http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/ Engadget Comments for AT&T iPhone exclusivity extended to 2010? http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
I guess my jailbroken 2.5G iPhone will be lasting me a bit longer.]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 9:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 9:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
Death Star is beyond awful. Death Star lies, Death Star cheats, Death Star extorts, Death Star delivers more bars of fail in more places.]]>Aug 2nd 2008 4:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
Patience, my young T-Mobile padawans. The Apple Council will accept you in due time as you still have a bit more to learn about the Kool-Aid.]]>Aug 2nd 2008 7:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
Come on T-MO give me one good phone!]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/the pipe! I'm trying to wait till end of October to see how their 3G
comes about and if they get the MDA Vario II aka Raphael aka Touch
Pro. Its either the Touch Pro or an unlocked Nokia N96 for me.

I'm on Sprint and have the Mogul. I should've never left T-Mobile last year. I was on T-Mobile for 7 years, while with them 2 of my phones came from EBay unlocked.

T-Mobile has a wack phone selection, but not as wack as US Cellular...]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 9:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 8:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
I really should have taken that business marketing class. Or any class for that matter.]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
the contract is confidential, no one has anything official! ]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/ ...the contract is confidential, no one has anything official!

That needs repeating.

The contract is confidential; no one has anything official.

And furthermore...

BOTH "rumored exclusivity periods" rumors were STARTED by the SAME source!

Which one?

Why USA Today, of course!

T-Mobile could get the iPhone (non3G) tomorrow, for all we know.
]]>Aug 1st 2008 8:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
NOW it says the original contract was for only two years!

>>> ...Under the original iPhone contract, Apple had the right to offer the
>>> device to other carriers beginning in 2009...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2008-07-31-att-iphone-stephenson-apple_N.htm

This is what USA Today, SAME author, said before:

>>> ...AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2007-05-21-at&t-iphone_N.htm

Ain't that a kick!? Every single citing of that "5 year exclusive contract" came from the same USA Today author and now he/she has quietly changed it!

Lol!
]]>Aug 1st 2008 8:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 8:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
Apple's iPhone deal must have been pretty sweet for Cupertino to guarantee their new hotness to AT&T and AT&T alone for five friggin years. USA Today

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/22/apple-iphone-on-atandt-for-five-years/]]>Aug 2nd 2008 1:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 7:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 7:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/]]>Aug 1st 2008 8:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 3rd 2008 9:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
But to people who complain about the iPhone's pricing not being competitive, I have absolutely NO sympathy. You chose to buy this phone and pay the premium rather than choose another phone that does as much (or more, read: ATT Tilt) and pay less per month for it. That's the price you pay for being "cool" and "trendy", you tool.]]>Aug 1st 2008 7:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
There is a reason AT&T has 307,550 employees and $280B of assets on its balance sheet.

I guess my point is, it probably ain't gonna happen. It's more likely we'll have AT&T and Verizon in 10 years, and no one else. Hell, if they buy off the right people we might end up with AT&V.



]]>Aug 1st 2008 7:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/1- milk the carrier exclusivity for a couple years (hell, Tmobile is bungling along anyhow)
2 - make the phone's price reasonable through the subsidy model
3 - don't complicate the hardware; use the one largest standard (GSM) and screw the bit players. Yes Verizon is huge here in the U.S. but globally CDMA is of minor impact.
4- and BAM in 2010 when both AT&T and Verizon have hopefully migrated to LTE hardware path, release the phone globally unlocked when your production has scaled in the 10's of millions and don't need the carriers subsidy. The price will remain the same as is now, but no contract, and that I believe is a pricing model Nokia, Samsung, and their ilk cannot compete]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
As far as exclusivity, how people think this is a bad thing for Apple boggles my mind. They sold out of the damn phone - where would they get the idea people don't want to switch to ATT? Like I said, my bill changed by next to nothing.]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 10:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/By 2010 AT&T will have gobbled up all of the other U.S. carriers by then, so we won't need to switch providers to get it! ]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
Verizon buys alltel, sprint.

At&t buys all other gsm carriers excluding T mobile.

T Mobile just collaspes

Verizon and At&t switch to LTE, At&t & Verizon Merge then Welcome back Ma Bell]]>Aug 1st 2008 8:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/First off the iphone is lame, its old news, by 2010 it'll be as cool as a furby.
The fact people are still drooling over the iphone or even the 3G version make me laugh inside.

Go ahead, keep paying sky high prices for your AT&T plan and keep telling yourself that showing off your iphone in public makes you that much cooler.
]]>Aug 1st 2008 6:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
How about a movie time? Lets see... how about... The Dark Knight, when is the next showing? Let me take a look... Oh, in 2 minutes at 7pm, that won't work, again at 8:15, that's better. That took 15 seconds to look up.

