The iPhone is the subject of political intrigue, international statecraft and cellphone executives hating on each other. AT&T, the sole provider of the iPhone, as if you didn’t already know, will exclusively have the phone for five years. Previous reports or rumors (boy, is that line starting to blur) had the phone pegged to AT&T through 2009. Oh, and Verizon Wireless has a secret weapon up its sleeves.
Verizon, which still hasn’t admitted that Apple gave it first dibs on the iPhone, said “time will tell” on whether or not the iPhone will be a success. I’ll take a wild guess and say that Apple will sell a couple of iPhones, though it’d be pretty hilarious if the thing bombed, given the amount of hype it’s been subject to.
Lastly, Verizon says it has an “answer” to the iPhone, which it says will launch late summer. What could it be? Unless the company plans on giving out free gold doubloons with the purchase of every two-year contract, I am skeptical of this “answer.”
iPhone: 5 Years on AT&T, Verizon’s Answer? [Mac Rumors]
I think the iPhone will be the most over-rated piece of rubbish that hit the market in this year or next. What a joke….
I’m sure they have an ‘answer’ … the question is whether it’s any good or not. The Zune could be construed as a MSFT ‘answer’ to the iPod, too, and that didn’t work out so well. I think that a few answers down the road we could start to see some good competition and innovation.
My dream: Verizon is teaming up with telecoms in Japan and Korea to first bring to america, and then massively subsidize, lightyears-in-the-future wireless technology.
Please?
Verizon doesn’t have an answer to the iPhone. They can’t have an answer to the iPhone, because they feel compelled to install their feature-reduced OS on every single phone that passes through their hands.
The only imaginable thing they could do that would impress anybody would be to allow all CDMA-enabled handsets to be used on their network, in addition to allowing people to decide whether they wanted to use Verizon’s OS or the standard OS that comes equipped on the phone.
I would pay an extra $20 to be able to ignore GIN, use the phone as the manufacturers meant, download shit, etc.
does this mean the iphone wont hit other countries for 5 years?
Verizon screwed up big time.
I’m an old Verizon customer who just switched all 6 of my lines to the iPhone. Started with the wife and kids, and then I switched just to stay in the “family free call” group, and switched the business numbers as well. I would have stayed with them, but I asked Verizon to simply change my plan to fewer minutes since the wife and kids moved, but they insisted on a new 1 year contract just to change my plan. Talk about stupidity. I wonder who’s doing their market research.
Hey Jon, (above post) that same company you just signed up with will do the same thing to you, if you want to change your plan also! Every company does that. Get a clue ! LOLOL. clever post. not! Ive heard Iphones are not tough either. dont drop it, or get it wet… or your out 200 dollars. I’ll stick with the free phone (the free nokia’s or lg’s) they work well, are reliable, and inexpensive to replace. I have a laptop computer, why do i need an iphone? An iphone compared to a laptop is like comparing a defiant mouse to a screaming bald eagle diving in for the kill. lol