The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

By Jason D. O'Grady | August 8, 2010, 9:04pm PDT

Summary: Apple is rumored to have placed a large order of CDMA chips as the company tools up for a large production run of iPhones to launch on Verizon in January 2011.

TechCrunch reports (via a source familiar with supply chain logistics) that Apple has placed a large order for CDMA chips from Qualcomm for an iPhone that will run on the vaunted Verizon Wireless network. The devices will be manufactured in December and arriving as a finished product around January 2011 according to the report.

Sources with knowledge of this entire situation have assured me that Apple has submitted orders for millions of units of Qualcomm CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December. This production run would likely be for a January launch, and I’d bet the phone is nearly 100% consistent with the current iPhone 4 (with a fixed internal insulator on the antenna).

The most interesting aspect of the ongoing Verizon/iPhone melodrama is that it’s so played out that almost no one believes it anymore.

Verizon was Apple’s first choice to carry the iPhone in 2007, but it rebuffed Apple’s offer which required a cut of every customer’s monthly bill. Apple looked into developing a CDMA iPhone as early as 2007 and rumors have been circling about it ever since.

I agree with John Siracusa’s analysis that the best way for the iPhone to remain competitive with Android in market share is to offer it on every carrier.

The only way for Apple to eliminate the distribution and marketing advantage currently enjoyed by Android is to make sure that everywhere an Android phone is for sale, there’s an iPhone sitting right next to it that will work on the same network.

U.S. iPhone sales will eventually plateau as AT&T gets saturated with iPhone users that are willing to tolerate its network. A customer already in a contract with one of the other three major U.S. carriers — Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint — is more likely to go with a less expensive Android or Blackberry phone-du-jour rather than pay the exorbitant early termination fee (ETF) for breaking their contract. (Most smartphones now carry a $350 ETF, minus $10 for each month of contract fulfilled.)

Apple needs to offer the iPhone on every U.S. carrier and not fleece its loyal customers by giving the exclusive contract to the highest bidder. Exclusive carrier deals are bad for consumers and ultimately bad for shareholders too.

Photo: 9-to-5Mac

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Topics

Apple iPhone, CDMA, Verizon Communications Inc., Apple Inc., Chip, Supply Chain, Cellular Phones, Business Operations, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct

I went for your internet log for that to start with time likewise as just been your enthusiast. chestnut ugg Retain short article as I am considering to arrive to look for out this any day.

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Contract agreements are what MADE the iphone happen

CathyCC 8th Aug 2010

> Apple needs to offer the iPhone on every U.S. carrier and not fleece its loyal customers by giving the exclusive contract to the highest bidder.

The iPhone probably would have never existing it AT&T didn't agree to pay Apple for part of every iPhone sold.

Would *YOU* pay $600 for the iPhone?

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Fletchguy 9th Aug 2010

@CathyCC
Lol I wouldnt pay $50 for an iphone it doesnt even make calls

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Would you like to buy a bridge for $50???

i8thecat 9th Aug 2010

@Feltchguy

If you think an iPhone doesn't make calls, you must be really really stupid... So in that case, I'll sell you a bridge for dirt cheep... $50 dude...

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

acmw@... 9th Aug 2010

@Fletchguy - really? I wonder what is inside this iPhone shell I've been using for the last yeah and a half, cause I make calls every day... (not that I'm thrilled with AT&T)

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

richardw66 9th Aug 2010

@CathyCC

In Australia almost every phone sold is subsidised by the carriers.

Almost every model sold is available from all carriers.

Even iPhones are available from all carriers but subsidised.

These days it is not the amount of the subsidy which gets the consumers to purchase, it is low or non existent up front cost for the phone, then a 24 month contract with a low or zero handset payment.

The iPhone is also available on pre-paid plans here without the contract.
The iPhone would have had trouble competing in this market with any sort of exclusive carrier arrangement, and there would have been legal issues with such an arrangement.

