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A brief and anecdotal history of the Verizon iPhone 4 deal
It's time to start penning the epilogue to the story of how Verizon and the iPhone came to be happily betrothed yesterday. We've already heard a good deal about how the last suitor failed to live up to expectations, but this report keeps the focus predominantly on the newlyweds and their courtship. The agreement came last year and was brokered by Verizon President Lowell McAdam and Apple COO Tim Cook, with input from CEOs Ivan Seidenberg and Steve Jobs (naturally), and though the commercial aspect only took about a day, the preceding technical hurdle was a six-to-nine months ordeal. That entailed putting Verizon cell towers at Apple HQ to check signal and avoid reliability troubles, as well as having Verizon's Executive Director of Technology David McCarley work in Cupertino for more than a year. As for the rest of the deal, both parties agreed to share inside knowledge (Verizon's network plans for Apple's device plans -- wouldn't you like to know) and Verizon had to agree to a logo-free device. Which, given the sure-to-be mindblowing sales, probably isn't a hard pill to swallow.
Verizon iPhone definitely coming in 2011, says Fortune
In a profile of Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Fortune couldn't quite get him to spill the beans on the upcoming Verizon 'dream phone,' as the story's headline puts it. Still, between the timeline of meetings between Seidenberg and Steve Jobs, and the story of how Verizon and Google found common ground on net neutrality, writer Sarah Ellison lays it on the line. Like the Wall Street Journal before it, Fortune is now confirming a 2011 launch for the long-awaited Verizon iPhone. The report suggests the phone will be a 3G-only unit (sorry, would-be 4G early adopters) and most likely will not carry a SIM slot and GSM radio to allow worldwide roaming, at least not in the first version of the device. It's also possible that the phone will include live FIOS TV streaming video service, much as the company's anticipated iPad app will do. We won't know the exact plan until Ivan and Steve take the stage at some undisclosed future date -- but if you're a Verizon customer with your upgrade date coming up in the next few months, you might want to think twice before getting that new Droid while re-upping your contract.
Verizon CEO confirms he's told Apple he wants the iPhone, won't say if he's getting it
So Verizon wants the iPhone. No secret there, right? Not exactly, but Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg has side-stepped any questions on the subject in the past, which makes his recent comments at a conference hosted by the Council of Foreign Relations all the more notable. For the first time, Seidenberg confirmed that he has told Apple that he wants Verizon to carry the iPhone, adding that "we're open to getting the device,"and that "our network is capable of handling it." What he wouldn't say, obviously, is whether Verizon would be getting the phone, saying simply that it's "Apple's call." In other news, Seidenberg also took the opportunity to shoot down rumors of a merger with Vodafone, saying that "there's no compelling reason that this is an exciting thing to do," although he did add that things could always change.
Verizon CEO doesn't care about landlines anymore, feels 'liberated' by new outlook
Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg isn't too upbeat on the future of landlines, telling the audience at a Goldman Sachs investor conference today that the company is just not interested in telephones connected with wires. The chief exec of one of the nation's biggest telecommunications firms continued with his gospel, saying his "thinking has matured" and that trying to predict when the dwindling landline business will plateau is akin to "the dog chasing the bus." He says the new way of thinking is "liberating," but of course, endeavors like the Hub technically don't count as landlines to the company since it'sVoIP, and the coupled with its continued success as the largest cellular provider in terms of subscriber base, yeah, we're sure it's not too tough a pill to swallow. So how abut ramping up FiOS installations just a wee bit faster, eh Ivan?
