What would a Verizon iPhone be like? We ask because almost everyone in the US wants the iPhone on Verizon (or so our comments, tweets, and email tell us). But how often do we stop and think about what that device might actually be?
Developer Marco Arment has done just that, but instead of a wondrous network dream, he’s giving us a lockdown nightmare:
Verizon to demand 30-50% commission on all on-device App Store sales, and all iTunes media sales.
If not a complete replacement of the App Store with Verizon’s own application market.
Removal of key applications to force users to pay for premium Verizon services (like V-Cast in lieu of Maps)
Removal of WiFi and lockdown of GPS (okay, we added that for old times sake — but it’s happened with BlackBerry and Windows Mobile)
Ugly Verizon branding plastered all over the iPhone.
Arment theorizes this is why we haven’t seen it happen yet:
I bet Apple did go to them this past spring to attempt to get a Verizon iPhone off the ground, and I bet Apple’s reps left the discussions, thinking, “These guys are nuts.”
Fact or FUD? It will be interesting to see, based on yesterday’s Android “openness” announcement, if Verizon really has changed its ways, or if users who want the iPhone on Verizon would ultimately get an iPhone they didn’t want.
Verizon gave AT&T a Cartman-esque Roshambo last night with their new, mockingly phrased “there’s a map for that” TV commercial, an obvious take off of Apple’s “there’s an app for that” at the expense of AT&T’s smaller 3G coverage footprint.
CDMA has the advantage of covering more territory with fewer towers, though it has some drawbacks too — like no simultaneous voice and data using current implementations. However, we’re not sure how funny a commercial would be showing frustrated Verizon users who’s 3G coverage dies every time the phone rings. Then again…
Of course, if Verizon ever gets the iPhone, or the mythical iTablet, we’re guessing they’ll have to pick another AT&T device to make fun of.
Now excuse AT&T if they go jump up and down a few times, we’ve heard that can stop the pain and tears…
Could we see a combination CDMA/HSPA iPhone hit Verizon before the holidays? No, we don’t think so either, but that’s the rumor we’re hearing again.
Of course, we’re no stranger to iPhone on Verizon rumors, whether they be wishful thinking or the result of ongoing, longterm Apple/carrier negotiations that may or may not ever amount to anything, it’s ironic that rumors about America’s most reliable network are almost always anything but…
Given the limited remaining lifespan on CDMA (Verizon’s going LTE for 4G) and market (primarily the US — even Bell and Telus in Canada are going HSPA), it just seems like such an un-Apple-like thing to do. Then again, Verizon’s customer base is no doubt a huge temptation for Apple. Given how many iPhones they sell on AT&T, if they hit Verizon, we can only imagine the market share shift. (Not to mention the load balancing of network traffic that would hopefully follow).
Again, we’re not getting our hopes up. We don’t think we’ll see an iPhone on Verizon any time soon, especially not before the holidays. Let’s face it, it’s almost October already and the window to effectively launch and market the iPhone on a new US network by then is rapidly diminishing from slim to none.
But, if you want to sound off anyway about how much you want a an iPhone world-phone on Verizon, hit the comments.
Stalwart Apple analyst Gene Munster is back, this time predicting the iPhone will hit multiple US carriers within an year — specifically Verizon — as well as expanded video offerings from iTunes — including a subscription service akin to satellite or cable, and an updated Apple TV to go with it.
Oh, and flying unicorns.
We joke. Slightly. Of course we want all these things too — and more — but we have a feeling that that’s all there is to some of these analyst reports — a bit of logical deduction and some surveys combined with what any of us would want:
“For various reasons the company moved from an exclusive relationship with French wireless carrier Orange to a multi-carrier model,” Munster said. “In France, the company now enjoys dramatically higher market share (in the 40 percent range vs. about 15 percent in ROW) than in countries with exclusive carrier agreements (such as AT&T in the U.S. where the iPhone has market share in the mid-teens). We believe Apple is seeing the increased unit sell-through more than offset the slightly (~10 percent) deteriorated economics per unit involved in non-exclusive agreements.”
In light of AT&T’s continuing challenge to support the iPhone and provide adequate coverage and service to iPhone users, TiPb asked our readers whether they thought Verizon could better handle the iPhone. Rumored to have been Apple’s first choice, Verizon’s advertising focuses specifically on the reliability and reach of their network. Could things have been different if Apple went with them instead?
The results of TiPb’s poll to date are:
34% (901 votes) thought Verizon’s network would be crushed by the iPhone, same as AT&T has been.
