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March 31, 2010

Verizon iPhone: would you buy?

iphone-vzw.jpg

Are there thousands -- perchance millions -- of people out there who have refused to buy an iPhone because it's only available on AT&T's network? Well, what if the news gods were to tell you, in unconfirmed/ anonymous reports, that the heralded iPhone would be coming to a Verizon store near you in less than a year's time?

That's what the Wall Street Journal reported this week -- and it set the tech world a-Twitter. The WSJ was short on details, but everyone speculates that AT&T exclusivity deal with Apple to market the iPhone must be close to expiring. And Apple is probably looking to keep the iPhone revenue train rolling ever onward.

So an Apple/Verizon arrangement for the iPhone makes sense. (Thanks to ZDNet for the image, left.)

But what I want to know now is if a Verizon iPhone is something you would finally buy. Take the poll below:





Posted by Gus Sentementes at 8:49 AM | | Comments (33)
Categories: Smartphones
        

Comments

I wouldn't buy one in any form, because I like Android a hell of a lot more.

A great phone (even though I don't like Apple) on a real wireless network? Count me in. I ditched AT&T when Cingular took them over and took their network reliability into the toilet.. Best $250 early termination fee I ever spent.

'Big Red' is rock solid in Baltimore, giving us a Verizon based iPhone may be an AT&T killer for this area.

I love all the Verizon fanboys out there (yes, I said it). If anyone spends any time reading their bill for Verizon, you'll realize that they sneak charges in constantly. They have been fined MILLIONS of dollars because of fraudulent charges, yet nobody seems to care or complain. Their customer service is downright the worst. I would never leave AT&T for Verizon, after the horrible experience both I and everyone I know has had. NO THANK YOU.

I'm pretty happy with my Mototola Droid I got in Nov. but I was holding out at the time for Vz to get the iPhone. When I'm up for my renewal I'd have to see where Android v Apple is at the time.

Android is amazing, why settle for the I-Phone?

I have been with Verizon fo years Started out with AT&T but ditched them. I have a Blackberry and love it but would switch to an iPhone for the apps. No one else comes close. That includes BB and Droid.
Yea, I plan on getting an iPhone!

I love my iPhone but AT&T Service in the Poplar Grove, IL area sucks at best. AT&T does not seem to care one bit to improve the coverage yet they have no quarrels of charging the full amount for the service without delivering it.

If the Verizon iPhone would stay the same size as the AT&T iPhone, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But you have to watch Verizon like a hawk and fight them vigorously if any fraudulent charges appear on your bill.

I was so put off by Verizon's "customer service" that I ditched them the moment that I could - and got an iPhone.

I been waiting years for iPhone to come to Verizon!
I am a Apple person but would not change to AT&T but I will buy one the first day it is available on Verizon and my wife and son and my sister will get them also. So that's 4 my family will buy.

One thing will keep me with the Droid, other than the two year committment. Tethering. I can tether the Droid(use as a modem for laptop) without doing anything that puts the warranty at risk. Not so with iPhone.

Having fiddled with both a Droid and an iPhone - Android does not beat the Apple OS. Just because Android is open source doesn't really mean anything as far as user interface and user experience is concerned; I'd be interested to hear the counter arguments (not from a development side, but from a realistic user experience perspective). The usability of the iPhone is ridiculously good; think about sliding your finger across the screen of an iphone to get to your apps compared to a Droid - smooth; think about using the on-screen keyboard on an iphone compared to a droid - no competition really; think about the zooming in and out of webpages and emails using the "pinch" function; hell, even think about the accuracy of the tilt function in the iPhone - these are things that are useful to the user experience in doing day in and day out stuff like browsing through webpages, checking emails, and playing car racing games! :-) I'm not saying that the Android's isn't good; but it's unreasonable to trick yourself into believing that Android's user experience is better than the iPhone's. Apple has one rockin', super intuitive product and I can't wait till they have the verizon version.

