AT&T/Cingular gets exclusive rights to iPhone for 5 years

[kaidomac]

USA Today article

AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years — an eternity in the go-go cellphone world. And Apple is barred for that time from developing a version of the iPhone for CDMA wireless networks.

I think this smiley expresses my feelings on this matter:

 

[Nicholi]

I wonder how large that check was.

 

[kaidomac]

I wonder how large that check was.

Not big enough I'm pretty disappointed. I understand that GSM has world-wide support, but Verizon did pass up on the offer, after all. Cingular has wretched service in my area; the call quality is pretty terrible no matter where you are. However, Verizon is crystal-clear; in fact I dropped my house phone 2 years ago because my cell phone reception with Verizon was so good! I'm hoping that Cingular will improve their service as a result of the AT&T acquisition. I hope the iPhone at least gets GPS or allows 3rd-party developers to write software for it...

 

[fleurya]

I wonder how large that check was.

Why do people have this twisted idea that AT&T (then Cingular) has to hand over truckloads of money to Apple?? Was there a bidding war going on nobody knew about? Because if memory serves me, Apple was first shot down by Verizon! Not a good indicator that Apple had a whole lot of leverage there. Plus, since one of the other 2 big 3 carriers doesn't even want the iPhone, did Apple really have much of a choice?

Also, look at the financial stats of the 2 companies. Apple did $19 billion in sales, pretty big, but not as big as AT&T's $63 billion: 3 times bigger!

I doubt this 5 year exclusivity is anything new. It was most-likely a part of the original agreement. Nobody's going to make any contractual changes or switch teams at this point in the game.

Unless someone can produce some real evidence that AT&T had to write a "big check" to get Apple to sign up, let's see it. Otherwise, just give it up!

 

[Thyamine]

Being a Cingular customer, I'm happy about this. I'll also add as a counter-point that I've had them for years without problems. However I'm still a little disappointed by what the starting price is going to be for the iPhone. A little outside my range, although being probably one of the only people in the world without an iPod, I can certainly utilize most of what it is being marketed for.

 

[kaidomac]

Why do people have this twisted idea that AT&T (then Cingular) has to hand over truckloads of money to Apple?? Was there a bidding war going on nobody knew about? Because if memory serves me, Apple was first shot down by Verizon! Not a good indicator that Apple had a whole lot of leverage there. Plus, since one of the other 2 big 3 carriers doesn't even want the iPhone, did Apple really have much of a choice?

Also, look at the financial stats of the 2 companies. Apple did $19 billion in sales, pretty big, but not as big as AT&T's $63 billion: 3 times bigger!

I doubt this 5 year exclusivity is anything new. It was most-likely a part of the original agreement. Nobody's going to make any contractual changes or switch teams at this point in the game.

Unless someone can produce some real evidence that AT&T had to write a "big check" to get Apple to sign up, let's see it. Otherwise, just give it up!

The Verizon passup wasn't unexpected...they lock in dumb UIs to their phones, cripple Bluetooth, etc. They are too controlling to ever let us have a good iPhone I'm praying that the Cingular service will improve with the AT&T merge...

 

[jotdess]

Being a Cingular customer, I'm happy about this. I'll also add as a counter-point that I've had them for years without problems. However I'm still a little disappointed by what the starting price is going to be for the iPhone.

I have Cingular too and have not had any problems with reception whatsoever where I've lived or travelled. I probably won't be buying the iphone.

 

[Csma]

I think ill stick with my Treo 700p from Sprint.. Ive had zero problems with it since it was released, and the applications are amazing for it. Along with the EVDO speed

 

[baggss]

I'm with Csma for now, although my Treo 700P is from Verizon. Sadly however, I learned that after the release of the Treo 755P, Palm will no longer release new phones with the Palm OS, rather they will support Windows (Ugh!) and a Linux based system. While the Linux based system intrigues me, it's going to take a lot to replace the Palm OS, which I have been using for almost 10 years now.

I'm on a 2 year upgrade/contract cycle with Verizon, and I have 18 months left so I'm not shopping yet. I will be looking at what comes next from Palm, but if the Linux based system sucks I'll either look at the Blackberry or perhaps the iPhone (despite the fact that I would have to switch carriers). I'll likely get a Blackberry from work in the next few months, so that may help me convert to that, but right now the iPhone is suddenly looking better and better to me.

 

[Netty4mac]

I just got Cingular as well and I'm very happy with the reception. The only thing was that they took forever to ship my order; I don't know why but there was a mix up.

 

[beetyjoose]

last year i switched from cingular to sprint for a better deal on a Treo, now i'll be switching back to cingular for the iPhone. oh cancellation fees, how I love you.

 

[drewschlosser]

Of course

last year i switched from cingular to sprint for a better deal on a Treo, now i'll be switching back to cingular for the iPhone. oh cancellation fees, how I love you.

If you just wait for a service plan price increase such as recently when T-Mobile increased their per text message pricing giving customers the ability to cancel their contract w/no charge. Just a small loop hole