22% (604 votes) thought Verizon could handle the iPhone better than AT&T, but not without problems of their own.
22% (588 votes) thought Verizon could indeed handle the iPhone reliably.
17% (451 votes) thought no single network, Verizon or AT&T could handle iPhone level traffic alone, and that it needed to be spread out over several networks.
5% (142 votes) thought that it didn’t matter, since they were outside the US and their carriers handled the iPhone with no problem.
Taken together, fully 73% (1956 votes) feel Verizon would strain under the weight of the iPhone to one degree or another. These results seem to match the consensus that iPhone users use more features and consumer more data than any other handset user, putting a significantly higher demand on cellular networks. In large cities or at large events, this demand can result in the network failing to provide service. Only building more network capacity faster, or splitting up iPhone usage over several networks, are likely to solve this problem.
Join Dieter, Chad, and Rene for iPhone 3.1 Beta 3, Google Voice rejection, iTablet and Verizon rumors, Palm/iTunes escalation, SMS exploits, and all the news and how-tos. Listen in!
Techcrunch asks the impertinent question: can AT&T handle the iPhone. The pertinent answer thus far is: no. The iPhone is a consumer success the likes of which no smartphone has experienced before. There are more users using more features that consumer more bandwidth that likely even Apple or AT&T ever estimated, and it’s put an extreme hurt not only on existing infrastructure, but a hurt that’s growing faster than infrastructure expansion can handle.
The answer to many is simply to have the iPhone on Verizon, which is believed to offer a better network. While obviously splitting the iPhone between AT&T and Verizon would lesson the individual demand on both — load balancing the user pool, so to speak — we’re curious as to whether or not Verizon could have, or could still, handle the iPhone all by itself.
It’s largely reported that Verizon was the first US carrier offered the iPhone after all. If they’d said yes, and if the iPhone grew on Verizon as fast (or faster, given their reach) than AT&T, would Verizon have suffered the same problems — and bad reputation — AT&T is suffering now? CDMA towers, while serving more with less, still have their limits, after all. (TiPb’s heard that some feel BlackBerry hits CDMA networks hard — they ain’t seen anything like the freight-train of hurt the iPhone is bringing.)
While all of the 2010 Verizon iPhone/Tablet rumors are still in the air, Verizon has seen a very real loss of profit this last quarter. Their total profit was $3.16 billion, which was down from $3.4 billion one year ago. According to Denny Strigl, Verizon’s president, this loss is partly due to AT&T and iPhone 3GS.
“When you think about what Apple has done in bringing the iPhone into the marketplace, it truly has accelerated innovation. And as we talk to all of our manufacturers, everybody has come out with their own iconic device, and I think that this has been very good overall for our customers.”
Verizon is planning to launch a few iPhone competitors in the near future with the Palm Pre and the new BlackBerry Storm 2, along with some Google Android phones. Make no mistake, those are some nice phones, but none of them have an Apple logo on the back side.
Techcrunch reports sources claiming Verizon is racing to get 20-40 markets up and running on their 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network by Q1 2010 to coincide with an iPhone and iTablet launch.
Verizon is getting 60Mbps in 4G tests which is admittedly ZOMG fast, and since they’re going with LTE, this network will be theoretically compatible with AT&T and other GSM carriers also moving to the same technology.
And yes, it does sound too good to be true, but we won’t go all Leo Laporte on them just yet…
We know you want your iPhone on Verizon. But what about your iTablet. And are you willing to wait for LTE to get it? Let us know in our poll!
An initial version of the long-anticipated Apple tablet will be subsidized by Verizon (VZ Quote), but Apple and Verizon “won’t be as tightly integrated” as Apple’s iPhone exclusivity deal with AT&T (T Quote), says one source familiar with the companies, who asked not to be named.
iTablet, or MediaPad, rumors for Verizon are nothing new of course. The Verizon subsidy would help reduce the initial sticker price of an $800 iTablet down to something more competitive with low cost netbooks, though with only a data plan and no voice, the subsidy wouldn’t be a large as the one AT&T provides to iPhone customers who promptly return ~$100 a month in service fees.
Since Verizon is CDMA and Apple is an international company, it’s hard to believe a GSM version of the iTablet — if such a beatie is really near release — isn’t in the works, or wasn’t completed first. So, hopefully, those not on Verizon, not eager for a CDMA data plan, or not in the US will have iTablet options as well.
