Will Verizon get the iPhone?
I did a stupid thing this weekend. So stupid, I feel embarrassed admitting it.
I left my cellphone in my pants pocket and it went into the washer. It came out pristinely clean and completely destroyed. It wasn’t an expensive phone–it’s the LG enV2 model from Verizon–but since we only have cellphones in our household, no land line, accidentally destroying a cell phone does present some unique challenges.
After debating my options, including whether I could get a new phone by the time I left for Washington last night, I called a friend to whom I’d loaned an old phone of mine and asked for its return. Fortunately, she still had it, and it was not in use.
So after getting this old phone from her, and sighing at how large and clunky it looks after only a few years, I called up Verizon to activate it. Afterwards, I gave the phone to Lynn to talk to the representative about ordering a new one. She gets a kick out of wheeling and dealing with these people to get the best deal she can. I’m not particular about the kind of phone I use, so I’d rather just let her order the phone for me.
The point of this post is that, at one point in the conversation, I heard her ask about the iPhone. Previously I’d mentioned to her this rumor from back in April that Apple and Verizon are in talks over the iPhone, so she knew I wanted one, as long as I don’t have to switch providers. After Lynn got off the phone, I asked her what the rep told her.
He said that although they aren’t supposed to say anything about it, Verizon is getting the iPhone in 2010, once Apple’s contract with AT&T expires. He also said the phone would be red. My wife told him “Thank you, we’ll just use this old phone until then,” and so he lost a sale.
Do I believe him about the iPhone? On the one hand, it makes no sense for him to lie to people who want the iPhone, since it makes them less likely to buy a phone now.
On the other hand, he’s just a sales rep. What does he know? Probably nothing. Why would Verizon tell its low-level employees a secret so big it would literally make national headlines, if word leaked out?
Still, I want to believe.
Ever since the iPhone debuted, I’ve grumbled about Apple’s exclusive relationhip with AT&T which (from my perspective) makes no sense. Verizon is the largest carrier in the United States. But even if it weren’t the largest, shouldn’t Apple want their product available to as many people as possible? In my opinion, every cell phone company ought to be able to provide the iPhone to their customers, if they want it. I realize business doesn’t often make that much sense, however. Companies sign contracts with each other and have to honor them, for better or worse.
Maybe at the time the AT&T contract was the best Apple could get. It wouldn’t surprise me if they are trying to do better, now. Maybe the whole Apple/Verizon rumor is just a leveraging tactic meant to get a better deal from AT&T, however.
All I know is, having bought an iPod Touch recently, I’ve been given a taste of what the iPhone can do. I want one. I want one very, very much.
I’m dying for an iPhone, or at least to convince H to get one instead. My cell phone contract is up in July and we’re going to switch carriers, but not to AT&T. I did some research and decided Verizon was the way to go, and I also am taking into consideration that persistent rumor about Verizon in 2010. You’re not the only place I’ve heard it from.
It’s also encouraging that there is now a less expensive model available, but if I were getting one, I’d want the full, leaded version with space to burn. Too bad I don’t have a job.
It’s killing me to wait out this last month before my contract is up; our reception in the new digs is spotty and sometimes nonexistent. The Tmobile person I talked to said, oh, well, maybe we can help you troubleshoot with the tower. Um, no, sorry. I don’t believe you, and I shouldn’t have to do anything to get coverage. I’m shocked that I live in a substantially more metropolitan area with significantly less coverage. I’m not going to live with the dropped calls while I skate on a vague promise from my carrier.
The only thing is, I like my increasingly outdated Razr, as does H, and I’d like to see if we could keep it. It didn’t seem like Verizon had anything particularly cool or staggering, either.
No, Verizon doesn’t have anything to compare to the iPhone. I was also pleased at the drop in price announced yesterday. $100 is about the cost of the Env2 I just destroyed, but like you I will probably go for a more robust model, probably the 16GB. I don’t know that I need a 32GB, since my iPod Touch is 32 gigs.
Well, the one reason I might be able to resist an iPhone, even in 2010, is that I already have an iPod Touch, and if I got an iPhone, I’d feel like I had an expensive piece of Touch junk. That’s why I’m hoping for H to get one.
