Agreed. And now the US can catch up to the rest of the world and have the iphone on more then one carrier. And I think if Apple do this, a lot of people will switch. The iphone on Verizon to some people = sex in heaven. And I really hope Apple does this. Then the moblie carriers in the US will have to compete with each other for price and quality of wireless service.
1. So Apple win out with more iphones sold.
2. And the public win out with all the different mobile carriers fighting for the cheapest prices and best wireless coverage.
3. And all the other mobile carriers win as they get iphone cutomers.
4. AT&T might be the only loser as they will lose all the customers who are with them just for the iphone and will swap iphone carriers the second they are able to. And I'm sure that second will come on that date when the new iphone is released.
5. And the andriod/webos phone makers can't say anymore "our phone is on the your favourite networks the iphone is not on". In short more competition is always a good thing.
6. Having the iphone on many carriers give people freedom of choice with what mobile carrer you can have with the iphone. And Apple giving people more feedom of choice is not monopolising the market into one choice as everying is suing Apple for doing. So this move will help them win all those law suits.
So this deal if it happens in 5x win (For Apple and iphone customers) and only 2x loss.
One is small loss only as many customers might just stay with AT&T. And another one is a win and a loss. That's why 5+2=7. A win for Apple and iphone customers and a negative for the non Apple smartphone and non Apple phone OS market.
Really not doing this option for multiple iphone carriers is a very foolish, money confidence and moral degrading action. Lets just hope Apple is in the process of making this deal set in stone.
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More news on this subject.
Foxconn to ship 24M next-gen iPhones with improved displays in 2010
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...n_iphones_with_improved_displays_in_2010.html
Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple's fourth-generation iPhone, will ship 24 million units in 2010, with new LCD displays that include IPS and FFS technology for improved e-book reading capabilities, according to component makers.