Verizon Happily Rejected Chance To Be Sole iPhone Service Provider

According to Verizon President and COO, Denny Strigl, his company rejected the chance to be where Cingular Wireless is today: sole service provider for Apple's soon-to-be-released iPhone. He's glad they did. On yesterday's earnings conference call, Strigl revealed Apple had approached Verizon Wireless, jointly owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, two years ago seeking a partner for its then top-secret iPhone. "The iPhone product is something we are happy we aren't the first to market with," Strigl noted, citing Apple's steep and one-sided terms including a cut of monthly subscription fees and total control over distribution and customer relations. Another Verizon spokesman added, "We have great distribution partners nationally, regionally and locally... And the deal [Apple] wanted would have frozen out those partners."

• Sources: Verizon Q4 2006 Earnings Call Transcript, USA Today, CNet, Macworld
• Related commentary: Verizon Hung Up on iPhone Deal, iPhone: Who Stands To Gain and Lose?, The iPhone Will Probably Be Released In 2007: Who Is Apple Up Against?
• Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: Verizon (VZ), Apple (AAPL), Vodafone (VOD). Competitors: AT&T (Cingular) (T). ETFs: PowerShares Dynamic Telecom & Wireless ETF (PTE), Wireless HOLDRS (WMH)

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Comments

[Julian Ivan...:]

""The iPhone product is something we are happy we aren't the first to market with," Strigl noted, citing Apple's steep and one-sided terms including a cut of monthly subscription fees and total control over distribution and customer relations. Another Verizon spokesman added, "We have great distribution partners nationally, regionally and locally... And the deal [Apple] wanted would have frozen out those partners."

Translation: Boy oh boy did we screw up two years ago by not taking this product. Now we're dependent on Motorala, Palm, Nokia, and Samsung to get us out of this hole. Oh boy oh boy oh boy are we crapping ourselves! Maybe if we tell people we don't care about the iPhone they'll forget about the fact that our products will suck in comparison at that price point.

2007 Jan 30 08:16 AM

[User 288470:]

ok y would u guys want to deny that special offer is it still possible to use an iphone with verizon

2008 Oct 30 12:33 AM