Apple to Drop AT&T Exclusivity for iPhone Wednesday?

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
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A little insider birdie told HotHardware that Apple’s event on Wednesday may not just be about a new product launch, as they believe that Apple will announce that it is removing AT&T’s exclusivity on the iPhone in the US. No word as to what carriers are stepping up to offer iPhones so I guess you’ll be waiting until Wednesday for that detail.

This may not be all that surprising. Inside of AT&T, we are hearing that the iPhone is causing more trouble than ever before. On some level, having the iPhone is hurting AT&T's image. Because they are the only company to carry it, and it's such a data hog, it's largely to blame for AT&T's network troubles.
 
If a Verizon iPhone is released I would jump ship immediately, even though I only have 5 months left on my contract.
 
I love how they blame the iPhone in particular for being a "data hog"... it's no moreso than any Android or Windows Mobile phone, but for the usage patterns of the users. Still, as someone wanting to dev on the side for the iClone---errm iPhone in the near future, it would be nice to be able to grab a Verizon one as a testbed.
 
Good god I hope not.

If they do, all of the iPhone bullshit will spill onto T-Mobile. Not that you can't do that already (hell, I myself use one), but allowing for an official way to do it will increase customers at least 100-fold. And it'll probably get me kicked off of my data plan.
 
Good god I hope not.

If they do, all of the iPhone bullshit will spill onto T-Mobile. Not that you can't do that already (hell, I myself use one), but allowing for an official way to do it will increase customers at least 100-fold. And it'll probably get me kicked off of my data plan.

God I hope it's not tmobile. They're worse than att. What do they have, 10% of ATT's 3g coverage. Have had verizon 3g in my area for over 3 years and yet still no tmobile.
 
If it comes to Verizon I'll be a little annoyed. I just renewed my contract a couple months ago. The phones are a bit expensive to buy straight out with no contract deals. Be nice if Verizon got them if they offered some kind of discount upgrade program. I'd go for that.
 
God I hope it's not tmobile. They're worse than att. What do they have, 10% of ATT's 3g coverage. Have had verizon 3g in my area for over 3 years and yet still no tmobile.

Not where I live - T-Mobile's EDGE is faster than AT&T's 3G around here.
 
I don't know how they would have a Verizon iPhone ready to go. Apple said they were only going to produce 1 version of the iPhone and that's GSM right now.
 
Well Tmobile is more or less a given already as people are already using the iphone on their network. I think sprint may be the only other viable carrier because Verizon's CDMA network does not support data and voice. This is something that as a verizon customer irks me somewhat due to the limited nature of the Droid and Nexus 1. I overall like the Nexus 1 better then the iphone, but flat out lack of capability due to network limitations has me seriously considering switching to AT&T. I live in the atlanta area so AT&T is not too terrible here.
 
I love how they blame the iPhone in particular for being a "data hog"... it's no moreso than any Android or Windows Mobile phone, but for the usage patterns of the users. Still, as someone wanting to dev on the side for the iClone---errm iPhone in the near future, it would be nice to be able to grab a Verizon one as a testbed.

I have no inside info on the iPhone or AT&T, but you're still wrong. I can promise you that we've seen significantly higher data usage on Android phones than we see on RIM and Windows Mobile.

How much more? About 5-6x. We're not having network issues at this point, but if if that trend continues, we clearly will. You build networks based on certain assumptions, and when a phone increases usage as much these apparently do, it throws everything out of whack.

I'm not saying that AT&T is blameless (there data network wasn't spectacular before the iPhone), but iPhone has made it worse and usage on certain phone is clearly much higher than other smart phones.
 
I'd be really surprised if that was the case, because AT&T has no really interesting smartphones besides the iphone and I would think they would have another somewhat popular one there besides it before they parted ways with Apple
 
I'd be really surprised if that was the case, because AT&T has no really interesting smartphones besides the iphone and I would think they would have another somewhat popular one there besides it before they parted ways with Apple

That assumes that they would part ways with Apple rather than the other way around, which this news story would indicate if it turns out to be true.
 
I think its only part true, in that right now only AT&T and Apple STORES carry it. Partners like Target, Best Buy and others cant? I think AT&T and apple will simply allow other stores to carry the Iphone for AT&T. At least thats what I heard at Radio Shack from there phone guy, but those guys are dumb as dirt.
 
