[HoshNasi]

NOTE: This thread has been split from the iPhone Discussion thread. - Brad

Two things are of interest to me.

1. How well will this device play with other carriers, (i.e. the ability to eek out all we can from the internet connection offered by T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, etc.) without some kind of locked arangement (Cingular branded).

1.2. If the iPhone works well with other carries, make it so the setup process is painless. Not something were you have to dive into the bowels of the system to deffine mms numbers and internet gateways.

2. How well does this work with Bluetooth. I assume it would be a painless ordeal. Offering voicee features like "Dial voicemail", "Dial Home", or even better the ability to speak the numbers and have it dial.

[infinitespecter]

I am more then a little big annoyed that this uber-phone is attached to Cingular. I loathe Cingular with every bone in my body and just left them a few months ago for Sprint. I have no intention of going back, so I guess no iPhone for me. Oh well.

[HoshNasi]

Originally Posted by infinitespecter I am more then a little big annoyed that this uber-phone is attached to Cingular. I loathe Cingular with every bone in my body and just left them a few months ago for Sprint. I have no intention of going back, so I guess no iPhone for me. Oh well.

Hold out faith for the phone to be unlocked when bought through the Apple store. Also, the price point said nothing about it based on cingulars contract arangements. It would make sense that the price stated would be *without* contract.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by HoshNasi Hold out faith for the phone to be unlocked when bought through the Apple store. Also, the price point said nothing about it based on cingulars contract arangements. It would make sense that the price stated would be *without* contract.

Actually, they said 2-year contract.

[HoshNasi]

Originally Posted by fcgriz Actually, they said 2-year contract.

Thanks for the correction... Crap I missed that one

I also hate cingular.

[addabox]

Somewhere in there Steve specifically mentioned that this is an "exclusive, multi-year" partnership deal with Cingular (or maybe it was the Cingular guy).

[jb_007clone]

What about Canada? Does anyone know who is gonna carry the iPhone there? My guess would be Rogers but I haven't heard a single word about potential carriers up north.

[datapusher]

Originally Posted by addabox Somewhere in there Steve specifically mentioned that this is an "exclusive, multi-year" partnership deal with Cingular (or maybe it was the Cingular guy).

This phone will get unlocked, it just depends on how hard it is to unlock sucha device.

[daftgem]

Realize that this is a GSM device. This means it will only operate on T-Mobile and Cingular in the US, along with smaller regional companies that use GSM(SunCom, Edge Wireless etc.) And unless the device is sold or can be unlocked in it will only work on Cingular! Sprint and Verizon are out of the question, as they use CDMA which only South Korea uses outside of North America.

Apple is thinking globally here, but I suspect this may be a flop.

[shell]

The Cingular thing does bother me as well, I was with them for about 6 months before breaking my contract, cursing their imcompetence and swearing to never go back.
I've been happy with T-mobile ever since.

[HoshNasi]

Originally Posted by datapusher This phone will get unlocked, it just depends on how hard it is to unlock sucha device.

Agreed, I'll be watching howadforums for the details when this phone is released.

Personally I think it will do well. If only because I really REALLY want it to be the phone that gives me all I have been looking for.

[FFL]

Yeah, I'm an ex-Cingular user as well.

Unless they've significantly improved their coverage in my area, I'll have to stick with Verizon & my Moto v710, my 80 GB iPod, and my MacBook Core Duo.

[infinitespecter]

Originally Posted by fcgriz Actually, they said 2-year contract.

Which makes me wonder how much the hardware is actually costing. I suspect around a grand, given how much Cingular usually subsidizes phones with a two year contract. Also, one of the reasons that they may have chosen not to go with other carriers is that, from what I can tell, Cingular is the only company that will allow a phone on their network without a highly customized UI. Verizon requires their own proprietary OS, Sprint requires substantial changes to native phone interfaces, and I am not sure about T-Mobile. Cingular may have been the only one that would allow Apple's interface unchanged.

And finally, watching CNBC, it seems that virtually every telecom stock not associated with the iPhone (RIM, Palm, Sprint, Verizon, etc) are WAY down. The guys over at the Palm sites are all predicting this as the death of Palm, since this is what Palm had promised for years and never delivered on.

EDIT: Almost forgot that Jobs will be on CNBC Closing Bell sometime within the hour.

[jb_007clone]

anybody heard anything about possible carriers in canada?!?!?

[spikeh]

Originally Posted by jb_007clone anybody heard anything about possible carriers in canada?!?!?

[murbot]

Originally Posted by jb_007clone anybody heard anything about possible carriers in canada?!?!?

Originally Posted by spikeh

Fuck you, spike!

(heh heh)

I'd be all over this like Kickaha on a topless redheaded lesbian vampire if I could get it.