I am also in the process of THINKING about changing to Verizon. I’m fine with my carrier but my husband works on the road and is constantly complaining that our carrier sucks! He has his personal phone that is of course with our carrier and then he has his work phone that is with Verizon. Well he will be out in the boonies somewhere and try to call me and I can’t hear a word that he is saying. Then he will call me back from the work phone and the reception is great! 1 bar to 4 according to him. At first I really didn’t care one way or the other for the Iphone but I recently got my daughter the Ipod Touch for her birthday and I have to admit it a little cool gadget. Which has now peeked my interest to the Iphone. So I’m really hoping that Verizon will get the Iphone because that does have a lot to do with my decision to change carriers and I will definitely NOT change to AT&T…
I have an iPhone through AT&T. I love it and the reception is great almost everywhere. The problem with AT&T is that they don’t have a friends and family plan. All of my friends are on Verizon so I have to use too many minutes to talk to them. I am buying out of my AT&T contract the minute verizon gets the iPhone.
My step-brother is a sales rep for AT&T, and he doesn’t even have an AT&T cell plan, let alone an iPhone. He freely admits their coverage sucks, and their plans suck. That’s a pretty sad statement about the state of things. Apple has to get out of that contract. There is too much profit to be made with other cell carriers for Apple to remain with a dog like AT&T.
I am also a verizon user…I wish they did have the iPhone…My best friend has one and brags about it all the time…Plus the same thing happened to me…I left me phone in a pocket…This could all be a fib though…but I think a salesman would tell the truth!!
i agree with all of you i have Verizon as my wireless carrier and i to am hoping that this isn’t a rumor about the iphone coming to Verizon. i work for the state of California as a firefighter and need to have good coverage we have tried other carriers and i have to say that Verizon has the best coverage of the 3 that we’ve had. i get coverage in areas where my co-workers have none. three of the guys at my station have the iphone and i want one so bad but as stated before by others i don’t want to sacrifice the coverage that Verizon has to get one. although Verizon has a tendency to disable functions of the phones they carry i hope this won’t be the case with the iphone. i currently had the blackberry curve and like it but the iphone is so much user friendly then blackberry’s. one of the guys that has an iphone at work was saying that his dad got one and he would never text with the other phones he had in the past. but now with the iphone he texts all the time so much more easier to use then other phones. lets all keep our fingers crossed and if it happens i plan on being the first in the door in my area to get the iphone from Verizon.
@MCA
Ok….I am going to be honest with everyone being that I was a very nervous consumer…I had Verizon for more than 10 yrs…was very happy with their coverage however spotty it was in the downstairs of my house. I wanted the iphone started to look to ATT and I have to be honest I really gave my sales rep a hard time asking a million questions for fear of not having good coverage….Let me make this Clear….I have switched my whole family over to ATT now….Why?? because going back to Verizon would be like going back to a dial up modem on the computer! Verizon is sooo slow….I had a blackberry and it took forever to download stuff…ugh… The iphone is the best thing I have ever used! Verizon’s customer service was awful…when there was a problem they would give you a run around…ex:call customer service line…no go to the store….and back and forth no one owned up to a problem and all they cared about was getting you to re-sign a contract even when you had MONTHS left on your existing contract….ATT customer service is the best I have dealt with! on the iphone…if you are in an area where 3g is making your calls spotty…you just go into your iphone and click 3g off and you will automatically go onto their EDGE service which to me is the exact same as Verizon’s 3G service….I never have issues…I love the phone and I love that you can have simulataneous voice and data….you can NOT do that on verizon no matter how much they tell you it does it it really does NOT…i can send emails and recieve them all while talking on my phone! there are so many free apps its AWESOME!!!I hope for Verizon’s sake they do get the iphone….but to be honest….I personally would NEVER go back! I am very suprised I am so happy ..I really thought with all the crap on the internet that ATT was really bad…Its just NOT the case….dont be afraid…I waited too long i should have done this a long time ago….and truly…I do not work for any company and I am not planted on this website…I was just reading about whether verizon was going to actually get the iphone…I dont have the answer but they would be stupid NOT to grovel to get this phone from Apple! Hope my info helps….I have never been happier and I mean that!