So why couldn't there have been a non-exclusive arrangement with each carrier in the US, and handsets subsidised and vendor financed like in Australia?

This also does require locking the phone to the carrier to avoid a purchaser buying on one carrier then switching to another. So jailbreaking is more clearly designed to avoid the carrier getting the return on their subsidy, rather than being some sort of freedom fighter's right.

And there are carriers here who have sold iPhones at full price but kept them locked, then tried to charge an unlocking fee to move to another carrier.

Buying an iPhone from the Apple Store does get you one with no carrier lock and therefore full freedom to go to any mobile provider.

So clearly in this country the locks are not Apple being draconian, they are the normal way that Mobile carriers and all other handset manufacturers do business. If you purchase from Apple you do not get the normal Mobile industry lock-in, Apple provides freedom.

The iPhone is thriving here.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

ajhcwsklob 8th Sep

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

non-biased 12th Aug 2010

@CathyCC And what phones by any carrier are not subsidized apart from those that are specifically offered that way. Do you think that Verizon isn't kicking back money to Moto for every Droid that is sold with a contract?

As far as the Apple fleecing loyal customers due to the exclusive deal with AT&T, aren't most phones (individual models, not OS) sold exclusively through on carrier. Are all those manufacturers fleecing their customers as well? Sure you can get an Android phone for example on pretty much any carrier but what if you want a specific model, you have to go with the carrier that has that model.

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Blah

Omarcarter 8th Aug 2010

We heard this before and quite frankly im uninterested. Android is my thing now... and its a beautiful relationship

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Apple is offering too little too late.

Uralbas 8th Aug 2010

@Omarcarter The development cycle for the Android ecosystem is three months apple's is a year. In the past it was proven that a single company can't compete against the World. Android is everyone else Apple isn't, there just isn't enough resources too turn the tide.

Some day Steve jobs will come to terms with this fact.

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Actually, opposite is true

rvassar 9th Aug 2010

@Uralbas - Android is poised to turn into an incompatible mess; add issues with security and the platform won't be much competition with iPhone

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Fletchguy 9th Aug 2010

@Uralbas
The android phones do so much more and android phones do what the iphone cant....make calls

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Actually, Roid phones are on the yearly cycle...

i8thecat Updated - 9th Aug 2010

@Uralbas

You can update a Roid once a year (provided your phone model is included)... So a security vulnerability or bug might take a year or two to get fixed with a Roid phone... Not true for iPhone.

Also, with no quality control in the Roid store, and bad apps floating around (wallpaper app that stole between 1 and 4 million identities), The roid platform is more like the Wild West without a Sheriff. Google pulled over 6000 apps recently (4000 for a single developer), so perhaps they are starting to wall the Roid garden. I don't think they will be sucessful.

There you go again Feltchguy... You really should pay attention... iPhone actually do make calls... I think you are the only one who failed to get that.

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Let us not forget we have a Win7 Phone offering

omdguy 8th Aug 2010

Which I saw at Tech Ed this year and blows Android and iPhone away in terms of usability and uniqueness.

Puttinga grid of icons on the home screen isn't innovation, it's a spreadsheet happy

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Bruceb4 8th Aug 2010

Yea, kind of like Intel, Microsoft and Google right? What a naive thing to say

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checkmate

banned from zdnet 9th Aug 2010

when apple is on every carrier in the us only the apple hating geeks and nerds and some cheapskates will settle for a (probably patent infringing), lame, bad copy of the iphone. androtards get over it. android is only big where the iphone is not widely available. why would anyone chose a bad samsung or motorola copy of the iphone when the original is sitting right next to it for the same price?

remember the ipod killers? we had them every year when mp3-players where the hottest tech item. didn't turn out well for them, now apple has 70% of the market. and besides: did you know that apple made more than 3x on the iphone (before they even launched the iphone 4) as ALL android makers combined.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

rparker009 9th Aug 2010

@banned from zdnet
Well lets see. I have both an iphone 3gs and the evo for sprint.

