Is VZW going through some sort of mid-life crisis? Is this the same control freak company that locked down bluetooth to the V710 to keep its customers from receiving ring tones? I say again; Thank you iphone!
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Uh huh, I'm curious, what does the Iphone have to do with Vzn loosening up?
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MennoFeb 16, 2010, 3:59 PM
Since verizon doesn't have the iphone (and it seems to be what most people care about) they need to do other things to entice customers.
The going rumour is that Verizon didn't get the iphone on the first pass because they wouldn't agree to Apple's demands
(which were:
-You can't subsidize device but you have to sell it on contract
-You have to give us a larger portion of the revenue than any other phone company.
-We have complete control over the plans this device is allowed on.
-You cannot insure the phone, no one can. All troubleshooting will be handled by Apple stores, but you'll take the blame when something goes wrong.
)
Remember that Apple had never made a smartphone before and at the time, smartphones were known as "bus...
(continues)
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I've read that there wasn't even a prototype of the *Bleep*ed thing and Apple was swaggering about making these demands. I've never blamed Verizon for turning down such an offer. It just turned out to be a really unlucky break.
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MennoFeb 16, 2010, 4:13 PM
I'm still wondering what they slipped in the ATT exec's Kool-aid to get them excited about the ipad..
Hey! We have this great new device:
-Remember how your network was already taxed by our iphone? We've made a device that is 4x bigger!
-Remember how we screwed you over on revenue from the device? The iPad will be available ONLY as prepay!
-Remember how you told us our chipset sucked for calls? well we made this one Data only! so people will be dropping their cellphones and getting basic ones and one of these and you'll see no net revenue but more network strain!
oh... and we're calling it the iPad... if you laugh we're going to forget your safeword again
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Renew the exclusive, perhaps?
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MennoFeb 16, 2010, 4:51 PM
Maybe.. Though I can't imagine how far ATT is bending over to make staying with ATT more profitable than the 10million+ activations you could get if they went non-exclusive (add all the people on other carriers waiting+the people who will jump off att, paying the early term, and buying a new device)
Oh.. and I responded to SugerE in the Verizon forums... too harsh?
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No. Not too harsh. I would say just right. I am not so patient. i used to take these calls in tech so rubs an old wound the wrong way when they are wanting to get a super warranty exchange into a new device.
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Some of those points like control of the rate plans made me think hey Apple your not the phone company your the phone maker! Bud out! That's what I thought.
Hey Menno, I saw a rumor in the ATT forum that the SE Xperia X10 is coming to ATT, hmm. . . I'm like you though, I want a smartphone with a slideout keyboard.
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I doubt Verizon would have jumped into bed with Google and Android were there no pressure from the iphone.
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MennoFeb 16, 2010, 4:18 PM
I bet google has a really comfortable bed.
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