Why aren't all cell phones made for all carriers?

[AC Question]

Consumers are paying full price for phones now. If carriers aren't subsidizing the phones what's the incentive for phone manufacturers to not make a phone that can work on all the carriers?

 

[Mr Mendelli]

There are many legalities that go into a carrier acquiring a device for them to be able to resell to the public. Some carriers will try to claim exclusivity on a device in the hops of it bringing in a higher prophet margin. This depends on what a carriers investors are interested in. If a company thinks, or knows a new model or device is in high enough demand, thats usually reason enough for them to try and snatch it up for themselves. Depending on who is willing to pay the most will determine who the device manufacturer sells the rights to if they too are interested in, or believe they can make more money fom this kind of deal. This is why generic models are everywhere. The companies that get newer devices first, go for exclusivity deals, or try to claim the rights to a device, are usually conglomorates like Verizon Wireless, Sprint Corporation, and AT&T. They (for several) reasons can do this, mainly because they have so much money. Even if they do not get the projected revenue estimate from a deal, they usually know they can recover if the deal bombs. So, basically capitalist greed...