1. Evo using real GPS Sats not tower tranglation.
2. Evo has 8 meg camera. IPhone 4 a 5 meg
3. Evo has two way picture chat working on wifi, 3g and 4g. Iphone 4 wifi only.
4. Evo has flash. which about 40% of the internet is using.
5. Evo has HDMI out which looks ok on a 55 inch LED Screen
6. Evo can be a 4G hotspot check with speedtest.net with my laptop via the evo and I got 5MB down. ATT 3g max at 500k
7. MicroSD memory slot so can add more memory

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

pk de cville 9th Aug 2010

@rparker009

1. Evo using real GPS Sats not tower tranglation.
- vs iPhone 4 GPS Sats augmented by wifi AND tower triangulaion.

2. Evo has 8 meg camera. IPhone 4 a 5 meg
- vs iPhone 4s better pics and HD video with both pic and video editing included

3. Evo has two way picture chat working on wifi, 3g and 4g. Iphone 4 wifi only.
- vs NO SETUP FaceTime with access to 10mm users now and 100 mm in the next 12 months. Also, front and rear video cameras w/ instant, no hassle, switching between cameras.

4. Evo has flash. which about 40% of the internet is using.
- iPhone wifi battery life is 10 hrs and with Flash enabled we get to browse for 2 hrs????

5. Evo has HDMI out which looks ok on a 55 inch LED Screen
- Watch this space. Evo wins for now.

6. Evo can be a 4G hotspot check with speedtest.net with my laptop via the evo and I got 5MB down. ATT 3g max at 500k
- No hotspot on AT&T for now. AT&T iPhone 4 downloads and uploads very fast.

7. MicroSD memory slot so can add more memory
- a 32GB EVO costs $390 vs $300 iPhone 4 32GB

- iPhone 4 has tons of great games and a gyroscope
- iP4 has tons of great apps
- Has all your iTunes music, movies, TV
- Has tons of 3rd party accessories (boom boxes, BMWs!)
- iP4 has string security, reliability, service, support
- iP4 does not have Flash.
- iP4 has Retina Display.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

eak2000 27th Aug 2010

@rparker009
Oh, and don't forget:
8. Evo has 4 hour battery life. iPhone only has 8-10. (Then again my BlackBerry has 2-3 DAY battery life...)

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What??

Fletchguy 9th Aug 2010

@banned from zdnet

What are you blabbering about? The iphone cant even make phone calls is prohibitive in what your allowed to do is overpriced and is just plain uncool. The htc phones are all better then the iphone the evo 4g destroys the iphone and the HD2 is as good and better then the iphone. Sounds like somebody paid too much for a phone that cant make calls is a little touchy about being dumb enough to waste thier money lol The iphone is over android and htc killed it

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

DNSB Updated - 13th Aug 2010

@Fletchguy

Odd. My son's iPhone 4 seems to quite happily make calls - at least in the week he's owned it, he hasn't complained about any problems with call dropping or inability to place a call. He had a good choice of providers with all major players offering iPhones on their HSDPA networks. Cost of the data plan is a bit painful since Canadian providers are overpriced compared to elsewhere. Even without the bumper, his unit didn't seem to have problems with the grip of death.

He also looked at an Android phone but decided that the Android market is looking at least as fragmented as the Linux market. Also, for the two Android phones he looked at most seriously, the time line on a Froyo update was 6 months and likely never.

So he picked up the iPhone, added a RDP app, set up his Exchange sync and added some music (well, he calls it music, my old ears are dubious about that claim) and is happier than a clam at high tide.

Beats the heck out of his old Blackberry 8703e.

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stop repeating yourself

caburlingame 9th Aug 2010

@Fletchguy
It's just not clever, if the "it can't even make phone calls" line was even clever the first time you used it. Are you outsourced Android guerrilla marketing from a non native english speaking country?

