Why "Verizon" snubbed Apple's "iPhone"

WHEN MASTER Steve Jobs announced that his iPhone would only run through an exclusive deal with Cingular, observers wondered why he chose that particular Telco.

According to USA Today, Apple's first choice was Verizon Wireless which rebuffed its overtures over the fact that Jobs was too greedy.

Apple wanted things that most telcos would have laughed at, including a percentage of the monthly cellphone fees and the right to how and where iPhones could be sold.

Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless vice president said his outfit said no because he couldn't reach a deal that was "mutually beneficial" or in otherwords didn't favour Apple over its supplier. In some cases the clauses were daft. Apple and Verizon could sell the phone, but Steve would have forbidden Verizon partners such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other Verizon distributors from flogging it.

If an iPhone broke, Apple wanted sole discretion over whether to replace or repair the phone.

This meant that Verizon and its customers would have had to take a back seat to Apple. Gerace says he has nothing against Apple or the iPhone, and wishes it well, according to USA Today . µ