cnet news
At a press conference in New York City today, Verizon said it will soon begin selling Apple’s iPhone.
The device will be available on its network starting in early February, COO Lowell McAdam said to a gathering of press at Lincoln Center. It’s the same model iPhone 4 that AT&T and international carriers currently sell except that it connects to the CDMA network instead of GSM.
Starting on February 10, a 16GB model will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract, according to Verizon Wireless’ Web site. The 32GB model will sell for $299.99. An extra feature Verizon will offer is the phone’s ability to be a personal Wi-Fi “hot spot.” Up to five Wi-Fi devices can connect to the Verizon iPhone at one time.
pedro, you print shit? Wow. Can you also make fire?
This would have been more significant a year ago then it is today. I think it shows Apple’s finally seeing how Android is gaining ground being on more carriers.
jescott418, I don’t think Apple care about general market share that much, it wouldn’t significantly improve their bottom line since their margins would dwindle. Google cares about market share since they’re an ad company – more eyeballs means more revenue.
I haven’t seen such excitement in Dallas since Tom Delay got sent to prison!
Couldn’t care less since I refuse to purchase any product that requires I worship Steve Jobs and do what he tells me to do. Therefore, they can put iPhones anywhere they want, I’ve got some prime suggestions, I’m not buying one.
Android is kicking Apple’s ass and rightfully so. It’s a better, more robust system that the end-user actually has control over, rather than taking whatever Apple deigns to give them.
Yawn. The iPhone is a “hipster” phone, style over substance. A very GOOD phone, but not worth the super crazy hype it gets. The crazy hype (on any product) tells me it’s more marketing than product. It’s not the fastest. It’s not the highest res camera, not even the first with a front camera, not the most memory, etc, etc, etc. It’s a very GOOD phone, but just a nice cell phone. It has flaws and problems too. If you like it get it…but enough with the crazy hype. It’s a “fashion statement” more than a real piece of technology.
ReadyKilowatt,
The update to Froyo is out on the Samsung site.
[Link doesn’t work. – ed.]
Just like the iPod. Explain that one to me. How did it get so popular? Again, it was good. It didn’t have the best sound. Didn’t have the most features. Didn’t have the most storage. I only became popular when they allowed it to connect to PCs (with PC version of iTunes).
Again, marketing over technology. But that’s the way of the industry. Betamax may have been technically better than VHS, but marketing and behind the scenes moves matter. See DVD HD vs BluRay, or any other marketing fight.
And if you’re sucker enough to buy the marketing and get the new Verizon iPhone 4….just remember, a BRAND NEW ONE will be out in just 6 months! So you cool new hipster phone has a state of the art lifespan of 180 days. Get to using it NOW!
What I’m interested in will be if iPhone users migrate from AT&T to Verizon. My prediction is that once word gets out that a significant number will switch to get better service.
The next big thing:
An iPhone in white! Oh the thrill! I must have one of those. It will probably be called the iPhone 5, and it is due in a few months, because the old tired iPhone 4 came out waaaay last year. It will have lots of new features that will make it a fantastic phone, the iPhone 4 is feeling tired and old, and I need a new Apple toy!
It won’t be lame like the Windows phone. I have a friend that has one of those, and it’s so weird that he mainly uses it for making phone calls, exchanging text messages and doing email. Oh, and he uses it as a radio to listen to NPR, and as an MP3 player. I have to admit the GPS works really well. He only has about 6000 apps to choose from, that’s why his phone is so lame. Well, being able to look at the lock screen and see how mainly messages, emails, voicemails he has is pretty nice. And the camera works pretty good too. And it cost him less than 1/3 of what I paid for my iPhone.
His Windows phone is so lame that it can’t be used to remote control a toy helicopter. What use is a phone if you can’t use it to remote control a toy helicopter?
What the hell is up with Android’s 2.3 browser? All the stuff they promised at Google I/O for HTML5 and mobile dev still isn’t there.
And Google is dropping support for H.264 in Chrome. They don’t seem to be very developer friendly lately.
This is big news mainly because of the insane amount of time it took for Apple to break up the Apple/AT&T duopoly. Apple must have been getting HUGE money from the AT&T deal to keep up the AT&T exclusivity for so long, especially in the face of all the complaining by the otherwise fiercely loyal iPhone owners.