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iPhone 4 users so happy they don't need to call apparently

richardw66 Updated - 9th Aug 2010

@Fletchguy

iPhone 4 is the most successful Mobile phone ever - it has a low return rate - if it can't make calls then those that bought it must be really enjoying the other features. So they are probably saving heaps on mobile calls since they are so happy without the calling according to you!!!

Get real - the iPhone 4 works as well as the most reliable mobile I have ever used!!!

And OK the iPhone prohibits porn - so what!!! If thats why you bought a phone - then the iPhone 4 is not for you.

The iPhone 4 prohibits functioning as a wi-fi hotspot - but if you want to do that you are either made of money, and batteries or you are damn stupid!!!

And if you are damn stupid then buy one of the 3G WiFi boxes as you'll get better data charges than through your phone plan. The difference in data costs will quickly cover the cost of the box.

The iphone is over android and htc killed it

iPhone 4 sales outstrip supply - is nice to fail like that - night of the living dead time - bring it on!!!

Everywhere I go here there are signs up at the front of the Mobile stores saying iPhone 4 out of stock - to stop people coming in and asking for one.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Pederson 9th Aug 2010

@Fletchguy - what? when did that happen? the iphones are great at making calls, so it sounds like you don't even own one.

the EVO costs at extra $10 a month for 4G which you can only use in a couple of cities. no, the iphone is far more feature rich and costs $99 less than the EVO.

and don't be crazy, it's very unlikely the android phones will catch up with the iphone. the iphone has 3 times the market share and is growing 3 times faster than all android phones combined.

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You're dreaming dude....

johnmckay 11th Aug 2010

@banned from zdnet

In the UK we have choice, side by side. Personally I ain't looking to pay the monthly fees requested for an iphone. I have laid my sony 900 to rest, and purchased an Android system. I'm not saying it's in any way better... I'm not interested in playing that game. But it gives me my multitasking and it offers me what I want at a price I want while still being a decent size.

Why oh why do folk have to assume we all want iphones? They've only just caught up with multitasking, and camera solutions on the V4, anything before was inferior to most phones I come across.

So lets be clear... I'm happy with my choice, and it's no 'cheap iphone copy'. And Android success has zippo to do with iphone availability (or lack of it as you state).

ps I have iphone and ipad access at work but have returned them as I have no need for them.... that was my choice too. Blackberry for phone/mail with three days battery life (and no need for internet which is just as well given the screen size). Android for personalo use, and happy with this.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Pete "athynz" Athens 9th Aug 2010

I've said it before I'll believe it when there is an official announcement of a VZW iPhone form both Apple and Verizon... until then it is simply rumor, speculation, and vaporware.

It would be quite interesting to see who a VZW - and eventually a Sprint iPhone would change the sales figures and marketshare...

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

snoonw 9th Aug 2010

In the uk LG is selling an android for 109($173) as a prepaid phone. It is similar hardware to the "rumor touch" but runs android.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

