New iPhone Could End AT&T's U.S. Monopoly

[TomCADem]

Source: WSJ

Apple Inc. plans to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U.S. phone carriers other than AT&T Inc. to sell the iconic gadget, said people briefed by the company.

The new iPhone would work on a type of wireless network called CDMA, these people said. CDMA is used by Verizon Wireless, AT&T's main competitor, as well as Sprint Nextel Corp. and a handful of cellular operators in countries including South Korea and Japan. The vast majority of carriers world-wide, including AT&T, use another technology called GSM.

With Apple developing a phone with CDMA capability, its exclusive U.S. arrangement with AT&T dating to 2007 appears set to end.

Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, declined to comment. An AT&T spokesman said: "There has been lots of incorrect speculation on CDMA iPhones for a long time. We haven't seen one yet and only Apple knows when that might occur." Apple declined to comment.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304370304575152242601774892.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_emailed

[Hawkeye-X]

1. About time. I'm still against AT&T

and we are planning to purchase iPhones & planned to hack into it, but it's thankfully not needed. We are considering Verizon for our service this August.

[lakeguy]

3. if you want to use an iphone on another carrier besides ATT

you can get an officially unlocked one on ebay. that's what i did and i use tmobile. note that you can only use iphones on gsm carriers right now though.

many countries sell unlocked phones or they have to unlock them for you if you ask. my iphone came from australia but just make sure you buy from a reputable seller. it will cost you more than with an ATT plan (they subsidize the phone cost), but I actually saved money by not having to buy into a 2-yr contract with the required data package with ATT.

[Robb]

11. If you're still in Denver

...check coverage. I was Verizon for years and loved it, but there was no coverage for cell service in my neighborhood when I moved to this part of town, believe it or not. Switched to ATT for that reason alone.

[grace0418]

2. Oh thank goodness. I dropped ATT last year because the coverage was TERRIBLE, and I live

in the middle of Chicago. If I can't get reception here, where there are cell towers everywhere you look, where can I get it?

Of course, I'm on T-Mobile so I might still be shit outta luck but at least there's hope.

[ananda]

4. Yeah..

.. I have t-mobile pay as you go.

I sure would like it to work on an iPhone.

[ejpoeta]

5. i might have considered getting an iphone if it were available for verizon. i am no switching for

a phone. plus i do not want to have to have a data plan. that's their big thing now. that's why they have all the deals on 'smartphones'.... they aren't making enough i guess on just a plain old phone plan.. they need you to have to pay for data usage. i don't even text! we don't even use all our minutes mainly talking to each other and almost everyone i know has verizon. not sure about ATT coverage.... i know sprint sucks as we had it long time ago. we have had few issues with verizon and though i have wondered about tmobile's reliability i am now locked in for two more years myself.

[MurrayDelph]

9. Same reason I haven't upgraded my Centro to a Pre

I asked about the data plan, and it is "unlimited" internet for your phone. If you want to hook it up to your laptop, that's another $60/month with a 5GB cap.

[nyc 4 Biden]

6. Imagine the iPhone on Sprint's 4G network. That would be amazing!! eom

[semillama]

10. CREDO uses the Sprint network

We were just considering switching over.

They've got great deals on Blackberries right now, and the number one app I have my eye one is currently on iPhone but there's a Blackberry version coming out.

[nyc 4 Biden]

12. sweet. credo is a great company. n/t

[Loge23]

7. Yea! I can get rid of my Storm!

I prefer Verizon's overall network quality where I live (south FL), but would welcome an opportunity to have the IPhone. RIM's Storm is about the worst tech device I have ever brought.

[Zynx]

8. Meh. I'm happy with my Droid.

[brooklynite]

13. Different Perspective from Apple Insider...

Despite a new claim that Apple is working on a CDMA-capable iPhone for the Verizon network in the U.S., one prominent analyst has said such a move is "unlikely" to happen this year.

In his latest note to investors issued on Tuesday, analyst Maynard J. Um with UBS Investment Research acknowledged a report from The Wall Street Journal on Monday, which said Apple is working on two new iPhones, including one for the Verizon network. Sources told the paper that CDMA iPhones are not scheduled to go into mass production until September.

But Um said a Verizon launch probably won't happen this year. Instead, a CDMA phone could be launched with other carriers, such as China Telecom and KDDI of Japan.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/30/verizon_iphone_seen_as_unlikely_from_apple_in_2010.html

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Who has GSM networks in the US? -nt

[Xithras]

16. AT&T, T-Mobile, a bunch of locals. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. Couldn't they just sell unblocked GSM iPhones sans chip...

...and let anybody slip the chip of their liking in it?

[Xithras]

18. They could, if they wanted.

I know a bunch of people with jailbroken iPhones on T-Mobile, and it works fine for them. Apple has been asked to legitimize the practice many times, including requests by members of Congress, but they have always declined.

I'm running an Android phone now anyway, so it doesn't matter much to me anymore. The iPhone is good, but I never realized how limited it was until I started using an Android phone.

[Xithras]

15. I really doubt it.

Apples development leads have commented a few times that the next version of the iPhone will be LTE based, which will allow it to work on the 4G Verizon network, but LTE is NOT compatible with CDMA. 4G LTE networks are already available in some networks, and will be available to most of the country by the end of next year.

Jobs himself has stated that Apple doesn't want to get into the mess of creating multiple versions of the iPhone for multiple proprietary networks. They went with GSM because it's an open standard that is supported by the most networks in the most nations worldwide. In the U.S., that tied them to Apple, but in Europe and Asia virtually all networks are GSM compatible.

LTE is the next generation wireless standard, and all American carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and everyone else) will be moving to it. So, the next gen iPhone will be LTE.

Besides, a CDMA iPhone would stink anyway. CDMA doesn't have the ability to simultaneously transfer both voice and data, so they would be functionally limited like the first-gen Edge iPhone. You can't build an equivalent of the iPhone 3G for CDMA because the protocol itself won't support it.

[frylock]

19. i hope sprint picks it up so i can lose this damn palm pre..

i really like my Pre, it's the absolute lack of third-party apps that pisses me off.

[jmowreader]

You didn't buy that phone because of apps...

It was the stoned girl with the really great hairstyle that talked you into it.

[jmowreader]

21. You didn't buy that phone because of apps...

It was the stoned girl with the really great hairstyle that talked you into it.

[troubledamerican]

20. AT&T = First to cooperate voluntarily with Warrantless Wiretapping