Verizon iPhone Rumored For Early Next Year 251
Many readers are submitting coverage from around the Net, all based on a Bloomberg piece quoting two anonymous sources who insist that Verizon Wireless will offer a CDMA iPhone in January 2011. No one at Verizon or Apple would confirm, of course, and no one at AT&T would comment. "The iPhone, which has been the sole domain of rival AT&T in the US since June 2007, will give Verizon a boost in its competition for smartphone customers, UBS AG analyst John Hodulik said in an interview. Verizon customers, who numbered 92.8 million at the end of the first quarter, may buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, he estimates. ... 'Apple is going to dramatically increase the number of devices it sells in the US when exclusivity at AT&T ends,' said Hodulik. ... 'It's hard to ignore the quality issues that AT&T has faced.'"
Re:small impact, android will trump (Score:1, Informative)
There are already Android offerings that out-gear the iPhone 4.
Re:Steve would never do this... (Score:5, Informative)
Verizon's not doing this to their Android phones, so I see no reason why they'd do it to their iPhone (not that Apple would ever allow that to happen).
Re:Verizon FUD? (Score:5, Informative)
A complementary device enhancement known as simultaneous 1X Voice and EV-DO Data (SVDO) will also become available during the same timeframe and will enable CDMA2000 devices to access EV-DO packet data services while in an active 1X circuit-switch voice call.
Re:Too bad (Score:3, Informative)
They didn't have a choice in the matter. AT&T was the only one willing to let them do what they wanted with the phone, and without that freedom it wouldn't have been the iPhone. Now that it has completely changed the direction for smartphones, everyone's willing to play ball, but that exclusivity was almost a requirement early on.
Uh, Exclusive Deal (And GSM)? (Score:3, Informative)
How can anyone post this when we have the exclusive deal confirmed? http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/10/confirmed-apple-and-atandt-signed-five-year-iphone-exclusivity-de/ [engadget.com]
And the other is that the last time I checked, Verizon doesn't have GSM. Why would Apple manufacture two different devices, and one that can't be used in all the other world markets? I'm not trying to start a GSM/CDMA holy war, just acknowledging that Apple is doing just fine with AT&T and GSM. Why would they go through all that trouble just to get Verizon customers?
Especially since Verizon seems to insist on branding all phones they offer--I don't see how Steve would accept that either.
Re:small impact, android will trump (Score:2, Informative)
Some of you iDandys may not want one, but I do. I've got my eye on the Droid 2, not the iPhone or the Incredible or the EVO.
Re:Steve would never do this... (Score:3, Informative)
Apple's 28% marketshare of smartphones... (Score:3, Informative)
Right now, Apple is in a three-way tie for the market [appleinsider.com]. It will start to dominate the market if/when it goes onto the Verizon network.
Re:Many with family plans on Verizon are waiting . (Score:3, Informative)
The Infinion chipset in the iPhone already has the support needed for CDMA from what I've read, basically they just need to put the right radios in the phone, and Verizon needs to make the network enhancements to support visual voice mail.
THe potential market in the US is huge, probably in the neighborhood of 60 million potential new buyers. Of course only a fraction of those will purchase, but since the Verizon customer base is about the same size as AT&T's and given the penetration of the iPhone in to AT&T's customer base, it will be millions of sales for Apple.
On a personal note, I've had LA Cellular / Cingular / AT&T for a long time, and in So Cal / Arizona I've never had any issues with AT&T
Re:small impact, android will trump (Score:2, Informative)
But I'll give you the fact that the iPhone has a superb camera. Android manufacturers need to take the hint from Apple and work on BETTER cameras, not just more megapixels.
Some things that some Android phones have that iPhone does not: 4G (Sprint EVO 4G), swappable battery, wireless syncing (you only have to plug an Android phone into your computer to sync music, video, and files - all the contact data and etc. is backed up in the cloud automatically).
Re:Uh, Exclusive Deal (And GSM)? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:small impact, android will trump (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, SOME phones have problems with dropped calls when held from the bottom. Please don't try to make the argument that ALL phones have this issue, when it's just SOME phones that have this issue. Including the iPhone 4. Just admit - it's a design flaw in the phone. I really don't think this would have been a very big issue, except Steve Jobs and Apple are trying to pretend that there is no issue or it's the users' fault. THAT is what all the hoopla about the antenna has been about.
Re:small impact, android will trump (Score:3, Informative)
Just talked for 65 minutes on an iPhone 4 with my finger bridging the antenna gap the entire time.. So?
Re:Uh, Exclusive Deal (And GSM)? (Score:5, Informative)
In Japan, NTT Docomo sell iPhone and has been for a while. NTT Docomo uses Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), so there's already CDMA version of the iPhone. Anyone that knows the cell phone industry knows supporting GSM/TDMA and CDMA/WCDMA is required for global rollout. Europe is still dominated by GSM/TDMA, while much of asia uses WCDMA/CDMA for the extra capacity and bandwidth. Don't take my word for it, just ask wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTT_DoCoMo)
Oh, my goodness. WCDMA is the air interface for HSPA which AT&T calls 3G. WCDMA has nothing to do with the CDMA which Verizon and Sprint use which is called CDMA2000. Other names for 3G are HSPA, UMTS and FOMA. NTT DoCoMo is "NOT" the official iPhone carrier, Softbank is the official iPhone carrier. I roamed on NTT DocCoMo when I was in Tokyo with my iPhone 3GS.
There is only one type of iPhone which is a GSM (Edge) and HSPA (UMTS) device. CDMA != WCDMA. Do you understand?
Go look on Wikipedia. WCDMA is linked with HSPA/UMTS/FOMA "NOT" CDMA aka CDMA2000.
Re:More bullshit to drum up ad hits (Score:2, Informative)
I suspect the "5 year agreement" started earlier than 2007... say end of 2005 when Apple wanted to lock down a network/carrier to try out their new revenue system.
None of the previous rumors have involved Pegatron already tooling up for production of an iPhone. Granted, that leak was right before their IPO--so I'd says there's an even chance that someone made it up to boost the stock, or they really are producing an iPhone under secrecy and needed to leak the info to boost the stock.
I'd say if we're going to hear something official, it will be at the September iPod event. If Pegatron really is going to produce iPhones, it will be hard to keep it a secret, so I would be shocked if Apple didn't plan to reveal something until Nov-Jan timeframe (which would coincide with VZW's LTE announcements).
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20100617PD215.html [digitimes.com]