I think its only part true, in that right now only AT&T and Apple STORES carry it. Partners like Target, Best Buy and others cant? I think AT&T and apple will simply allow other stores to carry the Iphone for AT&T. At least thats what I heard at Radio Shack from there phone guy, but those guys are dumb as dirt.
You can buy iPhones at Walmart, why do you think every mouth-breather in the country has one?
 
AT&T needs to spend money on infrastructure instead of looking for an excuse . 3.5 billion profit last quarter. Tell the shareholders at the next general meeting that if they still want to make record profits to take a little break on their dividends for a couple of quarters so AT&T can rebuild for the future, instead of this ad hock way of doing business, a little bit here and a little bit their.
 
AT&T needs to spend money on infrastructure instead of looking for an excuse . 3.5 billion profit last quarter. Tell the shareholders at the next general meeting that if they still want to make record profits to take a little break on their dividends for a couple of quarters so AT&T can rebuild for the future, instead of this ad hock way of doing business, a little bit here and a little bit their.

And how much of that profit is due to the iPhone? Probably quite a bit.
 
And how much of that profit is due to the iPhone? Probably quite a bit.

AT&T didn't give a break down on IPhone profits. Since you seem to think "Probably quite a bit" how about doing some research on how many Iphones are on their system, the average monthly income. I don't think its as high as you do.
 
It's kinda of funny how everyone raved about wanting an iPhone if AT&T would let go of exclusivity, but now are saying "wahhhhhh leave my network alone, I like my data speed" :D
 
If the iPhone is going to be available on Verizon then the other shoe just dropped..

That's why Verizon increased their ETFs on "advanced devices". They increased it for the iPhone and they needed to do it with enough lead time that it didn't look that bad (or worse than it did).


Riley
 
AT&T needs to spend money on infrastructure instead of looking for an excuse . 3.5 billion profit last quarter. Tell the shareholders at the next general meeting that if they still want to make record profits to take a little break on their dividends for a couple of quarters so AT&T can rebuild for the future, instead of this ad hock way of doing business, a little bit here and a little bit their.

Do you have any idea how much time it takes to plan out a major network expansion? I don't know what AT&T is doing, and neither do you. I know that in many places, it's very hard to get local authorities to approve new cellsites, and generally speaking, improving capacity requires new sites (or harder still, new towers).
 
In order for Apple to drop AT&T they'd need to build a new iphone with the correct hardware for whatever frequency the new carrier is on.

And for that to happen, there would already be a leak somewhere showing production parts and/or an FCC filing....
 
In order for Apple to drop AT&T they'd need to build a new iphone with the correct hardware for whatever frequency the new carrier is on.

And for that to happen, there would already be a leak somewhere showing production parts and/or an FCC filing....

I have no info, but FWIW, I recall our VP saying last summer that he believed that a CDMA iPhone was coming. We'll see what happens.
 
Nope. Even if iPhone goes to another carrier this year, it won't be announced months in advance, as that would kill nearly all smartphone sales for said carrier. There might be an announcement to that effect in the summer, when the new iPhone is released, but not next week.
 
Do you have any idea how much time it takes to plan out a major network expansion? I don't know what AT&T is doing, and neither do you. I know that in many places, it's very hard to get local authorities to approve new cellsites, and generally speaking, improving capacity requires new sites (or harder still, new towers).

All I'm saying is sooner then later. When an outfit can't keep up with new tech, theirs your answer , not their excuses.
 
For all of Verizon's talk lately I'd hope their network can handle it or that they have a flame suit.
 
No, they increased thier cancellation fees because people were doing bogos and canceling a line to sell on ebay for a profit.
 
Nope. Even if iPhone goes to another carrier this year, it won't be announced months in advance, as that would kill nearly all smartphone sales for said carrier. There might be an announcement to that effect in the summer, when the new iPhone is released, but not next week.

This is exactly when the original iPhone was announced.

Why would it matter to Verizon if all of verizon's customers waited 6 months for the iPhone? When you buy a new phone, the company loses money. There's nothing better than an out of contract customer who continues to pay for service.

What's more, by announcing it, they might cause a lot of people that were thinking of renewing with another carrier to wait 6 months and move to Verizon.
 
If I am reading the article correctly, all Apple is doing is removing AT&T’s exclusivity, which means that it won't be the only one providing the iPhone anymore.


.
 
If it came to Sprint I'd only consider it if I could keep my Sero plan, which most likely they wouldn't allow.
 
Well at least ATT's network will become less congested over time and people will regain their 3G speeds, so everything evens out and everyone's a winnar!
 