I love Verizon, I am a newer customer about 4 months now. I heard all the rumors bashing Verizon's high pricing with their bad customer service. In my experience, none of that is true. With my data plan and a reasonable amount of minutes I am paying about $60 a month (20% off, university discount). I used to have AT&T on a family plan with two iPhones, it just became to expensive. The Verizon service in my area is much better then AT&T. I will be buying a Verizon iPhone, no question.

Verizon's 3G is a slow turd around here. FiOS is great, their cell service, not so much.

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Only 53 people said "no" to a Verizon iPhone.

Bahahahahabahbahaha.

AT&T is a joke.

Not sure what the person who posted about Vz's horrible customer service is talking about. I've been with Vz for years and have never had any unexplained charges. Their customer service has been uniformly outstanding, and if there's ever a question about a charge, they remove it no quesions asked. Why buy an iPhone when you can get a Droid? Because iPhone is made by Apple, that's why. Apple's stuff just works, period. It's elegant in design and it just plain works. And there are hundreds of thousands of iPhone apps that make Droid look like the also-ran that it is. If you're a die hard Windows user, you'll love Droid. If you're an Apple user, you can't fathom using anything but the iPhone.

My iPhone is wonderful for everything except phone calls. Hmm, kind of defeats the purpose for owning one.

At&t service in the NYC area is absolutely the worst. Dropped calls, no service is unacceptable in this day and age. Yes, I and my entire family would purchase the Iphone as soon as it hit the stores.

I switched from Verizon to get the iPhone last year, and let me just say... I LOVE my iPhone, but I HATE... no, I LOATH AT&T! I've never had so many freakin' dropped calls in my life! I was with Verizon for 8+ years and maybe had one or two dropped calls (and that was while traveling and probably in a dead zone). I have SEVERAL dropped calls a week with AT&T - and from my HOUSE - in the middle of the city of MEMPHIS!!!! Please, please, please tell me this is going to happen. I'll drop AT&T like a bag of bricks.

FYI... I have a Dare from Verizon and the reason I mention that is for the people who don't know that Verizon was to have iPhone before At&t got lucky and got it.

Apple had to many restriction for Verizon and the best one is that they would not allow Verizon to have their name on front of phone like all Verizon phones do. So with stupid restirction Verizon said piss of mate...and then Verizon had the Dare produced that out performed the iPhone. Video, Pic, microphone. 3.2 mp camera,etc..the only thing the original iphone was better at was memory size and the apps.

But if Verizon was to get the iPhone and not have some lame verzion of the newest one I would get one for sure.

Lets see what happens...

Ryan, you said it. Verizon doesn't have the 3G speeds necessary for an iPhone. I'm really not convinced the iPhone is that great, but I would like to see it with another carrier in addition to AT&T. Then for those who really want data speeds, they choose AT&T and for those who want more voice coverage, they choose Verizon.

I'm an AT&T subscriber using a Windows Mobile device (HTC Tilt 2) and I love it. AT&T's 3G speeds are amazing in the Baltimore/Washington metro area. Verizon certainly cannot say that - I have way too many Verizon Blackberry friends who are always complaining of data speeds.

I'm looking forward to seeing AT&T introduce more WM and Android devices. If you're looking for an upcoming device that's pretty impressive, search for the Sony Xperia X10a. Can anyone say iPhone beater?

I tried the Droid when it first came out and took it back in less than a day. The keyboard was too small to text comfortably, resulting in multiple double letter misteakes. There was NO instruction booklet with it, which made it hard to look up questions or features without downloading. If You're home, with access to a computer, that's not a problem. But if you're not home, figuring it out wastes time. I'll take the IPhone in a heartbeat. I have waited for Verizon to wakeup and smell the profits. As for the droid? That's a is a piece of crap.

A T and T delivers the worst level of performance of any of the telephone carriers and they do not care. And for any of you who are paying for the warranty, the phone that is furnished to you as a replacement for a lost or damaged phone is a refurbished phone, even if it is to replace a phone you purchased new. And you have to pay a $50.00 deductible. You can buy a refurbished unlocked phone anywhere for $50.00, so cancel your insurance and pocket the money. A T and T is like Sears was in the 70's and 80's, thinking that they are the big dog and as customers we will put up with anything. They had better wake up because we park at Sears now when we go to the mall because the lot is usually empty.

