Cingular has a multiyear, exclusive agreement for iPhone

[newtonjack]

Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. wireless network and a unit of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - News), has a multiyear, exclusive agreement to provide U.S. service for the iPhone.

 

[HasanDaddy]

the Cingular-only thing might be a deal-killer for me

I like my CDMA

 

[vikingjunior]

This is the thing that puzzles me the most.

What does Apple have to gain by locking up into a MULTI year exclusive. One of the reasons the Treo is where it's at today is because of availability across most carriers. I could see some kind of 6 month exclusive but multi year???? I'm sure 2 years down the road there will be some sorta iphone killer available as a CDMA version and Apple will lose out on the CDMA market which is larger globally then most people realize.

I think Apple is really rolling the dice on this sort of agreement with Cingular. Most people are not going to switch to Cingular just because of a iphone, especially those who have become accustomed to EVDO. personally I don't care how cool the phone is i would never leave a Sprint SERO plan with free tethering for no iphone. If Apple is expecting CDMA customers to switch carriers they may be waiting along time.

 

[specimen38]

The link to this article offers a brief explanation as to why an Apple/Verizon deal might not have worked. With Sprint, I dunno....

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196802523

 

[Iceman6]

The article points out what I have been thinking, which is that Verizon and Sprint try to lock you in to their music and video/TV services, and try to sell you crippled phones (no wifi, limited Bluetooth). Apple uses a different model, which tries to lock you into THEIR music and video/TV downloads, but people really like using the iTunes store. Cingular charges a lot more for their data service, which means they can afford to let Apple take the revenue stream from music and video downloads. My understanding is, the iPhone will get its music and video the same way an iPod does, from your PC.

 

[Chatter]

Inherently, there is a conflict between carriers and other service vendors when it comes to revenue streams. These are NOT easy waters to navigate. Why did it take years for BB Connect to reach Treos? (Hint: Not Palm or RIMs fault).

Marc

 

[xtant21]

Cingular charges a lot more for their data service because Cingular WANTS to charge more for their data service. Plus technology hurdles and all it costs them more per tower to have data services out there...CDMA is just more efficient at handling data versus GSM or TDMA. Even so...to be competitive...they really need to re-evaluate their rates they suck...paying $49/mo for EDGE and Sprint user pays $49/mo for unlimited EVDO on a wifi card...$29/mo from a phone; throw SERO into the mix and you'd better be Trump to want to pay for Cingular's data...then again Trump would be smarter than that anyway. Cingular is just highway robbery in comparison...only the shadow knows how much they'll be charging for THEIR 3G data when it all boils down.

Verizon has got to realize (soon) that vCast is not the way to go and they need to let it go. It's nice for me to download and have tunes on my phone but when I get home I want them on a PC or a stereo...sorry guys...I'd rather buy from the iTunes store. vCast is only profitable for phones that have no real way of linking to an outside device (i.e. a PC). So for Verizon to not want to include an iPhone in their lineup is loony...people with Treo's are not going to go through vCast to get tunes all the time...they'll sync 'em to their Treo or drop 'em on an SD card. I don't need no stinking vCast. It's absolete in a few years...when all of the non-connected cell phones are weeded out of population.

 

[NextDream]

It's a 2 year exclusive. Cingular has 58 million subscribers...and that number will continue to grow. You may not even need a data plan for this phone with it's wifi capability.

 

[dutchtrumpet]

I know...my wife and I are geeks but we went ahead and switched to cingular yesterday.

I can't wait for this phone. Treos are great but palm is standing still.

 

[NextDream]

I know...my wife and I are geeks but we went ahead and switched to cingular yesterday.

I can't wait for this phone. Treos are great but palm is standing still.

I will be joining you in June, don't want to jepordize losing any new customer rebates on the iphone by signing up now. I'm also shorting sprint stock to pay for the ETF fee.

 

[Malatesta]

It's a 2 year exclusive. Cingular has 58 million subscribers...and that number will continue to grow. You may not even need a data plan for this phone with it's wifi capability.

Yeah, that free push email account from yahoo would be real useful then or IM (assuming it's not god-awful SMS IM) :shake:

Wifi is nice but it is not a replacement for standard data when you are in your car, train...anywhere that does not have wifi. This is why Wimax and Sprint's "open network" policy will be quite impressive.

I have yet to find a compelling reason to pay $600 for a 2g device, pay more monthly in data and voice and loose functionality. But boy it's a pretty!

Here's some good info about the device: pros/cons.

No office-docs via email? Blah.