[thegelding]

eeeee, just went through apple's site on this device...damn it looks like a nice little piece of machinery...i can see this totally taking over my laptop needs...keeping my iMac for larger duties, using this for all mobile stuff...very nice...

eeek, now do i have to get my whole family to switch from verizon?? i hope not, most of us just updated our phones and contracts...plus i've liked verizon (well except that they rarely get the newest phones and such)

g

[TeamWasabi]

The article on cnn.com says "It's an exclusive multiyear agreement, which means no other carrier will be able to sell the iPhone through 2009"

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/09/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

ughh.. I hope I can get an unlocked one. I love Verizon but most of their phones suck...

[solinari6]

Hmm, I've got an internet enabled cingular phone now.

They charge I think $20 a month for unlimited internet usage. But for Blackberries, it's $30 a month.

I wonder which of the internet plans the iPhone will be like?

[BarracksSi]

What's 3G? What's CDMA? Oh yeah, those are cell networks that didn't exist while I was visiting family in Germany over Christmas. Thank goodness I had my T-Mobile Blackberry.

Okay... anybody want to draw a mockup of Apple's Bluetooth headset? Or have I just not seen pics of it yet?

[BarracksSi]

Originally Posted by jdcfsu The real question is will people switch to Cingular for it?

I don't necessarily want to, as I've only switched from Sprint to T-Mobile four months ago. But, when it works overseas, I just might take the hit and cancel my T-Mobile contract early.

On the other hand, I could also wait, and by that time there would be an iPhone in 20 and 10 GB sizes, and an iPhone nano. Maybe.

[mwarner]

Well, as a Verizon customer, I won't own one anytime soon, but I'm taking the positive route on this. If you go to the Time article posted in this thread several pages back, it mentions that the whole motivation for this began with Steve telling his people to re-think the tablet PC. If they can package this type of UI into more of a straight iPOD & PDA or next gen laptop, this will be sweet. I found it odd for Steve to throw out the stylus concept so quickly though. Yes, the finger navigation, pinching and pulling is sweet, but when I need to jot down notes on the go, I still reach for a pen.

[jb_007clone]

Still no word on canadian carriers?!?

I think it's either gonna be Rogers or Bell.

I mean there's no way that this thing comes out in the UK before Canada right? ...Right?

The choice of EDGE is going to prove *very* problematic for European adoption. There were 3 stages of GSM data evolution : GPRS, EDGE then 3GSM (UMTS)

The problem is that most European networks made the leap from GPRS to 3G skipping EDGE entirely.

So, this device is going to be useless to many Europeans as it'll have no EDGE connectivity.

I don't think any of the UK networks rolled out EDGE, they all skipped ahead to 3G and in Ireland (where I'm based) the only network that was considering EDGE was the smallest one, Meteor and that was only because initially it didn't get a 3G licence. However, as soon as it got one all talk of EDGE went off the agenda.

Perhaps the Euro version will be different?

[Satchmo]

So why did Apple choose to go with Cingular rather than an unlocked phone?

Is it really because of Cingular's track record or quality? Certainly there's probably a monetary kickback from Cingular. But would an "open" phone not accelerate sales and drive up revenues?

[jdcfsu]

Originally Posted by Satchmo So why did Apple choose to go with Cingular rather than an unlocked phone? Is it really because of Cingular's track record or quality? Certainly there's probably a monetary kickback from Cingular. But would an "open" phone not accelerate sales and drive up revenues?

It's because Cingular allowed Apple free reign over the phone and even restructured their voice mail system for this device, all information from the Keynote. My guess is no other carrier were willing to work. Either that or Apple has worked with Cingular in the past and they were probably offered the opportunity first -- and who wouldn't jump at that?

[MSFT]

I'm not going to pay to drop my contract with Verizon just so that I can get the iPhone

[blehpunk]

cingular.com already has the iphone on the homepage.

[Mr Ten]

Originally Posted by HOM * I wonder (there's got to be) a dedicated iPhone plan coming from Cingular much like the Sidekick plan from T-Mobile. The iPhone's price is either going to be worth it or not worth it to each consumer, but if the voice and data plan are too high, it will kill adoption. I'm thinking that a $59 700+ minute with unlimited everything else is the sweet spot because with taxes and surcharges a $60 bill ends up being about $70+.

my cingular bill is $60 for 900 minutes, typical free nights/weekends, $10/1000 sms, and $35 for unlimited email/web use, rounding out about $125 a month after taxes. Not unusual for people to float a simple hundred bucks for service, and if the apple phone did a couple bucks above that, people will still pay it. no more than $150, but $140 w/taxes sounds within reach. ask verizon users, they pay more i think.

EDIT: using a blackberry 8700c

[BarracksSi]

Originally Posted by tensdanny38 Jobs alluded to having a market of 800,000,000 new phone purchasers annually. That's a falsehood. Cingular has 38 million total customers, so its safe to assume 19 million renew their contracts annually, and 190,000 is the 1% mark they wanted to hit. Something doesn't seem quite right about that. Perhaps my math or knowledge of Cingular is off.

You're probably right about Cingular, but that 800 million figure includes worldwide sales. Wait until late 2008 or so to see how well the iPhone settles into the worldwide phone market.