Apple Readies Verizon iPhone

[onehandle]

Source: Wall Street Journal

AT&T Inc. is about to lose its lock on the iPhone. Apple Inc. is making a version of its iPhone that Verizon Wireless will sell early next year, according to people familiar with the matter, ending an exclusive deal with AT&T and sharpening the competition with Google Inc.-based phones.

While Apple is on track to sell 40 million iPhones across the globe this year, the touchscreen handset is facing pressure in the U.S. from phones running Google's Android software, which have been heavily promoted by Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. carrier by subscribers.

Apple plans to begin mass producing the new iPhone by the end of the year, and it would be released in the first quarter of 2011, these people said. The phone would resemble the iPhone 4 currently sold by AT&T, but would be based on an alternative wireless technology used by Verizon, these people said.

The new iPhone spells the end of the exclusive arrangement that AT&T has had since 2007, when Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone. Since then, the iPhone fueled much of the AT&T's growth.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536191649347572.html

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After three years of near weekly bullshit rumors, it's finally happening. In the meantime, AT&T has greatly improved their network, so I for one will probably not bolt... for now. And my wife and I got iPhone 4s this year, so we're locked in anyway.

Apple is poised to become the most valuable company in the world. Right now they are #2 after ExxonMobil. This news will hurry their progress to the top.

Buy that Apple stock, kids.

[GoneOffShore]

1. Got some - just waiting for it to start paying dividends.

[Vehl]

2. Might be too late for apple...this is the Mac VS PC war of the 80s repeating ....

Android Beats iPhone As Most Popular Operating System Among Recent Buyers: Nielsen

According to new figures from Nielsen, Google's Android operating system is now the most popular OS among U.S. buyers who purchased a smartphone in the last 6 months.

Android sales soared between January and August as consumers snatched up the many and varied devices built around Google's mobile platform. "Android was the top platform in the U.S. with 32 percent of new purchases, followed by the iPhone and Research In Motion's Blackberry platform, tied at about 25 percent," writes Gigaom, reporting Nielsen's research






http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/05/nielsen-android-most-popular_n_751155.html

As someone who likes variety and options I always knew that Android will beat the Iphone sales pretty soon. And the market figures seem to be supporting this.


The problem with the Iphone is that right now it is facing the same problem Apple faced regarding the PC in the 80s...of a hardware+software vendor vs a a pure OS(Microsoft). Apple wanted to monopolize the hardware as well as the software, while Microsoft, on the other hand made it's OS able to run on any PC. We all know how that competition turned out...resulting in the Virtual domination of the PC market by Windows.


I see the same thing happening now..regarding Apple iphone VS Android. And Andriod has an even bigger Advantage over Iphone than Microsoft had over Apple....the Android OS is FREE!. Apple has to udnerstand that it is the natural tendency of people seek the freedom to do things the way they want, not the way some company decides that they should do.


This would result in(has already resulted in) multiple companies designing and manufacturing smartphones running the Android OS. Already the new Android phones leave the iphone 4G far behind when it comes to the Hardware Capabilities, and the Android 2.2 Froyo beats the IOS4 hands down.


Ironically, Steve Jobs was the head of Apple when Apple made the monumental blunder against microsoft in the 80s, and is now again the head of Apple as it makes the same mistake against Android.

coincidence? I think not!


ps: I believe that in a couple of years, the Iphone will have the same market share vis-a-vis the Android as the Mac has aginst PC

[onehandle]

3. 'Open'

Android is Open, Exhibit 72

Some excited rooters at the XDA Dev Forum tried to root the G2 — namely to unlock the software so they can add their own programs and control the OS — only to find that there is a built-in lock in the G2 hardware that returns the handset to the stock state upon rooting.

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/10/06/g2-anti-root
________________________

Skyhook Wireless, in their “complaint and jury demand” filed against Google:

22. Google’s established practice in determining Android compliance consists of two steps. The first step requires each Android-enabled device, and its embedded software, to be run against the Compatibility Test Suite (CTS), a software-based test platform that objectively evaluates whether the device and software are compatible with the published Android specifications. The second step involves a review of the device and software based on an amorphous outline of additional, non-standardized requirements known as the Compliance Definition Document (CDD). This entirely subjective review, conducted solely by Google employees with ultimate authority to interpret the scope and meaning of the CDD as they see fit, effectively gives Google the ability to arbitrarily deem any software, feature or function “non-compatible” with the CDD.

