MotoMaker AT&T exclusive till November

[Farish]

Do you think Apple would be doing okay with the iPhone if it were STILL on just one carrier?

As for the MBA comment, I am shocked at how many with actual MBA's mismanage companies. An MBA is no guarantee of success or skill.

Interesting question.

Seeing how the iPhone is the top selling smartphone on all American carriers, here is an interesting thought process.

Would Verizon still be the number 1 company if they never got the iPhone?

Did the carriers need the iPhone more or did the iPhone need the carriers more?

 

[JungleLarry]

Verizon was already the #1 US carrier without the iPhone. Remember people used to lament this fact, and folks who were "in the know" cited Apple's reluctance to hand over point-of-sale control to Verizon as the reason why it wouldn't happen. But it happened anyway. Knowing that, I think it's safe to say that Apple needed Verizon more for the iPhone to realize its full potential; it just wasn't going to happen otherwise.

I'm not saying that Verizon didn't also need the iPhone to help hold marketshare against AT&T, it just seems like they probably had more leverage.

 

[bandityo]

An Exec from Motorola said that they chose only one carrier at first for the Moto Maker to be able to get their operations working handling the traffic....cant open it to all 4 immediately without a hitch...they need to work out the bugs then open up more later.

David

 

[jephanie]

An Exec from Motorola said that they chose only one carrier at first for the Moto Maker to be able to get their operations working handling the traffic....cant open it to all 4 immediately without a hitch...they need to work out the bugs then open up more later.

David

I speculated about that earlier. Do you have a link to this exec's quote? I'd like to read it.

 

[Farish]

Verizon was already the #1 US carrier without the iPhone. Remember people used to lament this fact, and folks who were "in the know" cited Apple's reluctance to hand over point-of-sale control to Verizon as the reason why it wouldn't happen. But it happened anyway. Knowing that, I think it's safe to say that Apple needed Verizon more for the iPhone to realize its full potential; it just wasn't going to happen otherwise.

I'm not saying that Verizon didn't also need the iPhone to help hold marketshare against AT&T, it just seems like they probably had more leverage.

At the time when the iPhone was released, even though Verizon was the largest carrier, AT&T had the largest amount of smartphone users. Remember those users pay additional charges for a data plan that Verizon otherwise would not be getting. Losing out on the big money makers probably were a much bigger concern.

From a WSJ article at the time the Verizon iphone was announced.

AT&T has had the iconic device to itself since its introduction in June 2007.

Since then, the iPhone has fueled much of the carrier's subscriber growth and has given it a solid lead in smartphone customers.

 

[JungleLarry]

At the time when the iPhone was released, even though Verizon was the largest carrier, AT&T had the largest amount of smartphone users. Remember those users pay additional charges for a data plan that Verizon otherwise would not be getting. Losing out on the big money makers probably were a much bigger concern.

From a WSJ article at the time the Verizon iphone was announced.

As I already inferred, I have a difficult time believing that the two companies would agree to a contract that wasn't mutually beneficial. But that doesn't answer your question. Both companies made significant concessions to get the deal done, so just ask yourself which one made more.

 

[bandityo]

I speculated about that earlier. Do you have a link to this exec's quote? I'd like to read it.

Jephanie,

I believe it was the software engineer that made moto maker during an interview with kawasaki on youtube I think.