UK iPhone Carrier Loses Exclusivity - AT&T Next?

[JMcEntegart]

Carrier O2 has lost its title as the exclusive UK carrier to Apple's iPhone. Rival Orange today announced that it would begin selling the iPhone but failed to offer details about plans or pricing.

UK iPhone Carrier Loses Exclusivity - AT&T Next? : Read more

 

[tayb]

I sometimes wish I lived in a country as small as the UK. We always whine about cell service here in the US but the US is larger then the entire continent of Europe and we have single providers each trying to blanket the cover with different types of cellular service. Europe is large but they have cellular standards so towers don't go to waste.

The UK has X number of towers per square mile... now imagine how many towers that would have to be in the US to provide equal coverage across the nation. It really is a daunting task and you have to give the providers some credit for spending such massive amounts of money setting up such a vast network. In the long run the US will have it better off because there is still plenty of land left to build and the cell services will be ready. Not much room for growth in the UK and many European countries.

If you really think about it we are still in the very early stages of cellular deployment, imagine what the US cellular landscape will look like in 15 years when 15 years ago the landscape hardly existed. I hate AT&T and currently wish I owned any other cell phone on any other service but I do cut the carriers some slack when it comes to service and reception.

 

[scook9]

What people are not addressing here, is the chain of events that led up to this happening in the UK. It could be as simple as a contract ended and now more carries can cary them as well - which would mean NOTHING in the US. If no legal action was taken to achieve this than it means nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I would like to see iPhones on other networks as much as the next guy, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here

 

[JasonAkkerman]

I just hope AT&T losses its exclusivity so we can share some of the network load with other carriers.

 

[Guest]

to tayb:
"We always whine about cell service here in the US but the US is larger then the entire continent of Europe and we ....."

Could you please first make a quick check before making ignorant statements about other continents?

US IS NOT LARGER than the entire continent of Europe! Neither in population, neither in area.

Europe: area 10,180,000 sq km, population 731,000,000
USA: area 9,826,630 sq km, population 307,497,000

 

[yang]

I can't believe this iphone business is still news. It's just a phone! Get over it. On a side note, it's not even that great of a phone.

 

[eddieseven]

And it's about time too!
O2 coverage is pretty lousy around my town and I dare say other area's around the UK also. Reception can vary simply by walking room to room in your home or sometimes, as in the case of a friend of mine, non-existent indoors altogether. I'm surprised that Apple chose O2 above other sp's in the first place.
Orange is not my favorite provider and until others get the iphone, I shall not be purchasing one any time soon, regretfully may I add because I love my ipod touch, a gadget thats in use every day.

 

[pharge]

[citation][nom]tayb[/nom]I sometimes wish I lived in a country as small as the UK. We always whine about cell service here in the US but the US is larger then the entire continent of Europe and we have single providers each trying to blanket the cover with different types of cellular service. [citation]

I can fully understand about the limited coverage in the States due to it size. However, they do not have any excuse for having a lot of drop calls in those major cities.

Seriously, we need some competitions in the States. Exclusivity is just not good for us, the customer s.

 

[naterandrews]

I think that ending carrier exclusivity would be a BAD thing for consumers. AT&T at first didn't subsidize the iPhone as much as they do now. The reason? AT&T knows the phone will sell, and that the customers are locked to their network. Lower subsidies would be an end result of exclusives ending, and would skyrocket prices for consumers.

Handset manufacturers also get hefty amounts of money in negotiations for their exclusive handsets, which helps them to speed up development of other unique and great phones. Without this money- we'd potentially see less innovative phones as well.

 

[hellwig]

[citation][nom]naterandrews[/nom]I think that ending carrier exclusivity would be a BAD thing for consumers. AT&T at first didn't subsidize the iPhone as much as they do now. The reason? AT&T knows the phone will sell, and that the customers are locked to their network. Lower subsidies would be an end result of exclusives ending, and would skyrocket prices for consumers. Handset manufacturers also get hefty amounts of money in negotiations for their exclusive handsets, which helps them to speed up development of other unique and great phones. Without this money- we'd potentially see less innovative phones as well.[/citation]

All total B.S. Yes, AT&T didn't subsidize the iPhone at first, but that was Apple's doing. Subsidized prices, in Apple's mind, reduce the appearance of product quality. Apple new people would pay $600, and people did just that. Most countries don't have subsidization of any sort to begin with. Japan gets way cooler tech than we do in the states.