23. On information and belief, Google has notified OEMs that they will need to use Google Location Service, either as a condition of the Android OS-OEM contract or as a condition of the Google Apps contract between Google and each OEM. Though Google claims the Android OS is open source, by requiring OEMs to use Google Location Service, an application that is inextricably bundled with the OS level framework, Google is effectively creating a closed system with respect to location positioning. Google’s manipulation suggests that the true purpose of Android is, or has become, to ensure that “no industry player can restrict or control the innovations of any other”, unless it is Google.

http://daringfireball.net//misc/2010/09/Skyhook-Google%20Complaint%20and%20Jury%20Demand.pdf

[Vehl]

6. Sure, its not as "open" as true linux , but thats a tradeoff

It would be a nightmare if it was truly open source as every phone would have its own customized version of the OS running, making interoperability, and patching/updating virtually impossible.


However, the Android OS has MUCH more flexibility and open-ness(if one may say so) than the IOS4.
also it is Much faster, as IOS4 vs Android 2.2 tests show Android is definitely faster.

However, the real advantage of Android over IOS4 lines in the diversity of the product line

Want a phone that supports Flash? sure
one that has a HDMI/USB out? sure
Want one where you can replace the battery yourself without having to take it to a store? Sure

Its this variety and diversity that attracts a lot of buyers to android

[liberation]

4. Not really...

Apple's business model focuses on high margin over market share. Whereas Google's android is the opposite: low margins and expecting large market share to make up for them.


In the end both corporations are in business to maximize their profits, regardless of market share.

[Vehl]

7. would having only 5-10% of the market share help Apple?

I think not. I'm certain that it was not Apple's policy to have only 5-10% of the market share (as it does in the personal computer arena). However, it was the popular dislike of the Apple's Business model that relegated it to such a minuscule share of the market.

Apple's problem is its need to retain its monopoly on both hardware and OS development for its products.Such tightly held business models dont really work in the current era...when people are always on the lookout for variety and options.Nor do they like it when they are told "you cannot have flash cos it lowers the battery life". or "There will be no Blu-Ray DVD players because Blu-Ray DVD will be replaced by Internet down loadable formats in the future)...or "There is no need for a USB port!".

Everytime I see such statements, im reminded again and again of some Communist party-run countries. Where the government decides what is good for the people.Why not give people the options and let them choose, rather than deny them because the Apple CEO's "vision" clashes with that of the popular demand?

Now that the Android OS is free, it has a bigger advantage than Microsoft Windows had, over Apple. There is simply no way a single company can out-innovate, out compete and out app-develop the rest of the world. There is a new Android Phone out almost every other month.







^^ As you can see, the Android App numbers are growing much faster than the Apple apps. Apple trying to take on all other companies is like one nation trying to fight the rest of the world.

I'm just trying to point out that the notion that Apple would rather go for bigger profits and lesser sales is probably wrong in this case, as it appears to me that Apple is adamant about changing its quite outdated business model.

[DontTreadOnMe]

13. Anti-Apple Propaganda

re: "as it appears to me that Apple is adamant about changing its quite outdated business model."

Can you please do a quick Google and post how much profit Apple has made since its inception as a corporation.

You just got an "F" grade on business model analysis... we will let you try again to get a passing grade.



... the prediction of doom for Apple always comes from PC weenies.

[Juneboarder]

5. I'm sure these charts are a direct reflection of...

AT&T's poor service that they provide.

[Vehl]

8. hmnn

I doubt it though, Look at the PC/Mac market, the result is the same.

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. You may be right

But if Apple and Jobs had not kept quality control 'in house' they would not have developed such cutting edge products in the last decade. Jobs made his bed with that decision at the start, and he knows its too late now to get up and try and fit on the crowded Windows based PC bed, no matter how he opened up his OS. He knows he has to sleep in the one he made.

Microsoft chose money over quality, allowing any PC fabrication plant, from anywhere in the world, using cheaply made processors and other parts, to have access to their OS, to load up their finished machines with. So you have millions if not billions of cheaply made, bare bone computers out there.

