

Apple May Have Two iPhones For Verizon - seren6ipity
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217200485&cid=iwhome_art_iPhon_mostpop

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mdasen
I don't doubt that Apple will want to get the iPhone onto Verizon's network.
However, Verizon itself has said that Apple has no interest in making a non-
GSM phone. I'm guessing, as the article postulates, that these negotiations
are a way of milking AT&T for more money. Verizon is rolling out an LTE
network which Apple will probably provide a device for, but that network won't
be finished until 2014 according to the latest reports.

However, these negotiations could get a lot more money out of AT&T who
desperately would like to keep the iPhone as an exclusive past 2010.

As for the iPhone losing its "special-ness" when it becomes multi-carrier like
the Motorola RAZR, that's a different situation. The RAZR was a basically
unchanged phone for years. It was hot when it came out because it was new and
different, but other phones became even better than it as Motorola rested on
its laurels. Apple has a few advantages here. First, they've shown with their
iPod line that they won't be content selling the same, unimproved product when
they could be making improvements. Second, one of the most attractive things
about the iPhone right now is the App Store.

The App Store has put a huge barrier up against competition. Sure, there are a
million-odd Android phones out there, but there are nearly 40M iPhone/iPod
touches out there - and, in terms of developer mindset, the iPhone is where
it's at. In fact, the iPhone is starting to look like Windows in that
developer mindset is firmly behind the iPhone and alternative platforms aren't
seeing the cool applications coming out for them. Apple's now in the position
where third parties are creating the value of their platform by developing for
it. I'm not saying that's a good thing (as someone who will shortly own a Palm
Pre), but it does look like I'll be stuck without many of the cool apps.

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aditya
Agree with everything you've said, but there's an interesting bit of news in
yesterday's WSJ:

<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124082748427758659.html>

Basically, Verizon added more subscribers than AT&T last quarter, so barrier
or not, the iPhone isn't pulling as many people to AT&T as it was earlier. It
makes sense from a developer perspective to write for the iPhone but VZW
doesn't have to care.

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cstejerean
The fact that AT&T isn't pulling in as many subscribers does not mean VZW
doesn't stand to gain a lot from carrying the iPhone. It can steal existing
AT&T subscribers that have iPhones, steal some of the future iPhone owners
that would have went to AT&T instead, and also attract people to VZW that want
an iPhone but really don't want to be on AT&T.

The kind of growth VZW would see from carrying iPhones should be much bigger
than what AT&T is experiencing at the moment, since most of the people that
want an iPhone AND are willing to switch to AT&T have already done so.

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snorkel
Verizon cripples the OS on their phones so that no content can be downloaded
to the phone other than what Verizon sells. In fact Verizon even locks out USB
and Bluetooth file transfers from the phones I've tried. I don't see how a
company with that kind of business model can be a useful host of the iPhone
platform. It'll be interesting to see how they cripple it.

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Timothee
I doubt that Apple will let this happen. I have had a couple phones with AT&T
and they were crippled too: every single thing links to a store (wallpapers,
ringtones, apps...); but they don't have a single thing on the iPhone, not
even their logo.

Apple tends to not deliver something if it's not ready for prime-time and I
would expect them not to have a phone with Verizon if Verizon insists on
adding stuff. Plus, I would think it would increase the chances of people
jailbreaking the phones, thus removing a big chunk of revenue from app sales
for Apple.

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seren6ipity
If Verizon cripples the device, jailbreaking will provide Apple an opportunity
for revenue from app store.

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tc7
Why would Apple create a stripped down 'iPhone lite', as the article suggests?
Sounds very un-Appley, and seems to take away the major plus of choosing an
iphone (apps).

If it comes to the Verizon network, I'll definitely get one, as long as they
don't let Verizon cripple it and screw it up. (I have a lot of faith in
Verizon.) It seems that Apple would be in the position of power in
negotiations, so I can't see them letting Verizon have their way on anything
that makes the iPhone less cool.

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ericb
I think it is most likely a negotiating tactic pr-release vs. at&t. By
announcing how they "could" get around the limitations of the current deal and
presenting Verizon as a serious suitor, Apple should be able to increase the
dollar amount on the renewal of the exclusivity deal when that happens.

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redrobot5050
Here's the rub on why I think this is bunk (but I've been wrong before).

Apple's mobile platform has an app store. Developers sell Apps that run on the
iPhone and iPod Touch, which are virtually identical devices (a mere 3 pixels
of resolution separate the two).

Introducing more devices fragments their mobile platform, making it more of a
pain to develop for.

This is likely a ploy to get concessions from AT&T.

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vaksel
If iPhone comes to Verizon, you'll see a ton of people switching from AT&T
because their network sucks. I dunno how it is in other areas, but here you'll
get dropped calls and lack of signal all the time. Verizon on the other hand
is leaps and bounds ahead of them, quality wise. The only bad thing about
Verizon is their phones suck, which is something the iPhone will fix.