Never any Sprint love. Sprint has the best service in my area, yet they have the shittiest selection of phones. BAH.

At least they have that new 1 year upgrade program. I'll have me some new Crackberry loveage every year.
 
first off, who says they will only announce that it is "coming" in a few months to verizon/sprint/whoever, this is apple, as far as we know they could have it available 2 days from now

secondly, to whoever said, "we havent seen any fcc filings" or leaks, lol, your new arent you, apple doesnt have leaks, i mean come on, we pretty much know for sure that the apple tablet is coming, yet NO ONE has any concrete proof, no fcc filings, or anything, you only know what apple wants you to know

third, if it does come to verizon, no they will not give you a special "early, i want an iphone but just did an upgrade 3 months ago" deal, you got the phone you wanted 3 months ago, if you wait for the next best thing, you will be waiting forever, and if verizon or whoever gives special deals like that they are basically throwing money away left and right, not gonna happen

fourth, as a verizon salesman, i am EXSTATIC about wednsday now, a possible apple table AND iphone on verizon now, i think i need a clean pair of pants, i can just see the money rolling in now lol
 
oh, and sprints service does not offer phone and data at the same time, they are on the same network as verizon, the iden side of sprint may, but do you really think apple will make a iden iphone? lol, no
 
Never any Sprint love. Sprint has the best service in my area, yet they have the shittiest selection of phones. BAH.

At least they have that new 1 year upgrade program. I'll have me some new Crackberry loveage every year.

Sorry, after putting up with sprint's crap for nearly 8 years I have no love remaining for them. Personal experience obviously, but that personal experience has lost me as a customer.

first off, who says they will only announce that it is "coming" in a few months to verizon/sprint/whoever, this is apple, as far as we know they could have it available 2 days from now

secondly, to whoever said, "we havent seen any fcc filings" or leaks, lol, your new arent you, apple doesnt have leaks, i mean come on, we pretty much know for sure that the apple tablet is coming, yet NO ONE has any concrete proof, no fcc filings, or anything, you only know what apple wants you to know

third, if it does come to verizon, no they will not give you a special "early, i want an iphone but just did an upgrade 3 months ago" deal, you got the phone you wanted 3 months ago, if you wait for the next best thing, you will be waiting forever, and if verizon or whoever gives special deals like that they are basically throwing money away left and right, not gonna happen

fourth, as a verizon salesman, i am EXSTATIC about wednsday now, a possible apple table AND iphone on verizon now, i think i need a clean pair of pants, i can just see the money rolling in now lol

Apple has leaks all the time.

That said, while I hope to see the iphone ported to the Verizon network as a Verizon customer myself. I seriously doubt I will buy it myself. I mostly want to see it spread around to stop the exclusivity nonsense that is not good for the customer. I imagine for most that even a neutered Iphone is better then no iphone. I hope Verizon is able to overcome the CDMA limitations here in the near future. As it stands right now the no data/voice at the same time is not a huge deal, but as we progress down the road it will become more of an issue for more people.

As for me, my business needs me to be able to use skype and as such that means data/voice at the same time. While I was sincerely hoping to jump on board with the nexus 1, unless someone finds a method around that limitation I may end up having to jump to AT&T and get an Iphone.
 
Verizon/Sprint can't overcome the the data/voice thing on CDMA unless they treat all traffic as data (and therefore make all voice VOIP and make almost every other phone on their network obsolete) so the only thing they can do is wait until LTE phones are produced. It does not matter if Verizon will have a small LTE network by the end of the year no one is making a phone chipset for it right now.
 
AT&T is dead, long live Verizon!!

Anyone willing to guess how long it will take Verizon to get there LTE network up and running so they can shove those commercials down AT&T collective throats. I'm so fed up with AT&T.
 
And Softbank is a GSM provider. Your point? W-CDMA is a version of UMTS. If Apple is making a CDMA phone they are making a phone only for Verizon at this point.
Yes I know Softbank and their Iphone both run W-CMDA...BTW W-CDMA is CDMA. WCDMA is a CDMA channel but 4X wider. Some of the people in the West are unaware that Japan has two Cell networks , KDDI cdma2 g3 and Softbank wcdma 3g.
I guess I was trying to make people stop using CDMA as if it's only one kind of spectrum , not sure if this will make sense or not , and maybe make them be a little specific about which version of CDMA they were talking about... 3g WCDMA or 3g CDMA2 / CDMA2000. WCDMA was made to side step Qualcom's complete death grip on their CMDA g2 patent / CMDA1.
 
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