Article: Apple to AT&T: Drop Dead (1 Viewer)

[Melvin Surdin]

Switched back to Verizon yesterday ... using a Blackberry Storm. Far better coverage than AT&T .... no better choice at this point.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Apparently...even the US Senate is starting to tell AT&T to drop dead too...

Senators challenge AT&T?s exclusive iPhone deal | iPhone | iPhone Central | Macworld

Hmmmm..

 

[DaveF]

Congress is talking with "an executive from AT&T, ...Paul Roth, president of retail sales and services for AT&T. "
Errmmmm...shouldn't Congress then ask the phone maker (Apple) why they wouldn't prefer to sell to customers of all carriers? Why ask AT&T what Apple was thinking, when you can ask Apple directly? But if they're going to do this obtusely, perhaps they should also ask Verizon why they *didn't* want to sell the iPhone to their customers?

 

[LarryH]

Well, for me this has all become a moot issue. It never occurred to me to check before, but I recently checked AT&T's coverage map and found that I live in a great big hole in their 3G coverage - therefore no iPhone for me for a long, long time.

I thought about the Palm Pre with Sprint, but I just can't get into its form factor. I think Verizon has the Samsung Omnia, but I read a lot of negative reviews on that (well, they all get a fair share of negatives). Anyhow, I will just keep my Treo 650 on Earthlink (Sprint network??) until it croaks.

 

[Melvin Surdin]

Blackberry of your choice on Verizon is a reasonable combination. However, when minus is the lack of active sync on the Storm. Cannot connect to our company's server (Outlook) except through web access.

 

[Carlo_M]

After upgrading to an iPhone 3GS, reception in my apartment is still spotty, but is markedly better with the iPhone than it was through the Blackberry. In fact my roommate mentioned it when we talked over the weekend. He asked if I was at home, and I said yes, and then he asked if I got the new iPhone. I asked why, and he said "because you're not cutting in and out and you sound a lot clearer."

Still could be a lot better, but hey, I'll take my small victories where I can.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I doubt that at least for basic phone service (as DaveF also wondered). How many customers does Verizon already have? And how does that really compare to the number of current iPhone users?

Also, it's not like 100% of iPhone users will suddenly switch to Verizon if they add the iPhone tomorrow. Most of them will probably still wait until their existing contracts run out. And then, some will still stick w/ AT&T for their better rates, especially if coverage is not a problem for them.

Even for data usage, I'm not sure it'll make that much of a blip. Most any Verizon user who wants data service probably already use a device for that -- there are a lot of Blackberries out there afterall. I doubt the iPhone would add quite that much extra usage. The iPhone would likely just replace the existing ones and add a bit more thru extra new customers.

_Man_

 

[Shane D]

i think there are alot of people like me who are caught in contracts/family plans on verizon or alltel soon to be verizon, that are holding off on any kind of data phone until we can have the iphone. i have a touch and just a normal phone that i've had for the last 2 years and instead of upgrading now, im just gonna make this one last until verizon gets it.

 

[DaveF]

According to Wikipedia, the US subscriber counts are as follows, with Verizon leading both customers and revenue.

Verizon: 86.6M
AT&T: 78.2M
Sprint: 49M
T-Mobile: 32.8M

AT&T has about 1/3 the US wireless market. Unless the majority of would-be iPhone owners ahve switched to AT&T, Apple could increase its customer base by 200% by selling the iPhone on the other carriers.

Obviously, I'm speaking in ignorance. I know nothing about the Byzantine world of cellphone business. But it can't make any sense for Apple to stay web to AT&T forever.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

For me, it's the cost of the required data service that keeps me from getting a smartphone like the Samsung Omnia or a Blackberry since I can't expense it for work like a lot of other people can -- that *might* change soon since my job function has changed some lately and I may become "on-call" for production data issues.

The iPhone hadn't really been *that* great as a data phone anyway -- at least not before v3.0 -- so even if it had been available w/ Verizon, a lot of people would still be using a Blackberry or similar because those fit their business/work needs better.

_Man_