Mas claro, echale agua - Argentinian saying
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Verizon gets the Iphone
THE PURVEYOR of fruit-themed Chinese toys, Apple has given the heads up to US telecoms network Verizon to flog its Iphone.
The nod ends an exclusive relationship that Jobs' Mob had with AT&T in the US, which has been around since the Iphone sprang fully formed from the mind of Steve Jobs. Verizon COO Lowell McAdam unveiled the Iphone deal yesterday during a presentation in New York.
What is surprising is that Apple is launching its Iphone on Verizon's outdated CDMA network. It was believed that it would be lauched on its LTE 4G network. However according to Apple's Tim Cook the first generation LTE chipsets required design changes Jobs wouldn't make.
The use of CDMA means that the phone will only be sold to Americans who never want to take their phones out of the country. CDMA is only ever used in the US and China, so if you see a loud fat American in a Hawaiian shirt shouting into an Iphone in Leicester Square or St Peters he will be an AT&T customer.
Still at least Verizon will have good coverage within the US and it has had to pony up a large amount of cash to get the phone subsidised at a price that will match AT&T.
Ars Technica says that the CDMA network means that the Iphone 4 can actually be used in your left hand without dropping the signal. All punditry aside, coverage is king, not speed, and Verizon has the coverage thing down cold.
The new device will start at $199 for the 16GB model and $100 more for the 32GB. The Verizon Iphone will also act as a WiFi hotspot for up to 5 devices, a service customers are typically charged for.
Preorders for existing Verizon customers will commence on 3 February, while everyone else will be able to order the device online or get it in stores.
But Jobs has stuck some fairly strange requirements on Verizon users. New Iphone users on Verizon's network won't find preloaded carrier software on their phones, but can only download carrier-specific apps from Itunes.
Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller told members of the press that there would be no software pre-installed by Verizon. This is a little odd as Verizon has been a leading proponent of bundled software on its phones.
While many will see Apple as bravely stepping in to stop Verizon filling the Iphone with crapware it also stops it installing software which Steve Jobs does not like. µ
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CDMA2000 is far from ideal, but in America, it's a hell of a lot more reliable and widespread than UMTS. In the 95% of America where visitors from Europe rarely venture, UMTS coverage tends to suck quite badly, and most "GSM" phones are reduced to GPRS or EDGE paperweights.
Try data-roaming on a GSM phone capable of 850/1900 or 1700/2150 UMTS while visiting a random suburban neighborhood in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, L.A., or even 10-20 miles northeast of the House of the Mouse in Orlando. If you're lucky, you *might* get a viable UMTS 3G connection if you go outside or stand next to a window. In some places, not even standing on the roof and trying to aim the phone towards a tower will save you from EDGE or GPRS.
It's very true to say that CDMA phones won't work in Europe. It's not true at all to say they won't work outside of America. American CDMA phones can roam just fine in Canada (1xRTT only, no 3G data), Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Chile, Iraq, and at least a few other countries.
The only technological advantage GSM/UMTS has over CDMA2000/EVDO is the official ability to make phone calls and simultaneously access the internet... but if you're willing to get VoIP service from some thirdparty, root your phone, and live on the bleeding edge, you can do the same thing with CDMA2000/EVDO. You forward your VoIP number to your cell phone, then run an app that watches for incoming calls when you have an active data connection. If you get one, the app springs to life, launches its own phone app, establishes a VoIP call, and you can simultaneously talk and surf anyway. It didn't really catch on until rooted Android phones empowered us to take matters into our own hands and give ourselves the feature Sprint and Verizon wouldn't spend their own money developing, but now even THEY are busily at work developing their own secondary VoIP service that will ultimately work more or less exactly the same way.
Limiting this handset to CDMA only is a surprise. This is an iTouch for international travelers. Still stuck with AT&T until I get more long term data on the Droid Pro.
What I have been able to piece together is that Verizon and Qualcomm has taught the Apple engineers how to build a "CDMA stack", so that the iPhone maintains its battery life, while not eating up base station channels. Could be that the Apple engineers are not competent enough to figure out how to do that for GSM/3G...
Engineers wanting to leave Nokia for Apple - now is your chance to show them how to design a "stack".
Yeah it's freedom to download.. at $1.00 per 100KB I bet, nice for the carrier to get the bonus.
You don't have to buy their phones. You don't have to buy their computers.
The iNquirer however, do seem to have to click-troll Apple-related stories to get any traffic.
I don't think anything Apple makes is "fruit themed" :S
In what universe does keeping exactly the same controls in place as AT+T have to deal with seen as some sort of bad news?
In this Universe, Android users have to cope with crapware that CANNOT BE DELETED (several handset makers/networks), which you rightly condemn. And yet, when Apple politely suggests that if users really want an app they're welcome to download it - you get all snarky?
Or is it just a case of slagging off Apple to get more eyeballs and comments (oops, fell for it)?
Orange and Vodafone are well known for mucking about with firmware and bundling 'crapware' on their phones in the UK and both are not allowed to do so on the iPhone
I would have assumed it's the same for every carrier in the world?
Big deal, Why would Apple invest so much on a obsolete technology? Well, Verizon will be paying for it over the next 5 years, then regret it.
After reading this article, I no longer regret having just renewed with Sprint with an Android-type 4G phone.
This sounds like the Verizon experience might be a bad one for some that choose to go with the iPhone on Verizon.
No 4G, come on.
Other restrictions seem ridiculous, as well.