Apple's hyper-hyped iPad may not be the only thing on Steve Jobs' agenda when he takes the stage this Wednesday at San Francisco's Yerba Buena center. The latest word on the street is that Apple may also announce the end of its US iPhone-exclusivity deal with AT&T. Over the weekend, HotHardware reported that they have been " …

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Monday 25th January 2010 21:11 GMT Anonymous Coward

sfvsdfvsdv

You think it's an advantage for at&t to lose the iphone? That somehow, their network will improve because people can buy the iphone on verizon? Think about what you're saying: when the iphone loses its monogamous relationship, there will be ZERO incentive for people to get on board with at&t.

I guess it's a bit like trains then. If you have no passengers, you can travel on time.

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Monday 25th January 2010 21:11 GMT Anonymous Coward

Opening iPhone to Verizon

might be a little tough as the verizon network is CDMA and iPhones are GSM. The only other major GSM provider in the US is T-Mobile.

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1. Monday 25th January 2010 23:21 GMT Sean Bergeron
  
  Not for much longer
  
  Big Daddy Vodaphone dictated that they transition to GSM. Sprint's headed that way, too (transitioning all but the Nextel infrastructure).
  
  In the short term, assuming Apple hasn't spec'd a CDMA unit, this is only really good news for T-Mobile. Last figures I saw, I think Q2, 1.9 million out of AT&T's 2.1 million new customers were iPhones. How this is good news for them is beyond me. That said, most of the ]|[gs customers are locked in for another year, at least.
  
  I switched from T-Mobile to AT&T to get an iPhone; haven't been disappointed. Calling is about the same, data is much, much better. The only time I ever wanted for CDMA was on the DC Metro, but now there's GSM service there, too.
  
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Monday 25th January 2010 23:21 GMT Jeremy Cordes

Brilliance

However much you dislike Stevie J., He is the only one who has ever played the evil empire at their own evil game. Sign an exclusive contract to get the product out knowing if he does it right it will blow up their network and they will have to release it eventually. further more, how stupid is AT&T ... they should have known they would need a network that could handle streaming media of this magnitude... There are problems with releasing for different networks, but I'm sure he has a plan for that too.

Signed a p.c.

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Monday 25th January 2010 23:21 GMT Charles Manning

Enormous strain on network?

Umm... surely having a product that forced them to get their shit together is actually a Good Thing?

Note to Reg: When you pick up a fresh batch of hacks at the pub, please let them dry out a bit before they submit articles.

AT&T had an opportunity to build a real cracker business, but would rather not... it just seems too much like effort.

They will undoubtedly lose market share to providers who can and want to provide a superior service.

The only benefit for AT&T is that the monogamy probably prevented them from selling Androids and they can now do so. Not that Android sales will make up for lost iphone sales.

Oh well, AT&T can go back to sleep and ignore those pesky customers who actually want to use their networks.

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 00:09 GMT ian 22

Swan song for AppleT&T

Sea-levels aren't rising, it's the island sinking under the weight of all those bloody iPhones!

The direction we are going, of course.

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 06:17 GMT Anonymous Coward

Meh

To hell with the iPhone - until I can buy it unlocked in the UK

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1. Tuesday 26th January 2010 10:14 GMT Andy 97
  
  Seek and ye shall find.....
  
  http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/9352145/Apple-iPhone-3G-8GB-Sim-Free-Unlocked-2-0-Megapixel-Mobile-Phone/Product.html
  
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2. Tuesday 26th January 2010 11:11 GMT Steven Jack
  
  O2 PAYG
  
  If you buy an O2 PAYG Iphone, while it is locked to 02, they will then unlock it for you.
  
  http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/unlockmyiphone.html
  
  You do have to pay £15 if you are PAYG, but it's free if you are on a contract.
  
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Tuesday 26th January 2010 06:17 GMT JaitcH

Telephone companies should be utilities.

Like electricity, water and gas companies, telephone companies should keep their hands off the last link.

The CARTERPHONE decision is what made the telco business change and blossom. The telco's run good networks, usually better than private networks, so they should keep on doing what they do best and leave the handset business free for entrepreneurs who understand the public's fickle tastes to market handsets.

Is there a map for the new AT&T future?

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 06:17 GMT Andus McCoatThen

Maybe this means...

Maybe this means that in the USA, the announcement in June / July won't just be for i4phone, but for an iphone4 that actually supports Tmobile's different flavor of 3G service.

I've had a rocking time unlocking and helping people give two fingers (translated for you blighty blokes!) to BigPhone, as the Death Star's network is as shoddy as their customer dis-service droids.

But people have always been sad that their shiny i-brick couldn't run at the data speed of true 3G. I just consoled them with the logic that 115kb data that didn't crash was twice as valuable as 300kb data that spent 50% of the time searching for a tower.

Now if Verizon and Sprint actually ARE transitioning to GSM for their 4G networks... ABOUT BLOODY TIME! I'll believe it when I see it however.

Mine's the one with the venerable Motorola Brick Phone in the pocket. Turn that thing on, at 2 WATTS of power, and watch all your GSM phones INSTANTLY get jammed off the air from the interference! Muahahahahahahahahaha!

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 10:09 GMT James O'Brien

Huh?

"And then there's the fact that both the US Senate investigation and the Federal Communication Commission inquiry into exclusivity agreements have gone curiously cold. Perhaps there has been some backroom nodding and winking going on."

In reference tot he nodding and winking.. .

We are suprised why? This is typical business strategy.

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 11:11 GMT Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware

Re: Seek and ye shall find.....

This page shows you which world carriers will sell you an iPhone that's unlocked.

This is not useful for everyone, of course, but I got my unlocked 3GS from Apple itself. In Australia, Apple's own stores sell unlocked handsets. Buy one from a local carrier and it will be locked, but not if purchased from the manufacturer.

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 11:34 GMT DZ-Jay

Let me get this straight...

AT&T is currently navigating through a PR nightmare, ostensibly because of the iPhone popularity; and even though most people wouldn't even go near them under normal circumstances, they are subscribing to AT&T just to get a hold of an iPhone. Essentially, iPhone users are tolerating AT&T's service because they are forced to.

So when their exclusivity contract expires and current and prospective iPhone users are freed from the shackles of a badly run network, it is expected that users will flock to a different, ostensibly better, carrier, which will alliviate the usage loads on AT&T's network by way of customer attrition.

The end result being AT&T is left with less clients and a bad reputation that scares away new ones. How is this a good thing for AT&T?

-dZ.

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Tuesday 26th January 2010 16:41 GMT Phil Koenig

LTE is not technically GSM

Many different carriers of all stripes are going to migrate to LTE, which is technically an all-IP-based air interface that supersedes UMTS. It's the "4G migration path from GSM", sorta - but it can be sliced many different ways, including co-operating with CDMA.

I am not aware of any major Sprint announcement on LTE - they are fairly committed to WiMax at this point. (assuming they don't just shrink to insignificance)

The exclusive iPhone carrier deal had to end sometime. The end of the Palm exclusive w/ Sprint may have pushed things a bit. It's undoubtedly true that the iPhone really kept ATT relevant for the last couple of years. Verizon would have overtaken them in size way earlier if it weren't for that deal.

Personally I'd rather have the variety though. I'm not particularly enamored of any market where 85% is controlled by one vendor, no matter what market it is, or how good the product is.

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