What's my point? I've had plenty of other phones. I've had phones that were more "powerful", but BY FAR, the best part about the iPhone is the App Store. Regardless of whether apps COULD be developed for WM, or anything else, no one else could get a backing like Apple could. These are the kind of things that make the iPhone as amazing as it is.]]>Aug 1st 2008 7:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
As far as the sky high prices from AT&T - you've never seen a high end phone with an unlimited data plan from any carrier before, have you? Go check it out, they're all about the same, or even more. AT&T was charging these prices for high end phones before the iPhone even came out, and so was Sprint, Verizon, etc.]]>Aug 1st 2008 7:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
And when was the last time I called in an order to a restaurant before going there to eat? Hmm, never...

How about a movie time? Well, that takes me about 15 seconds on my obviously inferior non-iPhone (don't worry, I know where the theater is). And I've been able to achieve that astounding feat for the last two years or so.

What's *my* point? Unless you live in a TV commercial, or are a wandering nomad, many of the "killer" features of an iPhone actually aren't that useful or have been available on other platforms for quite some time.

As for whether apps could (hypothetically, in some far off universe) be developed for a WM phone, what actually is your point? There are thousands of apps available right now for WM phones, and I don't have to sign my life away to AT&T and Apple in order to use them. Third party apps are not a distinguishing feature of any platform (actually, the availability of 3rd party apps -- or lack thereof -- *was* a distinguishing feature of the previous generation iPhone; it's nice that Apple only took a year to fix that).

Written from a Mac...

M.





]]>Aug 1st 2008 7:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
The point is to help you find things that you don't already know the location of. Makes more sense when you think about it that way, doesn't it? I used my iPhone to find and pre-order food so I could pick it up on my way home just last week. It works, and it works well.

Just like with anything else, the fact that you don't find a feature useful doesn't mean it's not useful for other people. Believe it or not, different people have different needs - and the iPhone was designed for what Apple saw as the majority of average people. I don't think they were far off at all.]]>Aug 1st 2008 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
Also, my examples were exactly that, examples. Perhaps you do know where the closest Chilis is to your house, but when you're in another town, or at a relatives or friends house, you probably won't. And that's just restaurants, the same can apply to any other store or company you need to locate and/or call, since I guess you don't order to go, or had to make reservations at some place nice. And that's just the Yellow Pages app, which is probably my favorite value added app for the phone.

It's about what is easy and enjoyable to use. Can you do anything on your WM phone? Sure, but 9 times out of 10, it's going to take a few more steps to do the same things. There is no standardization. Very few apps have a friendly and easy to use interface, that allows you to do whatever you want, then click links (phone numbers, addresses, web or street, emails, etc) that automatically pop up the next program that you want so that you don't have to dig around for it yourself.

I was genuinely skeptical at first. Hell, I developed apps for WM if I wanted something more. However, after using the iPhone, even in the less than a month that the App Store has been live, it already has a ton more quality apps than any other phone has. The ease and enjoyment of use is MUCH higher than with any other phone.

Also, I fail to see how you "sign your life away". The only signing you do is a contract for a subsidized phone, just like you would have done on another carrier. And if you didn't want to do that, the iPhone is supposed to be sold un-subsidized eventually.

As for not having apps being "exclusive" to the first gen iPhone... First, I won't argue anything for the pre-2.0 iPhone. I think it was worthless before. Hell, I think the first gen is still worthless since it will never have 3G or GPS, two very important features now days. But second, aside from smartphones, almost every other phone before only had worthless java apps, and most smartphones have a hodge podge (hmmm... don't think I've ever typed that before) or apps written by the most terrible developers in the world. Like I said before, there are very few really good apps for other smart phones. No other phone compares to the quality and quantity of apps for the iPhone, and you and I both know that the iPhone will be the leader in that market for quite a while until other phones gain ground as a consumer product and fire up the market.

Bottom line, I told myself that my WM phone was just as good, or better when I had it as well. Now that I have an iPhone, I could make a list a mile long about how most of that isn't really true. As I said, the ability to do anything is obviously there, but it's rarely enjoyable on other smartphones like it is on an iPhone. You owe yourself to really and truly take a look at one open minded, and I promise you will love it.

Oh, and calm down a little. I don't know why you sound so angry at me/the iPhone. I'm just giving examples as to why people like the phone and why it isn't worthless. Just a friendly conversation, no need to get upset.]]>Aug 1st 2008 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 8:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 8:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 8:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/
And i can tether! For free! With a well-working app! WMWifi router.]]>Aug 2nd 2008 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/Aug 1st 2008 6:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/01/atandt-iphone-exclusivity-extended-to-2010/]]>Aug 1st 2008 9:35PM