Verizon said NO.

[baggss]

Verizon said NO!

Not a glowing reflection on Apple and Steve's desire for control.

[bobb-mini]

2010 - Cingular grows 3x the size of its nearest competitor riding high on the Apple bandwagon. Verizon CEO retires to spend more time with the family.

[Jesse Hollington]

I'm not convinced that Verizon was the first carrier approached, nor that they were exclusively approached.

In other words, I don't think that this was a case where Apple went to Verizon, who said no, and they therefore only then decided to approach Cingular.

More likely, Apple put out very preliminary offers and/or requests for interest back when they first began the project to see who would bite and who would be most compatible with their aims and objectives... In the very least this would have been necessary to help determine which cellular technology path they should go down (ie, GSM or CDMA).

As I've said elsewhere, however, Verizon seems to adapt an overzealous control approach in much the same way that Apple would. There is no doubt in my mind that they would be ideologically incompatible with one another, and too many compromises would have become necessary for the iPhone to be brought to market through Verizon, since they seem to block out any features on their phones that they cannot charge usage fees for.... They have a long list of crippled devices that are evidence enough of that.

[ebrunn]

Verizon cleary missed the history lesson on the iPod and how everyone said it was overprice and nobody would buy it.

[JYoung]

It's not like Ivan Seidenberg is exactly forward thinking.
Remember "Why would anyone want to use their cell phone at home?"

[Step666]

Originally Posted by bobb-mini

2010 - Cingular grows 3x the size of its nearest competitor riding high on the Apple bandwagon. Verizon CEO retires to spend more time with the family.

I don't know, where's the up-side for Cingular?

They can't very well charge the advertised price for the iPhone, they won't get enough people buying it.
But, if they offer huge rebates, they'll end up making a loss on the phones, surely?

I just can't see a win-win situation for them.





Also, what's the significance of Verizon saying no?
Forgive me for asking but I'm from the UK so I don't know much about American networks.

Are Verizon bigger than Cingular?
Are they the biggest network overall?

[Astro_Digital]

Good for Verizon.

If I was American I be tempted to switch.

[SuperNYK992]

nah, im sure apple didnt even call verizon, because they limit there stuff beyond believe


-cripple bluetooth for file transfers
-load there clunky UI on every phone

[stevesurf]

Originally Posted by Step666

I don't know, where's the up-side for Cingular?

Carriers pretty much started making money on most of their phones through a payback scenario, where part of your monthly charges pay for the phone over time. With the iPhone, Verizon's subscriber base shrinks; Cingulars expands. It's better to give the phone away and make your money on continuing revenue, and that's what will make Cingular successful.

[oddball725]

Why can't they make the iPhone for ALL PHONE CARRIERS. Then everyone would all be happy (like me). Also Apple would make more money. So can't they just make it for All Carriers?

[Surf Monkey]

Because that wouldn't be good marketing. Apple wants it to have a cache of exclusivity.

[Surf Monkey]

Originally Posted by ebrunn

Verizon cleary missed the history lesson on the iPod and how everyone said it was overprice and nobody would buy it.

Don't jump the gun. We don't know yet if iPhone will be as successful as iPod. My bet in on "no."

[Jesse Hollington]

Originally Posted by oddball725

Why can't they make the iPhone for ALL PHONE CARRIERS. Then everyone would all be happy (like me). Also Apple would make more money. So can't they just make it for All Carriers?

There are technology considerations as well..... The iPhone is GSM, which in the U.S. is going to limit them to T-Mobile and Cingular, primarily.

For the iPhone to work on the Verizon network, Apple would have to release a CDMA version. While it's not impossible to do so (nor outside the realm of possibility for them to do in the future), it would require a different device.

Even the more mainstream phone manufacturers have seldom released both GSM and CDMA products at the same time -- one usually does precede the other.

In this case, the GSM technology combined with the desire on Apple's part to exclusively partner with a carrier makes it unlikely that we'll see a CDMA version in North America.

[ebrunn]

Originally Posted by Surf Monkey

Don't jump the gun. We don't know yet if iPhone will be as successful as iPod. My bet in on "no."

First version of the phone Im with you in that it wont put up iPod numbers. But just like the iPod as them become better and cheaper they will.

[Surf Monkey]

Originally Posted by ebrunn

First version of the phone Im with you in that it wont put up iPod numbers. But just like the iPod as them become better and cheaper they will.

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. As I've said many times before, iPhone enters a very different market than iPod did. When iPod hit the MP3 market was a shambles. No player was very good in terms of either design or interface. iPod got both right. On the other hand, the phone market is flooded with hardware that's suitable both in terms of physical and software design. Sure, iPhone seems to make some nice advances in those areas but it's not revolutionary in the way that iPod was. Phone makers should make quick work of catching up to iPhone now that they have a clear target to aim for. I seriously doubt that iPhone will ever be the phenomenon that iPod was. Not even close. People need to remember that Apple is far from infallible. They can, do and will have products fail. At the moment we don't now if iPhone will succeed or not. Far too many people here and elsewhere simply assume that, based on the success of iPod, iPhone can't do anything but succeed wildly. I disagree.