While I like my android the iphone has a more polished interface and fewer stalls and crashes, count me in when the iphone is offered by Verizon. I have had smart phones for the last 10 years Palm, Blackberry and now the Motorola Droid looking forward to a phone I don't have to reboot at least once a week. And I can leave my ipod touch at home.

I used to be on Cingular (and before that AT&T) but switched to Verizon due to Cingular's coverage in the DC/Baltimore areas. The Verizon coverage has been excellent everywhere I have been.

I am a big Apple fan, and the only thing keeping me from getting an iPhone is that I don't want to go onto AT&T's system with lesser coverage.

I've been awaiting for AT&T's exclusive contract to end with with Apple (which supposedly is sometime this summer) so Verizon would also be offering the iPhone. As soon as Verizon offers the iPhone I will get one.

I hate Verizon with a passion. I don't need an iPhone. I have a basic cellphone and AT&T service and coverage is perfectly fine wherever I need to be.

What people don't realize is that it isn't just about liking or not liking AT&T. Only CDMA networks work where I live. You can use an AT&T or T-Mobile phone but the service is horrible (roaming) and neither network will allow you to purchase a phone using any address in the county I live in. I don't care which other carrier gets the iPhone, I just need it to work on CDMA networks. I will gladly switch to Sprint if Sprint gets it before Verizon, even though I have been a Verizon customer for 10 years. In fact, if I was the CEO of Sprint I would do anything possible to get the iPhone on my network. They clearly are struggling and this would be Sprint's chance to get back in the game. Give Apple whatever they want and get the iPhone on their network. That being said, I would have switched years ago to AT&T if they would have sold me an iPhone. I tried three times and was denied every time. Further, if I used a friend's address in an area where iPhone did work, I was told my contract would be canceled because my use in a roaming area would be too high. Apple, please get the CDMA iPhone done and done before the end of the year!! My Blackberry Storm is killing me with glitches!

I've heard this rumor several times before. Any chance that this time around it's for realsies? I would love to get an iPhone but have been with Verizon for like 10 years and I really don't want the hassle of switching carriers.

Sorry to bust the Verizon bubble, but the answer is still No. The CDMA is in the works for China currently. Verizon will not have our iPhone until the full release of LTE in late 2012. The exclusive agreement with AT&T is coming to an end this year but they will still carry it. We will be adding T-Mobile this year though in order to Legitimize all the current iPhone users unlocked on their network.


Steve Jobs

1 Infinite Loop, MS 111-HOM
Cupertino, CA 95014
sjobs@apple.com
www.apple.com

Watch out for iPhones....I've lost all wifi ability with mine after updating the OS. Not updating the OS results in poor battery life and dropped calls. You're screwed either way. BTW....you have to turn your screen's brightness down to 50% or less to have any decent battery life which is very unflattering. Plus, Jobs has said no Flash...ever. I'm a huge fan of Flash.

But if Verizon was to get the iphone and not have some lame verizon of the newest I would get one for Sure.

If verizon should get the Iphone. I will be one of the first to throw my phone on the ground and buy an iphone. I can't wait.

If verizon should get the Iphone. I will be one of the first to throw my phone on the ground and buy an iphone. I can't wait.

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About Gus G. Sentementes
Gus G. Sentementes (@gussent on Twitter) has been writing for The Baltimore Sun since 2000. He's covered real estate, business, prisons, and suburban and Baltimore City crime and cops. He was one of the first reporters at The Sun to use multimedia tools and Web applications -- a video camera, an iPhone -- to cover breaking news. He hopes to cover Maryland geeks and the gadgets and Web sites they build, and learn -- and share -- something new every day.

Gus has a wife, a young daughter and two feuding cats. They live in Northeast Baltimore.
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