mgrubb@... 9th Aug 2010

Hmmm, I wonder how bad the AT&T network really is and how many of the the problems are actually Aple iPhone problems. I've been with AT&T Mobile for 10 years now, and during those 10 years I've lived in 3 different geographic areas. I have never, let me say that again, NEVER, had an issue with AT&T's coverage, dropped calls, etc. And, I've never had the iPhone either. My first phone on the AT&T network was an old Nokia that I kept for nearly 4 years (because I never had any problems with it). The next phone was also a Nokia that I kept for 52 months (over 4 years), and my current device is a samsung Eternity which I've had for nearly 2 years. Those phones have been used extensively in the NYC area, Hartford CT area, and Northern VT area most recently. In addition, I've traveled extensively throughout the United States including all regions from the west to the east and the south to the north, and I honestly cannot report any problems. EVER! Which makes me think that my friends whom talk about AT&T's poor service might be having problems just becuase they actually own the iPhone. Also? I work in IT and my company supports 3 smart phones on our network. The iPhone is one, the Samsung Jack is another, and the 3rd one is an HTC. Most of our users settled on the Samsung Jack, but we do have quite a few using the iPhone. While we have far more people using the Samsung Jack rather than the iPhone, we have many more reports of problems with the iPhone. In fact, last month the ratio was about 20 to 1 (20 problems with iPhone for every 1 problem on Jack), and that is despite the fact that we have about 3 times as many users using the jack as we have using the iphone(Samsung Jacks were the corporate choice and given to employees that needed phones for free, Users that wanted iPhones had to actually pay for the phone, which is why so many fewer are using the iPhone). So, that's proof enough to me that the problem is more iPhone than it is AT&T. That said, I am starting to not like AT&T, based primarily on their pricing and how they always try to rip off the customer. Extra charge for this, and that, changing the unlimited data plan making it much more expensive for what I currently use. Locking the phones and requiring signed apps, etc. I am seriously considering moving to T-Mobile when my current contract is up, as I've done my research and I could have the same features and calling plan and pay about $25 less a month. If T-Mobile carries the new Nokia N8, which rumors say they're going to, then I'll jump in a heartbeat.

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If it is so bad, why do visitors not have a problem?

aristotle_z 9th Aug 2010

@mgrubb@... I have visited LA, Las Vegas and Honolulu and I never had a problem with reception or dropped calls on my Canadian iPhone roaming on AT&T.

I think that there may be some part of the network in certain cities which are saturated beyond capacity and these locations are saturated because of the number of tech bloggers per square mile. Those same tech blogger will then whine on the internet about their service.

Here is a message to you tech bloggers, if San Francisco has such bad service then why not move somewhere else? Since you are on the internet, there is no need for all of you to be concentrated in on city. You can blog from anywhere and most tech trade shows are not in SF anyway so a little bit of air travel is to be expected.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Fletchguy 9th Aug 2010

@aristotle_z
Lol who would want to live in San francisco anyways what a dump hole of fruit loops if you live there you deserve phone issues..rainbow up cowboys

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Speednet 9th Aug 2010

@mgrubb@... If you never, I repeat, NEVER, had an issue with AT&T's coverage, then you are lucky, I repeat, LUCKY.

I used AT&T for a few years before smarting up and going to Verizon. That was before the iPhone came out. I can't imagine the horrendous mess that it must be like WITH the iPhone.

AT&T is slow, unpredictable, and the absolute worst customer service in the industry. I would never, I repeat, NEVER, go back to AT&T.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

dwighthendricks 9th Aug 2010

@mgrubb@... I'm glad AT&T has been good for at least one customer. My company switched from T-Mobile, after 9 near-perfect years (back to days of Powertel, how many of you remember that?) to AT&T 'cause the boss wanted an iPhone (early 2009). I kicked & screamed and got an AT&T Blackberry 9000. Loved the unit but I live in a top-10 metro and dropped 60% of my calls over 8 months. It got to where my clients would start their conversations with "hello? can you hear me?" Boss had same or worse problems at ofc & home, finally smashed up his iPhone in a rage & took us back to T-Mobile at better rates. I know a lot of folks don't like T-Mo but we have had stellar customer svc & zero connectivity issues. The guys at all 3 company stores in our area do backflips for us.

We also tried Verizon in 2007, I had 3 phones in 8 days & told boss I was switching back to TMo & would pay for my own. Our accounting mgr went thru 4 units (diff. brands) in 4 months, all connectivity problems. Verizon was consistently disinterested in helping with our issues; boss switched back to T-Mobile (AGAIN).

