Apple May Have Two iPhones For Verizon | Hacker News Reader

Apple May Have Two iPhones For Verizon

informationweek.com

21 pointsseren6ipity13 comments

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.

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.

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.

The RAZR was a fashion phone. There's nothing, featurewise, that the RAZR did that contemporary phones didn't also do (aside from being really thin). And it became less special upon release by other networks because it became more commonplace. Something that everyone can get isn't fashionable anymore.

But the iPhone is more than a pretty face.

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.

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.

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

I had a verizon blackberry that wasn't crippled that way.

I think they might be more open with smart phones with a data plan than non-smart phones though

I have a Windows Mobile Verison smartphone, and I can fiddle with the data all I want. It takes third-party apps to back up EVERYTHING, or edit the registry, but that shouldn't be surprising. Plain ol' Windows ActiveSync is enough to go in and monkey with the filesystem at will.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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