issue if you are on wifi. At any rate, LTE works differently (uses a separate radio for data) and it will allow phones to use voice and data simultaneously.

Right, but I thought some company demonstrated a CDMA radio that could do both at the same time.

 

[Fingolfin269]

So they're gonna dump more money and build a special CDMA version to access 80 million customers when they can already get the billions of wireless users worldwide with GSM/UMTS? Odd. Not wise.

80 million potential customers is not an insignificant number regardless of the size of the other pool.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I am not an engineer so pardon my ignorance, but is it really that much more difficult from a design/implementation perspective to swap the GSM radio with a CDMA radio? Are they different sizes?

To my, the bigger hurdle would be getting a CDMA chip that allows simultaneous voice+data. Every one of my friends who owns an iPhone have used the phone while browsing the web, and I can't see Apple being too keen to lose that capability.

That's the limitation of CDMA and EVDO Rev A.

I don't think it's hard at all for these manufacturers to put in the right chips. It's like why doesn't HTC start putting in 850/1900 radios instead of just 900/2100 radios in all their spanking phones... the Desire, Legend would've been great in the US or any other 850/1900 nation.

If you think about it, 850/1900 isn't just AT&T and its 80 million people. It's Canada, Australia, Thailand, Latin America, etc. But it's a whole nother product that needs to be built, supported, etc. They don't even bother with the US market with those phones. I think it's just too much effort for too little reward.

Let's not forget that most phones in the US, even when they are available on multiple carriers, have special designs. Look at HTC Touch Pro 2 for example or the new Samsung Galaxy S. Carriers gotta pay off phone manufacturers to build a special version or whatever. Clearly, Apple's pushing a one phone works worldwide approach, and the unlocked approach in Canada and UK, and possibly the rest of the world. This goes against what every US carrier does. The Galaxy S needs 4 flavors in the US? Then what does the iPhone need? This is going to be tough. What differentiates AT&T from Verizon or any other carrier? It's always been phones.... Ads on TV are always about phones which then inherently link to a carrier. It's never been about the phone itself (except the iPhone). This obviously requires a giant shift in the way Verizon, AT&T, etc do business.

The question is whether 80 million customers in the US is worth Apple having a special CDMA version? I don't know. It's not hard to implement, but when you already have a much larger pool on hand, it seems easier to deal with.

It's a question of whether Verizon can accept the same phone as AT&T or if it wants a special iPhone. How is marketing going to work? It's tough to say....

 

[Bateluer]

I don't see this happening. Verizon is dropping a lot of money advertising their Android phones and their Droid franchise, especially with all the insults that they've hurled at Apple. I also don't see Apple developing a CDMA version of the iPhone for such a short time. An LTE iPhone on multiple carriers wouldn't surprise me though.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

I don't see this happening. Verizon is dropping a lot of money advertising their Android phones and their Droid franchise, especially with all the insults that they've hurled at Apple. I also don't see Apple developing a CDMA version of the iPhone for such a short time. An LTE iPhone on multiple carriers wouldn't surprise me though.

the bulk of their ad campaigns poke fun at AT&T's coverage.

i see way more of the 'map' commercials than the 'droid does' commercials.

 

[Bateluer]

the bulk of their ad campaigns poke fun at AT&T's coverage.

i see way more of the 'map' commercials than the 'droid does' commercials.

Their full page ad in the New York Times lists the Droid X's dual antennas as enabling the user to hold their phones any way they wish.

 

[gsaldivar]

Their full page ad in the New York Times lists the Droid X's dual antennas as enabling the user to hold their phones any way they wish.

 

[Bateluer]

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/30/droid-x-full-page-ad-takes-shot-at-iphone/

 

[akugami]

Posted in the other thread. Same reasoning on why I feel there will be no Verizon iPhone in 2010 or 2011.

First, the unsealed court docs showing that 2012 is the likely date that the AT&T iPhone exclusivity ends. Yes, there is a lot of rumors and "inside sources" that claim the exclusivity will end in late 2010 but the court documents are the most concrete evidence we have outside of AT&T or Apple admitting to anything. I'm going to have to believe the unsealed court documents over an "inside source" at this point.

Second, it makes no sense to invest in CDMA design for one year and then have to switch the year. The reason they will likely have to move away from the CDMA design is because Verizon and AT&T will be working on their LTE 4G networks. They will use similar technologies so it'll be a "one design fits all" deal. The best use of their engineering resources. Verizon is scheduled to release their 4G network in 25 cities in late 2010. There will be outages and there will be bugs. It makes sense to move to Verizon in 2012 because by that time Verizon should have resolved any major kinks in their 4G network.