I don't know if Apple foresaw the outcome, but they chose to build their own machines in syncronicity with their own OS. Maybe it was just Job's pride behind it, or maybe he actually chose quality over quantity.

The result may be the same in the smart phone industry. If Android is the new Windows, and many third party phone manufacturers adopt it, it will have a snowball effect. ie..stores will have more of them, so mathematically, more will be sold. People will see their friends mostly use Android based phones, so they will buy them..and so on. It doesn't matter how more "cool" or even functional the iPhone is, it may die, or at least be reduced to that 10% die-hard Apple market sales figure, simply because of their stubbornness for in-house quality control.

I personally use and like the Apple products because of that assured quality and blend of design and function and innovation.
Its interesting because in some ways Gates was more 'socialist' with his product than Jobs. Not that he didn't charge for it, but in the sense that he distributed it openly. Even though I lean more left in my social politics, I appreciate in business, someone who demands control of their product and original vision.

[Scooter24]

16. Just a few targeted notes...

First, there are only two Apple iOS enabled phones on the market- the 3GS and the iPhone 4. In contrast there are 60+ Android-enabled smartphones on the market. The 7% sales margin between the two operating systems is surprising low considering the 2900% increase in available Android phones over the two iPhones.

Secondly, as you stated Android is a free open-source system. Apple's iOS is proprietary. Android's system brings a lot to the table no doubt but in the end does the sales boom in Android-enabled handset volume bring any substantial gain to a company's bottom line?

For example, in the first half of 2010 Apple sold about 17 million smartphones which is roughly 3% of the total mobile phone market. Samsung, LG, and Nokia combined sold about 400 million devices while other manufacturers sold about 190 million phones.

Apple however leads the pack and controls about 39% of the mobile handset industry's total profit. Samsung, LG, and Nokia's combined cut is about 32%.

The much hyped Android-enabled HTC Evo took about three to four weeks to sell about 350,000 devices. Apple had 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4 in it's first 24 hours since its announcement and 1.7 million iPhone 4's sold in the first 3 days. Apple's Q4 estimates have them selling between 11-13 million devices, roughly between 40-80% YOY. With a company expected to post a 50% increase in revenue this year and whose valuation is just over $263 Billion (vs. Google's $168 Billion) I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the doom-and-gloom scenarios many like to predict for Apple. With a very strong tech portfolio, solid leadership and high performance ratings, it shouldn't come as a surprise that almost all major analyst's have a current "buy" rating for Apple and I've seen target price's as high as $350+ per share.

In the end all this debate about Android vs. iPhone is moot. In the vast cloud that is Android of course there are going to be more phone models that use Android's OS. It's a solid, open-source, and free OS. Apple however isn't selling operating systems (nor is Google for that matter), it's selling hardware. And it's doing a pretty good job of it so far.

[BadgerKid]

9. [Possible refutation] Verizon Exec: IPhone News Will Come From Apple

Verizon shifted the responsibility for delivering an iPhone on its network to Apple, on the same day the Wall Street Journal reported that such a phone will be released early next year.

At a press conference at the CTIA conference in San Francisco, Lowell McAdam, Verizon's president and chief operating officer, said to look for an announcement about a Verizon iPhone from Apple.

"This is one of those things that rolls out every few weeks whether there's a basis for it or not," he said when asked to comment on the story. "I can't give you any insights. But I think Apple is the one that has to make that announcement."

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207108/verizon_exec_iphone_news_will_come_from_apple.html

Not directed at the OP, but one never knows these days whether the "news" is just some stock analyst's itch to drum up trading fees and to otherwise manipulate stock prices.

[onehandle]

11. If so then the WSJ really screwed the pooch on this. nt

[Divine Discontent]

12. yep, that'd be uber embarrasing. the thing is, there's reports of supply purchases that are

needed to make this happen, plus the code written into the newest iphone software that implies something different is coming. I got tired of waiting on them to go to someone else other than the $80-$100 mo. AT&T, so I have got Android on Sprint and upped my $30 a month plan to $50 and now use the HTC EVO.

[SlicerDicer-]

17. EVO is awesome enough said :)

[frylock]

14. meh. if i were on verizon, i'd be rocking an htc incredible

[divideandconquer]

15. I can't wait to throw my Droid in Chattahoochee