The iPhone has been a mixed bag for AT&T: on the one hand, it's the only thing which has kept them from being at the bottom of the heap; on the other hand, it may have expedited their horrendous reputation because they haven't put a corresponding amount of $$ into customer & technical service. I'm with Speednet: I would never, I repeat NEVER, go back to AT&T, not even if it were free.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

non-biased 12th Aug 2010

@dwighthendricks It definitely varies from city to city but I have never had issues even when traveling with my iPhone or AT&T. There are definitely times that coverage isn't as good as another carrier in certain areas but the same happens in reverse. Main reason for responding due to your comment about your company switching to AT&T because he wanted an iPhone. A friend of mine works for a pretty large national corporation who recently built a new corporate campus. They currently supply Sprint phones to employees that require phones and/or data cards for their jobs. Some of the execs wanted iPhones but the AT&T coverage at the new campus was not very good so AT&T wanting to get all the corporate accounts brought in a mobile antenna array until they could install a permanent antenna. Of course for some reason all of the sudden the Sprint service in the building has become horrible.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

mca123 9th Aug 2010

@mgrubb@... I intend to agree with this as I have used GSM phones for 5 years on AT&T and T-mobile and have never had problems like others talk about with their iPhones. I don't use a data plan and that is why I am with T-mobile now, they offer more choices and don't require a data plan as I only buy my smartphones outright so I can switch to whatever I want when I want. You can swap sims with AT&T to get around having a data plan, but do they offer a $30 a month plan with 500 minutes, no. Do they really care about people who don't use a lot of minutes, no. I want choice and AT&T and Verizon leave me very little when it comes to choice.
Cheers.

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?Exclusive carrier deals are bad??

WaltFrench@... 9th Aug 2010

@Jason wrote, ?Exclusive carrier deals are bad for consumers and ultimately bad for shareholders too.?

I agree but I think you are exactly wrong in your understanding of how this came about.

Prior to the iPhone, the US cellular business was essentially one where the wilcos contracted out their choices to hardware manufacturers. The RAZR for Verizon shared lots of features with the RAZR for T-Mo, but Verizon (T-Mo) got to control how information transferred on/off the device, for example.

Verizon was utterly uninterested in Apple's proposal for a more ?open? platform. Apple could not imagine that T-Mo or Sprint could withstand the usage onslaught. They struck the best deal they could with AT&T, which included the famous 5-year exclusivity.

After Verizon realized they'd missed the growth opportunity for the decade, they jumped in bed with Android, big time. Any deal that HTC wanted. Ditto, a wonderful wide-open playground for Moto, which brought them back from the dead.

But that era has passed. Now that there's no risk that Apple will have 75% of the mobile internet, Verizon can go back to its old ways. Note the Droid X is locked down twice as hard as the iPhone: a hardware feature prevents unapproved OS versions from booting. That's right: Android is the tool, in Verizon's hands, for the most locked-down hardware on the planet. Open schmopen.

We'll have this nonsense as long as the wilcos play their little carve-up-the-market oligopolistic games. They like things as they are: neither software nor hardware guys have enough market share to have the clout that the wilcos have. And the thought that they would just become wireless versions of the dumb pipes that make the wired internet so incredibly capable and productive?* Heaven forfend!

- - - -

* Obviously, last mile excepted. The telcos enjoy an even greater monopoly than the wilcos do.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

podstolom 9th Aug 2010

No LTE? Meh...why bother?

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

wrcousert 9th Aug 2010

I'd rather have an iPod Touch with an AFFORDABLE 3G or 4G plan. I could use Skype or Line 2 for all my calls.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

ejhonda 9th Aug 2010

"Apple needs to offer the iPhone on every U.S. carrier and not fleece its loyal customers by giving the exclusive contract to the highest bidder."

Thanks for the laugh, Jason!

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A longer view.

trm1945 9th Aug 2010

Imagine yourself crawling on all fours. Your eyes close to the ground. What you see is what is immediately under your view and very little else. Everything is "right now", no past, no future. Every once in a while, you should stand up and look around. There's a lot of emotion about a "thing" that wasn't here yesterday and won't be here tomorrow. It's like there was an emotional outburst about a 486 DX-2 66 but the memory has faded to where it doesn't matter anymore. The talk on phones doesn't matter either unless you're a crawler who pays strict attention to the important decisions of the day. Go back to bed boy, you bother me.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

MaryU@... 9th Aug 2010

I have a Droid and - whereas it is a great phone for many things, I cannot make voice commands with my bluetooth - still. I hoped they would upgrade the software to make it possible. My sone does it on his iPhone with no problem. Having to look at the phone to dial calls defeats the whole purpose of handsfree!!! I am still hoping for an iPhone from Verizon, because AT&T network is terrible here

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Masari.Jones 9th Aug 2010

"Exclusive carrier deals are bad for consumers and ultimately bad for shareholders too."

