Gee, I May Not Buy The New iPhone After All
A new iPhone is undoubtedly coming this summer, and I figured it was a foregone conclusion that I’d pony up for one no matter what. Well, a tidbit of news puts a wrinkle in those plans — the possibility that a future iPhone may be linked to Verizon, and as soon as next year.
Personally, this is a huge deal. I still can’t get decent AT&T reception in my own apartment, which is retarded. It’s been over a year waiting for AT&T to get its act together, and all we’ve gotten are hints of an insulting home cellphone tower and promises their network will be improved soon (still waiting) — not good enough. Meanwhile, my wife had a Verizon phone (and now T Mobile) both of which get great reception in our home.
Buying a new iPhone come summer surely means signing up for another two year contract with AT&T, and AT&T sucks hard enough that the mere rumor of a Verizon iPhone has me wondering if I should just stick it out with my current 3G iPhone and jump ship with the next iteration. This partly depends on what new hardware Apple announces, and if it’s just larger storage and a better camera — frankly, that may not be enough.
But I’ll stick all hesitation on AT&T. Their big failing is my loyalty is to Apple, not them. I use AT&T not as a loyal, happy customer but only because I have no other choice. And as soon as an alternative arrives, the temptation is very strong to bolt.
And Apple wins either way. Even more so if the mere threat of them switching to Verizon causes AT&T to pay out the nose for more years of exclusivity. I hope they pay dearly.
Apple won’t make an iPhone for Verizon until Verizon switches over to its 4G network, which will (finally) be compatible with all the other networks in Europe and elsewhere. Apple doesn’t want to develop multiple iPhones with multiple radios. Too much hassle. Too many quality control issues.
Verizon doesn’t plan to switch to 4G until more than a year out. Probably more like 2 or 3.
My bet is this rumor is going around because Apple and AT&T are in negotiations to extend their exclusivity deal. AT&T knows that Apple doesn’t want to make a CDMA iPhone, so Apple has to let word leak out that it’s in talks with Verizon to scare AT&T into offering better terms. Otherwise, AT&T has the upper hand.
Anything is possible, but I’d be really shocked if we saw iPhone on anything other than AT&T in the next 2 years or more.
Ah yeah… you’re probably right. I’m letting my annoyance with AT&T get the
better of me. I’ll hesitate on this iteration of the iPhone only if there is
something definitive from Apple / Verizion — but I’d switch in a heartbeat
if the opportunity arises.