Apple to go T-Mobile for iPhone?

According to Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid, Apple may choose to add the iPhone to the T-Mobile lineup of smartphones starting next year, leaving Verizon out to dry for their recent foray into anti-iPhone ads, mainly promoting the Motorola DROID.

Reid says Verizon will likely not get the smartphone until 2011 when 4G infrastructure is more widely available.

T-Mobile uses GSM and EDGE data making the move pretty straightforward if necessary however T-Mobile's 3G operates on a different band than that of AT&T, and needs T-Mobile network support, which could prove costly for Apple to implement.

Additionally, T-Mobile is much smaller than Verizon or AT&T, and has 33.4 million customers which wouldn't leave much growth for Apple. Both AT&T and Verizon have over 70 million customers.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 1 Dec 2009 13:34

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10 comments

o0cynix0o

I hope this happens...and soon. I would actually get one if it came with the 3G. Please,please,please let this be true.

1.12.2009 23:05 #1

KillerBug

"leaving Verizon out to dry for their recent foray into anti-iPhone ads, mainly promoting the Motorola DROID"
-They never would have started airing those ads if Apple played fair and made the iPhone available on the largest network in the country. Apple already refused to go to Verizon...that is why they started fighting back with the Droid ads.

First AT&T, now T-Mobile...why does apple refuse to release this phone on a working network? Next: Sprint, then MetroPCS!

1.12.2009 23:49 #2

harhumph

KillerBug, you sure seem anti-Tmob there.
I have a personal phone with Tmob and a business phone with Verizon here in the very populated area of Phoenix, Arizona.

I get way better reception and customer service with Tmob then I ever have with Verizon. My LG Dare work phone is a POS, when it rings it cuts in and out and never has a steady ring tone, I can never understand people who leave voicemails because it cuts in and out. I blame the crappy speakerphone on LG so I will not put that on Verizon, but for the largest network out there I say fail. My Nokia 5310 on Tmob is a dream, awesome call quality, awesome music player and quality and I think Tmob's network has gone down once in the past four years for about 1 hour (amazing)! I am a proud Tmob customer since 2002 and I have been with Verizon for the past 4 years at work.
Now that I have that off my chest, I hate anything and everything Apple so not interested in that phone anyways even if it came my networks way.

2.12.2009 13:47 #3

asilay328

I rock T mobile as my wireless provider, and I too am pleased with my service. Although they are not nearly as large as the mega providers (Verizon / AT & T) their pricing is far more reasonable.

I doubt Apple is not going to use Verizon due to stupid campaign ads, if there is any truth left in the world, companies look for profit, they don't care about hurt feelings... On the other hand, AT&T gained 40 % of their current customers strictly based on IPhone sales, meaning people switched from other carriers. So maybe Apple believes if they have had such a following they can play their pied piper flute ( aka the elite smart phone) to any carrier and not miss a beat.

2.12.2009 19:50 #4

ZippyDSM

errrr.....why lock it to any provider?

2.12.2009 23:43 #5

KillerBug

Yes, I am very anti-Tmobile. I can't speak for Phoenix, but here in Tampa, FL they drop calls like crazy and have poor coverage to start with. My friends with T-Mobile, Boost, and Sprint get no signal (not even roaming) in my house, while my verizon phone gets 4 bars out of 5 inside. In fact, my crummy phone ($50 without contract, and 2 years old) works perfectly everywhere I go...even the middle of the state where there is noting but road, trees, and animals.

If the situation is reversed there, then you are lucky...Tmobile has better deals on their data plans, and if not for the poor coverage here, I would probably be using their service...but not with an iPhone. For now however, I am stuck using a cheap "dumb" phone because I don't want to pay the insane prices verizon wants for data service.

Originally posted by harhumph: KillerBug, you sure seem anti-Tmob there.
I have a personal phone with Tmob and a business phone with Verizon here in the very populated area of Phoenix, Arizona.