Bad for consumers... absolutely. Bad for shareholders...absolutely not! Just ask any Apple shareholder.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

MasterBillyQuizboy 9th Aug 2010

I was tempted by buy an Apple laptop for a short while after OSX came out, but I got a stellar laptop for about half the price and have been perfectly happy. I've got an HTC Incredible and an iPhone would have to iron my shirts in the morning for me to think it was worth switching. And now that Steve Jobs has lost his mind, case closed.

I'm sure the iP4 is great, once they fix the antenna issue, and that if I owned one my life would universally change for the better: I'd drive a cooler car, hang out with cooler people, and start wearing stylish loafers. But would it drive any purchasing/network decision for me? Nope.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

markomd 9th Aug 2010

What a bunch of lunatics some of you are.

Apple didn't get where it did by accident. Google hasn't gotten where it has gotten to by accident. Microsoft hasn't gotten to where it has gotten to by accident. They all make fine and useful products, which is why they in essence define the market.

I'm an Apple lover, and my entire system is vertically integrated ? iMacs, MacBook Pros, iPods, iPhones, Apple Television ? and they all work great together (other than AT&T). I've used everyone else's stuff. I like Google's. I don't like Microsoft's. But they're all good - they're just different.

Creative competition is one of the elements that make America great. I welcome it. I'd bet Steve Jobs does too!

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Dr. Figgnuttan 9th Aug 2010

@markomd I agree!

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Oh the Wishful thinking

kennmsr 9th Aug 2010

Who is to say that all these millions of CDMA chips are not heading for the more Lucrative market of China which will stay CDMA for several years to come while Verizon will be switching next year to LTE. I WOULDN'T INVEST IN A DEAD (Dying) MARKET. I think this is just Verizon stopgap shill work to prevent a larger Exodus during the Holiday buying season. Every day AT&T is adding more service in every region but Apple still has 2 week lead times to get a new iPhione 4. In other words AT&T is adding more new customers every week than it can install upgraded service to cover them. Just thank God for AT&T free WiFi hotspots.

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500 million

Dr. Figgnuttan 9th Aug 2010

Hay, this is America! We can afford a $600.00 phone if WE WANT IT. If one does not think that Apple will have 500 mil devices in the field sometime in 2015, one is not paying attention. Metoric rise in iPhone sales is an understatement.
I enjoy mine! Would have, could have paid more. As always, with tech things, the price will come down, users go up. Just like the price of a slice of pizza!

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

Techie Jim Updated - 10th Aug 2010

I returned my iPhone 4 after three weeks. Abysmal 3G speeds (14 Kbits/sec uploads!), frequent lack of phone service, dropped calls and garbled voice when it could connect and a broken proximity sensor that randomly selected things while talking - nice feature - switch to speaker phone and deafen the user - end the call with my face - all totally hands free!

Switched back to Verizon and got a Droid Incredible. It does essentially everything the iPhone 4 did and has the amazing feature of making phone calls.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

non-biased 12th Aug 2010

@Techie Jim Based on your statement I suspect you either had a defective phone or more than likely never had an iPhone of any kind but just had to take your shot at them.

There are definitely issues with the iPhone 4 that are effecting a relatively small percentage of people and you very well could be one of those but your post just reads like a hater making things up because they can't pass up an opportunity to bash anything Apple.

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RE: Apple hoarding CDMA chips for Verizon iPhone

jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct

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