Second, locking the iPhone to AT&T means AT&T charges whatever they want, which in the end hurts the consumer. If AT&T had to compete with Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.., the iPhone plans would be more competitively priced.

Finally, I believe there was a study done showing that AT&T can NEVER see a profit from offering the iPhone. They had to invest so much into upgrading the network for the iPhone, they won't see a dime off a single phone sold. Remember, according to AT&T's own number, iPhone users use 10-times the amount of network traffic as other customers. I think they'd rather sell 10-times more phones and not have to upgrade the network.

Imagine if you could use your iPhone, Android phone, or Palm WebOS phone on any network you choose. You'd probably choose whoever had the best coverage and plans in your area, not AT&T just cause the one-time expense of the phone was $100 cheaper, but your monthly data plan is now $30 more expensive.

 

[dtm4trix]

I love my iPhone (1st gen) but hate att. I know the others arent any better but at least the networks are better with Sprint and Verizon, imho. I dont know about T-Mobile as I have never had a phone through them. I just think having an exclusivity for the most popular smart phone on the market at the moment is not a great idea. Competition is always good for the consumer and I just dont feel like jailbreaking my iPhone to use it on another network I have no idea about.

 

[rpmrush]

I like the iPhone and the only reason I don't have it is because AT&T.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

bring it to verizon!!!!!!!!!!

 

[matt87_50]

[citation][nom]Everlast[/nom]to tayb:"We always whine about cell service here in the US but the US is larger then the entire continent of Europe and we ....."Could you please first make a quick check before making ignorant statements about other continents?US IS NOT LARGER than the entire continent of Europe! Neither in population, neither in area.Europe: area 10,180,000 sq km, population 731,000,000USA: area 9,826,630 sq km, population 307,497,000[/citation]

Actually, those figures prove his point more, the population is more than twice as dense on average in Europe. not only does this theoretically mean more paying customers per tower, but probably more widely spread infrastructure/resources (there would be less towers in what would be considered 'remote' areas)

However, Australia has this problem too, and I don't think its so much a problem for wireless (our wired internet is currently quite poor because of it), I think the bigger problem is the infrastructure being overloaded in densely populated areas, rather than the quality of service in remote areas

 

[matt_b]

[citation][nom]area51reopened[/nom]bring it to verizon!!!!!!!!!![/citation]
If I recall correctly, Verizon HAD first dibs on being the exclusive carrier if the iPhone.

Companies like Verizon missed out on the deal, companies like ATT/Cingular snatched it up and it turned into a huge success. So now because of good judgment/investment and so-called unfair competition, ATT must pay for it. I couldn't be more confused at how businesses are supposed to be run these days. Apparently it no longer pays to be the innovator, leader, or have something exclusive to help push what you have to offer anymore and be more competitive (I am applying this towards the business world, not just ATT). We should all just sit back and let our legal departments make us money.

Seriously, if people liked the iphone that much, and knew ATT had bad coverage in their working area, they have the clear option of picking another provider with a similar phone now. Most providers also offer at least a two week tryout with no questions asked period - so why keep it if it doesn't work for you? There are options out there for now (not if phone companies keep buying each other out at the pace they have been though). They the fuss will be more about provider choices being so few versus crying over a silly little iphone.

 

[tester24]

What people don't get is that the problem wasn't just with the iPhones popularity with AT&T which brought their network down. Seeing it from a Systems Admin point of view is that the problem was always there (crappy service, dropped calls, slow data , etc.) it's just the iPhone brought it out more mainstream.

However I think with the contract ending, and the new 4G technology comming out and the US gov looking into making it illegal for exclusive phones which would be great for competition you will see big changes in the industry.

On a minor note Verizon is actually going with LTE like AT&T and T-Mobile so there will be better phones with Verizon, however I hope they don't continue with later launches because they want their special proprietary software on it.

 

[Guest]

ATT has been a spotty carrier. When I heard that Barnes and Noble would use them as their e-book carrier I thought, how many left feet can one person have??

I am currently a captive customer of ATT because of the 3G that works well spottily but would pay a premium to jump ship if T-Mobile got to do the phone with fewer spotty areas.

There is not a better piece of hardware than the iPhone but there are more responsive carriers that ATT.