A new rumor suggests that Verizon could be scrambling to launch its high-speed Long-Term Evolution data network in the first quarter of 2010 — just in time, perhaps, to accommodate an Apple-made tablet.
While AT&T added more customers last quarter than competitor Verizon — thanks in large part to the iPhone — AT&T's CEO admitted this week that his company won't have exclusivity on Apple's phone forever.
Exclusive: After four years of meticulous development riddled with setbacks, Apple is now racing toward an early 2010 launch of a device that may see the electronics maker redefine the portable computing market for the second time in twice as many years.
If the iPhone's exclusivity with AT&T were to expire, one market research firm predicts that the cell phone carrier would suffer due to the superior network offered by competitor Verizon Wireless.
As Verizon’s relatively quiet launch of the BlackBerry Tour proved successful, the nation’s No. 1 wireless carrier also stirred up criticism by declaring that all Verizon-sold phones will, by default, have access only to the company’s own application store.
Research in Motion put pressure on Apple Thursday with word that about 7.8 million BlackBerries had shipped during its latest fiscal quarter, again setting a new record — and dismissing the likelihood of new and cheaper iPhones as immediate threats.
A group of U.S. senators this week asked the Federal Communications Commission to step in and examine whether exclusive relationships between wireless carriers and handset makers are in the best interest of customers.
Long considered a lure for carriers, Apple's iPhone is now believed to be attracting a full third of those switching providers towards AT&T — the highest ever percentage of converts since the iPhone was released.
Even as Apple has insisted it's content to give AT&T exclusive access to the iPhone, a closer look at Apple's own devices — and a likely dead-end in growth through its existing carrier strategy — shows that Apple may have little choice but to sell its smartphone through Verizon and other carriers by 2011 at the latest.
Microsoft Corp. plans to take aim at Apple's iPhone with its own version of a touch-screen handset that could launch on Verizon's network sometime early in 2010, according to a report published just minutes ago by the Wall Street Journal.
The heat is stepping up for AT&T with word of negotiations to bring an Apple budget phone and a media tablet to Verizon, one of which may show its face within just a few months.
Once believed to have blown its first chance at the iPhone, Verizon is now claimed to be in discussions with Apple for its own version of the iPhone in 2010.
Asked Wednesday about his company's exclusive relationship with AT&T — cited by some as a barrier to further iPhone penetration — Apple interim chief Tim Cook responded by praising the carrier as 'the best wireless provider in the US,' explaining that its GSM foundation gels with Apple's goal of providing 'one phone for the entire world' while rival CDMA technology 'doesn't really have a life to it.'
Although his company snubbed Apple on the first go-round, Verizon's chief executive Ivan Seidenberg now says the chances of an iPhone on his network will be greater once a 4G cellular network is in place.
Having locked down the iPhone for at least three years, AT&T is now expected to take one more shot at an exclusive deal for the Apple handset and may keep it away from competitors until 2011.
Tough macroeconomic conditions are causing wireless carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile to become more aggressive with pricing of their monthly service plans, a move which could ultimately help drive down the cost of owning an iPhone.
An insistence on a physical feedback screen and dual-network support has pushed the cost of making Research in Motion's BlackBerry Storm significantly above that of current-generation iPhones, hinting that Verizon may be paying more to rival AT&T in touchscreen phones.
A late launch and buggy software are described as normal by Resesarch in Motion, but may have led the company to sell just half a million of its first touchscreen BlackBerry in the final weeks of 2008 — a fifth of what Apple's iPhone 3G reportedly achieved in the same quarter.
After a symbolic victory over Research in Motion, Apple may have its fortunes reversed as the BlackBerry maker has almost exactly matched iPhone 3G summer sales during the fall.
Research in Motion has launched its very first touchscreen smartphone — and promises to shadow Apple's iTunes App Store while also providing an official utility to sync its phones with Macs.
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Neil Hughes
Sam Oliver
Kasper Jade
Katie Marsal
Prince McLean
Aidan Malley