I get way better reception and customer service with Tmob then I ever have with Verizon. My LG Dare work phone is a POS, when it rings it cuts in and out and never has a steady ring tone, I can never understand people who leave voicemails because it cuts in and out. I blame the crappy speakerphone on LG so I will not put that on Verizon, but for the largest network out there I say fail. My Nokia 5310 on Tmob is a dream, awesome call quality, awesome music player and quality and I think Tmob's network has gone down once in the past four years for about 1 hour (amazing)! I am a proud Tmob customer since 2002 and I have been with Verizon for the past 4 years at work.
Now that I have that off my chest, I hate anything and everything Apple so not interested in that phone anyways even if it came my networks way.

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3.12.2009 00:50 #6

ZippyDSM

Originally posted by KillerBug: Yes, I am very anti-Tmobile. I can't speak for Phoenix, but here in Tampa, FL they drop calls like crazy and have poor coverage to start with. My friends with T-Mobile, Boost, and Sprint get no signal (not even roaming) in my house, while my verizon phone gets 4 bars out of 5 inside. In fact, my crummy phone ($50 without contract, and 2 years old) works perfectly everywhere I go...even the middle of the state where there is noting but road, trees, and animals.

If the situation is reversed there, then you are lucky...Tmobile has better deals on their data plans, and if not for the poor coverage here, I would probably be using their service...but not with an iPhone. For now however, I am stuck using a cheap "dumb" phone because I don't want to pay the insane prices verizon wants for data service.

Originally posted by harhumph: KillerBug, you sure seem anti-Tmob there.
I have a personal phone with Tmob and a business phone with Verizon here in the very populated area of Phoenix, Arizona.

I get way better reception and customer service with Tmob then I ever have with Verizon. My LG Dare work phone is a POS, when it rings it cuts in and out and never has a steady ring tone, I can never understand people who leave voicemails because it cuts in and out. I blame the crappy speakerphone on LG so I will not put that on Verizon, but for the largest network out there I say fail. My Nokia 5310 on Tmob is a dream, awesome call quality, awesome music player and quality and I think Tmob's network has gone down once in the past four years for about 1 hour (amazing)! I am a proud Tmob customer since 2002 and I have been with Verizon for the past 4 years at work.
Now that I have that off my chest, I hate anything and everything Apple so not interested in that phone anyways even if it came my networks way.Preahps its due to the phone not being made of the cheapest stuff they could get away putting in it? LOL

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
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3.12.2009 00:59 #7

KillerBug

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Preahps its due to the phone not being made of the cheapest stuff they could get away putting in it? LOLIf you mean my current phone is a cheap POS, I agree completely. It works fine for calls, but has few features, and does not support microSD cards over 2GB...and it won't output stereo to bluetooth anyway. The camera is also a joke, but most cell-cams are.

If you mean the phones on tmobile, boost, and sprint are cheap junk, this isn't always the case. One of my buddies has the tmobile G1...I know this is a better phone that mine, and it seems to have far superior build quality...yet it has no signal. My friends on boost, sprint, and metropcs all have cheap junk phones...but they are about the same quality as the phone I have.

3.12.2009 05:24 #8

ZippyDSM

Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Preahps its due to the phone not being made of the cheapest stuff they could get away putting in it? LOLIf you mean my current phone is a cheap POS, I agree completely. It works fine for calls, but has few features, and does not support microSD cards over 2GB...and it won't output stereo to bluetooth anyway. The camera is also a joke, but most cell-cams are.

If you mean the phones on tmobile, boost, and sprint are cheap junk, this isn't always the case. One of my buddies has the tmobile G1...I know this is a better phone that mine, and it seems to have far superior build quality...yet it has no signal. My friends on boost, sprint, and metropcs all have cheap junk phones...but they are about the same quality as the phone I have.Not uber cheap like they build them these days I mean when they skip on the antennae and other hardware componants it may be feature rich but dose not work right and can not handle calls acouple miles away from the cell tower.

There is cheap and then there is the crap they churn out today they sell for a premium thats build worse than older cheap stuff....

3.12.2009 14:53 #9

ZeusAV

Well I'm already using my iPhone on T-Mobile but it would be great if they could make it so that iPhone users have access to T-Mobile's 3G network. Edge is very slow.

3.12.2009 18:36 #10

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