Verizon Rejected iPhone Deal

SnowDog74 writes "According to an article in USA Today, Verizon Wireless rejected an Apple deal over the iPhone. The article says that Verizon wasn't happy with the strict terms Apple demanded — a Verizon Wireless VP is quoted saying that Apple wanted a cut of monthly revenues and control of the customer relationship. What's perhaps equally interesting, however, is the implication from sources that say Cingular's exclusive 5-year deal with Apple applies within the United States only. If this is true, it undermines some of the criticism Apple has been receiving for their business strategy surrounding the iPhone, given the size of the cell-phone market outside the US."

Comments

Re:Service & retailers: the other side of the

[arivanov]

Problem elsewhere. Give an average american cellco like verizon a phone with Bluetooth and Wifi and they will disable it so that you do not stray from the sacred customer experience path they have plotted for you. Especially Verizon. Actually not just american. O2 is a prime example with its XDA. It was initially released with full WiFi functionality and WEP was stripped out at a later date so you can use only free APs or 802.1x authenticated infrastructure of the kind used by large companies.

My guess is that this is a matter of policy. Apple is shipping a phone with a well defined and well advertised feature set. I may not like them, but they generally obide to their specs very strictly. Having features disabled by some cretin in the cellco bondage and discipline department (aka customer disservice) is the last thing they want (especially in a new product).