That said, this is BIG news mostly in San Francisco, New York City and L.A., homes of the largest concentrations of iPhone users, and where most of the complaints came from, because that was where AT&T’s network was most overwhelmed by iPhone use. iPhone users have long been known to use about twice as much bandwidth as other smart phone users, and AT&T must actually be relieved, as this will ease pressure on them to keep pouring billion$ into upgrading their network.
How long before there’s a T-Mobile iPhone? Will there ever be a Trac-iPhone?
# 43 Marc Perkel said, “if iPhone users migrate from AT&T to Verizon”
I expect there will be an initial rush just because of the animus toward AT$T but when details of the pricing plans start to make people wonder and confirmation of limitations (like no mulyi-tasking or if using the internet – phone doesn’t work… and vice verizon) there might be a real slow down in sales or people sticking to AT$T despite the poor service. At AT$T your call may get dropped but at Verizon it just won’t go through.
BTW – I really like my Android.
Animby, there are some nice phones out there. Really impressed with the Samsung and Nexus S. Becoming a pain in the ass to develop for which is my only beef.
#14 – It didn’t take. Re-troll.
Uncle Patso said, “This is big news mainly because of the insane amount of time it took for Apple to break up the Apple/AT&T duopoly.”
We seem to forget that Apple has many vendors in Europe. Because Europe is primarily GSM. If American cell phone companies had been GSM I suspect this “duopoly” would have been gone long ago, but since HARDWARE changes needed to occur to support a CDMA network there is less interest by Apple.
I’m really only interested in one thing. If the phone coming out is a CDMA/GSM phone or if it is a special CDMA only phone.
#50 Foobar
I think phones are evolving really rapidly. But, I paid full price for my Nexus One so it’ll be a while before I invest in another.
Developing, are you? I met a recent immigrant here in Thailand a few weeks ago. He’s from Belgium and about 50 years of age. He’s teaching himself to write apps for iOS and Android. He’s certain he’ll be rich in a year or two. I let him buy me another beer. Something tells me in a year or so, I’ll have to buy the booze.
#52 Mouring – CDMA/EV-DO only. No LTE or 4G yet.
Personally, I didn’t think Apple would make this type of iPhone and wait until LTE.
Will there be a WiMax version of the iPhone?
Pedro carries shit in his wallet for identification.
August 7, 2011. Gizmodo.
Howard Teller of Warwick, Mass. is suing Verizon for “failure to provide service to his iPhone 4.” Listing a litany of dropped calls and service shortcomings, Mr. Teller said in a recent news conference, “I should have gone with AT&T!” He then started chanting the three-letter acronym, then started foaming at the mouth and expired clutching his iPhone to his heart.
@CrankyGeeksFan
I’m surprised they made it as well. I suspect someone had to have come to Apple with a deal they couldn’t resist. My main reason for that thinking is they are within three to four months of announcing an iPhone 5. So they made a major change to support a new chipset out of sync with their primary phone release.
It really surprises me.
Animby, it’s super tough to get rich writing phone apps. I write mostly for corporate clients and I do some free stuff for NGO’s.
I prefer iOS development over Android, mainly the layout management drives me crazy. Angle bracket programming (tons of XML files) are painful.
Jetbrains will release an IDE for Objective-C/iOS development this year which will be Nirvana.
#52, 57 Mouring – In Canada the iPhone originally had an exclusive carrier – one that was GSM/HSPA. The CDMA/EV-DO carriers modified their networks so that the iPhone will work on their system. This type of modification wasn’t done in the U.S. by Verizon.
#29 Animby – T-Mobile is marketing their HSPA+ network as 4G. Speeds are comparable right now at least. AT&T is upgrading to HSPA+ before going to LTE.
You have to figure that Apple would do a deal with one of the lowest ranked carriers (AT&T), at the start. Because Apple would be in a position of bargaining strength, to get whatever they concessions they wanted. Knowing that AT&T would be disparate enough for their hit product, to comply. fBetter than if Apple had picked a strong carrier, who might bulk at their terms.
Also, a carrier with better bandwidth, would put more demand on the hardware (iPhone), that it might not have been up to speed on yet. But a slower carrier can be blamed for any hold ups. Only now that the iPhone is $G capable. Is it being connected to Verizon.
Glenn E got it exactly right.
The iPhone is completely useless to real people. You need to be able to transfer Gay Donkey Snuff Porn and standard MP3s to it via a standard USB cable with no special software necessary for it to be usable. Proprietary connectors, format conversions, DRM, etc. make it useless.
“If I had a dime for everytime I was asked about the iPhone 5, I could retire on a small remote island.”