With the Department of Justice looking over the exclusive deals large telecom companies have with popular smartphones, there has been a lot of speculation that Verizon could be getting the iPhone as early as 2010.
And this might be a great thing... for AT&T iPhone users.
AT&T's mission: To boldy go where no company has gone before...
AT&T has been battered left and right because of the exclusive deal with Apple to be the only U.S. distributor of the iPhone. The complaints range far and wide from a slow data network to a sloppy 3G and 3GS launch with delayed activations to features not being implemented by the time of the launch just to scratch the surface.
But what many don't take into account is that no other telecom company sells over a half million units of a new smartphone during its launch weekend. The iPhone OS has 8 percent of the smartphone market but generates 43 percent of the mobile Web request and 65% of HTML usage, according to AdMob. And what other smartphone has over 1.5 billion downloads from their app store?
This doesn't excuse AT&T. After all, beyond a slower data network and launch problems, they didn't even have MMS or tethering available for the iPhone's launch. Though, when you stop to think how those features would effect a data network already under strain from hundreds of thousands of new iPhone users, it is not really surprising that the features weren't turned on for the launch of the phone. In their eyes, delaying those features were no doubt preferable to the risk of outright data outages during the first weeks.
The green, green grass...
If there is one think people simply don't do well it is putting themselves in the shoes of other people. It's easy to gripe about their failures, a bit more difficult to balance those failures with the fact that the iPhone's popularity and market share of the mobile web is unprecedented.
Would Verizon have been much better?
I don't think so. If they hadn't turned down Apple's offer at being the exclusive iPhone carrier, we may very well be sitting around griping about how poor Verizon is and how we hope that AT&T will be selling the iPhone by 2010. In fact, the AT&T-iPhone partnership has been good for Verizon in many ways -- not only has their data network not been under such immense strain, but their biggest competition has taken a real beating in the public opinion department. It's almost a win-win for them.
I use Verizon FIOS as my cable provider, and my experience with their customer service department has been a nightmare. My wife originally set us up with phone service, so half the time I call in to make a change, they say I'm not authorized to make changes on the account, even though (at their suggestion) we had her call in and tell them I'm authorized. Luckily, they are so disorganized that I simply call back and the next person never mentions a peep about authorization.
And this is the company that could have done a bang-up job launching the iPhone?
Perhaps Verizon would have done a better job. The truth is, we'll never know. I do know this: anyone that is certain Verizon would have done much better is living their life as an ostrich.
A Verizon iPhone will be good for AT&T customers
Engadget reports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson admitted there would be a day when AT&T wasn't the exclusive iPhone provider in the U.S.
This will no doubt bring cheers to those hoping to switch over to Verizon, but the truth is that it will also be great news to anyone sticking with AT&T (whether through being stuck in a contract or through choice). As people flock to the other carrier, the service on AT&T's network will actually improve.
And in some ways, it may very well be good for AT&T. As their service improves, and as their main detractors flock to other carriers, they'll take less of a beating. No doubt, they will want to delay that day because of the huge boost the iPhone exclusivity gives the company, but I'm sure people in the PR department will heave a great big sigh of relief when the day finally arrives.
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Comments
Dude your dumb. Verizon and Verizon wireless are 2 diff. companies. VZW has won many awards for CS. Get your facts straight moron
Why do you have to call him names becuase you do not agree. verizon and verizon wireless are two different companies on paper yes, but it reality no. They share the same central offices, they share personnel, and they share cs reps. The cs has not won awards for VZW that would be AT&T. The CS for VZW is really awful and this is the only article that I have read that says it correctly about the demand on networks that the Iphone puts on them. Everyone else just critcizes AT&T but here we have Daniel saying the truth and you call him names and don't have any facts to back up your claims that are actually false!!! Daniel keep telling people the truth and ignore the hate mongers!!!
AT&T has had inferior cellular service to Verizon well before the iPhone was launched. I have used both Verizon Wireless and AT&T and have not had any problems with customer service from either company.
I agree with david at&t's service was awful before the iphone. VZW service is so much better that you dont need to call cs often anyway.
Or better yet... what if a single, 4-carrier iPhone comes out... and the 50 million iPhone users can split their network-overload among all 4 carriers?
> Dude your dumb. Verizon and Verizon wireless are
> 2 diff. companies
They are difference divisions of *ONE* company.
Or did you think they just 'accidentally' have the same copyrighted name?
No one has posted here, and it is clear why, you do not know much about cell phones or the technology that runs them, while yes, Verizon would have slowed, it would not have been as horrendous as AT&T because it has a better network. AT&T runs on the outdated GSM technology, which has a small bandwidth, which means it cannot handle that many requests. Verizon, however, runs on the much faster, CDMA technology. It has a larger bandwidth and can therefore handle much more requests. The only reason AT&T is even still standing is because they had to add a second network to handle data only. This dual network is what allows them to use data and voice at once. The data network is a type of CDMA, but it is still slower than the CDMA Verizon and Sprint use. Also, because of this AT&T has lost a lot of coverage, whether it is because of costs or power, I do not know. Before you write about cell phones, learn a little about them. Then again, you are probably an apple user that knows nothing of technology. When it comes to technology, or science in general. the outcome can always be predicted, you just need to know something about the subject.
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