Commenter: Will iPhone work with Verizon?

news
Jun 25, 20071 min

This query from a reader led me to set up an informal survey in my other blog. If you’re currently under contract to a different wireless operator, and you plan to buy an iPhone, how will you switch to AT&T?

=====

Will Apple offer this phone to verizon

subscribers? If yes, when? Thanks. I think

this is a GREAT phone!

iPhone promises to be a fine device. However, if you want one, you’ll have to switch carriers. AT&T negotiated a deal with Apple that locks all iPhones strictly to AT&T’s network. At Macworld Expo 2007, AT&T boasted that its exclusive on iPhone spans “several years.” USA Today cited sources that put the duration of the exclusive at five years.

USA Today also reported that Verizon was Apple’s original choice for wireless partner, but that Verizon wouldn’t accept Apple’s extraordinary demand of an off-the-top cut of monthly subscriber revenue. That’s unprecedented. Now, with all the enthusiastic press that AT&T is scoring from its ride in iPhone’s hype wake, I expect that Verizon is wishing it had tried just a little harder to cut a deal.