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iPhone Forcing Open Wireless Networks?

Posted by samzenpus on from the open-up dept.

fermion writes "Wired asserts that the iPhone blew up the wireless industry. This article argues that because Apple demanded the opportunity to control their own phone, and ATT née Cingular agreed, other companies are opening up the networks, and Google now has the opportunity to make Android a reality. There are other tidbits. Allegedly Verizon turned Jobs down without even listening to his pitch, a decision they may well regret now that they are hemorrhaging customers. Also, that Motorola and the networks were responsible for the fiasco dubbed the ROKR, something which I believe given how damaged the American version of the RAZR was compared to international version. It also estimates that the iPhone cost upward of $150 million to design, and earns Apple about $200 profit per phone."

11 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. US, welcome to the world by Marcion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Europe and most of the rest of the world has GSM and GSM alone. You can take a SIM card from any carrier and put it in any phone. It has always been like that.

    --
    My little Linux and tech blog
    1. Re:US, welcome to the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The UK actually still has a number of handsets per operator that are 'locked' to that network. Whilst it's true that you can get these phones unlocked to take any SIM, it's not free to do so and it's often available from some pretty dodgy looking places.

    2. Re:US, welcome to the world by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Europe's like what...the size of Texas? [...] Your comment displays your ignorance of America (much like most American's ignorance of Europe is so frequently pointed out.) The country is freaking HUGE.

      Yes, that's right, we ignore a lot about America, mostly the fact that it's huge, that and the fact that you guys are "number 1". You should repeat it more often, we're still not hearing it. Oh and I'm pretty sure Europe is only a third the size of Texas ;-).

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    3. Re:US, welcome to the world by Kinthelt · · Score: 5, Informative

      Europe's like what...the size of Texas? Apparently, Europe covers an area of 10,180,000 km^2, while Texas has a mere 678,050 km^2.

      Your comment displays your ignorance of America (much like most American's ignorance of Europe is so frequently pointed out.) What's the definition of irony again?
      --

      "Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

    4. Re:US, welcome to the world by technomom · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm an American and a user of CDMA phones and I'm asking you politely to stop defending our country and the use of the CDMA network at least until you learn basic geography or maybe math. Thank you.

    5. Re:US, welcome to the world by Alioth · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If so, that'd be like talking about America and only meaning the western USA. I think most people think of the European Union when people talk of Europe (just like people think of the USA when saying America). The European Union includes nearly all of central Europe and most of eastern Europe today. This is almost 4.5M sq. km, so still several times larger than Texas.

      Additionally, the EU has a population of just under 500M people - around 200M more than live in the United States. The EU is a much larger market than all of North America.

      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
  2. AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile by jhcarnelian · · Score: 5, Informative

    Those carries have been open for a long time: I've been using unlocked GSM phones on them for years. The iPhone is a big step backwards: it's carrier-locked and non-programmable. Far from moving the industry forward, Apple has been taking it backwards.

    If you want a nice phone, get an unlocked Nokia N95-3; you get 3G speeds, a 5Mpixel camera, stereo speakers, GPS (works with Google maps), a Safari web browser, and lots more. You aren't locked into a contract or carrier, and you can put in a different SIM card when you travel.

  3. is it just me? by ed.han · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...or with the spate of news articles about how revolutionary and paradigm-changing the iphone is, is anyone else expecting to start seeing an "iphone = chuck norris" meme?

    "the iphone is so cool, the ISO is creating a new temperature scale based around it."

    "the iphone is so powerful, it can cure cancer...once unlocked."

    "the iphone is so versatile, it can not just play music, be a phone and browse the web, but imagine a beowulf cluster of them!"

    is it just me? i mean, i think the iphone is pretty darned cool, myself, and i don't even own one. but there's been a great deal of fawning over it. not that apple doesn't deserve accolades for it, but jeez guys...haven't we collectively crossed the threshold of justifiable praise into fanboyism?

    ed

  4. Android FTW! by multiview · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1. The headline is horrible. iPhone didn't contribute to wireless networks that are open by some means.

    2. iPhone won't open the market. Android will. Reason: Android is fully customizable. Soon or later Skype[1] or any other VOIP/instant messenging app will be available. Data traffic will become more important than regular POTS calls. Eventually one carrier might step out of line and get out of the entrenchment by offering reasonable data traffic packages. The game theory for this is a prisoners dilema, and we know that all participating players will lose at end. But that's just good for the customers. Technology will dictate it at the end, and it's Google Android that will take the lead here; not iPhone that is tied to carries by contracts.

    [1]Skype itself is a total horrible vendor lockin, but hopefully the protocol gets reverse engineered one day and we will all enjoy open clients. Everyone that uses a multi-protocol client with MSN/ICQ/AIM/JABBER knows that suddenly a single protocol becomes quite easy to replace and hence its power to dictate the rules (as it so for skype at the moment) vanishes.

  5. Verizon "hemorrhaging" customers? by Coopjust · · Score: 5, Informative

    As much as I hate Verizon Wireless for crippling their phones, if Verizon had 62.1 million subscribers in June 2007 and 63.7 subscribers as of January 8th, 2008, how can they be "hemorrhaging" customers?

    AT&T may be clobbering them, adding new acquisitions to 67.3 million lines (from 63.7 in June 07), but Verizon has a turnover rate of less than 2% and they've increased the total # of subscribers since the iPhone release.

    The fact that the iPhone shookup the wireless industry and forced others to innovate and improve is true, but Verizon isn't dying. They DO need to play catchup with AT&T though; AT&T is widening their lead.

  6. Jobs Considered Linux? by wchatam · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From TFA: Engineers looked carefully at Linux, which had already been rewritten for use on mobile phones, but Jobs refused to use someone else's software.

    Really? That never stopped him from using FreeBSD or Mach in OS X.

    My guess is that it was the GPL that kept Linux out of the iPhone and OS X. This is not meant as a flame against the GPL or Apple, but I am curious if OS X or the iPhone would be based on Linux if they could have gotten it with a BSD license.